Rental Car vs Disney Transportation

[qman]

We've stayed twice on Disney property and relied on Disney transportation.

How much more convenient is it to rent a car? In particular how does it compare at the end of the day when thousands are streaming out of the parks at the same time?

What is the cost of a car for a week?

 

[disneyfanfamily]

DH and I used transportation at a non Disney hotel. It was awful!! Since then we have taken 2 family trips and stayed onsite and rented a car for 7 days at around $200. Then last year we rented a minivan for 10 days for $298.00

It was nice to have our own transportation. We like to go to Sea World or to an offsite restaraunt etc. Plus, we never had to wait for buses.

My DH will not ever use Disney transportation. He likes renting and "being in charge". But if you do not like to drive or try and navigate where you are going, use the tranportation. If I took a trip without DH, I would not rent because I would be afraid that I would get lost.

 

[boettj]

My DW and I have had good experiences and bad with the Disney transportation.

First thing first, how many people are you talking about? We have rented a minivan for my DF that only cost $240 one year. We went another time of year and that same mini-van cost $450. If there are only two of you, then it would be cheaper ofcourse.

Last year was our bad experience with Disney transportation. We actually missed two dinner reservations because of the Disney transportation. By the end of our 9 days there, we relied on taxis to get us to dinner reservations.

Our routine is to go to the park early in the morning. Then come home for naps in the early afternoon. After the naps, we head out for dinner and stay at the pas All in all, we used taxis for three days. This only ran us $50. So, if you look at a week, it's less expensive than renting a car/parking.

We are headed back to Disney in 5 weeks for 10days. I was split between renting a car and experiencing the trouble of Disney transportation. Remember, if you rent, you have to pay to park at the parks, and I believe it's around $8 perday. That is an added cost to your rental.

My DW and I truely believe that if you are staying at Disney, then go with Disney transportation and take taxis when you need to be somewhere in a timely manner.

 

[qman]

We are family of four: DH, DW, DS (13), & DD (10).

We our transportation needs are from our resort to the parks, park to park and then back to the resort. We've found the transportation to be fine first thing in the morning and at the end of the day. It's the mid-day transporation that seems a little thin.

During our last trip (11/05) we were park hopping from the MK to DS early in the afternoon. The trip to the transportation center (via the monorail) was fairly quick but we ended up waiting 20 minutes for a bus to DS.

 

[powellrj]

We always rent a car. If you check mousesavers.com and the dis boards you can usually get rental codes that bring your cost way down. This year we rented a saturn vue for 6 days for $98 and last year we rented a Toyota mini van for the same price. I like to be able to drive where I want to be when I want to be there and not wait for a bus.

Many people say they rent a car and just park it all week, but we don't like to use disney transportation so we find a car well worth the money.

 

[disneyfanfamily]

If you do rent and are staying on Disney property, it will NOT cost you to park. You get a parking pass. So there is no fee at the parks to park your car or rental.

 

[n2mm]

It's great that Disney offers transportation, but it's also not for us either. Just returned last weekend and my SIL turned to me and said, Disney does everything so well, but their transportation sucks (I was shocked as he always has praise for everything Disney). We always rent a car, but we were using the WL boats to go to MK several times instead of driving (especially since bus service to MK from WL is not running). We waited more than 30 minutes on several occassions for the boat just to leave WL. We also took the bus to MGM one morning and waited about 25 minutes and the crowd was huge by the time the bus arrived. Other than that we drive always. We like to eat at other resorts and having a car makes this possible to do. Takes about 10 minutes to get from WL to Poly or CR and most of that time is the walking from the parking lot to the resort. Driving is not something everyone feels comfortable with, but it works for us. I commute on public transportation 5 hours daily in and out of Wash. DC, so using public transportation on vacation is not something I want to do. I find once you get familiar with the layout at Disney, getting around is very easy to do. We manage to zip to the airport in about 25 minutes now. This last trip my daughter and family arrived the second week and we had to go to the airport to pick them up. It was easy and fast--unfortunately she had a terrible experience on DME last December, and still mumbles..."never again".

 

[simzac]

We love using Disney transportation. We're on vacation, so what's the rush. I see no reason to rent a car while staying on property, but that's me, others will feel differently. Go with what you think, it's your vacation, right

 

[MiaSRN62]

Disney transportation is ok for getting to the parks, but we love it for ease of getting to the different resort hotels for meal reservations. It can take well over an hour to get from hotel to hotel, where a rental car can get ya there in 10 min. Saves ALOT of vacation time to do other fun stuff ! I'm a little nervous this Dec trip because we did not rent a car and I'm feeling like I will regret it. I am staying at CBR and have meal ADR's at Chef Mickeys, Kona, Boma, Whispering Canyon and a few more. I know I'll have to add 60-90 min to get there. Now if I had a car, it would be a different story.
We also like having our own car for DD shopping/dining and the water parks.
But for the main theme parks, the disney transportation is fine. So I think it mostly depends on whether you plan on going and doing alot of resort shopping/dining.

 

[boettj]

So if you are staying onsite, you do not have to pay parking fees at the parks? That would make me change my mind.

I have 4 days worth of rental days from National. I was going to just use the taxi system to, but not now. Thanks......

