Rental Car from Ft. Lauderdale to WDW

[OhThePain]

My fiancee and I are thinking of ideas for our honeymoon next year. One idea we are tossing around is a cruise to the Panama Canal. If we decide to do a round trip PC cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale we were considering heading to WDW for a few days for F&W. My guess is it will be easiest for us to rent a car and drive from Ft. Lauderdale to WDW, but I have no idea how rental car services work. Has anyone rented a car just to drive from Ft. Lauderdale to WDW and how did you go about doing it? Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.

TIA!

 

[goofy4tink]

Shouldn't be an issue at all. You could rent it at Ft Lauderdale International, drive to WDW, then drive to MCO and return the car. I have made the drive before...it's long, about 3.5 hrs. Hop on the Florida Turnpike and head north. I drove down on the turnpike and then switched over to 95.....big mistake. I should have just stayed on the turnpike...much easier drive.
So, when you book a rental car....just plug in FtL as your pickup office and MCO as your drop off.

 

[SteveMouse]

It's pretty easy. In fort lauderdale, the port and the airport generally share car rental counters (or at least fleets as they are just a few minutes apart.

You do want to ensure there is no drop off fee (I've never run into one in Florida, but one never knows if the rule might change. With the rifght coupon/membership/code the second driver (spouse) may be free-you both need to appear at the counter and might have to show a copy of your marriage license if your photo IDs dome have the same address and/off last name.

Once you pick up the car there can be no traffic lights between you and WDW. Take 595 to florida's turnpike, exit appropriately for Disney (depending on day and time) and have fun!

In making the reservation, you could select the Car Care Center as dropoff from se rental car companies and then take ME to the airport (assuming you're staying on site). You could also drop @ MCo. Do be careful about drop fees- they may be more likely at non-airport locations.

-steve

 

[OhThePain]

Thank you so much for your quick replies. We would probably look to get rid of the car once we are checked in to whatever resort we end up with (and since it would mostly be for F&W, I'm going to push for BWI). Right now we are just tossing around ideas. I've been playing around with prices and a 10 night partial PC transit on Princess, plus 4 nights at BWI runs about the same as the 14 night full PC transit. That doesn't count the difference in airfare, price increases from this year to next, cost of a rental car, food or any discount we might be able to get.

Do you know about how much the cost of the rental might be and how much drop off fees I might expect? And where is the Car Care Center where we would be able to drop off the car?

 

[SteveMouse]

Rates can vary significantly on time of year and company. I've rented for $9.95 a day to $25.95 (I won't pay more) (plus fees) for a midsize or full-size.

You shouldn't expect a drop fee, but if there is one, it may be around $99.

If you try reserve and there's a feee to drop the car at the CCC, change the drop point to MCO- you may very well find there's no drop charge. You'd be entitled to take ME from the airport to WDW as long as you have a reservation- you could drop your bags @ the hotel before such a transfer, but it would take a wile. You pretty much drive by the airport from FLL to WDW (more or less, depending on which exit you use off of the turnpike). The 3.5 hours is just about right on the time.

You could TRY to drop at the Swolfin (Swan/Dolphin)- I think it's Alamo that has cars there. It would be a 5 minute walk back to the hotel. Again, watch the drop fee.

 

[Chris2597]

We are doing the opposite itinerary from you. We are arriving at MCO, doing Disney for a week and renting a car at the Hilton in Downtown Disney with Avis and dropping a week later in Ft. L. We currently have a rate of 273.00 for the week for a full size car, with a 35.00 off coupon at rental. So the total should be 238.00. I also found a rate of 290.00 at Alamo with pick up at Shades of Green (our hotel) and drop off in Ft. L.
We rented a car for a week last June in Ft. L and dropped at MCO for less than 125.00 total. I am hoping for a price drop by June.
You can make rental reservation without charge or credit card info. I check every day or so for price drops or new coupon codes.
Prices were 515.00 without taxes and fees when I first started looking in January. Thankfully, they have dropped to the current price.

 

[goofy4tink]

Shouldn't be a drop-off fee. If I were you, I would just go for convenience. Rent through Alamo/National. If you stay at BWI, you can return the car to the Dolphin and then just walk back over to the BW. You can drive right to BW, check-in, dump your bags in your room, and then drive over to the Dolphin..takes about 5 mins to drive there, if that. Then walk back...about 5 mins again.
I wouldn't count on getting a rental for much less than $35 a day....rental prices are going through the roof now. But, if you don't need it for more than a day, it shouldn't be too expensive.

 

[Chris2597]

I am seeing on just about every search that the rental companies are charging or maybe it is the hotels a fee, called a concession fee. It is pretty pricey.

We have rented a car coming off a cruise in Ft. I think it was with Dollar and another time with Enterprise. They had shuttles at the port that took us to the pick up location.