Rental Car Question

[StirlingSilver83]

Ok so heres the question of the day! LoL! We are going to Disney in March, driving down, and we are planning on renting a car. My husband gets good deals through enterprise from his company. Anyways its going to be me, my hubby, our 2 kids (10 and 3 at the time of travel) and my MIL. We are driving down from NJ. Heres my question...we are use to driving a Toyota Sequoia so VERY LARGE SUV...so do we go and rent enterprise's version of a "large" SUV (usually a Chevy Tahoe or something similar) so we have the extra space for luggage. The only downside to this is I'm going to be sandwiched in between my 3yr old's car seat and my 10 year old (who is on the spectrum and like's "his" space) with hardly any leg room as well. I've got to admit our large SUV has spoiled us with giving us that extra 3rd seat. Then the other option is renting a van, now the van would be a Dodge Caravan or something similar and everyone would have their own space, but I am worried that we wouldn't have enough room for luggage...its bad enough packing the car for the 4 of us but now I have to worry about my MIL as well. Has anyone ever sent their luggage ahead of them to the resort by mail? I am wondering if this is an option for us or ordering some of the bigger stuff we would take like diapers and wipes from Garden Grocer instead of having to pack things...I think I would rather have everyone have their own space and worry about what to do with luggage at a later point than have to be squished the whole way down to FL from NJ. I think I just talked myself into the van, lol, but please can anyone enlighten me on the luggage situation?

 

[FigmentSpark]

Why would you order stuff to be sent to your hotel that you can buy there? You'll have the car and there are plenty of grocery (and other) stores in the vicinity. Just pick them up when you arrive.

That said, if you get a stow and go, you'll be able to put things like diapers in those slots. As for luggage, we've rented a Dodge Caravan (stow and go) for the last few years, as we were staying in a house, not on property, and hitting the beach after the World. So we needed more stuff than your average vacationer. We only had 4 of us, so the back seats were down. We were able to easily put 4 29" suitcases, one 25", a 22", 3 computers and two smaller carry on bags in that back and still see out the back, even with coats and pillows laid on top.

So in your case, you'll have half that seat up and only half the space, but even if you have the whole seat up, there's still quite a bit of space in the back. My mom used to put her walker and her suitcase and carry on in that section with no problem. Just remember that you may have to pack smaller bags to take advantage of the stow and go areas and be careful with your packing.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

Why would you order stuff to be sent to your hotel that you can buy there? You'll have the car and there are plenty of grocery (and other) stores in the vicinity. Just pick them up when you arrive.

That said, if you get a stow and go, you'll be able to put things like diapers in those slots. As for luggage, we've rented a Dodge Caravan (stow and go) for the last few years, as we were staying in a house, not on property, and hitting the beach after the World. So we needed more stuff than your average vacationer. We only had 4 of us, so the back seats were down. We were able to easily put 4 29" suitcases, one 25", a 22", 3 computers and two smaller carry on bags in that back and still see out the back, even with coats and pillows laid on top.

So in your case, you'll have half that seat up and only half the space, but even if you have the whole seat up, there's still quite a bit of space in the back. My mom used to put her walker and her suitcase and carry on in that section with no problem. Just remember that you may have to pack smaller bags to take advantage of the stow and go areas and be careful with your packing.

Thanks for the insight! My biggest concern was where I was going to fit everything with our stroller...we have a big bulky stroller that takes up our whole cargo space in the sequoia. I think I have remedied that with the fact that the place where we are renting a scooter for my MIL also rents strollers, lol so problem solved there no more big bulky stroller to worry about. Also we were thinking garden grocer would be easy or just shipping some diapers and stuff down Bc after driving so long in the car having to go to a store is the last thing on our mind lol.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Fair enough. Renting a stroller is a good idea, especially since you'll be renting something anyway. As I said, my mother's walker fit in the back with all the seats open. It fit in the well where the seats would have been stowed.




Note that the space in the back sinks in.