Transportation to and from Airport question

[sjhanksaz]

So my question is about getting to and from the airport and back

We are going to be at WDW for the first half of our trip and then go see some other FL stuff.

I don't need a rental car the first half of the trip

We will use the free WDW shuttle from the airport to the resort.

Then I need to get back up to the airport on the second to the last day of the trip. Will Disney just take me back to the airport when I want so I can get the car and head back to the family?

The rental van went from 380 picking it up from the park to 230 if I pick it up at the airport. I figure I can get up early and go get it and meet the kids at the park a little later.

Thoughts?

 

[MADnNOLA]

I want to make sure I am understanding your question: You want Disney to take you to the airport to pick up a rental car?

If this is the case, no they will not.

The Magical Express is a free service to transport you from the airport to your resort and the return trip to the airport on your day of departure. When you schedule the ME, you must give an airline(s), flight numbers, and time of the flights, so they can schedule your pick up time on arrival and arrange for your drop off for departure.

It can be schedule for a one way trip - as in your case of having a rental vehicle for departure.

Your departure time is scheduled 3 hours prior to your flight for domestic and 4 hours for international (this means for a 6pm flight, you are taken to the airport at 3pm domestic, 2pm international).

The only way I can see you being able to use ME to get to the airport to pick up a rental car would be to falsify the airline/flight info. Then there would be the issue of you not having any luggage.

 

[Reddog1134]

Have you checked to see how much the rental would be for the entire time?

Just like WDW tickets, sometimes the rental cost per day drops when you hit a certain point.

 

[jazz0007]

There is a rental car place on property. I can't remember which one but we've used it in the past

 

[jazz0007]

http://www.mousesavers.com/how-to-rent-a-car-at-walt-disney-world/

 

[Alesia]

If you are still within the dates of your WDW resort stay then yes, You can take DME back to the airport.

 

[Alesia]

I want to make sure I am understanding your question: You want Disney to take you to the airport to pick up a rental car?

If this is the case, no they will not.

The Magical Express is a free service to transport you from the airport to your resort and the return trip to the airport on your day of departure. When you schedule the ME, you must give an airline(s), flight numbers, and time of the flights, so they can schedule your pick up time on arrival and arrange for your drop off for departure.

It can be schedule for a one way trip - as in your case of having a rental vehicle for departure.

Your departure time is scheduled 3 hours prior to your flight for domestic and 4 hours for international (this means for a 6pm flight, you are taken to the airport at 3pm domestic, 2pm international).

The only way I can see you being able to use ME to get to the airport to pick up a rental car would be to falsify the airline/flight info. Then there would be the issue of you not having any luggage.

This is not accurate.

You are entitled to one trip from the airport to your resort and one trip from your resort to the airport during your resort stay. You do not have to have a flight.

 

[KimK2006]

I can't imagine why they wouldn't let you do this. You are staying on property during the time you want ME to take you to the airport. What difference does it make to Disney if you are flying out or picking up a rental car?

 

[sjhanksaz]

For the whole trip the car would be 500 bucks. I just see the car sitting in a lot for 6 days and it is not with the double the cost for me

I also save 150 bucks if I just sacrifice an hour of sleep one day.

I will schedule a trip to the airport with Disney and let you know how it turns out

 

[MADnNOLA]

This is not accurate.

You are entitled to one trip from the airport to your resort and one trip from your resort to the airport during your resort stay. You do not have to have a flight.

I based my answer on the info from the Magical Express paperwork:

“Complimentary transportation services provided by Disney’s Magical Express are associated with a Walt Disney World room reservation and include a one way ground transfer between the Orlando International Airport and your Disney hotel on the day that you check in and a one-way ground transfer from your Disney hotel to the Orlando International Airport on the day you check out.”

Sorry if I was wrong on this!

 

[Simba77]

I'm not sure about how "sneaky" this might be, but when you sign up for DME, it asks you your inbound and outbound flight info.

For your outbound departure flight, you could simply enter the details of a flight that departs approximately 3 hours after the time you want DME to take you to the airport. You don't necessarily have to be booked for that flight.

If you're worried about that "deception" (if you can call it that), you could simply book a shuttle (maybe around $40? I haven't checked that in a while) to take you back to the airport to pick up your car.

It might even be cheaper to simply book a car at another Orlando rental location, have a shuttle take you there, and then return your rental car to Orlando Airport on your departure day. Sometimes it's cheaper to book the same rental car company off-airport and return at the airport, if that company has on-site rentals.

One thing: Be careful of rental car companies that seem to have in-airport pickup/return. Some of them are actually off-airport and they provide shuttles to and from the airport. They are usually cheaper than on-airport locations. You might be happy to use an off-airport location, but just make sure you allot more time before your flight because of the shuttle trip.

