Would you rather rent a car or take Disney transportation?

[of the seas]

We always do Disney buses. I was going to use our rental last time, but I didn't see how it was faster. Especially to the MK.

 

[Brian Noble]

We almost always rent a car. The only time I haven't is on a budget just-the-two-of-us trip at OKW that was an "extra". I'm thinking about skipping it for a solo trip I have next February at BWV.

For the trips I have a car, I only let Disney do the driving if I'm planning on having a BEvERage with dinner, or (in the MK-area resorts) to MK.

 

[badblackpug]

That's fine, all you needed to say was "we'd rather spend the money elsewhere. I'm not attacking you personally, but there is a lot of myth about what can and can't be done on a WDW vacation. There are people seeking information here, and after reading some of the stuff posted on this board, some people wouldn't even want to do a WDW vacation. In fact, the most cost prohibitive part of a WDW vacation, is WDW.

You don't need to schlep car seats, they're rented with the car. 2 car seats $100 max for entire rental. The $599 was a 7 pass SUV / 7 days / 2 car seats / no discounts or specials applied.

I was born and lived in NYC for over 30 years. The "commute" in Orlando is nothing near that. The bus rides however are. Again, if you don't want to drive, that's fine. There is no horrible traffic, parking jams, exhaustion, road rage, or hassle.

No one is creating myths about renting cars except for some of the posters here. No one said WDW transit was the 7th ring of shell, just that it is not as convenient. Renting a car is about convenience; if it is not convenient for your purposes, then that is the prohibitive part, not the cost.

As for cheapening one's vacation, not renting a car is a cost cutting measure, flat out. You said you would rather spend the $600 elsewhere, that's fine, you have to buy 6 park tickets and that makes sense. For 2 or 4 people, 7 days in a car could be quite inexpensive, and handy. For others, the savings of a car vs airfare is much worth it. I drove here from NYC all the time and it was more enjoyable than flying.

You seem to enjoy driving and that is fine. Certainly you are welcome to your opinion, but so is everyone else. The fact of the matter is that there are people who do not enjoy driving. To us driving is merely a means of conveyance. The point is the OP asked for opinions. For us it is easier and more convenient to take WDW transport. Because you don't mind dealing with driving in traffic at the end of the day on roads that are unfamiliar does not mean that that is true of everyone. Actually, I'm not sure why you feel the need to even argue the point. We find it annoying and nerve wracking. We also have absolutely no desire to drive 18 hours to WDW with 4 kids in the car. It is exhausting and wastes at least W days of our vacation time. Again, this is my opinion. If you enjoy it, then by all means continue. It is not for us.
It is not a cost cutting factor for everyone. For some it may be but for others it is a matter of preference or convenience. The truth of the matter s we prefer not to drive. To us it is just more relaxing.

BTW... I would never use a rental car seat. There is no way to ever know if they have been in an accident or are safe.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

You know how some people on the Dis like to say that if they had to stay offsite, they'd rather not go at all? Well, in our family, if we had to rely on the buses, I'd seriously consider not going. I'd stay offsite to save money before giving up our car to save money. I'd downgrade our resort before giving up our car (and I'm a bit of a resort snob). In short, the buses just don't work for us. They work for many people, but not for us.

If your bf is the impatient type, then the buses could make for some very tense times in lines, especially late at night, early in the morning, and when going from resort to resort (if you have any ADRs that require this). But only you know your budget, personalities and goals, so these are just my opinions.

 

[Donut23]

That's your personal choice, fine. You are correct, that was my opinion. It never dawned on me someone might not like to drive.

I'm taking that 3 hours to mean 1.5 hours each way right?

One of these days, just for giggles, rent a car for a day trip at WDW. Splurge on a Charger for $30 and drive around for a bit. Head over to the beach, drop the windows and turn the music up. Then tell me it's the same experience you have on one of your roads commuting.

Head to the beach on the weekend, at the end of the day stop by the entrance to Pt. Canaveral around 5 pm and watch the ships sail out of the harbor. Disney has a GREAT horn!

Don't forget the space center.....great tour!

 

[Pineapple Whip]

Head to the beach on the weekend, at the end of the day stop by the entrance to Pt. Canaveral around 5 pm and watch the ships sail out of the harbor. Disney has a GREAT horn!

Don't forget the space center.....great tour!

Now you have me curious... is the horn musical in nature, along the lines of a certain song?

