Transportation Question

[1926Moon]

Hi all

We are on the December 2 Eastern Fantasy as part of an east coast trip we have planned and I have a question about transportation. Here is our itinerary:

• Friday, November 24, arrive at MCO - pick up rental car and drive to Disney Vero Beach - 5 nights
• Wednesday, November 29 drive to USO - 3 nights
• Saturday, December 2 - return rental car to MCO - get to port FOR OUR AWESOME MERRYTIME CRUISE ( can you tell I am excited? )
• Saturday, December 9 - use DME to Animal Kingdom Lodge for one night
• Sunday, December 10 - use DME to get from AKL to MCO

We are two adults. We have zero interest in driving our rental car to the port and leaving it in parking at the port. Because it is only two of us, the cost for DME is actually not huge, it would be more expensive for us to continue paying the car rental and pay for parking or use a car service. Plus, we have no interest or need for driving once we are off the ship. Finally, I got a smoking deal on the car rental and have already prepaid it, so changing that is not an option.

So - here is my question - if we are returning the rental car to MCO after our USO stay, can I still pay to use the DME to the port? Or must we be coming off a flight to use the DME to the port? I would like to drop the rental car off and then just get on the Disney bus.

I have already opted in to using it on our cruise reservation. It is a little more straightforward coming back, because we are going to the AKL...

Thanks all

 

[_auroraborealis_]

if we are returning the rental car to MCO after our USO stay, can I still pay to use the DME to the port?

Yes.

Note that officially I think they avoid calling it Magical Express when it's cruise transport. Officially, Magical Express is the free transfer service from MCO to WDW resorts. The Cruise Buses, which cost money, are not technically DME.

So, if you drop the car at MCO, you will pay for the cruise transfer service to Port. After your cruise, you will pay for your port-WDW transfer. The WDW-MCO transfer on 12/10 will be the free DME bus.

 

[1926Moon]

Yes.

Note that officially I think they avoid calling it Magical Express when it's cruise transport. Officially, Magical Express is the free transfer service from MCO to WDW resorts. The Cruise Buses, which cost money, are not technically DME.

So, if you drop the car at MCO, you will pay for the cruise transfer service to Port. After your cruise, you will pay for your port-WDW transfer. The WDW-MCO transfer on 12/10 will be the free DME bus.

Thanks for the clarification And thank you for the details, this was exactly what I was looking for

 

[diznymom]

The DCL Bus will be $70 per person round trip. Or $35 per person one way.

 

[apathetic]

Don't see why you couldn't. A lot of people go to the airport to pick up DCL buses from hotels.

 

[1926Moon]

The DCL Bus will be $70 per person round trip. Or $35 per person one way.

I was aware of that, thank you. But as there are only two of us, it is still cheaper than paying for the car rental and the parking. I was specifically asking if we could take the DCL transportation from MCO even though we were not flying in that particular day, which is what AuroraBorealis answered

 

[mmouse37]

Yes you can. There is no rule that you have to be coming from a flight to book DCL transfers. We usually arrive in Florida a few days earlier than our cruise and do other things in Florida and either rent a car to the port or take the DCL bus from airport (less frequently but have done it a few times). Very easy. You would just take your luggage (with your DCL luggage tags attached that morning or night before) to the DME area and check in (DME and DCL use the same area). It helps if you book the DCL transfer in advance. Once you get there at the DME area you will check in and be assigned a bus. We needed our cruise booklet last time at check in for the bus.

MJ

 

[1926Moon]

Thanks, MJ!! That was exactly what we were hoping to do

 

[_auroraborealis_]

DCL don't care. Pay yo money, make your reservation, get on the bus.

 

[clten]

I know you said you had no interest in driving to the port and parking your rental or needing the rental afterwards. But if you are renting from one of the agencies that have a location in Port Canaveral, did you look into just dropping it off at the port the morning of your cruise rather than dropping it at MCO? - no need to pay parking. A lot of times the agencies don't charge a drop fee so it wouldn't cost you any more. I just thought you didn't seem adverse to driving around FL since you are going to Vero and back and around Orlando and this might save you some time and the $70 to take DCL transfer from MCO to the port. (You would get the rental shuttle from the rental location to the port and after the cruise, you can still use DCL transfer to the resorts.)

Sorry if you already considered this. It just seemed from your post that you associated driving the rental to the port with needing to keep it the whole time you are cruising so that it could be returned to MCO. (And again, maybe you are renting from someone who only has an Orlando location. If so, disregard my advice!)

 

[1926Moon]

I know you said you had no interest in driving to the port and parking your rental or needing the rental afterwards. But if you are renting from one of the agencies that have a location in Port Canaveral, did you look into just dropping it off at the port the morning of your cruise rather than dropping it at MCO? - no need to pay parking. A lot of times the agencies don't charge a drop fee so it wouldn't cost you any more. I just thought you didn't seem adverse to driving around FL since you are going to Vero and back and around Orlando and this might save you some time and the $70 to take DCL transfer from MCO to the port. (You would get the rental shuttle from the rental location to the port and after the cruise, you can still use DCL transfer to the resorts.)

Sorry if you already considered this. It just seemed from your post that you associated driving the rental to the port with needing to keep it the whole time you are cruising so that it could be returned to MCO. (And again, maybe you are renting from someone who only has an Orlando location. If so, disregard my advice!)

Thank you for the suggestion Being Canadian, the exchange rate makes it difficult to score a great rate on a car rental, but somehow this time I managed it, however, I had to prepay and we are unable to make changes to it.
Also - turning in the car rental and letting someone else take care of us as of early saturday morning is really appealing to me

 

[soniam]

We are thinking of doing a similar thing as the OP. We will be arriving at MCO, picking up a car, going to Universal, and then WDW. I had planned to drive the rental car to Port Canaveral and drop it off there, but the rental car company will charge an extra $260 to drop it off in PC instead of at MCO. We will return to WDW for a night after the cruise, but we won't need a rental car for that. So, I had planned to use DCL transportation from the port to AKL. It's looking like the $210 fee for the 3 of us for two-way transportation from DCL is going to be cheaper. When we previously dropped the car in Port Canaveral, we had to wait a while at the rental car place for the bus to the port. So, I think either way, we would be waiting for a bus to the port. I also looked real quick for a town car from MCO to the port, and it was $123 for 3 people. That would be about $275 round trip, which probably isn't worth it. It's a little more on the return, since we will be going to AKL and not MCO.

So, basically, a lot of rental car companies still charge the drop-off fee, and it can be pretty significant. Be sure to check what it would be before making your decision. I think DCL both ways is probably what we will do.