Rent car when staying at Caribbean Beach Resort?

[Joey04]

Hi Disboards!

Our family (me, wife, 4yo Son, 2yo Daughter) are planning to fly into Orlando, bringing our car seats, rent a car, pick up some groceries, and stay at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort Hotel. We would then use the rental car instead of Disney's public transportation.

We could save a lot canceling the rental car, but I am hardly familiar at all with Disney World, and I wanted some thoughts if keeping the rental car was still a good idea.

Canceling the car, and I am sure our kids would love the public transportation. I understand we can get free shuttles between the airport and Disney World, and that they have a service to take our luggage direct to our rooms, plus we wouldn't have to lug car seats. We wouldn't plan to leave Disney World, so we would just buy all of our food at Disney world because of the money we are saving from no car.

However, I have heard all bad stories about Disney's public transportation from this hotel, and that this hotel is widely spaced out, so that without a rental car, we waste a lot of time walking from our room to the bus stop, and waiting for the bus, and the slow routes the bus takes, which will significantly take away from park time and could add more stress every day.

So is it still a good idea to get a rental car staying at this hotel?

Thanks, all the advice we have gotten from this board has been gold.

Joey & Family

 

[Rella Bella]

Hey Joey!

In my opinion... especially since you're a first timer -- cancel the car --
and go with Disney transportation.

Disneyworld is huge, and in my opinion confusing to drive around. We didn't try it until our fourth trip and even then got turned around a few times because of exits being on the other side of the road and such.

As for time, it takes time to drive and park & walk in everywhere too... I don't think you'll save that much time, even if you're occasionally waiting for a bus. We only had one time during our week at CBR that we had any kind of wait for transport and it was only about 15 minutes.

One of the really great things about a Disneyworld vacation is the total removal from everyday life. When you're driving your own vehicle, hitting the grocery store and eating in your room you're not going to have as much of that separation.

Adjust your mind to the compete relaxation of spending time together as a family... whether you're in line for an attraction, waiting for the bus or eating turkey legs -- the physical change of "pace" is as wonderful as the vacation is a "change of pace" for your mind.

Have fun planning!

 

[tinabheart]

One of the things I appreciated the most when I visited CBR last year was that I drove my car to the airport - and never had to worry about parking or driving in traffic or fees or anything again, until I picked up my car at the airport and drove home!

It was very relaxing for me to not have to deal with any of that. It was a vacation like I never had before! Sure, you can't pin point exactly what moment you are going to arrive somewhere when you are relying on Disney transportation, but it didn't bother me at all, and I'm pretty much a control freak when it comes to driving, and being somewhere on time.

We never waited long at CBR for a bus, nor did we wait much at the parks and we were there over Spring Break! I suggest you become familiar with the transportation system, and you'll do fine. Enjoy! I can't wait to go back...and leave my car at the airport!

 

[G8RFAN]

There are times we get to WDW and never touch our car until we are ready to leave. Other times, it seems we almost always use our car. While some resorts lend itself to the convenience of cars and others do not, WDW transportation is never a bad choice. Yes, CBR is spread out. You may get a building like we did that was about as far away from Old Port Royale (food court) as possible (bldg 39), but I don't think we drove once to get there from our room. I have no problems with the buses, as they move thousands of people each day as efficiently as any bus system in the world.

 

[Catkramer]

I completely agree! I have been to Disneyworld twice, our third will be in February. I personally think that Disneyworld is a completely seperate city of its own, with its public transportation and that is part of the magic. "Do we take the boat across the lake or the bus to the transporation center?"

I have a 6 year old and a 2 1/2 year old autistic son and when we went to Disneyland (Disneyworld were prechildren trips), the monterail seemed to give them that cool down time before we got back to the room. In the mornings it is where they ate their snack bars on the way to the park.

I know when I went to Disneyland when I was little, I was always disappointed that we never used the disney transportation, but we never stayed in the parks either.

Now that we fly to Orlando (and LA) we use the Magical Express for FREE and never look back until we arrive home again.

