When you fly do you rent a car or use Disney Transportation?

[edk35]

We have only driven a couple of times and those were years ago. We usually use a car service and do a grocery stop .......most excellent service by the way. Perfect every time. Anyway...we usually just use Disney transportation but were thinking of renting a van for our Aug. trip. We are going to be there for 9 nights and thought we might want to drive to the other resorts to check them out.....maybe drive to eat dinner here or there have access to the OUTER WORLD. LOL Just curious. Our very first trip ...we rented a car and only used it to get to and from airport. LOL

 

[magicmama]

We usually drive but when we fly - we use Disney ME. If you are there for a longer stay, you may want a car for side trips. But maybe you don't need to rent a car for the whole time you are at DVC.
There is a car rental near MK. I'm sure someone here knows more about it. Perhaps a shorter rental may work if you REALLY need to touch reality when you are there!!! LOL!!

 

[Mrs Potato Head]

I'm a Magical Express person, love to be in the "world" without the hassle of cars.

I could see driving down someday instead of flying, but for now, it's so much more convenient and keeps DH happy to fly.

If you want to venture off property, a car could be very helpful!

 

[jekjones1558]

We always rent a car. We like visiting other resorts, eating off-property sometimes, checking out the outlet malls, going to the grocery/liquor store, going to church, driving to the parks (except MK) and having the car available for any time we might need an unexpected trip to the drug store or a doctor's office. We often bring guests and it is nice to be able to give them a mini-tour of Disney property, especially when we go during December (when the resorts have such great holiday decorations).

 

[simzac]

We always fly, and always use Disney transportation. I have no desire to drive while on vacation if I don't have to. JMO

 

[bwvBound]

We always fly, and always use Disney transportation. I have no desire to drive while on vacation if I don't have to. JMO

Ditto!

 

[sjdisneywedding]

ALWAYS have a car. Its dirt cheap and it opens up endless more opportunities. Days are so much more flexible with a car. park hopping is a breeze, dinner anywhere, you can do so much more

 

[larrytau]

Our first trip home to SSR was after Christmas 2006 for five nights, and we really enjoyed using ME. However, my wife and daughter wanted to go to the Premium Outlets and other excursions. Not for me! Why go shopping in Florida??

So, there is a Alamo/National car rental place just outside of MK; you can find their number in the Disney info found in your room. I reserved Alamo for about $59 a day (National was about 10-15 more for some reason), and scheduled a pickup time. They picked me up right on time at SSR checkin, took about 10-15 minutes to get there, and about 10 minutes to checkin for the car. Make sure you have a credit card with you; you can avoid the regular checkin and go straight to one of two automated machines. If you are a non-US citizen, I think you have to use the regular line, and it looked slow!

I used the car for about two days, returned it to the MK area location, and had to wait about 15-20 minutes for the shuttle bus to pick me up. We will probably do this again, but will reserve via internet ahead of time. The 59 a day was pretty high, but not bad considering we did no advance planning.

Next time we would use ME to arrive by mid-afternoon, and arrange for a shuttle to pick us up at the resort that day. Use the car for grocery shopping on the way back, and other shopping for maybe two days total. Then return and use the Disney busses after that. Sure we can get a much cheaper price this way.

 

[abk96]

We use ME and Disney Transport when we go. We don't want to have access to the outside world when in the World, so no need for a car. My husband likes to get on a bus and relax. Not having to drive and figure out where we are going is a vacation for him.

We were thinking of driving down to Florida from PA someday, but not anymore. We just took a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia and it was too long for us to be in a car. It took about 5 1/2 hrs.

 

[dwelty]

We like to use Disney Transportation and just relax. The Idea of shopping at a mall, or going to an outlet store just does not appeal to us. WDW property is so nice, the area outside of the park, and Orlando in general is not very nice in my opinion. Too crowded and tacky.

 

[JimC]

The car is nice to go resort to resort for dinners, or to go off property for other central Florida attractions/shopping. For longer trips I think a car really makes the vacation a bit more convenient because transport time is substantially reduced and you will likely want the freedom to come and go as you please.

