Stumped - car rental to beach

[CapnJacksGirl]

We're planning to spend a day at the beach during our WDW vacation in August, and I'm stumped about how best (and cheapest) to rent a car.

My original plan was to rent a car from the Car Care Center during our stay, drive to the beach and return to the resort later that same day/evening. Then we changed our plan to where we'd do all our WDW fun then go to the beach on our last day before leaving FL. I figured we'd check out of the resort, drive to Cocoa Beach, play, spend the night, and return to MCO to fly home the next day. My problem is renting a car. If we rent from the Car Care Center and return the car to MCO, the cost per day goes up over $200. We'll save some bucks staying at a Cocoa Beach hotel that last night vs BLT, but I'd rather not throw the entire savings at the rental car. My next thought was to take a cab to the airport and rent there but the cab ride adds a significant chunk of change to the tally too. Anyone know if we can take ME to the airport the day before we actually fly out?

I'm open to any suggestions here. We may go back to our original plan and go to the beach during our stay instead of after, just to save money on the rental car. I just thought it'd be nice to have something fun to look forward to as we leave WDW. Might save a few tears!

TIA for the help!!

 

[Lewisc]

Try other rental agencies. Most agencies have an office in one of the hotels in DTD. I picked a random date. Budget doesn't have a drop charge. Price, without any discounts, is around $100.

Your staying at BLT. You can use DME to get to MCO (your checkout day or earlier). Pick up your rental car at MCO.

Make sure you select a rental car with a trunk large enough to hold your stuff.

 

[Hopefully]

Last October we picked a National rental up at the Dolphin Hotel and returned it a week later to MCO. It was only 20 dollars more than a MCO/MCO rental. It was well worth it.
We were checking out of BCV that day so I was going to use DME to go back to the airport to pick up the car, but ended up not needing to.
Remember too, if you do decide to rent in the middle of your trip to know the time the rental office closes and if you are after that do you get charged for an additional day.
Have a Fun Trip.

 

[ssawka]

Are you staying on-site? If so, take ME to MCO on the day you check out and pick up the car at MCO. That way you won't have to pay for the cab.

 

[gigi1313]

Check out carrentalsavers.com for good rates... We used them over thanksgiving and were not charged a drop charge when picking up at CCC and returning to West Palm airport.