Thinking of renting car

[waltslostnephew]

Hello all, we will be at Pop, from 1-26 to 2-2. It has been a couple of years since we have used the resort buses, since we have driven the last 2 years. I like being driven around, but I hate the SOMETIME waits at the resort, to get on the bus and the standing room only waits when the park closes. I always told my wife, I feel we gain almost an hour a day, having our own vehicle to drive at Disney. We are flying this time, and I can get a rental for around a 100.00 to 150.00 for the week. You also gain a little time the morning you leave for the airport because Magical Express, makes you leave so early. How do you guy's feel about the time spent on resort buses and Magical Express vs. having a car to zip to the parks when you want? Thanks!

 

[CanadianGuy]

Having just spent a week with Disney transportation I can say the following:

# of times we waited significantly more than 20 minutes : FOUR *
# of times that waiting more than 20 minutes was super annoying: FOUR
# of times I said "Enough, we're renting a car next time" : FOUR

# of times the bus arrived at the perfect time for us : NINE
# of times we talked about sometimes being lucky : NINE

# of times the bus arrived within a reasonable 10-15 minute wait : A BUNCH

# of times we arrived at a perfect time to wait for a bus driver shift change : ELEVEN

Yes. Eleven. If catching a bus driver shift-change could be like winning the lottery, we would have won ELEVEN times.

Overall I like the buses, but collectively just on those four stupid waits we lost almost 3.5 hours of park time or 'other recreation' time. Is that worth $150 for me?

Resounding yes.

And next time I will be renting a vehicle. No discussion for us.

* One of those waits for a bus was over 50 minutes. Completely unacceptable. Finally, we just approached a cab nearby and had him drive us. As we were pulling away, the bus showed up. At that point, I was so past caring. We had reached the point where we were counting the OTHER buses that weren't ours and we had counted FOUR of each of the other buses. We were waiting for a mid-morning DTD bus (at the Beach Club incidentally) and it was just ridiculous.

We had the same problem going from All Star Sports to Animal Kingdom one morning and we were out waiting for a bus at 8:15 and we finally got on a bus at 8:55. We should have been at the park before opening and as it was we were a good fifteen minutes AFTER the park opened.

It set our day off to a very bad start and it was all completely avoidable.

And next time, I will avoid it.

 

[waltslostnephew]

Thank You canadian guy, great input, exactly what I was looking for. Anybody else? I am thinking about leaning that way to. Thanks

 

[wdwagain518]

we are renting a car again as well. I waited and waited until the rates dropped last week-last year I actually waited until the night before we left and the rate went down! I like knowing that I have the freedom to get in the car and go if I want rather than relying on the buses. Dining reservations at other resorts can be a nuisance if you don't have a car and this time instead of using Garden Grocer I can just stop at Target on the way from the airport to WDW and save some money that way.

If the rates were still $400 for the week like they were a few weeks ago, I might think otherwise but for $150 it's well worth it to me.

 

[Megsie1000]

I hate getting the rental car at the airport and dropping it back. But if I could get one from WDW for that little expense I would totally do it.

Having said that - last October my Mom and I stayed at POP for a quick mom/daughter trip and had a wonderful bus experience. Plenty of buses, never waited more than 10-15 mins, some were more crowded than others but loading/unloading was orderly and pleasant. I cannot say the same for some of the deluxe resorts I have stayed at.

 

[waltslostnephew]

Thank You More please

 

[Disney st8 of mind]

GET THE CAR!!!! Our first few trips we thought the bus was fun... then we started to realize just how long it was taking to get places. When you take into account getting lucky (or unlucky) on timing, then stopping at additional resorts, then loading and unloading scooters soooo much time is wasted! It is a great service Disney offers, and they have so many options depending on where you stay, but being in control of your own destiny to a certain extent is well worth the $150! We've rented from Alamo, picking up at MCO and it is super easy.

 

[kat3668]

Yah the buses got real old real fast for me......If I can get a rental for a reasonable rate then I ALWAYS do it. So nice to be able to control where you go when you leave and who you have to encounter to get there!

 

[CanadianGuy]

I have rented directly at the airport .. and I have also done the inverted task of renting from the Alamo desk at the Swan/Dolphin and the Car Care Centre. Do check the rates on all three.. sometimes you can save significant money by NOT renting at the airport.... the fees for MCO are very high.

