Rental Car vs: ME/WDW Busses

[dklam]

I am sure that this has been addressed somewhere, but a quick question. Have been able to find a relatively inexpensive rental for 5 days and wondering if it is worth the $ and skip the ME and the Disney busses. We have park hoppers and some dinner reservations at resorts, so am I right to think it will be easier? We are going 1/14 - 1/18 and staying at POP. The last time we went in January (in 2009) we used the busses, but other trips we had a rental. Also, I remember that when we checked out, we had to take a ME about 3-4 hours before our flight, which just gave us lots of time to kill at MCO when we could have stayed in the parks just a bit longer. Just trying to figure it out!

 

[LWQuestie]

Magical Express pickup back to the airport is 3 hrs (+/- 15 mins) before flight time. This allows for the approx 30 minute trip to the airport, plus usually at least one other stop at a resort to pick up other guests. It is designed to get you to the airport around 2 hrs before flight time (as recommended by the airport and TSA) so you can get through security with enough time and not miss your flight.

Depending on your level of risk tolerance, you might only leave 30 minutes later if traveling via rental car, so I don't think that's a real strong reason to move from Disney transit to a rental car.

Lots of resort to resort travel would be a lot easier in a rental car, since you don't have to deal with transfer points and extra waiting.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

In your example, with limited time and dinner reservations in resorts, I would keep the car.

What our family does is rent a car. My DH usually picks up the car and the kids and I ride ME (so they deal with luggage). We use the car intermittently during the week for meals, etc. On departure day, we check our bags in at the resort, and then drive to a park (if we have a later flight). We leave the park about 2.5 hours before our flight, get gas and drive car back to airport, check it in and then head to the gate. It works for us.

 

[Brian Noble]

The buses are mostly adequate for trips between the resorts and the four main theme parks. For anything else, they can be torturous. If I ever have to make a resort-to-resort trip, or a trip to/from DTD, I either drive or take a cab.

 

[dklam]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Just went back online and actually found a rental with another company for $25 less, so cancelled the original one and booked the new one. Will see what we decide to do. DD has a friend who is down at Disney doing the college program, so it definitely would be easier having a car if we want to visit with her while we are there.