So I'm thinking about getting a rental car....

[denisekayt]

I mentioned to DH the other day that I was thinking about getting us a rental car for our trip in Dec. 2006 (we've only been to WDW one other time and didn't do the rental, just a towncar to and from the airport)....his words were "WHY didn't we last time?!?" I had absolutely no idea he would be so won over by the idea! LOL

So, I guess it's looking like more of a "yes, we will get a rental car", then the "hmmmm, I wonder if we should get a rental car" mood that I was in when I asked him.

After reading a few posts and checking out what mousesavers had to say about rentals, I'm getting the feeling that finding the best rental car deal could actually be more convoluted and time consuming than airfare or hotel! Yes, I'm truly obsessive about my Disney planning, but wasn't really prepared for yet another thing to add to my list of obsessions!

That said, when do I get started? I know the timelines for hotel stuff, I know the timelines for airfare stuff, and I really know the timelines for food stuff....but, what's the appropriate time to start getting serious about finding a car? 6 months out from the trip? 4? 10?

Any help on when to put this particular new piece of planning mania into action is much appreciated!

 

[fac]

It is more time consuming because you can cancel your reservation and make another on when the price goes down.

My suggestion is to make a reservation as soon as you have the dates confirmed, check out mousesavers.com for quotes etc. Then check back this board and mousesavers.com occassionally, if rate does go down, you will see postings here and you can always go back to make changes.

good luck

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

We rented a car and the rates were much better the earlier we booked. By the time our vacation rolled around, I was looking at quotes and they had doubled. My best suggestion is to use a mainstream rental car company located AT the airport. This way you arrive, walk downstairs past the Disney ME buses and right to the rental car islands. Similarly, when you are leaving, you drive to the airport and drop off your car right where the ME buses unload you. Easy! Fast!

If you are staying at a WDW resort, everywhere you park in WDW is free, even the parks. Just wave your little key to the kingdom card at the toll booths. Using a rental car saves you a lot of time each day traveling to or from resorts and parks. It allows you to travel directly from resort to resort, or from park to park.

I used the Rand McNally codes listed in MouseSavers for Budget and it was dirt cheap. Doing the same thing again for our trip in May. Remember, when you book a rental car, they don't charge your credit card until you rent the car, and you can modify your reservation as often as the company allows you to.

Good luck!!

 

[ryan840]

Between this thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1006065 and mousesavers.com, you should be able to get a GREAT rate. It saved me tons. Good luck!

 

[Kycha]

Definitely check out mousesavers.com. I used some of their coupon codes for our March rental and saved about $50. Once you make your reservation, check back to mousesavers every couple of weeks because Mary is constantly adding new codes. I just did this yesterday and saved myself an additional $35. Now I am down to $140 for a midsize SUV for the last week of March. I think that is pretty good. I'll be checking back in about 2 weeks. Hoping to save even more.

 

[denisekayt]

Thanks for all the great advice!! I will definitely plan to book with an onsite rental agency at the airport...guess it's time to shop!

 

[goofyfordisney]

Thanks for all the great advice!! I will definitely plan to book with an onsite rental agency at the airport...guess it's time to shop!

We decided to use DME to and from the airport and WDW and rent a car for a few days during our trip--this way we won't rent for as many days. We originally wanted to get a car just for a day to go to US/IOA but then we decided to rent for 3 days. We are mainly using the car for days that we aren't planning on going to MK (we are going to AK and Epcot) and to do some resort hopping to check out some of the other resorts!

We are renting a car from Alamo (locations at WDW are at the Dolphin resort and Car Care Center near MK). If you choose to pick up at CCC--you can get a shuttle to pick you up and bring you to get your car. We are returning the car at the Dolphin location on a day that we planned to go to MGM and Epcot. I got the entertainment book and used their codes and saved over $25.00.

You might try pricing it out to see if you can save alittle by renting on-site at WDW.

I would definitely book as soon as your dates are firm--you can alway change or cancel if something better comes up.

P.S. Alamo and National are at the Dolphin and CCC
I believe Dollar is at a hotel in DTD as well as Avis.

Good luck!

 

[Letsbgoofy]

We are planning to use DME to get to our resort, and then rent at the Dolphin as well. I like not having to get my bags and pick up a rental right when we land. We will check our luggage at our resort when we leave, and will return the rental to the airport. It was cheaper to rent at the Dolphin because you don't pay all the airport fees (at least I think that was why??)

 

[denisekayt]

We decided to use DME to and from the airport and WDW and rent a car for a few days during our trip--this way we won't rent for as many days...You might try pricing it out to see if you can save alittle by renting on-site at WDW.

Yes, renting on site could save us a few dollars since we wouldn't be renting as many days...but we just aren't the family that could handle using DME. DH and DS (ok, mainly DH ) would not be able to take the extra wait and bus ride to and from the airport after flying the whole day (we live in CA). By the time we land in FL we just want to GET THERE! LOL Heck, I couldn't even convince them last year that a brief grocery stop was a good idea!

If we didn't get a rental we would opt for a towncar to get us to the resort, so really a rental for our whole trip, if I get a good deal, won't be extravagently more than a towncar (at least that's what I tell myself!)

 

[fac]

DH and DS (ok, mainly DH ) would not be able to take the extra wait and bus ride to and from the airport after flying the whole day (we live in CA). By the time we land in FL we just want to GET THERE! LOL Heck, I couldn't even convince them last year that a brief grocery stop was a good idea!

same for DH. Just to prove that he was wrong and I also did not like to take luggages, last summer I went with DD to use ME and he picked the rental. He arrived after we finished checking in.