So.. another little tidbit.

 

[redrosesix]

I hate getting the rental car at the airport and dropping it back. But if I could get one from WDW for that little expense I would totally do it.

Having said that - last October my Mom and I stayed at POP for a quick mom/daughter trip and had a wonderful bus experience. Plenty of buses, never waited more than 10-15 mins, some were more crowded than others but loading/unloading was orderly and pleasant. I cannot say the same for some of the deluxe resorts I have stayed at.

You can

We always pick up/drop off ours at CCC or Dolphin, usually for a better rate than at the airport. And ME deals with our luggage to and from the airport.

This allows us to rent the car for just the days we'll actually need it. And yes, bus service is better at resorts that don't provide other means of transportation.

 

[mel&me]

Have been getting a rental since 04. Never go without it now.

 

[cathigh10]

We are renting a car when we go down in July. I just don't like waiting for transportation and like the freedom of having my own. I have rented right from the airport the last few times I have gone down to WDW and it has always been a quick pick up and drop off. For my family it is completely worth it!

 

[FantasiaMagic]

we always rent a car. It's nice having another option of transportation. We still use the buses, boats ect. Esp for $100 - I would do it!

 

[denisegold]

Here's another "yay" for renting a car. We thought we might use the Disney transport but after thinking about it for about 5 minutes, changed our monds. We are 2 adults, no kids this trip, staying at the Caribbean. I have stayed at the Pop a few times and sometimes rented a car, sometimes not. I just liking having the extra control of having our own car, and if we want a few hours outside of Disney, we're all set.

 

[ArielSparrow]

Oh please tell me where you found a place to rent a car for so cheap. I did a quick search and the best I could find was over $400 for the week at Dollar. After considering the $14/day parking fees, that's just too much for me.

 

[MomofDisneyLoversx3]

I was always of the 'I don't need a car in Disney ' camp. Then (due 2 being off property) we rented one. I don't think I can go back. Loved the comfort. Loved not waiting 4 a bus. Loved going directly where I wanted w/out six stops. Loved that the kids (and grown ups) could spread out instead of squeeze in a bus. I also loved just leaving the stroller there. Along w the park bag. I just added h2o bottles b4 going to the parks.


Also if you stay on property parking is free. We rented advantage and paid ~$280 for a minivan during mlk weekend (we are renting for a full week but our weekend is mlk). I found the best deals on kayak this trip.

Heather

 

[bumbershoot]

I have rented directly at the airport .. and I have also done the inverted task of renting from the Alamo desk at the Swan/Dolphin and the Car Care Centre. Do check the rates on all three.. sometimes you can save significant money by NOT renting at the airport.... the fees for MCO are very high.

So.. another little tidbit.

Yes, you always want to check every way of renting.

I've been looking for a few months, and up until this week, the prices were about the same.

Suddenly today the prices of picking up at the airport and dropping at the Dolphin or CCC were way lower than dropping at the airport. I don't just look at the end price, but of the daily/weekly rates, and dropping at the airport was something like $258 for a week, but dropping at the Dolphin or CCC was $158. And the daily costs for our time over the one week were lower, too. Ended up being over $400 for MCO dropoff, and $237 dropping at the Dolphin. (note: this is 3 rental days fewer than dropping at MCO, but the daily difference was $5 per day)

Oh please tell me where you found a place to rent a car for so cheap. I did a quick search and the best I could find was over $400 for the week at Dollar. After considering the $14/day parking fees, that's just too much for me.

When are you renting? Are you checking often? Keep checking!

Are you staying offsite? I've read that the shuttles offsite places aren't really the best, so you probably really want that rental car.

 

[bumbershoot]

We have had two long trips, one in December 2010 and one in September 2011. Both times we had a rental car, but also used Disney transportation sometimes.


Many times the transportation was nothing great or horrible.

One time in December it was just awful for DH and my aunt. They left DHS early, and decided to take the bus. We left awhile later, and drove the car. We left AFTER they did. We were home for well over an hour before they even *got on* a bus. I should mention that they were FIRST in line for OKW from DHS. There were just NO buses being sent to pick them up.

