Not hiring a car

[Bigbluebear]

If staying onsite at disney, is there really any need for a car?

The only places we would be going to other than disney is universal/ioa, and shopping.

Is there really any need for a car if this is the case?

Also, do TravelCity offer transfers? The website is rubbish since it only gives quotes including car hire.

 

[Hilary]

We've done a couple of trips without a car. We stayed on-site in WDW and used the Disney transport, then got taxis offisite for a day at USF, SeaWorld, etc. The cost of the taxis was a lot less than the car would have cost

Those trips were when DDs were younger and the WDW parks held non-stop appeal. Now we spend our trips visiting other places in Florida with only a couple of park days, if any, so always have a car - but we don't use it within WDW as we find the bus transport so easy.

Others have said they'd rather drive out of the parks at the end of the day than stand in line for the bus, but we're more than happy to let the bus drivers do the hard work, even if we have to wait a while (and it's never usually more than about 10 minutes).

As for TCD transfers - I'm only going on hear-say, but the rental car insurance used to be where TCD made their profit. I don't know if that's still true, or if they offer a transfer option.

 

[wayneg]

Only you know what you want to do and where you want to visit.
Have you got the free dining plan?
If you have then you will want to eat in Disney just about all, if not every meal.
If you have not then meals out of Disney are roughly half the price of onsite.
What you save in dining offsite, and taxi fares will go a long way to paying for a car, then you have the freedom to go wherever, whenever you want.
Depending which resort you are in and what time of year the buses can be a nightmare. We stayed at ASM and were without a car for 24 hours while the rental company got us one(was common at one time for Xmas arrivals) it was the worst 24 hours we have spent in Florida, buses were overcrowded with ignorant people.
I would not even contemplate Florida without a car but I dont like disney dining (or the prices)
Some people stay onsite no car and eat Disney food for every meal and love it, that is not for us.
If you are staying onsite and no car then Disney have free buses from airport to the resorts. I have never used them so maybe someone else can post a link or info?

 

[Bigbluebear]

Its going to cost me roughly 450pounds to hire a car, then however much id need to spend on fuel aswell.

Plus if i dont really want to be stuck driving all the time.

I can get the same price staying offsite with a car as i can get staying onsite without a car.

Plus its my girlfriends first time to Disney, so would like it to be as special as possible. Ive never stayed onsite either, apart from at Davy Crockets ranch at Eurodisney when it opened.

As for eating offsite , is it not possible to get offsite fairly easily and quickly from downtown disney to the restaurants at the crossroads? In fact, is it not walking distance?

 

[paulh]

Its going to cost me roughly 450pounds to hire a car, then however much id need to spend on fuel aswell.

You can get a car from around £110 per week

As for eating offsite , is it not possible to get offsite fairly easily and quickly from downtown disney to the restaurants at the crossroads? In fact, is it not walking distance?

We usaly walk from downtown to crossroads about a brisk 20 min walk then get a taxi back
there are plenty of resturants within a $20 taxi ride
Think about hireing a car for a week in the middle of your stay so your not just tied to disney.
For flights TCD always put in car hire price on web site.Try and phone them they might quote flight only.Book direct with disney direct in usa or use dreams.Are you in the AA if so you get discount on rooms about 20% sometimes aug we got pop for £37 a night,or look out for codes on the boards here
Paulh

 

[wayneg]

Its going to cost me roughly 450pounds to hire a car, then however much id need to spend on fuel aswell.

Plus if i dont really want to be stuck driving all the time.

I can get the same price staying offsite with a car as i can get staying onsite without a car.

Plus its my girlfriends first time to Disney, so would like it to be as special as possible. Ive never stayed onsite either, apart from at Davy Crockets ranch at Eurodisney when it opened.

As for eating offsite , is it not possible to get offsite fairly easily and quickly from downtown disney to the restaurants at the crossroads? In fact, is it not walking distance?

Is it a 2 week holiday?
If it is then a car fully insured from airline network start at £166 all in.
Only you know if you want to drive, I hate driving at home but love it there, having the freedom of a car in Florida is amazing.
Offsite is a lot lot cheaper than onsite but it depends how you do it. We love the Courtyard by Marriott LBV(next to crossroads) just stayed there for 25 nights in August £25/night, cheapest onsite was £65/night but in my opinion value resorts are no where near the same league as Marriott properties, you need to compare with Moderate prices to be fair.
Yes it is walkable to a few places at LBV (beyond my walking capabilities but it can be done, I walk enough in the parks )
Many many people love staying and eating within Disney all there holiday but for us the parks are great but like to get away from it to eat and sleep.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

It's all down to personal choice and what sort of holiday you want, we always rent a car and spend most of the holiday in off-site accomodation.
I think if we stayed on-site for the whole holiday without a car I would find it a bit too much Disney, we like to do many other things on holiday than just the parks.