 

[Pineapple Whip]

You seem to enjoy driving and that is fine. Certainly you are welcome to your opinion, but so is everyone else. The fact of the matter is that there are people who do not enjoy driving. To us driving is merely a means of conveyance. The point is the OP asked for opinions. For us it is easier and more convenient to take WDW transport. Because you don't mind dealing with driving in traffic at the end of the day on roads that are unfamiliar does not mean that that is true of everyone. Actually, I'm not sure why you feel the need to even argue the point. We find it annoying and nerve wracking. We also have absolutely no desire to drive 18 hours to WDW with 4 kids in the car. It is exhausting and wastes at least W days of our vacation time. Again, this is my opinion. If you enjoy it, then by all means continue. It is not for us.
It is not a cost cutting factor for everyone. For some it may be but for others it is a matter of preference or convenience. The truth of the matter s we prefer not to drive. To us it is just more relaxing.

BTW... I would never use a rental car seat. There is no way to ever know if they have been in an accident or are safe.

I stated in a PP that I did not consider someone might not like driving. If you hate it, then don't. I can relate to this point as I had spent years commuting on buses and trains and would not want to wait for a bus on vacation.

I've already said if it's your preference not to drive that is fine. Go do you, and have a great trip.

I am contesting the misinformation for not doing something on your trip. It is common on this board and not isolated to you. You happened to present some points that were just way out there. In your original post, your primary point on not renting a car was that your van requirement would cost $1400. Your secondary points were car hunting, traffic, and road rage. Other posters have said things along the lines of hassle, risk, parking, distance, traffic, expense.

I could give a flying fig what method anyone chooses to get around WDW. However there should be factual claims to the pros and cons, otherwise how exactly are we helping people make a choice in either direction?

I advise site noobs to fact-check what they read here.

That is all.

 

[Mamu]

We've done both and to be honest the car mostly sat in the parking lot. I have no problems with Disney transportation. When planned right there are usually no problems.

Yes to get to certain resorts it can be a pain one reason we like staying on the monorail line.

Another reason we like the monorail line is the end of the night crowds. Although that easy to solve. Just stay in the park until the crowds have left. No mass exit for us.

 

[Vivianne]

Now you have me curious... is the horn musical in nature, along the lines of a certain song?

Sorry to get off topic but....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7oV-tldNMc

Back to your regularly scheduled debate.

 

[cattrix]

I voted Disney Transportation, our touring plan is usually really laid back and I think it's great to leave the driving to someone else. We go in Sept where the buses are rarely full (besides park closing) so we usually get a seat on the bus and are more than happy to just ride along and let the drivers do the worrying.

I can understand why people would want to rent a car, and we might if the buses were always full and it was more of a hassle to wait for the bus and stand the whole time during the ride. We also don't have children and that might sway us to rent a car too.

To us it's a great perk Are they always perfect....no....but it's what you make of it.

 

[POB14]

Where's the "both" option?

We always rent a car, because we split our vacation between a few days at Disney and a few days at my inlaws' place near Tampa. We drive to and from Disney, and to restaurants for dinner (we rarely eat dinner on property), but we generally take Disney busses to the parks.

We like the ability to have one of us leave early if necessary (my wife had cancer surgery a couple of years ago and doesn't have the stamina she used to) while others of us stay in the parks. Best of both worlds, I think.

 

[providence]

I am a lover of all things Disney even the busses. From the time I board Disney's Magical Express until I am back at the airport to go home I am removed from the everyday world I live in and immersed in the World that Walt built. I do not mind the lines or the waits or the crowds for me it's part of the experience. I not only have my own joy but I can feel the joy of everyone in their happy place.

 

[Mississippianna]

Never had a problem with Disney transportation. DH and I both love not having to worry with driving while we're there. Using the buses is all a part of the vacation, and is especially fun for our daughter.

 

[SciGirl]

We are driving to the world in September and we will use a combination of buses and driving. I will take the bus to MK because the parking lot is so far away and the buses let you off pretty close. But we will probably drive to AK and DHS. Not sure about Epcot yet. We will play it by ear and see how busy the buses are for our resort (POFQ).

The kids like the bus so I don't mind too much, but I think driving will be good for certain aspects of our trip. Definitely will drive to DTD. The buses are the worst there.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

We rent because we love the opportunity of running around off property if we want. We sometimes go to Citywalk, and Emeril's, Borders for more vacation reading, the grocery for snacks, and other outside eateries.