DH had found a number for transportation somewhere, and called them several times. They told him that their way of dispatching had just changed, and they were sending buses out based on how many people were waiting. My aunt has walking and standing problems, and was thinking of falling to the ground, since the transportation people were basically saying that the stops were monitored remotely. She wondered what would happen if she had some sort of spell while in line.

People who were with them in line, who had left in good time to get to OKW for a reservation at Olivia's, not only missed their ADR time, but got to OKW after Olivia's had TOTALLY closed. And it wasn't even an OKW bus that picked them up; an SSR driver finally took pity on them and let them on. Dropped them off after finishing SSR.

That was NOT good. (and please don't ask why we didn't hop in the car and drive to rescue them...no one thought of it at all at the time)


Another time DS and I were trying to get to Epcot from AKL, and it was like CanadianGuy's experience watching bus after bus for *elsewhere* go by, but never seeing YOUR bus. We weren't trying to hit EMH at all, but were trying to get there close to opening, and we missed it.


Now, our experiences while driving were always...GOOD. We have even had tremendous luck parking at MK, either getting there early enough to be close enough so we didn't have to take the tram, or getting there late and just after a huge storm had passed so there was no one to direct us, and we got to the front of the lot again.


So...neutral bus trips, BAD bus trips, and GOOD car trips? We're renting the car again.


Plus, we like the freedom. We like dining at Sweet Tomatoes, we like going to the store, to Costco. To the bank. To Universal if we get the urge for some Butterbeer (we have APs there)! Freedom is good.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Ha, I forgot to add on the same trip, one of our other huge time wastes ..

It was around 11am, we were leaving AK after a very productive morning and wanted to go to DTD with no car. Since there are no direct buses to DTD due to 'parking thieves' ... we decided we'd take a bus to Saratoga and just walk over from there. Easy right?

We got on the bus and the driver was having issues leveling out the hydraulics on the bus. That was ten minutes of him flipping switches at the front of the bus, then going back to the handicapped control panel and flipping switches and then back to the front and more flipping switches and on and on.

After a bunch of attempts to get the bus level, he finally said "close enough" and headed out with just us 2 passengers on board.

Before he got to Blizzard Beach.. the bus was belching incredibly black smoke and the engine had lost significant forward power. We were now moving at 2 mph. The operator was frantically radioing dispatch etc. We crawled along at 2 mph ... other vehicles honking and waving frantically as if we didn't know the bus was belching more smoke than your Uncle Jimmy at Christmas.

He stopped at Blizzard Beach and that was a painful ten minutes from the roadway to the bus shelters. Literally INCHING along . Finally we stopped and he asked us to exit the bus for mechanical difficulties and they were sending another bus. Meanwhile the bus is smoking like a teenager when their parents are out of town. And as the minutes ticked by, I was fuming myself.

Pretty safe to say they'll likely be doing an engine overhaul on that bus.

Meanwhile, we're still waiting. That wait was 45 minutes. Forty-five, freaking, minutes just standing there waiting.

At the same time, 4 transportation / security teams arrived in four different white Chevy SUV's with the Disney logo on the door. They were all standing around scratching their chin, walking up to the bus and then stepping back. Nobody was actually doing anything other than saying things like "Yup.. that smoke is pretty black" and "Yup, sure is."

ANY ONE OF THEM could have stepped up and given us a courtesy drive in 5 minutes and we would have been at our destination and on our way.

Nope.

For 45 minutes we waited for the fabled second bus. Come to find out, he was pulled from another run to come get and us and only us. And then take us to Saratoga. So .. somewhere else -- people were waiting for a bus that wasn't coming right away... because he had been re routed "just" for us..

All of that, when anyone of four SUV's could have gotten us where we were going without messing up other people's day/plans.

All tolled, our trip from AK to DTD via walking over from Saratoga, via Blizzard Beach and the driver screw around time at the start, we lost just under 90 minutes.. like 85 minutes on this trip. I could have driven to Tampa/St-Pete or over to Daytona in the same amount of time for pete's sake.

The buses used to be good, they used to be mostly reliable.

But this trip, they completely failed us. And I won't take that chance again.

 

[ElizabethB]

We always rent a car. Can't stand the buses.