Renting a car vs. Disney Transport

[jmcross]

We are renting a car to drive from Tampa to Orlando at the beginning of our trip and then to the airport at the end of our
trip.

I have a few questions here for the experts:

What is it like if you have a rental car in WDW?

Would we be better off to just park it and use Disney transportation?

Do you use just as much time finding a parking space as you would riding the bus?

My DH insists that there is a toll going into the MK and he doesn't want to have to continually pay it to drive back and forth. Is that true??

Thanks for the help.

Joanne

 

[mrsltg]

Hi Joanne-

I prefer driving to Disney transportation. I have never had a problem finding parking, getting to the gates, etc. Often I don't even wait for the tram, I just walk and get there faster!

You get free parking as an on-site guest, and there is no toll that I am aware of to get to the MK.

Have a great trip!
Erin

 

[crisi]

Its really personal preference.

When we rented a car, we left it parked. We really don't enjoy driving, find WDW hard to navigate (maybe we are just particularly challenged in this respect), and don't mind taking the bus.

Generally, the bus is faster to the MK. Other parks from a Disney onsite hotel it is a little faster to drive, but not by much - and the bus is sometimes faster if you time things right. Resort to resort travel is much faster by car.

You may need to stand on a Disney bus (in fact you probably will, there are more "standing" spots on a bus than seats.

 

[magsmom]

Where are you staying?
When we stayed in February at WL we used "more" disney transportation because it was much more convenient to get to MK. All other times, where we have stayed it has been much more convenient to have a car. DH also prefers to eat a meal or 2 offsite. I agree with crisi, it is personal preference.
I imagine we will use the car quite a bit for our trip in August, and not so much for our trip in October.

 

[chicknoodle99]

It is personal preference as the prevous post said.

We have done both and we prefer having our own car. We dont like to have to be on someone else's schedule--especially to and from the airport. We usually go offsite for dinner at night and spend a day or two at Universal. We will do the same thing this Sept.

We do use the monorail and the boats but try to stay away from the busses. We seem to always have to wait--no matter where we are! We will park at the TTC if we are doing Epcot and MK and will sometimes take the boat to MGM from Epcot.

I guess timewise with parking its a toss up. We usually go during off season (Jan and Sept) and parking isnt horrible. Once we had to park far enough out to take the tram at MGM but that was Martin Luther King Day so the parks were busier than usual.

I keep a good map of the park to get around with and, maybe once or twice, we took a wrong turn..but nothing too bad. The signage is pretty well done so you probrably wont have much of a problem.

Again, its a personal preference..have a wonderful vacation!

 

[jmcross]

Thanks for all the replies!!

We are staying at the Dolphin. I think the best use of the car for us will be maybe AK, BB, and DQ at Downtown Disney. We have never used a car there and honestly I've never paid attention to directions when riding the bus.

I'm assuming there are signs to everywhere or that the hotels have driving directions on property.

How easy is it to get around?

Thanks,

Joanne

 

[prncess674]

Originally posted by jmcross
Thanks for all the replies!!

We are staying at the Dolphin. I think the best use of the car for us will be maybe AK, BB, and DQ at Downtown Disney. We have never used a car there and honestly I've never paid attention to directions when riding the bus.

I'm assuming there are signs to everywhere or that the hotels have driving directions on property.

How easy is it to get around?

Thanks,

Joanne

I think you have the right idea using your car for AK, BB, and DQ. Also use it if you are dining at another resort. Everything is well marked on the roads. Ask the desk clerk for WDW map and you will be fine.

 

[mgilmer]

Originally posted by jmcross
Thanks for all the replies!!

We are staying at the Dolphin. I think the best use of the car for us will be maybe AK, BB, and DQ at Downtown Disney. We have never used a car there and honestly I've never paid attention to directions when riding the bus.

We just returned from our third trip to WDW and had a rental car for the whole time. I found the car useful for offsite grocery shopping and eating, but found Disney transportation easier for onsite getting around. You could split the car rental. There is a National desk at the Dolphin so you could rent a car from the airport and drop it at the Dolphin upon checkin and rent a car at the Dolphin for any offsite needs or for your return trip to the airport. This is what we will do nexttime.

Mike

 

[jmcross]

Thanks, Mike!

Maybe I'll do things that way.

Joanne