Should I rent a car?

[ladybugkisses]

I will be staying at the Poly for 7 nights - 8 days in Jan.

I just found out that I get free parking as a perk for staying at a resort hotel.

I also purchased my vacation through AAA and think I might be eligible for a AAA parking pass. Is this parking area usually full?

Would if be easier to get around with a rented car? I'm worried about the time it will take to park, and find parking each day. Would Disney transportation be faster? I will have access to the Monorail at the Poly - but will have to take buses to catch dinner reservations and to get to DTD.

What do you think?

Thanks,
Rachel

 

[poeticdiabetic]

It depends. For me, I drive down from Atlanta in a rental car but once I get to WDW, I would leave my car in the parking lot for the entire trip. But I don't leave the grounds of Disney.

My first trip, I did go to Walmart and such, so the rental car was needed. But now, we pack much better for the trip, so we stay onsite the entire time.

Also, the Disney transportation, for me, is better than driving on my own. It's not faster. But I also want to park hop, and it's easier for me to just take WDW transportation back to the hotel from where I am than taking WDW transportation to the car and driving back to the hotel.

 

[lynn46356]

We've vacationed at Disney 6 times and never once have we used our car. We always drive down (from Indiana) and once we enter our resort we unpack our car and go back to it at the end of our stay to pack it back up. We have had friends that went and every day they traveled to the parks by car. We really enjoy the buses. We've never stayed at the Poly but I wouldn't think you would need to drive. Our last two visits were at Pop and even though the UG says it a long bus drive to MK we have never been on the bus more than 10-15 minutes. The rest of the parks were even closer. The only draw back is that Pop is always at the end of the bus stops. Oh well. Poly is at the front! Lucky you. Have fun planning.

Lynn

 

[CDizney]

It depends who you ask frankly and what your purpose of vacation is. I always rent a car when I visit WDW. I just find that with the available discount codes available on certain Disney chat sites that I can afford to rent a car and have the luxury of coming and going when I please. I have saved so much money with the discount codes on certain Disney chat sites that I cannot being to express my graditude. Not to say that Disney transportation is terrible or anything but I certainly can get around alot faster on mine own and get alot more vacation experience in with a rental car. Since I and many others pay so much for their WDW vacation, my point of view is to get in as much as I can for the money and having that rental car really helps me do that.

 

[ReneeA]

To me, the biggest perk of staying at the Poly IS the transportation.

No way would I stay on a monorail resort and rent a car unless I was planning on leaving WDW to venture offsite.

 

[buzzgirls&dad]

You will get many answers for and against driving to the parks. We definately rent a car. Since our DD was young we have always wanted to be able to come and go as we please and not have to be at the mercy of a Disney bus.(So many threads about this just read over on the resorts boards.) We also eat at different resorts and I just don't want to have to leave and hour or more ahead of time for a ressie. We also don't mind the walk from any AAA parking lot and taking the monorail from the TTC is like another ride for us. What has really sealed the deal for us is the numerous times we have seen long lines and people standing in the rain even in covered areas. We have always found WDW to be well marked for driving. DH is in sales and is on the road every day and never minds driving at the world. To us a rental car is money well spent. JMHO

 

[hapandpam]

For us, it depends on what we are planning on doing on the trip. Since you are staying almost a week, you might want to take a break, have a meal off site, visit the Disney outlets, or grab some drinks and snacks for your room. If you want to do this, I would advise renting a car.

However, you certainly don't need to have a car. Magical Express and the Disney transportation system for the parks are great, and if you don't plan on doing any of the things above, there is no need for the added expense. When I am there with my dds, we have groceries delivered by gardengrocer.com (super service!) and stay onsite. When DH comes with us, we usually rent a car and go to the grocery store and outlets, and use it when we go to Downtown Disney shopping.

We never use a car to go to the parks. DH feels he is on vacation too and would prefer just to hop on the bus and let someone else do all the work. Actually, we all enjoy the bus rides, even when they are crowded. Just seems like part of the Disney experience to us.

Have fun!

 

[RussellDisney]

As others have said, you will have the monorail to MK and could probably walk to TTC for a non-stop to Epcot. Also, the benefits of ME from the airport can be great, especially if traveling with young kids and lots of luggage.

Another thing to consider is the location of parking for the Poly. I'm not sure how close you can park, but I do know last Dec I parked at GF for a Pirate Cruise and the guest parking was a good 7-9 minute walk from the lobby. As I said, I'm not sure how far it is for the Poly, but check it out. Potentially the time savings of your own car could be eaten up by commuting from your room to the car!

 

[BigTrain]

If staying on Disney property, you don't NEED to rent a car as Disney transportation will take you just about anywhere you want to go. We've never stayed at a resort on the Monorail however whenever we fly, we rent a car. When we drive, we use our car to get around the Disney property. We REALLY like being able to come and go as we please.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Rent the car!! If you go anywhere beyond the MK and Epcot, you'll be glad you did!!

 

[justplaingoofy]

Again...completely up to you....

we usually do rent a car. We do not use it every day, but the rates we've gotten we prefer to be able to jump in the car and be there.

I just got a compact for 8 days, starting Sept. 3 from MCO for $72. including taxes! My base rate was only $45! Less than $10 a day

 

[BigTrain]

Again...completely up to you....

we usually do rent a car. We do not use it every day, but the rates we've gotten we prefer to be able to jump in the car and be there.

