Why don't you rent a car vs bus transportation?

[cjsm&d]

I see tons of complaints about bus service on these boards, and I've never understood it. I have absolutely no comprehension of being able to afford $3500 for a week at the Polynesian yet not being able to pay $27 a day (or sometimes much less) for a rental car. I used priceline to get a rental car for $10 a day (toyota corrola) at MCO on our last trip.

What if you get sick on vacation, need to be somewhere faster than disney transportation can get you there, or just want to explore the resorts without spending all day on a bus? I understand sometimes the bus is just easier depending on what your plans are, but for the most part I see rental car $$ very well spend, even if you only use it a few times.

All I'm saying is don't let bus service hold you back from staying somewhere at disney. Rent a car and be done with it, it's a beautiful thing.

I love not having to hop in a car and drive anywhere on vacation. That is why I love ME and WDW transportation!

And I just don't find wandering back to a parking lot and finding my car more convenient than Disney transportation.

Of course, I don'tcomplain about the buses anyway. I always leave ample time to get where I'm going and consider waiting for a bus "relaxation" time

 

[sndral]

If you stay in the upper tier of deluxe resorts you have easy access to @ least one park (CR, BLT walk to MK/ CR, BLT, Poly GF boat or monorail to MK and monorail hop to Epcot) (BC, YC, BW walk or boat to Epcot and DHS.) Why bother w/ a car for any of those? Since you don't use the buses that much, anyway.
I can see that it might make sense at the moderate or value resorts and AKL since the only option to the parks is via bus.
Perhaps it's better in Orlando, I don't recall as I've only rented one there 2xs many years ago, but elsewhere, for example Hawaii, every time I've rented a car I've had to wait in lines to actually get the car and then to turn it in. Then there's those hidden extras they want you to pay for when you pick up the car, then there's find a gas station close to the airport to turn the thing in full of gas, and usually some kind of shuttle or hike w/ luggage to go get and return the car. Navigate an unfamiliar car out of the airport, find WDW find your resort, check in at the guard station, check in, unload the bags, go move the car to the lot. Find parking at each park lot once or twice a day, find parking each night at your resort.
DME, I slap those yellow tags on my luggage, turn it in at my home airport and next time I see it is in my room @ WDW. Going home, I give it to RAC and next time I see it is when I collect it at my home airport to load it into my own car.
DME, I walk up to the kiosk, they direct me to my bus and after a long day of flying and a 3 hr time change, I sink back into a cushy seat and look out the window as we drive to WDW. They drop me off right in front of my resort and I'm there. After check in I can hop the monorail to MK or just walk in to Epcot, depending on where I'm staying - and as I only go once a year, by the time I get there I want to get into a park, ASAP. When I get back my bags are in my room.
It's not about the money, although one days car rental probably costs about the same as one cab ride home after dinner at another resort, it's about what is most relaxing for us - which is WDW transportation, plus some of the most amusing moments come from people watching waiting for or on the buses.

 

[buckeev]

We have done it both ways, and really wish we could go without the rental, but it's usually not practical. With an Autistic son, having the "insurance" of the rental car gives us a "fall-back" if/when things get a bit "sideways". When spending the crazy money for these trips, the cost of a rental vehicle is not a "make-or-break" proposition. (but I do shop around for the best price!)

 

[busymommy2pink]

So save a little longer and get a rental car if it's important to you, if it's not important enough to save up for then you probably aren't the type of family that cares all that much.

Nope..not important to us at all. I don't see the need for one. We are close to a park and monorail. I have a mix of driving and public transit in my personal life anyways...no different for me on vacation. We only bother renting a car for one day if we want to go to the ocean etc. I've only ever had one bad Disney bus experience. Based on how bad normal public transportation is here with rude drivers and horrible people, then it's not really all that bad.

 

[disneycat321]

We live in Southern California. My husband's commute is an hour each way, and mine is about 20-30 minutes each way. Battling SoCal freeways is a way of life. Our entire LIFE is driving...that's part of living where we do!

