rental car vs. disney transportation

[jenniferripp]

we (me, husband, daughter-9, son-8, and my parents) are staying at saratoga springs thanksgiving week. my parents have rented a car but my husband would like to take monorail and buses for full experience, i think car will get us to and from places quicker. what's your opinion?

 

[TheWog]

A few minutes, maybe. You still can't park as close to the parks as where you get dropped off by the busses, particularly at MK. You park, take a tram, take a boat or monorail and then get to the gates. Busses drop you right at the gates. Similar at the other parks as well, only no connection transportation. You will get both sides. People who hate Disney transportation and can only rent a car and others who love Disney transportation and would never think of renting. We have had great experiences with the Disney transportation. You may just miss the bus leaving for the park you want to go to and need to wait, but another will be along shortly. DTD busses are rare in the morning, so be aware of that. Otherwise you might wait the longest 10 mins at a stop at the resort to get a bus to a park. You could also wait while someone walks the parking lot to get the car. Some people navigate better than others and don't mind driving strange places (Disney property is huge) and others are on vacation and don't want to be bothered with driving when someone else is willing to do it for them. Plan properly or accordingly and you won't be disappointed with the busses. Disney knows how to move people and they do it well. Having said that, it is Thanksgiving weekend and crowds will be larger. They will add more vehicles, but expect some crowding. If you need to save those 5-10-15 additional minutes and don't want to be on a busy bus a car may be best. You could always try the busses and have the car as the back up. Good luck.

 

[wdwrich]

Having done WDW vacations both with and without a rental car, I can tell you that we always get a rental car now. Waiting/riding on crowded busses with hot, tired and stinky people can get uncomfortable real fast. With the exception of MK, we find that travel to the parks is faster with our own vehicle. Traveling between resort hotels for meals, especially in the evenings after the parks close, is a real pain using Disney transportation because in most cases you must travel to DTD to transfer- can easily take well over an hour. With our own vehicle, we can get back to our resort in 15 minutes or less.

 

[Native NYer]

We've done WDW with and without a car. We love having a car. I agree with the PP. Having a car makes getting from one resort to another for dining so much easier.

 

[gmeh1]

Having done WDW vacations both with and without a rental car, I can tell you that we always get a rental car now. Waiting/riding on crowded busses with hot, tired and stinky people can get uncomfortable real fast. With the exception of MK, we find that travel to the parks is faster with our own vehicle. Traveling between resort hotels for meals, especially in the evenings after the parks close, is a real pain using Disney transportation because in most cases you must travel to DTD to transfer- can easily take well over an hour. With our own vehicle, we can get back to our resort in 15 minutes or less.

I completely agree.

 

[mommyrosa2]

Having done WDW vacations both with and without a rental car, I can tell you that we always get a rental car now. Waiting/riding on crowded busses with hot, tired and stinky people can get uncomfortable real fast. With the exception of MK, we find that travel to the parks is faster with our own vehicle. Traveling between resort hotels for meals, especially in the evenings after the parks close, is a real pain using Disney transportation because in most cases you must travel to DTD to transfer- can easily take well over an hour. With our own vehicle, we can get back to our resort in 15 minutes or less.

Here's another vote for having a vehicle. The idea of being packed like sardines on a bus it not for us...we like the convenience of having a car.

 

[figment_jii]

Another in agreement with having a vehicle. I've done several trips without a car, but last December we decided to get a car so we could tour the resorts and decided it was the best of both worlds. You can still use Disney transportation when you want (like when going to the MK) or you can drive.

 

[julm26]

We used to drive to WDW so we always had a car, now even though we fly (13 hours with a very talkative child is no fun!!LOL) we still rent a car, we like the ease of going to different resorts, driving out to the character outlet stores and getting to the airport.

 

[Ed J]

We just returned from split trip where we had a car for the full 10 days. We used DISNEY transportation for part of it but it is not good as compaired to a car. We found the reality of another bus being along in a few minutes to not exsist. Vehicial to gate from POR to the MK took over an our our first morning, the same park with our car and a 12 mile drive including the tram & the boat at the TTC was 45 minutes.
We left POR for a Germany dinner resi and gave ourselfs 1.5 hours and we were late, only 15 or 20 minutes was walking through the park, that is not efficient use of vacation time IMO.
We used the monorail and were happy to use that when we could, as well the boats were great to use, but the busses leave a lot to be desidered.

 

[chamonix]

From Saratoga Springs you will not get the "monorail experience" if you don't use the rental car. There are only busses from Saratoga Springs to all parks.

The bus drops you off at the entrance to MK and also at Epcot, bypassing the monorail completely. If you drive to the MK, you can still get the monorail experience because the car parking lot is across the lake....you have to park your car, then take either the monorail or the ferry boat. You won't get to ride the monorail to Epcot if you take the bus, the monorail only goes between the MK and Epcot, so unless you are park hopping between them, you won't have any reason to take it. (although certainly people do this just for fun!)