 

[ghtx]

I based my answer on the info from the Magical Express paperwork:

Complimentary transportation services provided by Disneys Magical Express are associated with a Walt Disney World room reservation and include a one way ground transfer between the Orlando International Airport and your Disney hotel on the day that you check in and a one-way ground transfer from your Disney hotel to the Orlando International Airport on the day you check out.

Sorry if I was wrong on this!

I think that's a good point. It's possible that DME won't take you to MCO earlier than your check-out day (i.e. they might not care whether or not you have a flight, but they'd care whether or not you're checking out).

OP if you can't take DME on the way back, you could take a cab, if that's cheaper than the cost difference in picking your car up at WDW.

 

[Alesia]

I think that's a good point. It's possible that MDE won't take you to MCO earlier than your check-out day (i.e. they might not care whether or not you have a flight, but they'd care whether or not you're checking out).

They don't - seriously. People do it all the time.

OP, just call DME and tell them what time you want to be at the airport and they'll assign you to the appropriate bus. If for some reason you get a CM who doesn't know how to do that (it's rare, but it could happen) just hang up and call back.

 

[Simba77]

It sounded to me like the sjhanksaz was going to be checking out of the hotel anyway on that day, then picking up the rental car.

"We are going to be at WDW for the first half of our trip and then go see some other FL stuff."

I'm assuming that means they will leave WDW (no more Disney hotel). The family would be waiting (presumably somewhere @ WDW or the Disney hotel) for sjhanksaz to obtain the rental and come back and pick them up. In that case, check-out wouldn't be an issue.

sjhanksaz, please correct me if I misunderstood!

 

[sjhanksaz]

I actually need to pick up the van the day before our check out

Disney should be happy it is a one person return to the airport and not 6 if we all go.

 

[Simba77]

I actually need to pick up the van the day before our check out

Disney should be happy it is a one person return to the airport and not 6 if we all go.

Have you checked to see what the rental cost would be to rent from one of Disney's two on-site companies (Alamo and Enterprise)? You can get a free shuttle to the AAA Car Care Center where the rental place is located, you just have to call them and schedule it.

It might not be any more expensive to rent from the Disney Car Care center. You can choose the Orlando Airport as your return location (assuming that's where you'd want to return it).

It might be a lot more expensive, though, I'm not sure. (I just quickly priced out a rental from National, and the Airport-to-Airport rental fee was the same as the Car Care Center-to-Airport rental fee, for the days I chose). Enterprise and Alamo might be more expensive than the others, however.

 

[bedogged]

So my question is about getting to and from the airport and back

We are going to be at WDW for the first half of our trip and then go see some other FL stuff.

I don't need a rental car the first half of the trip

We will use the free WDW shuttle from the airport to the resort.

Then I need to get back up to the airport on the second to the last day of the trip. Will Disney just take me back to the airport when I want so I can get the car and head back to the family?

The rental van went from 380 picking it up from the park to 230 if I pick it up at the airport. I figure I can get up early and go get it and meet the kids at the park a little later.

Thoughts?

To get the most accurate answer, I would pose this question on the Transportation Board.

 

[goofy4tink]

So my question is about getting to and from the airport and back

We are going to be at WDW for the first half of our trip and then go see some other FL stuff.

I don't need a rental car the first half of the trip

We will use the free WDW shuttle from the airport to the resort.

Then I need to get back up to the airport on the second to the last day of the trip. Will Disney just take me back to the airport when I want so I can get the car and head back to the family?

The rental van went from 380 picking it up from the park to 230 if I pick it up at the airport. I figure I can get up early and go get it and meet the kids at the park a little later.

Thoughts?

To get the most accurate answer, I would pose this question on the Transportation Board.

I will bring the Transportation Board to you!!! Yes, you can do exactly that. My dh routinely checks out a few days before I do. He has no issue riding the DME bus back. Now, he usually has a flight scheduled that Disney knows about, but it's not necessary to have one.
I have taken DME back to MCO in order to get our rental car. You can find a flight that departs about 3 hrs after you want to get to the airport. For instance....if you want to be at MCO at 9am, find a flight that leaves around 11:30am. Your pickup time would be about 8:30ish.
Or, you can just call DME and tell them what time you need to be at MCO and they will give you a p/u time based on your needs.
They don't care when you use DME to get back to MCO. You get one ride to the resort, and one ride back to the airport. It is perfectly acceptable to do what you want to do.

 

[nkereina]

Just wanted to add my own experience - last trip, we rode DME back to the airport without a flight because we were getting on a cruise (not Disney) and had to pick up our cruise transportation from the airport. No issue. As PP said, you're entitled to round trip airport transfers, so when and how you want to use them is really no skin off Disney's nose. They have to go back and forth to the airport multiple times per day anyway!

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I've moved this thread to the Transportation forum.