Rent a car or not....SSR in April

[Rock'n Robin]

We have not rented a car since our first trip, because we only used it 1 or 2 days that time. But I am getting concerned about the bus reports from our new home. I like to go to each park at least once at rope drop--if I'm sitting waiting for a bus at opening time I will not be a happy camper. I am thinking we should rent a car, although we'd probably still bus to MK and avoid the TTC.
We will be there at a busy time--I know this year we were there the week after EAster and MK had EMH every single day. I don't know if they will do this the week before (I hope so--it was cool to walk down Main St. at 7AM). I didn't have any issues with busses at YC that week, but only used them for AK, MK and TL.
In your opinion....do you think the bus situation will finally be resolved by the week before Easter, or that there will be extra busses for the throngs of guests, or should we hedge our bets and rent a car?
Robin M.

 

[ChelleinNC]

Honestly, if you're going to be miserable because you miss rope drop, then rent a car. Just remember that you'll need to plan for time to park at the park, and walk or catch a tram.

FWIW, it's not just SSR with bus problems, we had worse issues at BWV with the busses. They are working on it, but there's no guarantee that every bus will show up 20 minutes after the last.

For us, part of the vacation is parking the car and leaving it for the week. The only time we drive on property is to go to dinner/breakfast at Boma and to the golf course.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Oh I agree, that's why we haven't had a car on property since 2000. But while my plans are pretty flexible at this stage of the game, it's important to me to be at rope drop to get a few major must-dos out of the way early.
I am thinking of getting a car at the airport, using it the first few days only, then returning it to the Dolphin car care center location and spending the last few days car-free.
Robin M.

 

[FormrCastMbr]

We rented a car on our trip a couple weeks ago and LOVED it. We used it every single day: groceries, meals off property, CVS, ER (yes, we had to bring my some to the Urgent Care - he is healing fine but came down with Bells Palsy), parks, etc.

I think we will get a car now for every trip. The only park that this is probably not good for is MK since you have to park at TTC and take the monorail or ferry over.

What we did on our MK day, is we had breakfast at Kona and then left the car there and took the monorail over. I heard on the DIS that this is not allowed but when I checked in I had a long conversation with the CM and he said it was allowed. As long as you have a WDW parking pass, you can park anywhere on property.

Have a great trip!

 

[georgemoe]

While I haven't had a need for it, why not take a cab in the morning? If you only need it for a couple days to get to rope drop I would do it. No lost time for parking/trams, probably cheaper, and no return hassles. I'll be going to SSR for the first time in December. I'll get to experience the bus service first hand.

 

[BostonDisneyKid]

In your opinion....do you think the bus situation will finally be resolved by the week before Easter, or that there will be extra busses for the throngs of guests, or should we hedge our bets and rent a car?

Me personally, I would not stay at SSR (or OKW) without a car based on the size of the resort and distance between locations alone. Not to mention the convenience of not having to wait for buses and/or being able to go where you want, when you want. The benefits far out weigh the cost, to myself. Factor in the (lack of) bus service at SSR specifically and its a no brainer - rent the car!!!

 

[bczang]

While I haven't had a need for it, why not take a cab in the morning? If you only need it for a couple days to get to rope drop I would do it. No lost time for parking/trams, probably cheaper, and no return hassles. I'll be going to SSR for the first time in December. I'll get to experience the bus service first hand.

How often can you go an entire week without driving your car and dealing with the traffic and stress with tons of people on the road and parking...only in WDW for me! We drive from NC to WDW and park our car on day one and get back in it to go home. I think georgemoe has a GREAT suggestion - we may even do this on our next trip. For us, the benefits of no worry transportation throughout WDW outweigh waiting on busses once an a while.

 

[della]

My husband usually does not want any part of a car on vacation. But with our last trip (Jan 08 at SSR) we had to rent a car to get from the airport in Tampa to WDW (couldn't turn down $32 r/t airfare from NJ to Tampa). We actually used the car a lot. Much more than we had anticipated. We used it to run to the store (both the supermarket and the store at SSR), the main pool, and a couple of times to the parks. We even made a very late night trip to the 24 hour McDonald's for sundaes-everything else was closed. It was so much easier putting my 2 yr old in his carseat at closing time rather than holding him on a crowded bus. Two of my children are legally blind and we have a handicap placard-so we did not deal with trams and such.