Transportation questions?

[fatherAZ]

We will be staying at BWV next week and are debating whether to rent a car and had a few questions.

1) How close is the newest grocery store as far as taking a cab? Are there grocery stores or drug stores along the bus routes.

2) For the Disney magical express, do we need to bring car seats for our 1 and 5 year olds?

Thanks!

 

[bethsg]

Magical Express is in large coach bus, there are no seat belts for car seats. BWV has a small store, where you can buy some grocery type items, like milk bread, some frozen items, donuts, juices, beer sort of like shopping in a 7-11. It's at Resort prices as well. The closest grocery store by cab would probably be Goodings, which is my opinion is very expensive as well. Not sure next closest regularly priced grocery store. You know you can order groceries through DVC, and have them delivered to your villa. Do a search at the member site, and the grocery list will pop up. It's a bit pricer than going shopping, but very convenient.
Another option we always do for every trip, is go to www.netgrocer.com and order groceries. You can order all breakfast foods, water snacks etc, and have them delivered to your resort. This is a great way to save time, and have your non perishables waiting for you upon check in. Again, their prices are a bit higher than you local store, but well worth the time.
We never rent a car... My husband and I spend many hours per week commuting from the suburbs into the city for work, and the last thing we want to do is get behind the wheel on vacation... it's worth the bit of extra money obtaining groceries in these ways to avoid taking the time, and energy to go grocery shopping on vacation. Even paying slightly higher prices through DVC web site, or through netgrocer, it still helps to save food costs as compared to eating out for every meal.

 

[MrShiny]

There is a Publix about 5 miles away:
2925 International Dr
Kissimmee, FL 34746-4407

What we do sometimes is rent a car at the airport from Alamo and then return it at the Dolphin.

 

[CarolMN]

If you just want water, soda, snacks and a few basics, try the Hess gas station just across the street from the Boardwalk resort. You could walk there - but be careful crossing the street. It can be busy at times.

Best wishes -

 

[Andrew Bichard]

You know you can order groceries through DVC, and have them delivered to your villa.

Unless they have changed recently, DVC only provide the same limited range of groceries that you can buy downstairs at the shop on the Boardwalk.

Goodings has a much better range, but more expensive than other supermarkets. Goodings is, however nearer and faster to get to. Depends on how much you value your vacation time. Isn't it worth paying a little bit more for an extra few hours in the parks?

Andrew

 

[stinkerbell2009]

The groceries that are ordered through DVC are the same ones you can get yourself at the resort store I believe. We once saw a CM packing up groceries to deliver to a room.

 

[LisaS]

Last time we stayed at an Epcot resort, we reserved a one-day car rental through National, arranging to pick it up at the airport and drop it off at the Dolphin. It cost us $36 and worked out really well. We ran all our errands on the drive to WDW from the airport, checked in at YC, dropped off all our stuff then immediately returned the car to the Dolphin.

Other options for groceries are wegoshop.com and gardengrocer.com. If you do a search of the boards, you will find lots of people have used them for grocery deliveries. wegoshop was getting some bad press last fall but it is now under new management and the latest reviews of the service have been very positive. I think wegoshop charges $20 for delivery and gardengrocer's delivery charge varies based on the total order amount -- if your order is over a certain amount, delivery is free otherwise they charge but I don't remember how much.