Picking up a rental car while at a disney resort

[jennynyholm]

Hi all! We are attempting to plan our first "split visit" (DW and Universal) and I'm looking into all of my options. One idea is get a rental car for the two days we will be visiting Universal, but stay at the Disney resort the whole time. Has anyone rented a car for just part of the time? Does it cost a lot to have the car delivered to the resort? Are there any other ways of doing it? Any experienced vacationers out there visit Universal from a Disney resort base? Any insight would be appreciated! TIA

 

[Jedimike]

There is a car care center near the MK parking lot that allows you to rent from National and Alamo. No extra "delivery fee." I used it once many years ago. Free shuttle from the hotel to the car care center as well.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/car-rental-services/

 

[vettegirl]

For our universal trip we picked one up at the Swan/Dolphin and was able to return it at the airport. It was all easy to do.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I used the Disney Car Care Center in 2012 when we went to Universal for a day. I LOVED them, and plan on using them again on this year's trip.

I believe they open pretty early (6am? 7?) and you can call them to shuttle you over. I took a cab for ease, but the shuttle is free. They will also shuttle you anywhere in Disney World once you drop off the car. They were very efficient and VERY nice - highly, highly recommended!

(Also, check out the Transportation board to look for the rental car thread for your vacation month and subscribe. Other travelers update the thread with car rental deals and coupons as they find them!)

 

[callmecal]

Disney Car Center with National and Alamo is extremely easy to use and conveniently located just outside the Magic Kingdom. If staying at a Disney hotel, they will shuttle you to/from the Center. Rates are extremely competitive, which given the location is somewhat surprising.

 

[jennynyholm]

Thanks so much for the info guys! The Disney Car Center sounds the way to go!

 

[msmama]

The Car Care Center is awesome. Call the night (or two) before. They told me what time they'd pick me up. It was earlier than I'd anticipated so I took the shuttle myself, got the car and went back to pick up the rest of the family.

On the way back (we'd gone to Legoland), we all went to the car care center and they shuttled us all back to POFQ.

Seriously couldn't have been easier!

 

[grecorj]

Great to hear the positive comments. Just booked a car thru National from the CCC for 1 day during our upcoming trip.

 

[bookgirl]

For our universal trip we picked one up at the Swan/Dolphin and was able to return it at the airport. It was all easy to do.

Yep that's the National rental. I do that when I'm doing a partial stay car rental. Though I tend to pick up at the airport then return to the S/D and then grab a boat over to DHS or Epcot. They don't charge a fee for returning in a location other than your pickup. Plus if you have a Discover card you can use your rewards points to get a $40 'coupon' for $20 of rewards.

 

[mcguire85]

I have the same issue for my trip starting tomorrow. We were thinking of the car care center but my girlfriend get's a really good deal at Enterprise so we will plan on just taking a cab to the one on Hotel Plaza Blvd first thing in the morning.

 

[Kaimo]

We went to see Harry Potter at Universal back in 2011 during our stay at CBR and rented from Alamo at the Dolphin Hotel. Both the Dolphin and Car Care Center have the service but it was kind of nice to use our park hopper to get to Epcot and take a nice boat ride over to Dolphin.

 

[TowMater92]

If you rent at the Swan/Dolphin they don't have full size cars(as in Impalas, Fusions, challengers, chargers etc) I learned that after I was told to go there to exchange my car when I had an issue with it last December so I had to go to the Car Care Center by the MK and wasted about a hour, I wasn't happy!

 

[Sue M]

Last year we did our Universal stay before WDW, and stayed at a Universal resort. The onsite perks are worth it.

We fly into Ft Lauderdale first to visit family, and pick up rental at airport there. Drive up to WDW, and after resort check in return rental. Alamo is our fav, I find it cheaper then National. Return to CCC, very convienent. Both Alamo & National are also at Swan/Dolphin.
Budget is in DTD Doubletree
Avis is in DTD Hilton.

 

[KSR0330]

When using the CCC, about how much per day are people paying for the rental?

 

[okw2012]

Enterprise at the B resort will pick you up for free. Quite convenient for Universal because it is on your way to Universal so you are not loosing time if you want to hit the parks early. In fact I suggest getting the car the night beforeant to be there at rope drop. You need to call them to arrange pickup. Note that you can pickup the car there and drop it at the airport for fee lower than a cab fare to the airport.