I just got a compact for 8 days, starting Sept. 3 from MCO for $72. including taxes! My base rate was only $45! Less than $10 a day

JustPlainGoofy -
How/where did you get those rental car rates??? I haven't been able to find anything close to that. I'm looking for the period from Oct 29-Nov 4.

 

[aribelle]

I

I also purchased my vacation through AAA and think I might be eligible for a AAA parking pass. Is this parking area usually full?

The AAA parking pass is usually only available with a package (i.e. room and tickets at least). SOME AAA offices are apparently giving out these passes without requiring the package, but most don't, just so you know.

Depends on when you arrive whether it's full or not....but it is within walking distance of the gate (or in the case of MK of the TTC).

THe Monorail of course will get you to MK and Epcot, but you'll need to use busses to get to DS, AK, and DTD and any other resorts you may have reservations. The opinions vary on the busses from they are ridiculously slow, having to wait forever for them to arrive, too crowded to sit, etc. to people who couldn't imagine any other way of getting around. I would guess the time of year has a lot to do with that. There are a lot of threads with people saying they gave up on the bus wait and took their car to the park, free parking and free tram to the gate because it was faster (or maybe it just felt fast because they were moving, lol).

 

[Freyja]

I could not for the life of me be in Orlando without a car. But that´s just because I can not imagine staying onsite and not venturing off to go shopping, Seaworld, etc.

 

[sbell111]

We ALWAYS rent/borrow a car while we are at WDW. We love not having to wait for transportation or make stops to places we aren't going. We also like that we can freely change our plans and do something different at any time. We can pop down to Celebration to check out the farmer's market. We can go off site to eat, visit with friends, go to church, or whatever. We also don't have to plan to leave for the airport as early as we would if we were using Disney transportation.

 

[catho72]

We rented a car last time we went. It was much easier renting a car than having to wait for a bus when you wanted to go back to your resort. We also had ADR's at various resort restaurants. Having a car makes it much easier to make those meals. We are renting one again for our trip in September. The AAA parking pass allows you to park in the front of the parking lot, close to the handicapped spots.

We had a party of seven on our last trip. We rented a minivan but I was still concerned about having enough room for everyone's luggage. I had the boys (DH, dad, DS) take ME with our luggage and the girls (me, mom, 2 DD's) drive the car. This worked out very well....as we were leaving the lobby after checking-in, the ME bus was pulling up to the door.

As for your case, since you're staying at Poly, I don't know if you'd really need a car since you're on the monorail. If you can find one that's cheap, I'd say go for it.

 

[ladybugkisses]

Lots to think about.....I do plan on staying at the property the whole time. The only reason I can think to leave would be to go get a package of water and maybe some rum. =)


Thanks so much everyone for all of the help!

 

[Tara8595]

I have always rented a car. I am a control freak. And I absolutely HATE to wait. I have had people in my party try to 'race' me to the parks or back to the hotel and the car always wins.

Having a car saves a lot of time, especially at night after any of the celebrations. The line for the trams moves faster than the lines for the busses (or boats). Once you're back to your car, zoom, you're back at your hotel.

All that said, I'm staying at Poly myself (in 5 days!!) with a 15-month old, so this time, we will not be renting a car. We are going Magical Express and taking WDW transportation, simply because we don't want to deal with a car-seat and all that. But I will really miss the car. But, I won't be out as late as usual and won't have to deal with the nightly mass exodus after Wishes/Illuminations/Fantasmic.

 

[WillCAD]

Being on the monorail only really makes transportation convenient to MK. Even if you want to monorail to Epcot, the car is way faster, because from Poly you have to walk to TTC to get the Epcot monorail.

I always rent a car at WDW, and I drive everywhere. I don't like being at the whim of WDW busses, and I really hate getting on a bus that's SRO after a long day in the parks. Being crammed into a bus, standing up, trying to hold on as the bus careens around corners and suddenly starts or stops, along with 100 other sweaty, smelly (after a day in Orlando heat, none of us smells like a rose garden), noisy, often cranky strangers, is not my idea of Disney Magic.

On the other hand, when I drive myself, I always get a seat, I never have to listen to 20 other peoples' conversations, the A/C is always set to my comfort level, and I can even listen to the radio.

Driving myself also gives me complete freedom to go where I want, when I want, without waiting for a bus, any time of day or night. I can go off-site for shopping, dining, and for my mandatory trip to Universal, I can go from one resort to another without having to figure out where to transfer, and I can pack my purchases or luggage in the trunk on my travel days without worrying about leaving them at some bell stand or dragging them around the parks with me all day. I'm also happy to be able to make grocery and sundry stops on the way from the airport to my resort.

My time at WDW is precious - far too precious to throw a bunch of it away every day waiting for busses.

 

[disneymom0104]

Last year we didn't rent a car and it was fine. The transportation was good, albeit long sometimes. I was surprised how many stops we had to make depending on where we were going. Like the Animal Kingdom bus took us to Blizzard Beach first. We were at the Boardwalk and had to stop at the Swan and Dolphin as well and sometimes the Beach Club.

This year we are renting a car. The main reason being that we can go directly where we want to go. We are staying at POP and I know they don't stop at any other resorts, but for us it seems like it will be more convenient. We have a lot of ADRs at other resorts and wasn't really looking forward to going from AKL to DTD and from DTD to POP just to be able to have dinner there.

I think it is all a matter of personal preference. We didn't have any major problems with the busses, but I am really hoping we save some time by being able to drive directly where we want to go