renting a car ?

[bestjsg]

Some tell me I would be wasting money stay onsite and still rent a car...reason why I want it is because I heard you might have to wait up to 30-45 mins for shuttles and I mean after long day I really don't want the kids to be waiting for that long for a bus to get back to the resort, plus I hear that CBR is pretty big, I plan to drive within the resort to get to places also...finally planed a day to the outlets..

what do you think ?

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Yes you would be wasting your money. The only time you'd have a 40 minute wait for a bus is after the fireworks. Even then, it goes by quickly and it's REALLY not worth gas/tolls/parking to wait a few minutes.

As far as driving around CBR, I don't know how that would work. I believe you are assigned a parking area based on your room location. While it's big, it's not THAT big that you need to drive (unless a member of your party has difficulty walking in general). The parks are going to be waaaaaaay more walking than going from one part of CBR to the other. There are also shuttle buses within that resort so you could take those if need be.

Can't really help you with the outlets other than to say a cab ride back and forth for one day is way cheaper than renting a car all week.

 

[Noreen411]

Hi

It's really a matter of personal preference.

We always rent a car, whether we stay onsite or offsite.

We like the flexibility it gives us to come and go when we want and not have to wait for public transportation. I know the Disney buses, boats, and monorails are very nice and efficient, but we prefer to have our own rental car ready for us to go on a whim.

It's also more convenient if you are planning to dine at a resort other than where you are staying.

Shop around the car rental sites, you can often get a very good deal. We just came back from 12 days at Disney and had a midsize rental car with unlimited miles from Alamo for $215 (including tax).

Enjoy

 

[Stacey16]

We're staying at CBR and are renting a car for the first time when we go in May. We decided to give it a try this time because in the past we've had to wait up to 20-30 minutes for a bus - either to the park in the AM or leaving the park in the PM. We've also had to ride packed buses back to the resort while holding sleeping kids, a folded up stroller and our park bags - it was NOT fun. We also ate at Wispering Canyon at WL, but we were staying at POFQ. It took forever to get there - and even longer to get back to the resort after dinner. (You have to take a bus from your resort to a park, then get on a bus to the resort you're dining at.) When we got the bus from WL to Epcot, we had to go all the way through Fort Wilderness before even getting to Epcot to get our POFQ bus. This time we booked our trip through AAA and will be using the Diamond Parking Pass. I've heard that the AAA parking pass allows you access to parking close to the parks, so you don't have to take a tram to the gate. If anyone has any first-hand information to add about the AAA parking pass, that would be great.

 

[BradyBz12]

We always have a car with us because we drive to WDW and you know what? We hardly use it. We stay at FW and with each subsequent trip the car stays parked more and more.

Yes sometimes you have to wait for the bus back to your resort if you leave with the masses at park close, but you can avoid that by leaving a bit earlier and worst case, you can grab a taxi (we've done that too).

It is nice to have the car sometimes - great for outlet shopping trips, random zips over to DTD, but if budget was a concern because we needed to rent a car, I think we'd go without.

 

[happymommy]

Some folks like to have their own transportation. When we stay onsite (first time off next month) we do not want one. I'd rather have someone else do the driving on vacation, if possible!

For park closing, if it's crowded to get back to the bus stop or looks like it'll take a while, we've taken cabs before.

We don't generally outlet shop on vacation - I hate shopping!

We have rented a car at the airport, then returned it later in the day to the Dolphin (Alamo or National). That way, we could stop on the way to pick up some grocery items. We've also used a towncar service. Tried ME once, didn't like it; it took well over 2 hours to get to our resort (BWI) when we did, so we took a cab back to the airport that trip.

You do have lots of options. When we drove down once from the DC area, we stayed at the BWV for 11 days, and our car sat there the whole time parked.

 

[bamor]

IMO
Whenever we stay in a value or mod, we rent a car. Esp if you plan a day of shopping. You will spend more on taxis than if you just rented the car.
Also, we like to make a grocery stop along the way as eating breakfast in the room works best for our family. Staying at CBR, you may have a looong walk to the food court, I know we did when we stayed there.
Have a look at Alamo using the walmart code and the free upgrade code (see mousesavers.com and the alamo site). We have a standard size for 9 nights in Sept booked for $220.00 with taxes and fees. Totally worth it IMO....esp at park closing.