Also, we have my mom in an ecv many trips. There is nothing worse than trying to load that stupid thing onto a bus.

 

[Shmily1]

I chose WDW Trans. We drive down so no rental car needed, but I do refuse to drive myself. When I'm tired from being at the parks all day, I don't want to think about where my car is or how to get to the resort.

 

[~CherryCakes~]

We always rent a car because of the deal we get with Virgin. I've personaly never used the disney transport, but a few of my friends have when they've gone to Disney, none of them have ever had any problems as far as I'm aware.

I always feel a bit funny about using the Disney transport just because we usualy, leave our stuff in the car and quite often use it as a changing room after we've been on the water rides or somthing. It'd be a compleatly differant type of holiday i guess it comes down to personal preferance

Still, if given the option, I'd always rent.

 

[TandLMommy28]

BTW... I would never use a rental car seat. There is no way to ever know if they have been in an accident or are safe.

I agree wholeheartedly. I am so picky about car seats it's not even funny and there is no way on earth I'd ever put my kids in a rental. But that's another topic altogether and if I don't stop now, I'll be typing 12 paragraphs on carseat safety and you will all find out why my friends call me the crazy carseat lady.

Anyway... I also agree that not everyone finds driving to enjoyable. My husband has his CDL. He drives locally, about 1.5 hours each way to his delivery area every day, he's not an over the road driver. But still, when he is on vacation he doesn't want to drive! It's not a vacation if you have to do the same thing you do at work. We are driving to Florida (I'll probably do most of the driving) and we will have our car if we really, really need to go to Walmart or something but we don't intend to use it all week.

This is how I envision it would go if we used our car at Disney, knowing myself and knowing my family. It doesn't sound pleasant or relaxing (this is based on previous experiences at places like Cedar Point):

I'm stressed out because we only have 20 minutes until our early ADR, we've got maps out, and the GPS is screaming at us "TURN RIGHT, TURN RIGHT, TURN AROUND!". We find a parking spot and I MEAN to take a picture of where we are parked but just as I whip my phone out to do it, my 5 year old trips and skins her knee in the excitement of finally being at Disney WOrld. I shove my phone back in my pocket and search for a bandaid. We forget to take a picture of where we parked. After a long day at the park, we wander aimlessly, with two crying and miserably exhausted children while we try desperately to find some sign of where we parked, perhaps some of the skin my daughter left behind when she fell? Finally, we find our car (Thank God for the bright yellow carseat safety magnet I have on the back). We get into the miserably hot car that has been in the sun all day. Now we are back in the car but still are unfamiliar with the area and have to find our way back to the hotel while my husband is whining about how he drives for a living and now he has to drive around on vacation, and the kids are complaining about how they want to watch a movie even though we won't be in the car long enough to watch it. Then we finally find our way back to the resort and have to make sure we put away the GPS, unplug the DVD player (because eventually while we were making wrong turns and fighting with the GPS and yelling at each other about where we should have turned the kids won and we put the DVD player on). Then we have to make sure everything we had in the car comes in because as soon as they were in their car seats they insisted on digging their mouse ears, extra snack and random souvenirs from my neatly packed bags (that never would have been opened on the bus). I didn't notice they did it because I was setting up their DVD. Now we get back to the room only to find out that my 2 year old left his new Buzz Lightyear in the car and we have to go back to the car and find it. But it's a good thing that we did because when we go back to the car, I realize we didn't lock it and if we hadn't come back, who knows if our DVD players and GPS would still have been there in the morning. Then we get back into the hotel and my previously exhausted children are bouncing off the walls because when they dug into the souvenir bag, they found the treat I bought at the Main Street Bakery that I was saving for myself later and eat it all and now they are on a sugar high and can't sleep.

I know that is an exaggeration but all of these things have happened at one time or another. NO THANK YOU! We'll be taking the bus!

 

[CruznLexi]

We had our car last Oct and we only drove it to play mini golf and drive to Port Canaveral. We own at Kidani and never waited more than 10-15 min. I would never even think of driving to theme parks.

 

[danielle782001]

We went three entire trips using Disney Transportation. Then we tried a trip where we used their transportation and taxis when we where going to another resort for a meal.

NOW we always rent.

Found it is difficult with two small children. Waiting was an issue. Very crowded buses was a major issue. DH does not like the no seat beat thing. Not for us.