Onsite guests: rent or bus?

[Carolc]

For those who fly in, do you rent a car or do you exclusively use Disney transportation?

 

[helenk]

I usually use Disney transportation. I have rented a car to go to Sea World or Universal.
In all my trips there was only 1 that I rented a car for the full week and it sat in the parking lot until the day we went to Universal and then we used it to get back to the airport.
Since then I just rent a car for the day, if we are going to go off Disney property.
I have always had good experiences with the Disney transportation.

 

[Mousema]

One time I had a rental car for the whole stay and it was senseless. It just sat there. It was part of a "package" that I booked when I was young and stupid. Disney transportation always works for us.

 

[ktink]

We use WDW transportation including ME. Part of our vacation is not having to worry about driving anywhere. So far we've encountered only great experiences to and from parks.

 

[monymony3471]

Even when we drive down, we mostly use disney's transportation. Except for maybe there's a ressie and we were running late. I like to not have to drive after our 24 hour journey by car.

 

[mommy*RN]

We rent a car. Often we go off property to visit the ocean or go to another non-Disney (gasp ) park. I also liked taking the car to the parks on our last visit. Easier to load/unload DS's stroller and the walk to the car was nice because we knew for sure we would get seats...

I've always rented a car when travelling to WDW and I probably always will...JMHO.

 

[tacomaranch]

We were just talking about this in bed this morning. We can't live without having ME get our luggage and deliver it to our room. We have a special needs son and just having one thing less to worry about is wonderful.

 

[pooksma]

Disney transport for everything but the transport to and from the airport. We use a towncar service. Just gotta get there ASAP!

 

[Carolc]

Thanks to everyone who participated in my poll! (I've never done one before)

I appreciate it!

 

[blitzkrieg048]

I understand the "not wanting to drive" thing while on vacay, but let me tell you I love having a rental car. I use express service for whatever rental agency I chose and don't have to worry about waiting for transport from the airport. I go right out to the rental kiosk in parking garage get my keys and go. It's so easy with kids to have a rental. I stay at OKW often thru my DVC and we use the car to go to the grocery to store to buy some breakfast foods and snack and beverages for our stay. I can't imagine pulling that off w/o a car. Amd yes I know about the delivery food stuff. We lioke to drive to different resorts for our meals w/o having to take 2 buses and waiting. We drive to all the parks(except MK) and downtown Disney. We also go off property to shop or dinner. But to each is own, I've done it both ways and while it is nice sometimes not to drive, the pro's outway the cons for me.

 

[drogerstn]

Before ME, there was very little (if any) additional cost for renting a car versus paying for roundtrip airport transfer.

We visited in June but stayed at Universal Studio area hotels for our first few nights then stayed at Port Orleans-Riverside.

Even without a visit to a non-disney park, we would have rented a car. We make visits to the grocery and eat outside of the parks on occasion. We can save enough in one offsite meal to pay for a day's rental on a car.

The car is so much more convenient than Disney transportation in most situations.

 

[blitzkrieg048]

Before ME, there was very little (if any) additional cost for renting a car versus paying for roundtrip airport transfer.

We visited in June but stayed at Universal Studio area hotels for our first few nights then stayed at Port Orleans-Riverside.

Even without a visit to a non-disney park, we would have rented a car. We make visits to the grocery and eat outside of the parks on occasion. We can save enough in one offsite meal to pay for a day's rental on a car.

The car is so much more convenient than Disney transportation in most situations.

Amen!

 

[stacy6552]

We are all over the map! Alot depends on whether we score a good rental deal or not. Sometimes it depends on where we are staying, like feeling the need to have a car at a value resort, rather then wait in line. We always ride the bus to MK and sometimes we have rented a car and not used it at all. Other times we have been exclusive WDW transportation folk.

 

[TDC Nala]

I use the WDW transportation. I go often and stay at WDW resorts and it is not necessary for me cough up for a rental car. If I rented cars on all my stays it would cut the amount of trips I could make in half.

If I do need a car (usually if I have an appointment to be somewhere on the day I arrive) I will usually rent one for one night from National and return it to the Dolphin.

 

[MickeyMonstersMom]

I voted "Other" - I usually rent a car from the airport to WDW, though I have also used a towncar and this time am getting a ride from relatives in Florida. Once on property, I almost exclusively use WDW transportation. If I have a car, I'll drive it to AKL for Boma or to POR for Boatwright's, just because it's easier to drive the car from resort to resort.

 

[schlepsnort]

We are renting a car because I'm physically handicapped and can't climb the stairs into a bus without some rather humiliating moves to accomplish it. I don't like doing that so we are renting a car. Got a smokin' deal too! Way to go DH!
But also I don't want to have to rely on the kindness of strangers to help us get our strollers onto the bus and deal with 3 very tired kids at the end of the day.
This way we can stroll to our car and not worry about someone cutting in front of us in line.
We will always be able to sit down!
And we can go directly back to our resort without other stops.

It just works better for us. Initially we were going to use ME but after reading a LOT of posts about it and really thinking about my physical abilities I would feel better renting. All it would take is for me to move wrong just once and I could be in pain for the rest of our trip.

 

[gigi1313]

sounds like the best decision for you/yours schlepsnort!

i voted "other!" (love the "other" choice on a poll!!) 'cause we typically rent a car for a day or two at some point in our trip to visit my elderly aunt who lives about 45 mins away... the rest of the time we use wdw transport, including dme (unless we're going right from the airport to do the obligatory visiting as we are this trip)... and LOVE IT!!