Rent a car???

[WDWOswald]

It will cost me about $220 plus $12 a day parking to rent a car for the 4 days we will be visiting Disneyland. It will cost about $60 to take the disneyland bus round trip for the two of us to get to LAX.

Our plans are:

Wednesday: Arrive at 12:30 pm, get to hotel (sheraton garden grove) have dinner at disneyland hotel.

Thursday: Disneyland all day

Friday: California Adventure all day

Saturday: Explore southern cali OR go back to disneyland

Sunday: Check out of hotel. Back to cali adventure or disneyland. Check in to hotel by LAX by 9 pm.

Monday: Up at 4 am to catch 7:05 am flight

 

[pennyring]

Whoa. That's way too much! What are your dates? Which airport? Are you particular on car rental company? Are you particular about car size?

Oh I see, it's LAX. Yeah, def way too much for LAX.

Seriously. I've paid $11/day renting out of LAX. $220 for 5 days is ridiculous.

 

[CrabbyPatty]

Does your hotel has a shuttle or are you taking ART to the parks? If so, you might be just fine without renting a car for your stay, IMHO.

If you don't have definite plans for your day exploring SoCal, you might want to consider taking Amtrak or the Metrolink down to San Clemente for the day. I was investigating this earlier when trying to figure out what to day with an 'extra' day where we wouldn't be going to the parks (thanks to the 5-day PH cap). Metrolink has a $10 weekend pass, FYI.

 

[WDWOswald]

Whoa. That's way too much! What are your dates? Which airport? Are you particular on car rental company? Are you particular about car size?

Oh I see, it's LAX. Yeah, def way too much for LAX.

Seriously. I've paid $11/day renting out of LAX. $220 for 5 days is ridiculous.

Well, I think it's ridiculous too. However, priceline has rejected my bids of $20 a day, and the cheapest of the cheap rates on hotwire are at least $34/ day and tax adds up to quite a bit with renting cars.

 

[deetman]

For some reason, car rentals at LAX seem to be MUCH more expensive this year. I rented a convertible for 8 days in June 2011 for about $350 inclusive. This year, in September, it's closer to $700!!

Not sure why.

Scott

 

[Disney_Fanatic]

Well, I think it's ridiculous too. However, priceline has rejected my bids of $20 a day, and the cheapest of the cheap rates on hotwire are at least $34/ day and tax adds up to quite a bit with renting cars.

What are your dates? We are renting from LAX for 10 days in early July and our rental will cost $180.

 

[Mama Who]

It will cost me about $220 plus $12 a day parking to rent a car for the 4 days we will be visiting Disneyland. It will cost about $60 to take the disneyland bus round trip for the two of us to get to LAX.

Our plans are:

Wednesday: Arrive at 12:30 pm, get to hotel (sheraton garden grove) have dinner at disneyland hotel.

Thursday: Disneyland all day

Friday: California Adventure all day

Saturday: Explore southern cali OR go back to disneyland

Sunday: Check out of hotel. Back to cali adventure or disneyland. Check in to hotel by LAX by 9 pm.

Monday: Up at 4 am to catch 7:05 am flight

If it's not too nosy, can we have your dates? Someone here may be able to find you a better rate. Some of the posters here have mad juju.

 

[papamouse1]

another thought would be to use Disney transport, then just rent a car for 1 day from Alamo in Downtown Disney. Then no parking fees for the days you won't use it. I think by the time you add the Express cost and 1 day cost, and parking fees, would be cheaper to rent for 1 day. Also, if you rent from airport, you need a car big enough for ALL your luggage, but for 1 day rental, just need something small to fit your bodies

<EDIT> I ran a quick check and it looks like a a compact 1 day rental during a summer Saturday would be around $50 or less... that's without any discounts. You can also have the rental added to your Disneyland package if you booked one

 

[SeattleRedBear]

another thought would be to use Disney transport, then just rent a car for 1 day from Alamo in Downtown Disney. Then no parking fees for the days you won't use it. I think by the time you add the Express cost and 1 day cost, and parking fees, would be cheaper to rent for 1 day. Also, if you rent from airport, you need a car big enough for ALL your luggage, but for 1 day rental, just need something small to fit your bodies

<EDIT> I ran a quick check and it looks like a a compact 1 day rental during a summer Saturday would be around $50 or less... that's without any discounts. You can also have the rental added to your Disneyland package if you booked one

Shuttle between airport/hotel ($32 RT/PP), shuttle back/forth to park ($6/day/PP) and then rent the car from Enterprise (We deliver!) for a day for $30. Some savings (maybe $90 including the hotel parking) but much less flexibility. I'm pretty shocked at that rate out of LAX. The most I've paid for a car in the LA area is $35/day from LGB.

