Rental Car and dropping off party at Port first.

CRSNDSNY

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 4, 2002
Has anyone here had a rental car to Port, dropped off their party at Port and then returned their rental car?

If so, what did the rest of the party do while waiting for the person that was returning their rental?

I don't want to take my daughter in the rental car shuttle because of the lack of car seat usage, so I would rather have my husband drop her and I off at port and then he can go return the rental car.

Where do we wait for him?

My only other thought is to just get the rental for the week and pay to keep it at port. I guess at least then we wouldn't have to worry about schlepping her car seat onboard with us.

Any thoughts?
 
I did exactly that. I dropped off my wife and daughter and all our luggage and most of the carryons, while I returned the rental car. She went through security and got in the check-in line, and by the time I got back she was nearing the front of the line. I believe she could have checked us all in without me being there (she had the tickets and my passport; I had my driver's license so I could get through security) but she didn't get that far. I am not 100% positive so maybe someone else can verify.

The terminal isn't that big, so you shouldn't have a problem finding him when he gets back.

I believe your room host would be able to stow the carseat while you are on the cruise. It's worth the effort to confirm this to save the $$ on the rental and parking fees!
 
Thank you for sharing your experiences with me. I know it sounds hokey, but I think that the three of us want to enter the terminal together. It is my daughter's first Disney Cruise and since we've gone through so much to have her and DCL is special to my husband and I (we've honeymooned on DCL and even cruised while pg with daughter), it is something we want to do together. :goodvibes

Do you think they'd let my daughter and I hang out outside while we wait for him in the area where the rental transport vans drop you off?

BTW -- It looks like we'll be at Fl&G Festival at the same time as you this year! We'll be there May 6 - 12th. Have a wonderful time!
 
We have had rental cars and parked them at the terminal during our cruise. It is quite convienient to be able to walk to your auto and leave as soon as you depart the ship. The parking fee does not amount to much in comparison to the other expenses of your cruise but you have to weigh the added expense of the days that you are paying the rental car and it is sitting idle. When we did this it was on 3 and 4 day cruises when we were going to WDW from the ship and wanted a rental while at the parks.

John
 


Yes, I would bet that they would let you wait for him out at the shuttle drop off area if that is what you wanted to do. :teeth:
We have done the same thing (DH dropping off the rental car) except, we did not wait and went inside, checked in and enjoyed an empty terminal for a little bit. But that was important to me. I also wanted an earlier boarding number....

Here is what we did about the car seat problem. We have a DS3 and instead of bringing his carseat, we just rented one with the van we rented at Budget to get to the port, and then rented one afterwards for our few day van rental at WDW. It may cost 7 bucks a day, but we never had to drag one around with us. There are threads about carseats on excursions and how there is no way to use them anyways, so taking them on the ship is mostly a waste....we are doing this on our next cruise as well. With 6 in our family, we have enough to lug around....lol :wizard:
 
BTW, most car companies including Budget charge $9 for a carseat. On mousesavers.com or maybe even Budget's website, there is a printable coupon for a free carseat if you have an American Express card. You don't have to use the card for the car, but you do have to show them you have it.

Now I have to rethink this carseat thing. We were going to rent one anyway for our DD4, but now I'm wondering if I should rent another one for our younger DD 20 months. The thing is I know she'll sleep in hers (on the plane and in the car). Does anyone know what brand carseats they have?
 
My hubby dropped me and the luggage at the port and then went to take our Budget rental car back. In the mean time, I got the luggage to the porter, went through security and went up and checked in. I had hubbys passport, he kept his drivers license so he could get back into the terminal and go through security. After that we were good to go. I had both kttw cards, he just had to find me in the terminal. No problem there.

Definately have everyone in your party dropped at the terminal and let one person take the rental car back. Port is very easy to find.
 


kstelzner said:
BTW, most car companies including Budget charge $9 for a carseat. On mousesavers.com or maybe even Budget's website, there is a printable coupon for a free carseat if you have an American Express card. You don't have to use the card for the car, but you do have to show them you have it.
That is good to know. We'd probably go with Budget rental since we've had good luck with them in the past. Plus, I have an AMEX, so a free carseat rental would be great. Thanks!
 
Your DH will drop you off on the side of the terminal, the proters will take your luggage and then direct you to the front of the building to go through security. I would think (if it isn't too hot) that you could cross and wait for him where the rental drop off place is or you could wait in the terminal but not get into the line to go through security since you want to go upstairs together.
 
