To rent a car, or ride a bus. Which to do?

[nataliesdaddy]

Hiya - we are going for 8 nights June 6th to the 14th - We usually rent a car when in Orlando. And we usually stay at the contemporary. We always show up early to the parks and then leave early. We rarely go to the parks for afternoons or evenings unless its Epcot or MK for fireworks or spectro.

This year we plan on doing evenings so I imagine taking the buses to MGM for evenings will be the way to go. BUT... When we go in the mornings to MGM and AK when do the gates for the parking lots open? Or are we better off taking the busses? The time we drove over to AK in the morning we were maybe the 15th car there so we were close to the gates, and when we left there was no huge walk. But the resort buses actually show up closer to the front gates in the morning. So obviously in the evenings the busses are the way to go... BUT

Is there any timing advantage to driving over to AK and MGM ourselves instead of taking the resort busses? How many other resports does a contemporary bus stop at before getting to its final destination? Do the parking lots open early enough? Or do the resort busses actually get us to the parks sooner?

 

[Leota]

My understanding is that the buses start running by 6:30 - 7:00 am for PS breakfasts - I could be wrong about that. But I think that was posted by our resident transpo expert not too long ago.
We are going for our 11th trip & have never once rented a car. Part of my vacation is not having to drive. We have always gotten where we wanted to go early or on time. We do take advantage of taxi's for late night resort dinners.
I have been with friends who have driven & not really found the car that much more convienent with the exception of Downtown Disney - that was the one place that a car came in VERY handy & even more so as my friend requires handicap parking which kept us parking close.

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

I agree with Leota..........I am on vacation and don't want to be bothered driving. I let Disney take me anyplace I want to go in the "world". We have never had problems with the buses. They can be crowded at times but they are very reliable. They will always get you closer to the entrances than driving. Leota is correct that buses start running very early so people can get to character breakfasts, the Segway tours in Epcot, etc. Don't try to drive to the Animal Kingdom early because they won't let cars through before a certain time, even if you have a ps for Donald's. Only the Disney buses area allowed in early.
With Disney starting their free transportation from MCO to the Disney resorts there is even less of a reason to rent and drive to the theme parks.

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

I've always found the buses to be adaquate. We never rent a car. First three trips with kids, we flew down and used buses for everything. This last trip, we drove down - so we had access to our own car, if desired, and we did not use it once! Personally, I find hoping on a bus and be taken to the entrance of the park more convenient than driving, finding parking, and then walking or triding a tram to get to the entrance.

I think it's really personal preference. I'm generally a person who would want to have a car somewhere to come and go as I please, but I hav ebeen satisified witht he buses. I can't imagine spending extra money on a car that really isn't necessary.

I don't know for sure if the Contemp buses stop at other resorts, but I wouldn't think so. Anyone?

Hope that helps.

 

[mansionfan]

Go with the Buses and use the "extra" money you saved by not renting a car, for disney stuff!

 

[micksterlee]

We drive down from NC and once we hit the resort I park the car and that is the last I see it until we leave.That is one reason I love to vacation at WDW,I don t get blamed for being lost lol. We actually enjoy the bus rides it gives us a chance to meet other guests.

 

[benedicttw]

We will never to Disney again without a car. Sounds like most people here like the buses but for us the converance of having a car to go where you want when you want is great. We do allot of park and resort hoppiing so maybe that makes the differance. We have been know to go to 3 parks in a day and to a different resort for dinner. The car saves us hours waiting for the buses and getting from one resort to another on the buses is not fun. We have been driving our own car lately so we have a cooler in the car with cold water and soda so we save a little bit of money on drinks.

 

[nataliesdaddy]

thank you all for your thoughts

 

[bdrex95]

We were there last week and rented a car for the first day to go to Kennedy Space Center. We returned it the next morning and used the busses the rest of the time. They run from resort to park, and back, and park to park, and they run about 10 minutes apart. The only "pain" was Downtown Disney. We were at MK and decided to go over to DTD to do some shopping and eat lunch, but there is no direct route from the parks to DTD. So we took the monorail to the Contemporary (the kids loved the ride) then hopped a bus from there. It stopped at Poly first then on to DTD. The whole trip, including the time spent waiting for the monorail and bus took about 35 minutes. It would have taken at least 20 minutes to get our car out of the MK parking lot if we had driven! And it was true door to door service with a fun monorail ride to boot! We love Disney transportation!

 

[wicket2005]

I think it really depends on what you are planning to do. If the vacation is just staying on Disney I cannot see the point of hiring a car. If, however, you plan to visit other parks/attractions/shopping in Orlando a car would be much more convenient.

We have always hired a car but then we never stay at Disney and do visit other attractions in Orlando.