 

[sherilaine]

That is expensive for 4 nights - we rented an SUV at LAX this May for 11 nights and it was only $380 including all taxes and fees - and that was from Budget which are not the cheapest place you can rent from.

I'd say you need to shop around more.

I would never go there without renting a car - I love the flexibility if offers.

 

[Freesia123]

Eek! I just phoned budget for July 1"16-23 and they want $900! Pickup at lax, drop off John Wayne.

 

[Disney_Fanatic]

Eek! I just phoned budget for July 1"16-23 and they want $900! Pickup at lax, drop off John Wayne.

Midsize at National from LAX to SNA from 7/16-7/23 is around $270 if you use the KLM code with the $25 off weekly rate coupon. I can PM you the codes if this helps.

 

[sherilaine]

Eek! I just phoned budget for July 1"16-23 and they want $900! Pickup at lax, drop off John Wayne.

Picking up from one location and dropping off at another always costs way more than just dealing with one location.

I just did a quote for those dates returning it to LAX instead of SNA and it was only $450 - for a full size vehicle.

 

[jdb in AZ]

The last time we rented a car it just sat in the hotel parking lot the whole time we were there. So now we just take the shuttle or a cab.

A one-day rental makes a lot more sense than renting the whole time, especially if you decide to spend an extra day at Disneyland. If you do rent for one day, how much would you save by returning the rental to DTD then catching the shuttle back to the airport?

 

[thunderbird1]

Those airport surcharges can really add up, lol. I second the vote for using an airport shuttle and renting a car locally. We looked into renting a car from LAX for 6 days at the end of this month, and it was something like $260. Then we looked into renting a car locally for 3 days over the weekend (Fri through Mon am) and it was only $65. (Adding an extra day upped the cost to $160.)

Even with 4 people we can get a shuttle for under $100 to and from LAX, plus then we don't have to drive to and from the airport. We're renting from AVIS, which is just a block or so away from our hotel (CCI). We're still saving $100 over renting a car at the airport, and we save ourselves from having the hassle of having to rent a car at the airport, plus the extra cost of gas.

If which days you need the car are flexible, it's best to play around with your dates online and see what happens. Like I said, shifting the days or adding an extra day nearly tripled our costs. Don't forget about any discount cards you might have--AAA, AARP, state/fed employees, company discounts, etc. We scored our $65 for 3 days rate using a Costco discount and Costco coupon for one weekend day free.

 

[wadisneydad]

General rule for getting good prices on car rentals: book your car rental about 7-10 days before you need the car. We rented a full size car out of LAX for 10 days last year in July for $245 out the door. I've always booked with Thrifty. I sign up for their blue chip rewards program (free) and get to skip the counter lines and go to the blue chip counter. Of course if you have the need to book a popular type of car (SUV, convertible), waiting until the week before to book may not help.

 

[sherilaine]

General rule for getting good prices on car rentals: book your car rental about 7-10 days before you need the car. We rented a full size car out of LAX for 10 days last year in July for $245 out the door. I've always booked with Thrifty. I sign up for their blue chip rewards program (free) and get to skip the counter lines and go to the blue chip counter. Of course if you have the need to book a popular type of car (SUV, convertible), waiting until the week before to book may not help.

This is what we did as well - I booked a reservation months out just to make sure I'd get the type I wanted - but about two weeks from our trip I began searching for lower prices and got our price down from $570 to $390 for 11 days with an SUV. It was quite a change in price and I was able to cancel my original reservation without any penalty.

I also sign up for the different rental car memberships as they are free - the Fastpass at Budget is great - your vehicle is waiting for you with your name on the dashboard - you get in, drive to the exit and all is handled there while you are sitting in your car, not waiting in line at a counter. There are many ways to save time if you plan ahead.

 

[maburke]

Don't forget about any discount cards you might have--AAA, AARP, state/fed employees, company discounts, etc. We scored our $65 for 3 days rate using a Costco discount and Costco coupon for one weekend day free.

I second the vote for Costco -- their new website is so much easier to navigate. They check all the discounts and coupons for you, instead of the old way where you had to check each company one at a time. Also, with Costco, you get an extra driver for free, which we find very helpful.

One company you might check that Costco does not is Advantage. When I did a one-way rental recently from Houston to Austin, their one-way fee plus their ultra-low rate was way cheaper than everyone else's sky-high daily rate.

 

[stacy~**]

I am renting out of Burbank in July for 10 days and currently have a rate of $220 through AAA . Everywhere else, including Costco was almost double do I strongly suggest AAA!

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Well, I think it's ridiculous too. However, priceline has rejected my bids of $20 a day, and the cheapest of the cheap rates on hotwire are at least $34/ day and tax adds up to quite a bit with renting cars.

I got my Wife a full size car on Priceline last night out of SNA for $20/day. That's the good news, bad news is orientation trip for her and DD to CSU Long Beach and no DL!