Rental or Disney Transportation

[rsalvi]

We will be at WDW in June. We are staying at PO Riverside for 7 nights. Family of 5 who plan to stay within WDW for all activities. Our flight comes in late (12:00 am) We are confused as to if we should go ahead and rent a car or use Tiffany's. DH thinks rent a car is better deal. I like the idea of someone else picking us up and taking us back. Problem is during 6 days of vacationing. Is Disney Transportation reliable? Will we get tired of waiting on bus all the time. Are there cabs around you can take to go to another resort for dinner? Any suggestions would be great!

 

[Chuck S]

If you want to visit other resorts, I'd get a car. If your main concern is parks/Downtown Disney a car would be convenient, but the busses would do..and PO is connected to DD by boat.

 

[robinb]

I always get a car. Disney transportation is good to and from the parks, but is lacking between resorts. Especially if you have kids ... waiting for a bus can be a pain in the butt. Also, you may change your minds and eat at an off-site restaurant or decide to go to the outlet mall at Little Lake Bryan for some cheap Disney Character Outlet shopping. I personally drive to all the parks except the MK. Then again, I really don't like buses. Too much Chicago Transit Authority in my teens and 20's.

 

[simba2]

One of the reasons we stay on Disney property is for the great transportation. We never rent a car. This alone will save you over $l00 a week. Disney buses come every 15-20 minutes. There is also the monorail. No driving at the end of the day when you are hot and tired. Just climb on board the bus, sit back and enjoy the ride. And Tiffany is great to and from the airport. No worrying about how to get to the hotel and back to the airport without getting lost, no having to leave early to drop off the rental car before your flight, etc.

 

[CSX2]

We rented a car last trip and were glad we did even though we used WDW transportation extensively. While the buses and boats from the Swan were good we did have to wait over 45 mins. for a bus at the end of an E-Ticket night with a tired, cranky 4 y/o. Also, we needed some supplies that were not available at the resort one evening and it was so nice to be able to hop in the car and head out to a local mini-mart.

We also did the Disney Cruise on that trip and were able to set our on departure time for the port vice waiting for the Disney bus.

We got a full size from National for only $168 for the week and thought it was well worth it to have the added flexibility.

We are going again next week (yeah!!!) with a family group of 10 and we have rented a 15 passenger van for the week. Some of the reviews we have read about the experiments WDW is doing with their bus system convinced us it would be a good idea to have back-up transportation.

 

[rsalvi]

Thanks for all your suggestions and comments. I don't know how people planned a WDW vacation before the wonderful world of the internet!!!

I believe we are leaning towards renting a car so it will be there if we need it. I do not hear much about Taxi options? You would think taxis would be all around WDW. Do they not allow them to roam around the area. I realize you can call one, but are they around to where you could just grab one driving by?

Again, thanks for all your help!!!

 

[clkelley]

We use the Disney Transport system exclusively even when we drive down. We just plan around the buses and make sure we don't go anywhere that has too many transfers.

Not to say that we limit where we go, however we plan ahead so as to not need to go from All-Stars to Boardwalk after the parks close.

On that rare occasion when we decide to have a late dinner at a resort, we do get a taxi. Just ask bell/transportation services at wherever you happen to be and they will have a taxi there within a minute or so.

The most expensive fare from one end of the property to the other shouldn't be more than $15.00

 

[SCOTTNJ]

We just returned from Port Orleans and this was the first time that we didn't rent a car because previously the buses were fantastic. I posted earlier that my biggest complaint on this trip was the bus service at Port Orleans Riverside.

We has serious wait times at all hours of the day for the buses. When they would come, they usually were standing room only.

We used Tiffany and the service was great. But I didn't realize how many people we had to tip since we didn't have the car. We had to tip the driver that took us to our hotel. We then had to tip bell service for taking your luggage to your rooom. Then when we checked out, we tipped the guy that picked up our luggage. The luggage went into storage since checkout is 11am. We tipped the guy that took the luggage out of storage and we again tipped the driver for our return trip to the airport. It adds up.


Go with the car, if you find the bus service (i hope they fix it) to be reliable, then use it but have that car as a backup.

Just my opinion.