Does anyone know if one person can do all the check in at the terminal (while DH drops off the car), or will he still have to go up and show his picture ID and get his KTTW once he gets there?
Thanks,
DJ
 
How does this work with the new on-line checkin? Before I would just tear out the pages needed for check in from my DH's docs and he would take the doc "book" for him when he returned the rental. I would have his passport and he would keep his DL. When he returned, he had his doc "book" and his DL. Now, there is no individual doc "book" for each person. I'm hoping this won't cause a problem. Any recent cruisers have experience with the new docs?

TIA

UMTerp
 
webray said:
My hubby dropped me and the luggage at the port and then went to take our Budget rental car back. In the mean time, I got the luggage to the porter, went through security and went up and checked in. I had hubbys passport, he kept his drivers license so he could get back into the terminal and go through security. After that we were good to go. I had both kttw cards, he just had to find me in the terminal. No problem there.

Definately have everyone in your party dropped at the terminal and let one person take the rental car back. Port is very easy to find.


So if I am understanding this the right way. Your husband dropped off the family and luggage. He keeps his Drive License, returns the rental car and meets you in the terminal.

You in the mean time check in all luggage and the family including your husband and then your husband just meets up with you and you can board?

So he doesn't have to show ID to anyone that he is the "person" who is suppose to be getting on the ship?

I know that he showed his DL when he went thru security, but you are able to get his KTTW card without him showing ID for it?

Do you have to go thru security again before you board the ship?

Thanks
 
Your DH will have to show his ID to the CM who checked your family in to get his KTTW card.

Melody, you & Dd can go into the terminal & go thru security, get the early boarding number, then you can either go back outside to wait for DH or stay off to the side to wait for your DH to get there.
 
The thing you should know about this is, there's a HUGE LINE of cars as they go through several rounds of security checks just to get to the Disney terminal. So, your DH will have to go through this twice. They check everyone's ID in the car, then your car moves a few feet, then they check everyone's ID again and their tickets, then you move a few feet, and they do it again! IT's not a fast process.

No one mentioned this ever, and I was shocked to find it. You won't be able to just zip into the port and drop off your stuff.
 
lbgraves said:
Your DH will have to show his ID to the CM who checked your family in to get his KTTW card.

Melody, you & Dd can go into the terminal & go thru security, get the early boarding number, then you can either go back outside to wait for DH or stay off to the side to wait for your DH to get there.


So if I check in my entire family including my husband, who is returning the rental car. When does he show his ID to the CM to get his KTTW card?

If I am already done checking everyone, does he cut in front of everyone to get to the CM that checked us all in?

Thanks for trying to explain all of this to me. I would love to be able to do this the right way when we first this summer.
 
Ive used both budget and avis.

We have 3 kids and just all pile in the van for the trip to the port.....

Easy, especially early in the morning.
 
moet7 said:
So if I check in my entire family including my husband, who is returning the rental car. When does he show his ID to the CM to get his KTTW card?

If I am already done checking everyone, does he cut in front of everyone to get to the CM that checked us all in?

A great question, moet7. As the one who will be returning our rental car to Budget, I have wondered the very same thing. Do I come back, find DW and DD, ask them which CM they checked in with, then go get in that CM's line?
 
Billinaz said:
Ive used both budget and avis.

We have 3 kids and just all pile in the van for the trip to the port.....

Easy, especially early in the morning.
To each's own, I know, but I do not want my baby in a moving vehicle if she is not in a carseat. That is part of what I am trying to avoid.
 
Billinaz said:
Ive used both budget and avis.

We have 3 kids and just all pile in the van for the trip to the port.....

Easy, especially early in the morning.


This is what we're going to do to. I consider the shuttle van like a bus, and the buses don't have seatbelts for use for car seats, either.

Honestly, we'd never be able to travel at all if we weren't willing to take a bus without a car seat. In many airports, you have to take the shuttlebus to get the car in the first place.
 
In my experience, you are correct that you find your spouse and move to the front (off to the side) line of the CM who checked in your family. When CM finishes with her current family, she will allow you to flash your photo ID and will hand you your KTTW card. Since you are not "checking in' (spouse has already done that), it will take a matter of a few seconds. You then join your family in the line waiting to board.

As to the line of cars entering the port--it really varies with time. SOmetimes it flows very smoothly, other times there is a bit of a wait at each check station. You can facilitate things by having your travel documents and photo IDs ready for the security people at each point.

I find the system of dropping off the family at the porter's area and returning the rental car to be the most efficient system of checking in. It is far easier to have a space on the rental place's shuttle for a single person, no luggage than for a family with luggage!
 

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