Transport advice please! Help!

[chocolate_monsta]

Hi everyone!

My name is Erin - 24 and from Australia.

I am currently arranging my second disney trip - our first was to CA in 2006. I am trying to get everything arranged in the next week or so, as I am headed overseas for a few months and my other half will be meeting me in NYC mid october before heading to Flordia for two full weeks of Disney bliss!

Now - because of the ammount of things we want to do, and our budget (or lack of) i tried getting in touch with a few disney travel agents to see if they could assist. Once of them seemed wonderful, but the email responses got slower and slower, and I am hestiant in giving over my credit card details without a proper invoice etc.

(This IS transport related - just give me a second!)

Anyway, we were planning on staying at the regal sun (close to downtown and other non-disney resteraunts) and MUCH cheaper than staying at even a value resort with the current rates. Our dates are 18-30 October - so no free dining plan or anything like that unfortunately.

The travel agent reccomended getting a car - and the original price was $270 for the two weeks - but she would not tell me the company or where the pick up was - i am finding her details to be quite vague.

Here in Australia, a travel agent must supply the customer with an invoice/intinerary showing room types, hotel name, car type, tickets etc - and when we pay for that service, the agent is then bound to supplying the items on the itinerary.... This agent just wants us to believe what is in her emails and pay - which seems odd to me.

So - NOW - i'm thinking of booking it all myself like we did for my last trip - as it seems most things I can get a little cheaper anyway (and with the current exchange rates it really adds up!).

Staying at the Regal Sun - do you think we really need a car? We have two days at Universal before coming, and staying at a universal hotel we don't need transport there I don't think. THEN, when we come to Disney - we have the 12 nights. In that time we have a 10 day magic your way. We plan to visit both water parks, mini golf, horse riding, all of the WDW parks of course and downtown disney. We like a few days to go back and re-ride our favourite attractions (so dissapointed space mountain will be closed) etc.

Our only non-disney trips will be to kennedy space centre, busch gardens and discovery cove.

Whilst the Regal Sun has free parking - the WDW theme parks do not - and I am thinking at $8 per day to park, it's all going to get expensive, with the added cost of the hire car on top of that.

Do you think we are better off just using the provided transport and catching a cab to the other three "off park" days? Of is the conveniance of having your own car more worthwhile than the $8 a day for parking? We have airport transfers to consider too (will have jet blue flights to and from NYC)

We'd probably eat most of dinner meals off property, but I'v read that there are many places within walking distance of our hotel. Breakky and lunch would just be quick snacks to tide us over until dinner.

Anyway, i haven't booked anything yet. The agent has just come back and said the car hire has just gone up a lot in price - so I'm wondering what the best plan is.

Currently our trip is costing about $5000 US - this includes return jet blue flights NYC to MCO, 2 nights accom at universal, and the premium universal tickets, 12 nights at regal sun in king tower room, 10 day magic your way water parks and more, horse riding, mini golf, mickeys not so scary haloweeen party, kennedy space centre, busch gardens, discovery cove and compact car hire for two.

I'll make a post on budget topic too - but if anyone has any ideas or advice, I would love to hear from you!

P.S. - We LOVE disney!

 

[goofy4tink]

Welcome to the Transportation Board Erin!!!
When you are planning for WDW, there are a lot of things you need to consider. You say that the Regal Sun is much less expensive than a value resort. And that could very well be so. But....you have to add on transportation costs when planning. I wouldn't plan on using cabs, hotel shuttles to get to and from the parks. Those shuttles don't run all that often..makes it hard to go back and forth between the parks and your hotel during the day. So, you would want to rent a car, but that is going to cost you as well...especially for two weeks. Then you have to pay for parking at the parks, and I think the cost has gone up to $12 a day but could be wrong.
You are going to need a car to get to those offsite areas..Busch, Kennedy, etc.
If it were me, I would figure out how much a value resort would cost. Then figure what an offsite resort will cost, but be sure to add in parking costs and rental car costs. You could break up your stay in two parts.....a week or so in a Disney resort then move to Regal Sun for the last part and plan on heading to those 'offsite' attractions in a rental car from there.

 

[TheWog]

Busch Gardens and Kennedy Space Center are not close by. They are about 1 hour each way (in different directions). Discovery Cove you could get away with taking a taxi, but the others you will probably want a car.

 

[grimley1968]

I see you are planning on getting 10-day MYW tickets. If you're entire Florida vacation is 2 weeks, I think it would be incredibly difficult to fit in 10 days of WDW and 2 days of Universal, on top of all the other things you wish to do, with or without a rental car (I do recommend renting a car by the way).

I'd consider shortening the length of the MYW tickets to maybe 5 or 6 days (won't save you much, but every $ counts). This will allow you much more flexibility in being able to do all the other stuff you want to do, but is also plenty of time to see pretty much anything Disney has to offer, at least 1 time. Cape Canaveral is about 1 hour east of Disney and Busch Gardens is probably 60-90 minutes away to the west.

I agree with goofy4tink: check out the cost of staying onsite versus offsite for whatever length you get the Disney park tickets, and only rent a car once this stay is over. You can rent cars on Disney property for the same prices as elsewhere locally, so it's not like you'd be stranded or taken advantage of pricewise.

 

[NotUrsula]

Hi, I answered you on your Budget Board thread, but there's a detail here that is throwing me -- do you mean that you are 24 years old? If so, that could cause serious problems with independently renting a car.

US car rental agencies charge a steep daily surcharge for rentals to people who are under 25 years of age; it averages about $25/day extra. An agent from Australia or the UK might be able to find you a code that eliminates the under-25 surcharge, but you won't have luck doing it on your own.

 

[ParrotBill]

Get a different agent who will work harder for you. The agent should be able to email an itinerary with details about a car rental, hotel, etc. with everything reserved or on courtesy hold before you provide payment information.

After you pay you should be provided confirmation numbers from each provider, and confirmation of any payments applied or pre-payment. Do not let the agent take payment only to the agency - pay them their fee if that is required but the agent should apply your credit card directly to any car or hotel reservation.

Care rentals are expensive in Orlando now. Disney's Magical Express has forced them to raise prices.

The Regal Sun is a very short walk to Downtown Disney where you can get buses to Disney hotels. It has a car rental counter for Dollar Car Rental.

There are also Alamo, National, Budget and Avis rentals at hotels near you. Look through this board for specific references.

You could do one day rentals when you want to go places, but for the cost to have a car plus parking every day I would use the Hotel Plaza bus that takes you to the parks.

When you are tired to waiting for that bus to go back, get to a nearby Disney hotel, then take a bus to downtown disney, get dinner, and walk back to your hotel.

Although you are under 25, you will be able to rent but may be charged a higher amount (or required to buy extra insurance) as long as you have an international driver's license.

Check the car rental web sites for their policies yourself (or get an agent who will do this for you!)

Good luck and enjoy your visit!

 

[chocolate_monsta]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

My partner is over 25 so the car rental will go under his name! (In Aus you only need to be over 21 - but hey - we only need to be 18 to drink legally too!).

We will definately stick with the car hire (after much reading) as it will be good to come and go as we please - and get to those off site locations. Parking at the Regal Sun is free - so $8 x 10 for parking at WDW is only $80 more - or even $12 a day is $120 more - and we are still saving that by staying off site.

I know we won't get 10 full days at WDW parks - but on the days we do the kennedy space centre, or discovery cove, we'd like to be able to head to the parks that are still open after - even if it is only for an hour. And it really doesn't cost much more for the extra days on the ticket! We have the park hopper on that too....

Again, i apreciate all the advice!