Taking car seat or not

[Maus]

We are flying to WDW, but since we are staying five days on property and 3 days off we are also renting a car. Should we bring ds's car seat or is it easy to rent one with the car? Can I rent a car on WDW property and return it at the airport? Will they bring it to POR resort and what should I expect to pay per day? Any recommendations with whom to rent?

 

[Alesia]

I would just take the seat from home. Your son will be more comfortable in his own seat, and you can be sure that it's clean and safe (which isn't always the case with rented car seats.)

 

[sam_gordon]

We will be renting at MCO and returning at the car car center @ WDW. Go to Alamo or Nationals website and search for your pickup location. It's fairly easy to find. I'm pretty sure the car care center will run a shuttle to pick you up at your hotel. If not, I'm sure the hotel can arrange it.

The website(s) can also help you on cost. You don't say when you're going, which days of the week, or what size vehicle you want to use. All of that factors into the cost. I can tell you we are paying ~ $180 (+ taxes and fees) for a full size car for four days over Memorial day weekend.

ETA: On the car seat, we take our car seats and use them on the plane. So we have them on site already.

 

[Paging Tom Morrow]

We bring our own car seat. Expect to pay $10 a day or more for a car seat if you get it from a rental car company.

 

[happymommy]

I've used Alamo and National a few times, and you can rent on property (I've used the Dolphin resort location) and drop off at the airport.

I don't know about them bringing the car to you, but it's easy to walk or take the boat from Epcot or DHS to the Dolphin (or bus from AK or MK).

Just compare online - make sure you put in the locations correctly for pick up and drop off! I always double check that!

If you really need the car seat, it may be more comfortable to bring it on the airplane (it's been so long since we've used them, but it would contain a toddler, especially if they fall asleep on the plane or are wild like my son used to be!). Plus I'm all for saving money.

You can also compare keeping the car for the whole week. Sometimes it's not much difference once you go from daily rates to weekly. Just a thought. It's free to park at your resort while you're a guest, and I personally took ME once and hated it (took over 2 hours to get to our resort, when we could have rented a car, done our quick grocery stop and been checked in and at a park by that time). I think my experience wasn't typical, but it was enough for me to not do it again! I like to have a grocery stop for snacks and wine anyway.

 

[IBLarsen]

We always take our own car seats. Some airlines let you gate check them, others you have to check as baggage, but they will NOT charge you a baggage fee, car seats are always free and do not count towards you allotted luggage limits. We had rented a car seat a few years back for our little guy and he managed to throw up in it! From that time on I thought about nothing but how many kids have thrown up/or had accidents in those seats and how thouroughly are they washed. And my son cried because the seat was not comfortable. So I vote to save yourself some money and have the peace of mind of bringing your own seat.

We have flown with car seats many times, and we have used a car seat carrier back pack strap type thing to carry the seat like a back pack (make sense?) This frees up our hands. We have also just put it on the stroller and wheeled it in. Make sure you bring a bag for it, some airlines have plastics bags and some don't. It will get Dirty if you check it without a bag. You can use just a trash bag or a duffle bag or an actual car seat bag..whatever you prefer, but it's a good idea to have something to protect the fabric.

Hope this helps a little, I know it can be overwhelming flying with so much gear, we always look like the Griswolds we joke

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Some airlines let you gate check them, others you have to check as baggage

All US airlines will let you gate check a car seat.

 

[jmay]

We are flying to WDW, but since we are staying five days on property and 3 days off we are also renting a car. Should we bring ds's car seat or is it easy to rent one with the car? Can I rent a car on WDW property and return it at the airport? Will they bring it to POR resort and what should I expect to pay per day? Any recommendations with whom to rent?

carseats arent really nesscary if your plan on takeing the disney busses or takeing the monorail to differnt parks... if you plan on leaving disney world and comeing back then yes rent a car and bring a car seat

 

[IBLarsen]

All US airlines will let you gate check a car seat.

Unfortunately, we made that same assumption because we had successfully done it several times. On one flight we took the car seats to the gate and they refused to let us gate check, and told us we had to go back and check them, we almost missed our flight. To be on the safe side, I would call and ask if gate check is something you would like to do.