 

[MKay]

We stayed onsite last year and rented a car...picked it up and dropped it off at the airport. We had to rent one in order to go to my daughter's softball games off-site. It was very stressful getting the car back to the airport. This year as I was looking into renting a car I found that Enterprise has a pick-up/drop-off location a mile from our resort so we are going to try this out this year. We also found that we could rent the car for the full week for less than what we were going to rent it for the 5 days we need it.
This way we will be able to take the Magical Express both ways.
If we didn't have to go off-site for my daughter's games we might rent a car for the first day as someone else mentioned to be able to go at our own pace and run our errands on the way to the resort. That sounds like a good idea.

7 days until we go again...deep breath...

 

[vacation_junkie]

Some tell me I would be wasting money stay onsite and still rent a car...reason why I want it is because I heard you might have to wait up to 30-45 mins for shuttles and I mean after long day I really don't want the kids to be waiting for that long for a bus to get back to the resort, plus I hear that CBR is pretty big, I plan to drive within the resort to get to places also...finally planed a day to the outlets..

what do you think ?

We rent a car every time we go..we usually book on priceline.com We do the name your price thing. The most expensive we paid for a 1 week rental is $165...the cheapest is $125.
We like it because we can store our luggage in the car before our room is ready.
When we leave a park the kids can fall asleep in the car.
Keep a spare set of clothing in the car and extra shoes in case need be!
no waiting for shuttles
after we land we head to walmart for water, and snacks
One of the days we head to the flea markets and outlets
When we check out we have a place to keep our luggage and can take our time getting to the airport.
avoid crowded buses
If you are on the dining plan and have booked any meals at the resorts its a quick drive to your spot rather then figuring out which buses to take!!

 

[NeedaVacation03]

I am a total control freak and it is worth it to me to have the rental car. I may not use it for days on end, but when I want it , I want to know it is there. I do not care for ME. I get car sick and the bus just does me in. Also I am a shopper and I enjoy going and doing other things. We like to eat at City Walk at Universal so it is nice to have the car. It is also fun to drive around and see the other things in Orlando. We found many benefits of the car.
Now my friend goes and hates to drive. She takes ME and uses Disney transportation the whole time. She loves it.

 

[pauly's girl]

This is a give and take....it would be nice to have no worries and use disney transportation all week....however we always rent a car! I want to be able to come and go as I please on my schedule. We normally have a grand gathering of at least 8 people....last year it was 11 of us and when we have reservations for meals and so forth Disney recommends you allow 90 mins for transportation to or from any given destination. With that many of us in our party it is so much easier to coordinate in cars...not to mention the time you could waste. For those who go to one park and may not travel back and forth throughout the day Disney transportation would be perfect!!

 

[wolf29]

We always rent a car for the reasons vacation junkie mentioned. We just find it more convenient to be able to hop in the car and switch parks, go shopping, DTD, get to resorts for ADRs. etc. We also do the Priceline/Hotwire deal and have gotten great deals. The nice thing about those sites is that the companies they use are IN MCO, no shuttles. We also join whatever rental car company's "club" online. This allows you to do all paperwork online, so upon arrival you are able to bypass the counter and proceed right to your vehicle. Another bit of advise is that usually you are already covered by your credit card/insurance (call & check) and can decline CDR, etc which saves quite a bit.

 

[Disney93]

We have made about a dozen trips to WDW and have had a car everytime except the first trip. We stayed at the Beach Club and were so tired of Cape May after eating there morning and night for a week. Now with a car you can go to other resorts or into Kissimmee for a meal. I bet we saved enough from eating offsite to pay for the car and we can eat anywhere we want. Also makes it easy for trips to other Orlando area parks. I agree that dropping the car off at the airport can be an issue. The way we've solved that issue is we rent from Alamo and drop the car off the night before at the Swan. This way we get the best airport rate and the drop off problem is solved.

 

[kenny]

Another vote for the car.