 

[Bigbluebear]

The other issue with me hiring a car is a young drivers fee.

The only place ive seen without, charge more for the cars.

so 110 pounds a week then becomes nearly 400pounds again for a fortnight.

i have went before without a car, but its always been my dad who has driven, and we have always stayed offsite, so didnt have the advantage of disney buses. the only time we went without the car we had one hired after one day.

If i get the car, i cant stay onsite, which means i wont be able to have any alcohol for the entire holiday, other than in the hotel as i will need to drive all the time.

 

[wayneg]

Like I say, only you know what kind of hol you want, easy for me thats been 15 times and done it every way possible, Prefer offsite hotels and food, dont like Disney transport, love driving and dont drink unless its a bottle in the hotel room last thing at night.
Do it how you think you will enjoy it best, next time you can try at a different way.

 

[castanea1985]

The other issue with me hiring a car is a young drivers fee.

The only place ive seen without, charge more for the cars.

so 110 pounds a week then becomes nearly 400pounds again for a fortnight.

i have went before without a car, but its always been my dad who has driven, and we have always stayed offsite, so didnt have the advantage of disney buses. the only time we went without the car we had one hired after one day.

If i get the car, i cant stay onsite, which means i wont be able to have any alcohol for the entire holiday, other than in the hotel as i will need to drive all the time.

Why not hire a car for about 5-7 days? You can do most of the 'Disney' visits whilst you haven't got the car and save Universal etc. for when you have got a car?! Just a thought, but if you plan well, you can do it at the right price!
Tracy

 

[Laurafoster]

We have been lots of times with out a car and its no hassle whatsoever.

Like you we would get stuck with the "young drivers fee" so it makes an affordable car in to another expense!

We tend to do 2 weeks at Disney and i agree if i was onsite all the time it would get to much. We always spend sometime off site -

Universal/Seaworld - we usually do both of these. Taxi will cost about $55 both ways including tips.

Old Town Kissimmee - This is a fun night on a friday or saturday - they do a classic car show and theres other things going on there too. Gives you a chance to eat off site too. Think this was about $20 in the taxi depending where from!

Crossroads - We usually go atleast three times on most trips. We usually get a bus to DTD then walk the rest of the way there. We play the pirates cove adventure golf which is a laugh. Have something to eat in one of the restaurants (love buffalo wild wings!) and get somethings in the supermarket there - wine, beer etc for the room and bagels etc for breakfasts. We then get the taxi back if we have shopping or walk back to DTD if not. Taxi is about $20 again depending on which resort!

The money we save by eating at crossroads/old town kissimmee is usually enough to pay for those taxis!

So for us unless we plan on doing alot more off site its cheaper for us to not get the car if we stay onsite!

 

[Jakey Rowling]

I'd agree for with some of the others, look at the compromise of a weeks rental.

Make sure you trade of all the cost/savings in terms of meal prices and taxis.
Surely a couple of nights during that week without a beer with an evening meal somewhere else is OK.

Have you a plan and worked out how much you'll spend on taxis?
I'm pretty sure for a week there will not be as much in it as you think.

 

[Jets fan]

We never hire a car as there is no need. When we flew into Sanford we had previously hired a stretch limo from Tiffany Town Car and they were great. Cost was around $250 return but this was over 2 years ago. Now we fly into MCO and get Disney's Magical Express.

A taxi will come to your door (if allowed) and pick you up. They are not expensive given the current exchange rate and are always easy to find.

 

[CharleyUK]

Just back - this morning. Spent 10 nights onsite without a car. I've always had a car before so was a little worried about it but got to say it worked out great. Disney transport was great from CSR didn't wait more then 10-15 minutes mostly less than 5 and never had to stand. Had the bus to ourselves a lot of the time. I'm sure it would depend on resort though. Had to do a trip to CBR to get from DTD to MGM and that was a lot different. Used a taxi a few times to get from resort to resort for ADR's and to Premium outlets for some shopping. Would definately do it again. The only thing i would do differently would be to arrange a transfer from the airport. On the way in it took 2 1/2 hours from getting to ME and dropping off at CSR