Rental Van vs DCL transfers vs other option?

[SILLYANDI]

We have a family of 6. We are doing the 3day land/4 day sea package. Our problem is that our flight home doesn't leave until 6PM and Disney transfers will take us directly to the airport way too early!
I am looking for suggestions and comments about my idea.. I was thinking we could take transfers from the airport to Disney property on day one. When it is time to go to the port, my husband can take a taxi back to the airport rent a mini van and we can drive to cape canaveral and turn in the van. Then we can rent it again for one day and go sightseeing to the beach or whatever after we disembark. We could turn it in again that night at the orlando airport.
It seems like a lot of work, but would save a ton of money and keep us from being bored in the airport with 4 kids (oldest is 7) for 6+ hours!
What do you think, or what other suggestions do you have? Thanks.

 

[CACruisin']

With 6 people, DCL transfers are expensive. A rental car or limo would both be cheaper than DCL transfers. Couple of other ideas: What about renting a car on DCL property so your husband doesn't have to go back to the airport? Or, Look into a weekly rental for a minivan. Car rentals can often be quite inexpensive for a weekly rate vs. DCL transfer to resort + taxi + two one way rentals. Another option would be to a car service. Since you are 6, you would need a limo (oh darn!). This might be a nice compromise of convenience (DCL transfers) vs. expense.

 

[Psychodisney]

For our family of five we did a passenger van from a limo service to WDW, same van to the port, then rented a minivan near the port for the day after disembarkation. If you wanted to save a few bucks you could do ME to WDW but with four little ones I would recomment the private van. Someone would be there at luggage pickup to meet you. They have car seats you can use in the van if you aren't bringing yours. We spent the day at Downtown Disney(got there about 10:30) until our evening flight.

 

[panamaprincess]

Both our cruises we did one-way rentals to/from Orlando and Port Canavaral. Multiple rental car companies are available, most have no drop charges and all will shuttle you to/from their locations in Port Canavaral.

Transfers are expensive when you multiply per person, plus with your own rental you get more flexibility.

 

[SILLYANDI]

I LOVE this site! I did a little research with your tips and thought I'd give an update! I was able to book one day mini van rentals from MCO to Disney, then DIsney to Canaveral then Canaveral back to MCO for under $150!! We could have even kept the van for the whole week and still saved a few bucks, but I didn't want to pay parking fees, etc for the week. I plan on taking our time getting back to the airport and now we will be able to get to the port before the vanloads of others do! WHEW HOO!
If anyone else is looking for good rental car deals, I spent 3 hours yesterday typing in different codes on different sites and found that National car rental (nationalcar.com)with contract code #5000304 and rate EWEB was the absolute cheapest (by about $10-15 a day) daily rental rate I could find. Budget rental (budget.com) code W810011 is the cheapest weekly rate. Good luck! Andrea

 

[JC Butterfly]

I LOVE this site! I did a little research with your tips and thought I'd give an update! I was able to book one day mini van rentals from MCO to Disney, then DIsney to Canaveral then Canaveral back to MCO for under $150!! We could have even kept the van for the whole week and still saved a few bucks, but I didn't want to pay parking fees, etc for the week. I plan on taking our time getting back to the airport and now we will be able to get to the port before the vanloads of others do! WHEW HOO!
If anyone else is looking for good rental car deals, I spent 3 hours yesterday typing in different codes on different sites and found that National car rental (nationalcar.com)with contract code #5000304 and rate EWEB was the absolute cheapest (by about $10-15 a day) daily rental rate I could find. Budget rental (budget.com) code W810011 is the cheapest weekly rate. Good luck! Andrea

Since you're doing land/sea I assume that means you're staying on Disney property for the land portion. Just wanted to make you aware that on this end parking would be free (in case you'd rather not deal with renting and returning the van so many times)