And for me, the money you would save on the rental car is one extra disney character meal you could buy!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We like to have a car. We seem to be using it less and less as our kids get older, but we still like to have it for convenience, especially for going resort to resort, or somewhere quickly. We find WDW fairly easy to navigate, signage is good. Remember, CBR is in the Wide World of Sports Area, LOL (know well from our many stays next door at Pop). With a coupon from the Entertainment Book, we usually get an intermediate sized car from Alamo for around $150 (which is often upgraded to midsize when they're out of intermediate).

 

[jtlover]

We like having a car and staying on property you dont pay for parking at the parks - it is also quicker to get to the parks and back. You are not waiting around for the next coach - especially if you go in a hot month

 

[mamamary]

We stayed at CBR two weeks ago (our first time staying inside). We had a 7 and 9 year old. We found Disney Transportation to be great. We never had a long wait either coming or going. It would have been a total waste of money (for us) to have had a car.

 

[Jeanne B]

We rent a car when we stay onsite. We like the freedom it offers, you get free parking at the parks if you're staying at a WDW resort and it allows us to easily eat offsite which can save $$ as well as shop offsite (sometimes we need to make a run to the local WalMart, we always like to go to Festival Bay mall where there's a Bass Pro Shop, Ron Jon Surf Shop, etc). As much as we enjoy WDW it's nice to get outside the "world" a few times during our stay.

Check www.mousesavers.com for rental car discounts, maybe you can find a better deal than what you have currently.

 

[windi622]

I have been to Disney World 15 times in the past 16 years, beginning when I was 7 years old. My family has always stayed on Disney property, and we have never rented a car. We have always relied on Disney transportation, no matter which resort we stayed at. The Disney buses and such are one of the fun parts of our trips. Like another poster said, it completely removes you from reality. I would never do it any other way. Good luck!

 

[rie'smom]

We always use our rental car. It makes the trip more pleasant because we're on our schedule not a bus schedule. We also get to the parks faster. If you go to the web page I'm posting,there's a road map of WDW. Study it and you'll have no problems. Also,the road signs are excellent. Here's the link:
http://www.willcad.org/maps/misc/2004-12/wdw_trans.jpg
Whatever you decide,have a great trip!!

 

[catbertdave99]

I've never rented a car at WDW, regardless of where I've stayed. One of the things I like is that I park at the airport, and I am on vacation -- period. I don't have to drive anywhere, I don't have to sit in traffic, etc. I think Disney does a great job shuttling as many people around as they do -- I just try to go to the bus stops with the idea that they have thousands of people to shuttle, and if I have to wait, I have to wait -- but it never really takes too long. I know there are people who disagree, but I guess I'm pretty happy with how they do it, and I don't have to worry about driving.

The best part is when the bus zooms past the toll booths entering the parks and the lines of cars waiting to get in!

 

[coastgirl]

Our children are 6 and (almost) 4, and we'll be at CBR for 16 (!) days in Jan/Feb. We're renting a car. We have a bunch of stuff we want to do at other resorts, we want to go to Cape Canaverel, and we like to go shopping and eat off-world. We rented on our first trip to Orlando in May, and did ok, though I have to admit there were one or two times we weren't using our inside voices, and got a little lost. My dh generally has a phenomenal sense of direction, and we always rent where-ever we go. Our trip is quite long, and it does make sense for us to have that flexibility. We are also control freaks and would rather be waiting in our own car than standing around at someone else's "mercy". FWIW. We've travelled with their car seats a lot, and it's a minor pain but not huge. Car seats are usually not counted as part of your luggage allowance, and in our experience the airline bags them for us. I also don't much like having them NOT in car seats even on huge buses, and I hate the thought of things being so crowded they'd have to stand. Came close to this on our trip in May when we were staying at the Animal Kingdom.

Hope that helps--it's pretty much what your family is comfortable with, I think.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

we always like to go to Festival Bay mall where there's a Bass Pro Shop, Ron Jon Surf Shop, etc).

Jeanne, my DH would like to know where these are, please. Thanks!