Not sure how old your children are though.

Our thought is we have young kids. Yes maybe you don't have to wait 40 minutes every time but seldom do you ever walk out of your room and there is the bus to the park you want waiting for you. You have to wait somewhat.

With young kids I don't want to find myself in the boat of just missing a bus and having to wait 5,10,20,etc mins for another with a tired cranky child. Would rather be able to jump in my car and go without standing around. Then again my wife tells me it is ME that can't stand and wait for the bus.

Also find that at night when we leave the park kids are asleep in the stroller. We have had pretty good success transfering them into ther car seat and then to the room keeping them somewhat asleep. Don't see that happening if they had to sit on the bus. Now I would have a tired cranky kid at 12 am. Then again you might not stay as late as we do. We generally close the park.

Another plus is if you want to go from resort to resort. We generally have at least 1 meal at another resort. If you take the bus the only way is to take a bus from your resort to a park, then change and take bus from that park to the new resort.

It really is a personal preference. I just know myself and my kids and there is no way I/we could wait for a bus. Others think it is great. I am sure at some point when the kids get older I'll try it at least once. I keep telling my wife every trip we should try it one day just to see, but can't get myself to actually do it.

We have also had good luck with car prices. Generally low to mid $200's. If that ever changed maybe that would change my decision.

Good luck

One more thought. Have stayed numerous times at CBR and you do not have an assigned parkng section. It does make it A LOT easier to go from your building to main building if you are not in preferred section.

 

[feezle]

We usually rent one. This trip however we will be going without. Rates are insane now and with our family size we would be looking at a van with 2 carseats. Would be way too expensive. We will be renting for one day to go visit some family but that is it.

 

[bestjsg]

I reserved a mid size from Dollar for 8 nights in May at $ 221.95 , it says however, this amount is an ' estimated grand total ' , anyone has experience that they are charging more than the quoted amount online ?

 

[Brookie1972]

We have young kids and it was worth every penny. It was nice to stop on the way to the hotel at a local grocery store and pick up snacks, milk, etc.

We were able to get to locations in one trip that may have taken a few transfers otherwise. We would eat b-fast at one of the monorail resorts in the morning and hop the monorail there instead of the transit center (or whatever its called). Much easier to find our hotel in the hotel parking lot than having to take the tram thing to go find it, esp with young kids in strollers...having to collapse it for the ride. Monorail at Disneyworld you can leave the strollers open...not the case at Disneyland.

We stored our luggage in the car on check in and check out day.

One day when the kids (2 yr old twins) were really cracky and would not nap, I just drove them to sleep.

Our 2 years olds that WERE potty trained a few months before Disney had MANY accidents at Disney....off to Walmart to get some pull ups.

I searched for cheapest rates and was able to get a really good deal with the Orlando Magicard discount(free)....google it.

 

[Brookie1972]

I reserved a mid size from Dollar for 8 nights in May at $ 221.95 , it says however, this amount is an ' estimated grand total ' , anyone has experience that they are charging more than the quoted amount online ?

We rented through them or Thrifty (I think they are owned by the same) and I think that was the base rate, I thought taxes were included in that price....look and see. Maybe they say that in case taxes change.

 

[Ryansdad0727]

I rented a mid size (Dodge Caliber) from enterprise at MCO for 245 in July '09. The only time i would rent a car is if you were going to other entertainment venues off site. We did on '09 and it was really convenient. We also went offsite to eat but also have a villa so we cook most meals. You will not wait long for the busses. It is worth the stress relief not to have to fight traffic.

 

[lisa costa]

We stay on site all the time, we are dvc members and we have never not rented a car. We love the convenience of being able to do what we want when we want and not having to rely on disney transportation. My husband once left my 3 DDS and myself at magic kingdom because he wanted to go back to the hotel and relax a bit before dinner it took him an hour to get back to the hotel and and hour to get back to us to meet for dinner he relaxed for 30 mins and decided all that traveling back and forth was more tiring then staying in the parks would have been. We like to be able to enjoy every second of Disney when we are there and not waste any time standing around waiting for transportation. We would never do it any other way!!!