From Saratoga Springs, you can only take busses to each park. In my opinion, you won't miss out on "the full experience" if you don't use the bus system. If you drive, it's much faster. (Parking is free for Disney hotel guests too) the monorail is a fun part of the experience, the busses....not so much (JMHO).

If you are going to another resort for dinner or anything at all, do not take the bus, it will take forever. People commonly report it taking 1-2 hours to go between 2 resorts. Sure, sometimes it's faster, but I would never want to waste even 1 hour of my vacation on a short drive that takes me 15 minutes....and I'm not standing, and hot....etc.

Some people say they like having a break from driving their car when they're on vacation. So, if your dh has a long commute or something at home he may just want a break from that responsibility. Since that isn't an issue for us (dh commutes on his bike and it takes less than 5 minutes lol) we rent a car every time. I would never ever do it any other way. I have no desire to waste my time waiting on a bus while on vacation just for the "experience". Enjoy the monorail (and the boats, we love the boats!) forget the bus.

 

[bumbershoot]

Even with a rental car, we still do their transportation sometimes.

We've had some good, some not good (and hubby had one BAD) experiences with their transportation.

We've had ALL good experiences with the rental car.


Now, we've only traveled in December and September so far, so take that into consideration... But each time we've driven to MK we've parked just as close as you can get to the walkway to monorail/boat. One time we got there really really early, and the other time we arrived in the afternoon just after a massive rain shower when many people were leaving. Both times, right up front in the parking lot.

We took the bus in for MNSSHP, and although I know the walking was less, it didn't FEEL like we were being dropped at the front gates, since the bus stopped at one of the further away drop off spots. Felt like a long walk to me! Just as long as coming off the monorail, or at least it seemed like it.

 

[mainemouselover]

I am with the other posters as well. Rent the car. We have always used the buses and for our next trip we are renting a car. I am tired of having to wait for buses, the crowds and time it takes to get from place to place on the bus.
The change came from the last trip when we used a taxi a few different times. The speed of getting from place to place convinced me we need to use a car - and a rental will be cheaper then using a taxi!!

 

[poohmickey]

For us it depends on who is going on the trip. When it is just me and my DD, we use Disney transportation for the whole trip, and don't mind it, but we also don't do a lot of dinning reservations for just the two of us. When it's the whole family we get a rental car and use it part of the time.

We never drive to MK anymore. In our experiences, even with waiting for a bus we just missed, driving to MK never got us in the gates faster than the bus. Yes, it is still a little bit of a walk from the buses to the main gate, but you only have to wait for one type of transportation. If you drive to MK, you might have to wait for a tram and then wait for the monorail or the ferry, so the bus has always better for us.

If we have a lot of dinner reservations, we'll use the car. If not, we'll use the buses. The buses can be very crowed at times, and you might have to stand, but that's not a problem for us. They also allow our family to split up and go to different parks.

 

[GirlDreamer]

I haven't used a car on vacation there yet, but I feel it will save time. It's also about the convenience of leaving or going just when you want to, without getting a bus. And you always get to sit To me it's also about the convenience of going off property as well. As I'm not a US citizen and I love Perkins, for example, I love the opportunity of being able to drive to Perkins for breakfast in the morning and then being able to head straight to the parks. Or if we want to eat or go somewhere after a park, we can just go right there. And of course, being able to go to Walmart and get a few essentials like water to save a little money

And I don't own a car, so I can't wait to have a rental for our entire stay for our next WDW vacay

 

[wdwrich]

They also allow our family to split up and go to different parks.

Yes, but the family can split up to different parks whether or not you have a rental car. (Some take the car, others take Disney transportation.)

 

[poohmickey]

Yes, but the family can split up to different parks whether or not you have a rental car. (Some take the car, others take Disney transportation.)

Exactly, but without the Disney buses you wouldn't be able to split up unless you rent multiple cars. I was just pointing out an advantage to having the buses available, not saying a person shouldn't rent a car.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Well--the "full experience" on a Disney bus might include a 15-20 minute wait, standing room only, screaming and yelling kids, adults squawking on cell phones about this, that and the other.
That's an experience we've long since avoided and why we always use our rental car to go everywhere on property.

 

[gmeh1]

Well--the "full experience" on a Disney bus might include a 15-20 minute wait, standing room only, screaming and yelling kids, adults squawking on cell phones about this, that and the other.
That's an experience we've long since avoided and why we always use our rental car to go everywhere on property.

Very well said!!!

 

[WicketsMom]

Another vote for renting a car. You can always take Disney transportation sometime if you like, but having the car will give you more options. Most importantly you won't have to use Magical Express to get to the airport (you can still check your luggage from your resort though).