what is the setup for renting a car directly from MCO

[tinkpower]

So we are considering renting a car for our upcoming trip. What I don't understand is that from reading threads here it looks like most people rent from a location in WDW. I do not want to ride ME to a hotel or rental location to rent a car to drive to our hotel. What am I missing, why would people do this? Why wouldn't you just rent from the airport and return at the airport? What is the setup there, we are flying in on Frontier? How far do we have to go to rent at Alamo or Budget? Thanks for help me understand this?

 

[auger]

Alamo and Budget are in the terminal at MCO.
just follow the signs to rental cars when you get there.

Some people prefer to rent on site for varying reasons, but plenty, probably most, rent at MCO.

Just put in MCO for pick up and drop off when you search the rental sites.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Most people do not rent cars from a location in WDW; they rent at MCO.

Do a Google search for the MCO website; there will be a list of the rental car agencies located at the airport, as well as an airport map. Pick whichever rental agency you like.

 

[richmo]

Most pickup/return car at MCO. I'd say those picking up and/or returning at Disney are more the exception than the rule.

Anyway, go to websites for Alamo, National, Budget, Dollar, Avis, Hertz, etc. to get rates, or do a comparison using Kayak, Orbitz or the like. Generally speaking, the rates are better at MCO anyway (although that isn't always the case). Also, look for discounts...if you are a warehouse club member, they usually have discounts, Dollar has a decent AAA discount sometimes. Also look at a forum here for the month you are traveling, usually people keep an eye on things because car rental rates change faster than airline fares.

 

[DebbieB]

A couple of reasons I can think of to rent at WDW:

1. If you ride DME, you can have them pickup your luggage, saving you from going to baggage claim on arrival.

2. Car rentals have gotten expensive. You can ride the bus and then rent the car for just part of your trip. I have a friend who has gone down for 2 weeks and just rented a car on the weekends to go to church, shopping, etc. Or maybe someone wants to go to Universal or Sea World.

 

[siskaren]

A couple of reasons I can think of to rent at WDW:

1. If you ride DME, you can have them pickup your luggage, saving you from going to baggage claim on arrival.

Except DME isn't supposed to be used as a luggage delivery service without riding, although I know that some people will have one person pick up the car while the rest of the group uses DME.

 

[lauti]

Except DME isn't supposed to be used as a luggage delivery service without riding, although I know that some people will have one person pick up the car while the rest of the group uses DME.

Pretty sure she is saying that people ride DME to avoid the hassle of getting bags at MCO and rent a car later at WDW

 

[richmo]

Except DME isn't supposed to be used as a luggage delivery service without riding, although I know that some people will have one person pick up the car while the rest of the group uses DME.

I think Debbie was implying that they would ride DME to WDW, then rent a car onsite at WDW. She is correct that if you only need a car for some of the time, it might be cheaper to rent the car at WDW.

My point was that for a rental of the same length, usually it is more expensive to rent at the Disney locations...but again, not always.

And siskaren, you are absolutely right saying you can't use DME as a luggage service, especially going from MCO to WDW. You probably could get away with it returning to MCO, but its probably not the right thing to do.

 

[Mousemom234]

We've done both. For us, it depends mostly on the price. Mostly we rent at the airport.

A few years ago, we got a wicked good price on a pick up at the Car Care and return it to the airport. It was less than half the MCO-MCO price for a smaller car.
Also, if we're coming in on a late flight, I'd rather let DME take us in, and have somebody from Alamo/National pick us up the next day, after lunch, take us to the car, and then we can drive it to someplace else for the rest of the day.

 

[siskaren]

You probably could get away with it returning to MCO, but its probably not the right thing to do.

Actually, you wouldn't be getting away with anything. Using RAC (Resort Airline Check-in, which is a separate service from DME) is totally allowed without using DME. Think of it as curbside check-in, except that the curb is about 20 miles from the airport.

 

[DebbieB]

Pretty sure she is saying that people ride DME to avoid the hassle of getting bags at MCO and rent a car later at WDW

Yes, that's what I meant.

Actually, you wouldn't be getting away with anything. Using RAC (Resort Airline Check-in, which is a separate service from DME) is totally allowed without using DME. Think of it as curbside check-in, except that the curb is about 20 miles from the airport.

That's correct, I've done RAC for checking luggage going home when renting a car. It's not connected to DME for the return, probably because you tip the person doing the checking in, Disney does not.

 

[bumbershoot]

I do not want to ride ME to a hotel or rental location to rent a car to drive to our hotel. What am I missing, why would people do this? Why wouldn't you just rent from the airport and return at the airport?

Well I don't think it's most people at all.

As for reasons...sometimes you just don't want the car the whole time. Sometimes you want to experience DME. Sometimes, for me with some of my trips, it's actually cheaper to rent from some place like the Car Care Center than from the airport. It all depends on exactly when you're going and what the rental company's needs are.


Luggage-only discussion (which has stalled since the MBs) is here.

 

[jaysmom4285]

If you go to mousesavers.com and check out the car rental section, you will see a listing of all the car rental agencies at MCO, along with a list of codes that can get you discounts.

 

[ParrotBill]

Car rentals at the airport cost more than rentals from off-airport locations (airport service fee added.)

Also, be aware that many places look as if they are on airport but are not ... you wait for a shuttle, ride 5-10 minutes, wait in a line once you get there with your busload, etc. Check carefully to see if they are really on airport.

 

[Paging Tom Morrow]

Car rentals at the airport cost more than rentals from off-airport locations (airport service fee added.)

I don't believe this is accurate by any stretch of the imagination. While there may be different fees associated with the cost of renting from an airport that don't exist elsewhere, at MCO you are likely to find a better overall rate than at most offsite locations.

We have priced rentals at MCO and at various WDW locations on each of our trips. Only once was it cheaper to rent from the Car Care Center than at MCO, and on that occasion it was only a savings of about $5.

 

[richmo]

I don't believe this is accurate by any stretch of the imagination. While there may be different fees associated with the cost of renting from an airport that don't exist elsewhere, at MCO you are likely to find a better overall rate than at most offsite locations.

We have priced rentals at MCO and at various WDW locations on each of our trips. Only once was it cheaper to rent from the Car Care Center than at MCO, and on that occasion it was only a savings of about $5.

It is probably true that some of the off-airport agencies near MCO are usually less expensive than the on-airport agencies. However, it would not be correct to say that is always the case, even with the airport fees added in. But that does bring up an important point, if you're price shopping: be sure to compare the total cost, not just the base rate.

If looking at off-MCO agencies, you also need to factor time in. Instead of simply walking across the street to the garage, you need to get a shuttle to take you to the agency. Some will probably get you there quickly, some not. Even more importantly, you have to gauge your return time to factor in how long it will take you to drop the car off and get the shuttle back to MCO. My experience has been that I've usually found on-airport rates good enough.

You are correct that renting from the CCC is usually more expensive than MCO, but I've seen exceptions. Obviously the savings there is if you're staying onsite and only need the car for a portion of the trip (but again, its worth at least pricing out MCO-MCO for the whole trip)