Rental car or transfers??? Hotels? So confused!

kkmcan

Official Mouse Fan
Joined
Apr 23, 2003
I am trying to get some plans made for our Nov. cruise and I'm just getting confused over all the different options.

1) Should we rent a car at the airport or do taxi or transfers? Then if we do taxi or transfer then we have to pay for shuttle to the port from our hotel. How much would a taxi be approx. from airport to hotel? I've read that some hotels offer $4 pp/per trip for shuttle service to the port. That sounds decent but how much would a taxi run us?

2) Hotel for the night before cruise? Closest to port, or cheapest and/or one that offers shuttle service?

If I knew where all the hotels were then maybe I could make a more informed decision. I don't have the faintest idea what I am doing! Help!

TIA,
Kelly
 
Kelly,

First question is do you want to stay overnight near the airport or near the port? The Disney shuttle only makes sense if you are staying near the airport. Its a fairly economical alternative if there are only 1 or 2 of you.

If you are flying in to the airport, then staying at the port you will need transportation from the airport to the port hotel, then from the hotel to the ship. Many people rent a car for this - it is probably the least expensive way to go. Rent the car at the airport, drive to your hotel. Drive to the port the next morning - drop the family & luggage off then one person returns the car to the rental car office near the port. Here you just need to check which rental cars have offices near the port.

A private shuttle (non DCL) or limo is another alternative from airport to your hotel. These have the benefit of fitting your schedule, can be fairly economical for larger groups, and to my thinking are probably the easiest/most restful alternatives. But here you do want to check with the hotel about their shuttle policies if you are staying near the port. When do their shuttles run, do they require advance reservations, etc.

The "best" option depends upon a number of factors - the size of your group, when you are arriving, if there are any strong preferences of where you stay, or what you'd like to be able to do the night before, what will be the least stressful alternatives, and finances. A limo might be a bit expensive for one or two travelers, but quite reasonable for a family.

Its an all-day ordeal of airport travel to get to Orlando from Seattle. We get up at 5am, and we arrive in Orlando around 9-10pm. We're tired when we get there, and there are only two of us. So, we usually stay at the Airport Hyatt and take the DCL shuttle the next morning. Its easy, and its not too expensive.

But I have thought it would be nice to wake up in the morning and be able to take a walk on the beach before heading for the ship. To accomodate that, I looked into having a limo service pick us up at the airport, and drive us to our hotel at the port, so that we wouldn't have to deal with renting a car & navigating for ourselves when we're dead tired.
 
www.dcltribute.com has some good info on hotels in the area. You can also try expedia or orbitz to see some of the new hotels in the area. Renting a car is usually the cheaper way to get to/from MCO/Port.
 

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