Rental car and check in questions

[Hattrix]

HI!
I can't wait to take my family to WDW late Aug this year! I have a strange plan and I want to get the expert's advice. I'll list things in the order of how I hope they can work.

1. Fly to Ft Lauderdale to visit friends for 2 days. The night of day 2 with them I'd like to RENT a car in Ft Lauderdale to drive up to WDW the next day.
2. I want to get to our hotel REALLY early, drop off all of our bags, then drive to Universal for a full day there. QUESTION #1 If my check in at WDW isn't until much after we actually get there, will the hotel hold our bags until we actually get back from Universal later in the evening?
   
3. So we just finished our full day at Universal and need to get back to our WDW hotel. I still have the rental car at Universal. QUESTION #2 What's the best way to get back to our WDW hotel and turn in our rental car that night? I'm a planner and am nervous about just "winging it" and getting a cab. Do the rental car places have service to take people to their hotels after the car gets returned? Do the rental car companies come get the car from you if you tell them where your hotel is?

These are the 2 biggest questions I have. Once I can resolve these, I think I'll be booking the trip.
Thanks in advance for reading and help!

 

[cedricandsophie]

The hotel will hold your bags. But the rental car question depends on where you drop off. At the airport? You would either have to fake a flight into orlando and request Magic express about the same time. Or take a taxi. Yu might be able to drop off at a rental place at another hotel if your rental car dealer has one. I doubt if they would take you to hotel. But if you dropped off at one of the non Disney hotels close to Disney springs you could walk to DS and catch a bus back to hotel. I thnk Alamo has a rental car place close to the Magic Kingdom parking lot. If you used Alamo you migh be able to drop off there and they might provide service directly to the hotel. You should check out rental car companies close to Disney before you reserve a car. Or there may be some companies that actually have offices in a hotel. Also make sure there isn't a drop off charge because you aren't returning to same place. There usually isn't in Florida, but you should confirm.

 

[wdwfan1]

Last year we had a 2 day stay at WDW followed by a 4 night Disney Cruise, followed by a 5 night stay at WDW. We used Budget car rental and took the car from the airport to AOA. We took the car to the port and dropped it at the Budget nearby. After the cruise we rented another car from Budget and returned it to the Hilton on resorts boulevard. (I think that is the name of the street) It was all the way down the road but the walk back to DS wasn't bad. We then caught the bus to Boardwalk. It was the best was I could work things out without spending a fortune. Obviously you would drop the cruise part. Have a great vacation.

 

[purple figment]

Question 1: You can check into your resort any time after 6 AM, although your room probably won't be ready, but you can leave your luggage with bell services for the day.

Question 2: It depends on what company you are renting the car from, what time you are turning it in and where you plan to drop it off. Many rental car companies have an office near DW. If you choose any of the rental companies in the Hotel Plaza area you could walk to Disney Springs and utilize Disney transportation to your resort. Onsite are National and Alamo which have 2 locations (Car Care Center near the MK parking lot and at the Dolphin). During business hours the Car Care Center has a shuttle that can take you to your resort. The Dolphin is a 24 hour drop off site and you can use Disney transportation or a taxi to get to your resort. I have not heard of any rental company that will pick up the car at your resort.

 

[Hattrix]

Thanks for all the replies. You guys ROCK!

A friend of mine said that most major rental car companies have a place at Orlando Airport so I should just drop it off there because there's a Disney shuttle that takes anyone at the airport to the resorts. Is that what you mean by Magic Express cedricandsophie? So I'd have to reserve a spot? Is that what you meant by "request" Magic Express?

...You would either have to fake a flight into orlando and request Magic express about the same time....

Sorry for all the clarifications, but I'm not sure what DS or AOA or MK mean.

 

[Day-Day]

There is a sticky thread at the top of the Transportation forum concerning Car rental locations for WDW. Alamo and National provide shuttle service between Disney resorts (and maybe other Disney locations) and the Disney Car Care Center where their rental cars are located. I've read that some of the other rental car companies provide shuttles to Disney resorts as well but don't know. I think it would be a bigger hassle to go back to the airport for vehicle drop-off even if you can get the Magical Express. You may not be able to used Magical Express since you aren't flying into Orlando Airport (MCO) but I don't know much on how it works.

The disboards also has A List of Common Abbreviations thread. There are way too many abbreviations that posters use without an initial showing of what the abbreviation is; it can get very frustrating reading some posts.

 

[purple figment]

Thanks for all the replies. You guys ROCK!

1. A friend of mine said that most major rental car companies have a place at Orlando Airport so I should just drop it off there because there's a Disney shuttle that takes anyone at the airport to the resorts. Is that what you mean by Magic Express cedricandsophie? So I'd have to reserve a spot? Is that what you meant by "request" Magic Express?



2. Sorry for all the clarifications, but I'm not sure what DS or AOA or MK mean.

1. Your friend is correct that most major rental companies have a MCO (Orlando Airport) location, but most likely they will also have a location in or very near Disney World (DW) itself. You could drop the car off at MCO and take Disney's Magical Express (DME) to your resort in DW as long as the resort is operated by Disney. Where are you staying? Anyone staying at a Disney owned resort is entitled to one round trip between MCO and DW during the dates of their stay. If you decide to use DME you will need to call them at (866) 599-0951 or reserve online in advance. You can either look up a flight arriving around the time you want to ride DME or just tell the person on the phone you have a resort reservation and need to get to DW - you don't have to be flying into MCO to use DME.

Most of the main car rental companies have offices in or near DW so I would price the rental to see if it is cheaper to drop it off at MCO or an office in/near DW. The hours at offices in/near DW may be limited so check if you expect to do a late night drop off to see if there is an after hours drop off arrangement. As I mentioned in my previous post, National and Alamo can be dropped off 24/7 to the valet at the Dolphin in the Epcot Resorts area.

2. Abbreviations. The list Day-Day linked is fairly extensive, but for the ones you mentioned: DS is Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney), AOA is Art of Animation Resort and MK is Magic Kingdom.