rent a car?

[ktlm]

I just want to be sure you realize that Animal Kingdom Lodge is 12 miles from MK. You still have to get out to your car from the room, then drive to the MK/TTC lot, then get from the MK lot to the monorail/ferry, then ride the monorail/ferry to MK. I don't think you will be saving much time, if any there. The bus goes straight from AKL to the gate area of MK (no ferry or monorail required).

You might save some time driving to GF from AKL (although you are still looking at over 10 miles) because there is no direct bus between the two. You would have to go from AKL to MK and then take a boat over to GF (or monorail). Driving you can go straight to GF.

We have never thought the time savings was worth the rental car cost though. We have always enjoyed just letting WDW cart us around and not having to worry about parking, driving in the traffic, etc.

 

[JayhawkFans]

We are having the same dilemma. Our recent trips have been with a rental car so I'm having a very hard time thinking about taking our whirlwind trip next month without a car. This trip will be just DD (age 11) and myself. We arrive at 3:00 p.m. on a Saturday and depart at 6:40 a.m. on Tuesday so just a couple of days to see & do everything.

DD wants to ride the busses .. I want to rent a car. I think I'll be too antsy waiting for the busses and definitely won't want to leave the hotel 3 hours prior to our departure. My experience has been that the early morning flights out of Orlando don't require a full 2 hours in the airport prior to departure. With a 6:40 a.m. flight we should be ok with leaving All Star Sports at about 4:30 right??? We will have gotten gas the day prior (and probably won't have used much gas at all) so no need to allow extra time for gassing up on our way to the airport.

Sorry .. didn't mean to hijack your thread . I'm not much help as I'm undecided myself ...

 

[carm424]

I don't feel hijacked! I just like that someone else is having the same feelings!

 

[k5thbeatle]

So after reading that it can take nearly an hour to get from AKL to the Grand Floridian and the same to Magic Kingdom (Is that true??.. .

Yeah if you're walking!

 

[FigmentChick]

Our family always rents a car and we usually get it from Dollar or Budget. I have also signed up for all the email alerts so I can get the jump on discounted rates. For us, it's just much more convenient and we have peace of mind having a car. My husband has a medical condition and if he needs to go back to the room, we wouldn't have the option of waiting around for a bus - it wouldn't be very pretty if we did.

Besides, the next trip we'll have our own car - we're taking the AutoTrain!

 

[Chief Powhatan]

Rent a car!

For the 9 days starting next Thursday, I got a car on Priceline for $10 a day. I love the monorail and the boats, but I don't want to spend my vacation waiting on the disney buses.

 

[msjprincess]

I've always been one to say the buses aren't that bad, but last May I went down there with a friend who rents a car and could not believe the difference. So when I took my mom down there both Sept 1st-8th and then again Oct 27th-Nov 4th, I rented a car. I'll never be down there without a car again. I loved being able to drive from resort to resort or to any park in just a few minutes and not having to worry about getting a seat on a loud crowded bus. Getting around WDW is so so easy and I loved being able to run over to Wal Marts or Publix to pick up a few items to keep in the room, eating offsite for so much cheaper, if we want, being able to run out to the outlets, and over to Universal. I also liked being able to leave from the resort to get back to the airport when I wanted to. Using discount codes I paid like $125.00 for a midsize car for the Sept trip and $212.00 for a premium car for the Oct/Nov trip. My friend found a full size car for like $98.00 for the week last May. Well worth the expense.

I was the same way. I relied on WDW transportation for years and thought it was great. then we rented a car one year and couldn't believe the difference. Especially going from resort to resort. Now I would never go without a car. I book one ASAP and then keep checking for better rates. Last year we got a mid-size for 10 days for $159 including tax and fees.

 

[prairiesarah]

Honestly I didn't have a problem with buses to and from AKL - but I am used to taking buses. I found the longest time to get say to the Magic Kingdom or DTD was more like 30 minutes.

I think this is a great point here. I think it depends on whether you are used to taking buses/it taking a while to get anywhere from where you live or if you are used to getting everywhere fast and are not a fan of waiting for buses.

If you are used to getting everywhere fast and don't like the idea of waiting for buses, then having a car is probably a great idea. But for us, it isn't a big deal. My ds has a 45 minute bus ride to and from school everyday. And anytime I want to go to town it is a 25 minute drive from our house to the edge of the city. So 25 minutes sitting on the bus for us isn't a big deal. I am actually looking forward to not having to drive myself around.

 

[msjprincess]

Thanks! You guys are awesome! I love the Magical Express pick up and not having to worry about your bags, but I like the convience of getting to the parks and resorts when we want. It looks like I can get a car for about $12 a day. Budget is not really an issue in regards to a car or not, however I am big on convience and time! Two more weeks!!!!!pirate

We actually do both. DH picks up the rental and I take DME with the kids. We're able to rent a smaller car because we don't have to worry about fitting all of our luggage in the car. On the way to the airport we use Resort Airline Check-in before heading to the parks for the day. Then we all drive to the airport afterwards.