 

[Joey04]

Thanks for all of the responses.

I forgot to mention another concern about not having a car.

For those of you without rental cars, do you take resort breaks in the middle of the days you go to the parks? I can see this would be easy if we were staying on the monorail route, but at CBR, we'd be taking the bus 4 times during the day if we took resort breaks in the middle of park days.

Thanks!!!

Joey

 

[ElizabethB]

We always get a car. We used to rely on bus transportation til we figured out that everything is really close to everything else and the signage is excellent. We like to go over to the other resorts for dinner and if we tried to do it by bus we'd have to get a bus from our resort to a park and then change at the park to a bus going to the resort where we're dining. We can't be bothered with all of that. We've found that a trip that takes 45 minutes by Disney bus can be done in 5-10 minutes with a car.

We recently stayed at CSR. We were able to park the car very close to our room and, it was so easy to head the kids out to the car that we never once took a bus anywhere. I think a car makes it easier to get back to your resort for a nap, etc. I haven't stayed at CBR but I think it's designed similarly to CSR, making it easy to park the car close to your room. Perhaps someone can confirm that for you.

The only place we sometimes take a bus rather than a car is Magic Kingdom because once you park there, you have to take the tram followed by either the monorail or the ferry. With the bus, you're let off at the park gate. The kids enjoy the monorail ride, though, so we often drive and park at MK, too.

I'm not sure why people like the buses so much.

 

[Jeanne B]

Jeanne, my DH would like to know where these are, please. Thanks!

www.shopfestivalbaymall.com

Click on mall info, then click on "locate us" in the drop down info. We really enjoy this mall although we haven't been to any of the other malls in Orlando so we have nothing to compare to. It's grown so much since we first started going 4 or 5 years back, they also have a Vans skatepark and there's a Ron Jon Surfpark opening up next year.

 

[windi622]

Joey, in response to your concern about resort breaks...we always take them. I had mentioned that after 15 trips, I have still never rented a car. I have also never spent 1 full day in a park. We enjoy the flexibility of catching a bus at lunch time, taking it back to the resort for lunch and a swim. Then taking another bus back to a different resort for dinner (or after dinner). Everyone's preferences are different, but my family has never considered a rental. We are happy as clams doing it with Disney transportation. You have to do what makes you comfortbale, but in this little mousketeers opinion, Disney transportation is top of the line!

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Thanks for all of the responses.

I forgot to mention another concern about not having a car.

For those of you without rental cars, do you take resort breaks in the middle of the days you go to the parks? I can see this would be easy if we were staying on the monorail route, but at CBR, we'd be taking the bus 4 times during the day if we took resort breaks in the middle of park days.

Thanks!!!

Joey

We always rent a car - we take resort breaks, we take the busses in the morning, go to the Park, take the bus back to the resort, swim, shower, then drive back to the parks....and stay till closing. This way we don't have to wait in the lines at the end of the night. A

Also, what we do to utilize Magic Express is we rent the car from Budget at the Doubletree hotel at DTD. This way we don't have to deal with luggage - we usually pick up the car the next day, DH will take the kids to the pool, I hop the DTD bus and pick up the car. I can't speak for returning it because when we leave Disney we head to South Florida for a week to relax .

We also like the car because we are not Park Commandos (we only hit 2 parks in 6 days), we like to eat our meals at the other Resorts and driving IMO is the ONLY way to get there. I won't take 2 busses, a boat and monorail to meet even Mickey. (I exaggerated a bit on the all the modes of transport).

 

[cruiserkaren]

I'd vote for cancelling the car. We always take afternoon breaks and use Disney transportation. My dd (now 3) LOVES the busses. For her it's so cool to get to be in a moving vehicle and not be in a car seat. She also calls them her "school busses."

For us the great thing about being at Disney is no traffic jams, no directions, no getting lost, no looking at any maps, no toll roads.....we love just not having to drive on vacation. It's such a relief with no car seats, no buckles, no lugging.....etc, you get the picture.

Good luck with your decision.