Those who stay at Disney Resorts....

[bsusanmb]

My time is valuable, and I always rent a car. We use the Dining Plan and it is too difficult to get from resort to resort without spending over an hour riding buses. The buses are great if you aren't on a schedule. But if you are, it can be a nightmare to spend the day in the park, get a bus to your hotel, shower and change, get a bus to a park so that you can get a bus to the resort you are dining at. Too much for me.

 

[daisax]

Definitely a car for me (I wonder if those who find Disney transport magical in general don't have mass transit as part of their daily lives?) Nothing relaxing or vacation-like to me about riding a bus with overtired children of all ages. The trams zip up to pick you up quickly, and drop you off as close to your car as many walks to the bus stops, depending on the park (the walk to the AK buses in full sun comes to mind)

We love to go to the other resorts, and love being able to get just about anywhere on property in 10 mins. In our own peaceful (cool and silent!) world on wheels

 

[Mommy Poppins]

We always rent a car. Much quicker going from place to place in your own vehicle than waiting for a bus and transferring from place to place. We just like the convenience. We do use the buses if we split up.

 

[maelstrom]

We usually rent a car because we like to go places off property (Old Town, Belz, Festival Bay, the Olive Garden on 192 [inside family thing], Shell World, Publix, etc), but we use Disney transport while on Disney property.

 

[jadejazzkayla]

I always rent a car. i don't want to deal with the disney buses. with a car i can go anywhere at anytime.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

We use ME and had only positive experiences with it. We don't go anywhere off-site so it makes sense to us. Once at the resorts we use boats, buses, monorails or even walk...depending of course where we're staying!

 

[stepdisney]

We used Disney Transportation. Only twice did we wish we had a car. My husband was ill and needed something and I thought we needed to go to a pharm. Turns out that the concierge sent up something that worked. We also thought we could use groc. like milk and cereal for the children. Now I see that there are markets that sell 1/2 gallons and boxes of cereal.

We ate at several of the the other resorts. We took the monorail to Poly for O'hana's, we took the bus from MGM directly to AKL for Boma's. After dinner at AKL, we just took the bus to MK for fireworks and then back to our resort. When we ate at POLY, we took the monorail back to MK and the bus to resort, quick and painless. You can always plan dinner at resorts around the park you are visiting that day. This time we are staying at WL and the boat makes trips from the resort to contemporary. It will be easy for us to dine at Cali grill or Chef M and there is no need for a car.

We Will rent one this time for two days only becasue we want to visit US and IofA this time.

 

[Tasmen]

We are using DME to get to the resort and then using Disney transport & taxis while we are there. While a rental car would probably be cheaper in the end (we'll be using taxis a lot to get to adrs and such), I like not having to worry about driving while on vacation. Plus, it leaves the field wide open for enjoying some drinkies with meals

 

[keishashadow]

Wasn't thrilled with the long bus ride in (nearly 2 hours w/3 stops); will keep renting a car.

Do mostly use disney transportation ; except for AK, water parks & DTD (the far-flung places).

 

[Disneyjosh229]

We always rent a car for a few reasons. First off, they are almost always cheap (under $175 per week) and worth the money for the amount of time you save if you go between resorts. Also, we like to visit a few places off-site and just do some exploring around Orlando, so generally, we need a car to do that...

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

We always use Disney Transportation. It is part of the vacation for us. I love the monorail. If we drive down, our car gets a nice long rest while we are at Disney.

 

[rodkenrich]

Rent.

 

[melanell]

I just read a trip report talking about waiting for busses, almost being late for ADRs due to bus delays, missing a tour due to a bus delay, and I was thinking "Yep, I will always rent a car!"

But if the busses work for you, I say go for it! It's an extra couple hundred bucks you can spend elsewhere.

 

[antmaril]

We always rent a car. Waiting for and riding on a bus is not my idea of a vacation.

 

[Devil_Dog99]

DW and I always rent a car. I like the extra bit of freedom having a car gives me. We hit WMT for some groceries, and we like to have an off-site meal or two. Plus it comes in handy if one of us gets sick (like last year ) and I can run off to CVS or WMT in a hurry.

We use Disney transportation for going back and forth to the parks (the one reason DW doesn't mind paying a little extra for WDW rooms - no trams!!! ) and our big shopping trip to DTD. I use the car to go golfing. I know I can use the taxi service, but I don't want to have to wait on either end for the cab. And we usually have an evening where we see La Nouba and then take a carriage ride around PO. Don't want to rely on Disney transportation to keep the times (and busses are not the most romantic thinsg in the world )

The decision is all personal preference. I could spend the two weeks I spend at WDW w/o a car. But as I said, I like the freedom having a car gives me.

 

[ro80]

It's just so easy to get here and there, plus we can have all the delicious cocktails we want and not have to worry about driving!!!

 

[1000th happy haunt]

We didn't always, but we now rent a car.

What happened back in October 2004 is we were sitting at Wilderness Lodge, waiting for a bus to the Studios. While we were waiting, we saw two Downtown Disney busses, and two Animal Kingdom busses, but none to the Studios. Our next trip we rented a car.

Normally we put about 150-200 miles on the car (for a week). In fact, we went for three nights this past January and even had over 100 miles on the car. I personally like to be able to just pick up and go. It also makes it easier to go from hotel to hotel, like we did back in December to see the holiday decorations.

We also now have a last day ritual. We drive to the Studios and have lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater before heading off to the airport.

 

[Kitzer]

It's just so easy to get here and there, plus we can have all the delicious cocktails we want and not have to worry about driving!!!

(Best Homer Simpson Voice) MMMMMMM Delicious Cocktails!!!!

 

[WOODY13]

we always rent if we fly. One word convenience.