The latest Disney trasnportation program from the airport is a great way to avoid the hassle and cost of getting to the property. Wish they did that when we were living in PA.

 

[edk35]

The car is nice to go resort to resort for dinners, or to go off property for other central Florida attractions/shopping. For longer trips I think a car really makes the vacation a bit more convenient because transport time is substantially reduced and you will likely want the freedom to come and go as you please.

The latest Disney trasnportation program from the airport is a great way to avoid the hassle and cost of getting to the property. Wish they did that when we were living in PA.

We have used sunraytransportation for our last 3 trips. Most excellent service...well worth the money for several reasons and because our driver was waiting for us at MCO as soon as we came off the esculator..then he would get our bags and he was parked just across the street at the bottom level. We get a grocery stop to boot. Love his service and love not having to go to different resorts for drops offs like the Disney Express. He takes us straight there. Well worth the money. Well these trips were just park trips and so we didnt' need any other transportation aside from Disney's. BUT I am thinking that since we are planning on doing a CHILLIN more laid back trip for our first DVC trip (only planning on doing a couple of park days) that we might enjoy having a car to do some resort site seeing so to speak, maybe a couple of grocery runs, dinners at other resorts, not interested one bit in outlet shopping or anything like that. Other trips of ours certainly didn't warrant a car, but I am thinking this one just might. So we will probably keep that option open. I have always wanted to explore some of the other resorts.....this trip allows the time for that. Thanks

Denise

 

[JimC]

When we flew we used a car service many times for the same reasons -- better service, quicker and more comfortable, and not much more expensive than the alternatives.

 

[TMB1203]

We always use ME. I don't want to spend the $ on a car that just sits in the parking lot. We never travel offsite, so for us, it wouldn't be worth the cost.

We also drive down quite a bit, but we park when we get there and don't see the car until its time to leave.

 

[larrytau]

We use ME and Disney Transport when we go. We don't want to have access to the outside world when in the World, so no need for a car. My husband likes to get on a bus and relax. Not having to drive and figure out where we are going is a vacation for him.

We were thinking of driving down to Florida from PA someday, but not anymore. We just took a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia and it was too long for us to be in a car. It took about 5 1/2 hrs.

We had a similar decision (early Feb planning for the trip) to make for a May trip to HHI. We could drive there from Greensboro in about 5.5 hours, or fly down to Orlando in under 2 hours. We decided on the Orlando route; I think the fact that the first available studio or one bedroom at HHI was in Sept had something to do with our decision!

 

[tjkraz]

We always rent. The flexibility is too good to bypass.

Sure there are still times when we use Disney transportation, but the car saves us a ton of time.

On our last trip we had a day when we went: AKL to AK to Blizzard Beach to Downtown Disney to AKL. Each of the car trips was about 5-10 minutes. It could have easily taken us 1 1/2 - 2 hours on busses to duplicate that route (given that we would have had to switch busses at a resort to get from DAK to BB and BB to DTD).

I also think that knowing my way around the property helps add to the sense of being "home" again. During our first couple of trips we didn't have a car and I never had a sense of where I was on property. Having a car has helped me gain a better appreciation for the land.

 

[eliza61]

Whenever we fly we always rent a car. We usually stay 10-11 days so we enjoy being able to dine off site at times. We're just folks who like the ability to drive if we want to, many days depending on where we stay we don't have to drive.

 

[sarac]

We have used Tiffany Town Cars to pick us up from the airport so that we could make a quick trip to the grocery store beforehand. This August will be the first time we are using Disney transportation and try out the Disney grocery service for some necessities!

 

[tobidisney]

we have 3 kids and find it much easier with a car, we can put all of our stuff in the trunk, especially when going to the water parks.

I also find it much easier on those "late" nights.
I cant stand getting on the crowded buses and as mentioned here in a previous post.....people never give up thier seats!!!

 

[cdmickey]

We always fly, and always use Disney transportation. I have no desire to drive while on vacation if I don't have to. JMO

And our spin is that we always drive, and we still use the Disney transportation, as I have no desire to drive on vacation if I don't have to.