Need help with wether or not to rent a car...

[dopeygirl76]

We had our first DVC stay at SSR in April and LOVED everything except the bus rides for the sole reason of a VERY wiggly 1 year old. We have used the buses on our prior trips and enjoyed them a great deal for various reasons. However we talked about renting a car for this coming Oct since our baby will be 19 months old and still wiggly!!! Although we are at VWL and thought it may be a waste of money with MK so close and the monorail to Epoct. Now I thought maybe a partial rental - I had not even thought of that until I read it here!! So my question to to those of you who have rented a car - pros and cons - weeklong or partial week? And benefits of a grocery stop vs gardengrocer - which we love

 

[BlakeNJ]

I think it really depends on how much resort hopping you plan on doing. Do you have meals at other resorts? Plan on visiting the Boardkwalk area? We have never rented a car but on our last visit, we just spent too much time waiting for buses and transferring from resort to park just to get to our dinner ressies. This year the kids are doing the Pirate Cruise so that is another trip to a park then to a resort bus just to get there. I estimate that would take us at least 45 mins. If I had a car, I could leave the resort and be there in 15mins--with no stress! It's no fun waiting for a bus--let alone waiting for a bus with a toddler--squirmy one at that!! JMHO.

 

[CDNmouse]

Consider renting a car from Dollar Car Renatls. They have a location that is a short walk from SSR and DTD and is often cheaper than Alamo.

 

[jimmacmn]

I think it really depends on how much resort hopping you plan on doing. Do you have meals at other resorts? Plan on visiting the Boardkwalk area? We have never rented a car but on our last visit, we just spent too much time waiting for buses and transferring from resort to park just to get to our dinner ressies.

DW and I have been frustrated by the bus system to the other resorts on a number of occasions in the past. On our last couple of trips we have started to take cabs to the resorts for dinner. It is much quicker and a cab once a day is usually much, much cheaper than a car rental for a week.

 

[disneynutz]

We had our first DVC stay at SSR in April and LOVED everything except the bus rides for the sole reason of a VERY wiggly 1 year old. We have used the buses on our prior trips and enjoyed them a great deal for various reasons. However we talked about renting a car for this coming Oct since our baby will be 19 months old and still wiggly!!! Although we are at VWL and thought it may be a waste of money with MK so close and the monorail to Epoct. Now I thought maybe a partial rental - I had not even thought of that until I read it here!! So my question to to those of you who have rented a car - pros and cons - weeklong or partial week? And benefits of a grocery stop vs gardengrocer - which we love

In the past we used the buses and the grocery delivery services, now we rent a car from Dollar. We can go to the store several times if we like and not waiting for a bus is a more efficient use of time. We can go from point A to B in the car, without a car, you may end up going A to D to C to B.

The Dollar rental location is a easy walk from DTD Marketplace. A map and the current discounts can be found here:

http://www.dvcwishes.com/dollar.htm

 

[skelooch]

By all means if $ is not a problem rent a car at the airport, you won't be sorry.
I've had the best luck $$$ wise at Alamo, do the online check-in and you can skip the line at the counter and go right to your car.

 

[drusba]

We generally rent a car and use it for trips to Downtown Disney, golf courses, other resorts, Universal. Before deciding to do full week or rent for part of time while on site, you should check into what the prices will be. For example, it can sometimes be cheaper to rent for a week than to rent for four days.

 

[dallasdisneymommy]

I thought having a car at Disney would be the end all, be all -- I always bemoaned the bus service and the hassle -- but let me tell you, on our last trip we had our car and I ended up not wanting to use it.

I thought I had the world by the tail as we left our room and very quickly loaded up in our car, bypassing all those bus-waiting patrons...but my smug superiority quickly dissipated when we got to the parks and had to park far, sometimes very far away from the gates. We walked and walked, and finally reached the place where all the cool, dry people were disembarking from the buses, right outside the gates. Or we parked the car, unloaded all the strollers, walked to the point where the tram would pick us up, folded back up the strollers, then rode to the gate.

In short, it didn't save us any time, and I actually found it more stressful than just waiting for the bus.

The only time I really wanted to use it was when we had resort-character breakfasts. This is clearly a time when it makes sense, as bus-changing for this purpose is mind-numbing, but as a previous poster pointed out, this is where a cab is the perfect solution.

Next trip to WDW, we will ride not rent a car or drive our car, and I will never again complain about the bus service that WDW offers.

 

[moredisneyplease]

i really think it depends on your itinerary. If you're sticking w/ MK and Epcot then go for it. If you want to do the water parks, DTD, HS, AK, visit resorts, Boardwalk, etc etc it might be easiest to rent.

We just went with my 3 year old and 6 month old and it was the best move for us.