 

[chessclubmom]

Last trip we rented a Chevy Trailblazer for 7 days for $110 using a code from mousesavers. We mainly use the rental to and from the airport, a meal or two offsite and for a grocery stop. Once in Disney we use their transportation and are pretty satisfied. If you stay at a larger resort like CBR or POR the rental car is great to go back and forth to the food court and lobby.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

In our humble opinion, if you plan to stay on Disney property entirely then it may be more feasible to use Disney Transportation. You do need to keep in mind that the busses stop at other resorts and parks. We were told to allow an hour and a half to get from your resort to your destination and back to your resort from the parks.

On the other hand, if you want to experience other attractions (SeaWorld, Universal, etc), dining experiences, etc., in Orlando, then rent a car.

We've stayed both off site and on Disney property and we always rent a car as we like the freedom of coming and going when it suits us and not having to wait for transportation. Parking has never been a problem for us (except at DTD where you can NEVER find a parking spot) and leaving the parks at the end of the day when everyone else is also leaving has never been an issue.

We also enjoy visiting Universal Studios, or just going to an off site restaurant for dinner, or even to do some shopping at the local stores (it's amazing what you can find that is Disney related off site for much cheaper).

In the end, it's what you can afford and what your vacation plans are.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

You do NOT have to pay for parking at the theme parks if you are staying at a WDW resort.

Mousesavers has good discounts on car rentals. I think the brand-new Ford Taurus we rented in October was $141 for 9 days. It came to $170 or so with taxes and fees.

For us, the cost of the rental is cheap. The real value is in saving time, the convenience and the freedom! I can't imagine NOT renting a car when visiting WDW!

 

[Harvest02]

We love using Disney transportation. We're on vacation, so what's the rush. I see no reason to rent a car while staying on property, but that's me, others will feel differently. Go with what you think, it's your vacation, right

I agree! Who wants to drive while on vacation? We stayed at ASMo in June and found the transportation more than adequate! I think if we would have had a car, it would have sat in the parking lot the entire time! We had never stayed onsite before, but we liked not having to worry about how to get somewhere, have directions, etc. We were able to get to all our ADR meals on time, and since we went in summer it was nice to get on an airconditioned bus!

 

[MiaSRN62]

I agree! Who wants to drive while on vacation? We stayed at ASMo in June and found the transportation more than adequate! I think if we would have had a car, it would have sat in the parking lot the entire time! We had never stayed onsite before, but we liked not having to worry about how to get somewhere, have directions, etc. We were able to get to all our ADR meals on time, and since we went in summer it was nice to get on an airconditioned bus!

I'm the opposite. If I want to go somewhere on a spur of the moment, I like not having to allow 90 min to get there via disney bus. We missed a couple ADR's over the years utilizing disney transportation and never again. And the times we did use disney transportation for ADR's where we did get there ontime, it took well over an hour. Why waste anywhere from 60-90 min getting to another resort for dinner (and then another hour back again ?) when it can take as little as 10 min by car ? We've been to wdw so many times we have no problems navigating the property. Driving allows so much more time to do the things we actually enjoy doing while on property and this does not include waiting an hour each way for busses.

 

[LoraJ]

I agree! Who wants to drive while on vacation? We stayed at ASMo in June and found the transportation more than adequate! I think if we would have had a car, it would have sat in the parking lot the entire time! We had never stayed onsite before, but we liked not having to worry about how to get somewhere, have directions, etc. We were able to get to all our ADR meals on time, and since we went in summer it was nice to get on an airconditioned bus!

I don't like spending my vacation sitting at a bus stop for 30 minutes at a time. It's so nice to be in an air conditioned car, where I can SIT DOWN and not have to be herded in with a bunch of other people, and have to stand even though my back is killing me, because I have to give my seat up to everyone else, because according to the DISboards, they are more entitled to have a seat. If I were to take a seat, some person would be glaring at me the whole time thinking they deserved it more. Don't want to deal with that.

Driving around WDW was very relaxing. I drive 90 minutes a day while at home and have to deal with idiot drivers. It was nice to drive away from them.

We save so much time by renting a car. And it makes our vacation much more enjoyable. We spend $$ on tickets to be in a park, not at a bus stop.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

if you staying at wdw in one of there resorts theres no cost to park
i like renting a car and dh doesnt we compromise

 

[TXMickey]

What do you do if you decide the use a taxi, but there are children in the group who normally use car seats? Do you just not use a taxi and stick with Disney transportation? We are flying and I am considering using DME and not bringing any car seats (for the first time in years!!) and using Disney transporation everywhere. But we have Christmas Eve dinner at AP (staying at BWV) and Disney transporation might be very inconvenient for that. Should I just stop worrying about it and just chalk up that night to dinner and riding buses

Thanks!

 

[4mygrls]

coming back from the parks. we were staying at pop and the bus went straight to the parks. One time it was a bit crowded but it was still ok. another time i had a blast cuz the driver got everyone going with disney trivia and singing and teasing people. It was a ride in it's self. What really sucked though was I was the only one in the family that rode that bus. I forgot something back at the room. I wish the kids got to ride with that driver. He was so nice.

 

[boettj]

All

One other point that I had not taken into consideration. All the times that we have been to Disney with infants, we have rented a car. This is the first time we are staying on site with an DD that is an infant. I had not thought about a car seat for our DD until I read this thread. Then I started to think that we would be taking our 11 month old DD on the Disney transportation. Our DD is too large for the infant carrier. Now our DD is in a rear facing seat that is too large to bring back and forth on the bus.

Once I realized that this was the case, our only option was to rent a car. I don't want to take my chances on the bus with us just holding our DD. Probably would be just fine. However, I do not want to take my chances.



Just my 2 cents.