So when we're on vacation, we do NOT want to deal with driving! We don't care how much longer it takes - we are on vacation, so we're usually not in a hurry! It's not like we hate driving, but we love being able to just show up at a bus stop and let someone else take care of the transportation for us. For me, getting in a car would be too much like being back at home. I thoroughly enjoy the Disney bubble that allows me to forget there's an outside world.

We actually really enjoyed riding the buses on our last (and very first) trip. In fact, when we came back, we started parking at the Toy Story lots down the street from Disneyland, not the enormous parking structure with the tram access, just so we could ride the bus to the park because it reminded us of WDW! We've been riding that bus for 3 years, since the last trip. I guess we are just weird...

 

[msjprincess]

I hated relying on WDW transportation when the kids were little. Dealing with strollers and diaper bags on a crowded bus was a nightmare for us. We always rented a car but I would take DME with the kids while DH picked up the car.

We like to eat at other resorts so having a car is very convenient. We're thinking of skipping the car next time since the kids are older now. I'm hoping we don't regret it.

I've always gotten great deals. Last time we went we rented a compact car for 10 days for $160 including all taxes and fees. When DH went to pick up the car from Alamo they had minivans in the compact aisle.

 

[Ro Z]

We love our adult beverages while on vacation. I don't want to have to think about how many I've had or how long it's been before I get behind the wheel. It's not something that we do very much during the rest of the year, so we splurge on vacation.
Disney transportation is a great designated driver!

Yup the drinking is a big part! And we can always take a cab if the bus is not working for us! Oh ya and ME is the greatest, we don't have to think about our luggage either way.

 

[artemis908]

Although the bus can sometimes be slow, I don't see a need to rent one especially when we are staying somewhere like BWI where two of the four parks are walkable.

I personally like the Magical Express and the buses don't other me all that much. I like being dropped off fairly close to the entrance and lastly for me, I like to be in a "Disney bubble" and having to rent a car kind of takes me out of that. I like not having to worry about driving, figuring out where I am going, where to park, remembering where I parked, etc.

 

[MMrules]

I have a long driving commute daily. Part of a vacation for me is the enjoyment of not driving- from the time we are picked up at our house to go to the airport, to the time I return home... it's a luxury to not drive!

Totally agree!!! we are on vacation...driving, fighting traffic, looking for parking spaces, getting in the wrong lane etc.....is for home in MA. WDW is our family time to wait for buses and let others do the driving!!!

 

[SnapesGirl]

This will be the first time staying onsite in a very long time. We're still going to rent a car. We usually do a couple of days at Universal and also a day at the beach, so having a car gives us that freedom, rather than being stuck only at Disney. That being said, I'm really shocked at the rental prices this year! Last April, we got a rental car for about $10 a day. I checked for this April/May and its up to over $30 a day! Insane!

 

[Manda]

I don't want to play rock, paper, scissors to decide which of us gets to partake in adult beverages at dinner (we don't drive after drinking anything).

Otherwise, it just seems like a pointless extra expense. The last thing I want to spend my vacation money on is gas and a car. Of course, we are a one car family and our car at home only gets about 5k miles a year... it only really comes out on the weekends for the big grocery shopping trips, etc. We're used to relying on public transportation or walking for most things. I don't even think twice about waiting a few minutes for a bus or packing in body to body. That's my every day. The only thing that bothers me about Disney transportation is you can tell a lot of the people riding it aren't regular public transportation users and aren't so good/aware at filling available space and packing in appropriately. They also look at you funny when you shout OUT! as soon as the bus stops.

 

[Dean1972]

Wow I'm seeing that hiring a car in Orlando s dirt cheap ( compared to Australia )
Rental cars typically cost $40-60 a day here
We are staying offsite in December this year & will be using taxis & Disney transportation (once in the world)
I'm on vacation - heck someone else can drive. Ps driving on the other side of the road scares the life out of me!