need room for just sleeping

[EjandMD]

What do you do when your plane arrives at 9:40 p.m.? By the time we get the rental car and to hotel it will be past 11 p.m. So we didn't want to spend $$$ for an extra night at the POR. where we will get a crappy room for checking in late and just literally to sleep.

What do you recommend? We will check in at 7:30 a.m. for POR the next morning.

 

[spiceycat]

get rid of the rental car.

use priceline to get an airport hotel room, then use its shuttle to get back and forth to the airport.

use DME to get back and forth to WDW.

 

[JudyS]

I second www.Priceline.com Whether you want to pick up your car as soon as you arrive, or use a hotel shuttle, depends on whether you will wind up paying more for the rental car if you pick it up a night early. Generally, rental car rates for 5 days are the same as for 6 or 7 days. Also, you can't necessarily tell from Priceline whether the hotel will have a free shuttle or not. www.Hotwire.com is another good choice, and they may tell you if the hotel has a shuttle.

For advice on using Priceline and Hotwire, check out www.biddingfortravel.com or www.betterbidding.com

 

[EjandMD]

That is an excellant idea! We love having a rental cause we run over to the HRH to go to their bar and my DH is a snob about waitng for buses. I thought about priceline as well but was wondering if anyone had better ideas. So if we stay by the airport we won't have to get a car until the next day...good idea thanks guys!

 

[winterman]

Last year we stayed at the Sleep Inn on McCoy Rd. for our last night. We had a very early flight and were having dinner at the home of a friend nearby. I don't recall what it cost but it could not have been much or we wouldn't have stayed there. It was fine. Clean. Close to airport. I had the pool to myself while DH took a nap. It's web site says it has a scheduled shuttle to airport, 5 AM to 1 AM. We will be arriving close to midnight on 9-25 and may stay there again. We have enough Choice Points for a free night. Our plan is to take shuttle to hotel then return to airport the next day to pick up our rental car.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We have a ressie (haven't stayed there before though) for the Fairfield Inn Orlando Airport (a division of Marriott.) We're getting it for the night before our Dis cruise in February. They offer free airport shuttle and free continental breakfast. We booked ours a long time ago and with AAA discount was only $89.10 + tax. Personally, I'd get the rental car that night so you can get an early start 1st thing in the am. Also it depends on your family size, but for us it would be torture to lug everything back and forth on shuttles. I would leave the main luggage in the trunk of the rental car and just bring a small overnight bag to the airport hotel. Wouldn't hurt for 1 day to use hotel-type shampoo and soap plus most offer hair dryer too.
IMHO, I would never trade the freedom of a rental car for any free shuttle service. Vacation time is priceless.