Shuttle from Budget....

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

Hi All!
We have reserved our rental car with Budget, and will be dropping it off the morning of our cruise.

2 questions:

I put in a drop off time of 11:00, assuming it would be earlier, but giving us a cushion in case we run late. I assume it's not a problem if we drop it off earlier....

How do we schedule our family for the shuttle from Budget to the terminal? Depending on time, my DH may drop us off at the terminal, then drop the car off himself and catch the shuttle back.

Does anyone have any information on how the shuttle runs? Do we need to make a reservation? Is there a cost? Anything else I need to know?

We also plan to get the shuttle back to Budget and pick up a car for our last day in Florida. We leave to go home the day after our cruise.

Thanks for any help!!
~Sue

 

[Surfergirl]

Hi Sue, we just used the Budget shuttle last week.You do not have to make any reservation. We dropped off our car at 10am. Waited for hubby to finish up the paper work and we all got on the shuttle to the port at 10:25. You just wait for the first available shuttle. They have 2 or 3 that are bringing debarking passengers from the ships and taking new passengers to the ships. There is always one coming and going so I think we waited 10min for the shuttle once we were ready.
There is no cost except to tip the driver, and I would recommend that you stay together as a family and take the shuttle. It is so much easier than negotiating the lineup for cars trying to get through security to the terminal to drop off people.
Jane

 

[inkkognito]

We have used the Budget shuttle several times. Each time, there was no wait to drop off the car (we tend to get there early) and no wait or maybe only a couple of minutes for the shuttle. We were the only ones on it, so we got to the port very quickly. The driver was very helpful, so we made sure to tip. Coming back from the port, we've had other families on with us, but we've never had to wait because a shuttle filled.
Barb

 

[O&WMOM]

We are traveling with 2 young children and I will be easier if my husband dropped us off (2 kids & luggage does not sound fun)
How does that work, where does he drop us off at?

 

[sartini-co]

I just used Budget last week for my 10/9 cruise. This is what we did, that worked out very well.

- we reserved a car from the Orlando airport (MCO) on Friday, when we flew in.
It was a one-way rental from Budget, with no one-way drop off fee, costing $34 for a full-size car.
- we stayed Friday night in Cocoa Beach, so we drove the 45 miles or so from the airport to the hotel.
- Saturday morning, I drove my family to Port Canaveral and got in line at 10:30 for the cruise checkin/dropoff lane. It took about 15 minutes to advance the 10 or so cars in front of us.
- By 11:00, DW/DS/DD got in line to checkin in the Disney terminal, and I drove the car back to the Budget Cocoa Beach rental place. Its right on Atlantic Ave, just a few minutes away.
- I returned the vehicle, and waited about 10 minutes for the next shuttle. There were only 2 shuttles in service that day, and service for the Disney cruise line must contain only Disney cruise passengers, as Disney checks all IDs of those in the shuttle against the ships passenger list. Luckily there was a shuttle going with 7 of us for the Disney cruise, which left, as I said 10 minutes after I finished returning the car.
- When I arrived at the disney terminal, maybe around 11:45, I located my family in the line to board. They told me who to go see, to just show my ID/passport to. They checked me in, telling the person that I was returning a rental car, and I would be arriving shortly afterwards. They said no problem, and just have them go up to them immediately (ie, no waiting in the, by then, long line to checkin). After waiting a few minutes for the person in line to finish, I flashed my passport to them, and I got my KTTW card.
- I then returned to where my family was in the line to board. They allowed us to board at 12:00.

- Returning, was very similar. I walked across the street to a white tented area, where rental car shuttles pick up passengers. A shuttle had just left, so I waited 5 minutes for the next one. I got in, without any luggage. My family was waiting on the curb in front of the Disney terminal with the luggage. I jumped in the front seat, and when the shuttle arrived at the Budget place, I sprung out, and was first in line.
- I then drove back to pick up the family and luggage. You have to show your KTTW card to be allowed in to pick them up.
- It was 30 minutes after we got off the ship, that I was picking them up.

The process both ways was very smooth. I picked up pointers from others on this board. They did indicate that the rental car shuttle drop-off/pick-up place was going to be moved to the same side of the street as the Disney terminal, in the near future. I suspect that this mode of transportation is becoming more popular. They did indicate that it is not very comfortable under the white tent in rainy/windy weather.

 

[4formickey]

WE arrived early at the port around 10:03am, for some odd reason, they were not letting people in so we waited for about 30min. I dropped off everybody and took the car back. I almost missed the grace period. Make the return time for your car as late as you can so that you will not run into that problem. Keep your personal close because I found a persons wallet in the van.