Would you take ME or pick up the rental car?

[praisefor3]

We are arriving with 5 of us in a couple weeks. We have a mini van reserved and right now we plan to pick it up at the Dolphin. We have quite a bit of luggage including a trunk for one of the dd's who will be going straight to camp for the summer (a counselor) and has to bring all her summer stuff. When we made the reservation we thought it would be fun for the kids (never ridden ME before) to take the Disney bus to the resort and would also be much easier than collecting all the luggage and getting it to the rental car place at the airport and then loaded up. This way it would just all "end up" in our room and we would have a relaxing ride to the resort, skip the toll fees, etc.

We do not plan to go to the park the first day so we are thinking that when we arrive at the resort (POR) I will go with the kids and check in to the room then ride the boat to downtown Disney. DH will hop the first bus to a park or TTC and catch a bus to Dolphin, pick up the car and meet us at DTD.

It sounds like a good plan to me...but then it occurred to me that maybe someone here had some advice that would help us. The last I checked, the rental fee was the same at the airport as at the Dolphin (which surprised me) but we would save the small bit of toll fees if we pick it up at the Dolphin. Since the price is about the same...which do you think would be a better plan?

 

[richmo]

Hmm, I don't really have a strong opinion on this. I'd almost leave it up to your DH, since he's the one that would lose a considerable amount of time by running off to the Dolphin to get the minivan.

A couple of thoughts:
- You could do both of your ideas. Some of you could ride ME to Disney and let your DH pickup the minivan at MCO and drive himself to POR. That way ME still takes all (or most) of the luggage and you've got the minivan.

- Another thought is, did you look into rental rates at the Car Care Center, near Magic Kingdom? If they're about the same, you could go with that. Then what you do is call the Car Care Center the day before you want the car, and tell them you want to be picked up at POR about a half hour before your car rental period starts. That way your DH doesn't have to deal with 2 Disney buses to the Dolphin. (If you're interested the Alamo code for the Car Care Center is ORLR72, the Dolphin is ORLR74)

 

[praisefor3]

I did look into the Car Care Center but we need the van for 13 days and they showed no availability on that request. That's a good idea about DH picking it up at the airport. I'll ask which he prefers. My guess is that he will want to ride the bus with the fam just so we all pull up to the Disney experience together but I will definitely ask him.

 

[AJKMOM]

YOu might want to find out ahead of time if ME will bring your luggage and a trunk? Never used it so I don't know if there are limits to the number and sizes of things to be transported.

 

[richmo]

YOu might want to find out ahead of time if ME will bring your luggage and a trunk? Never used it so I don't know if there are limits to the number and sizes of things to be transported.

I was thinking that too, but didn't address it in my earlier post. I have no idea what the ME policy is, but a trunk sounds heavy. Ignoring whatever ME policy might be in place, I imagine flying it down might be costly. You might look into shipping it to POR before your arrival.

 

[AJKMOM]

I was thinking that too, but didn't address it in my earlier post. I have no idea what the ME policy is, but a trunk sounds heavy. Ignoring whatever ME policy might be in place, I imagine flying it down might be costly. You might look into shipping it to POR before your arrival.

Or, shipping it directly to the summer camp?

 

[MareSINY]

I would schedule ME for everyone but hubby, this way you guys can still have the luggage "magically appear" and your hubby will not be far behind you all with the car. This will save him from having to bus hop to get to the Dolphin to pick up the car.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

There are also a few rental car places near DTD (walking distance). So, you can all take ME, and take the boath to DTD together, and then DH can walk across the street to get the car.

Dollar at Regal Sun is the closest (right across the street from the DTD bus stop), and Hertz has one nearby also. I think there are others also. But, don't know if they have something big enough for you.

 

[richmo]

I would schedule ME for everyone but hubby, this way you guys can still have the luggage "magically appear" and your hubby will not be far behind you all with the car. This will save him from having to bus hop to get to the Dolphin to pick up the car.

Thats just complicating things. Even if he decides to pick up the car at MCO, I'd still schedule all of you for ME. They really don't care whether everyone gets on the bus...plus that could give you the option of picking it up at MCO and dropping it at Dolphin/CCC. The main thing for going to WDW with ME is that someone has to ride the bus to get the luggage transported.

 

[Coach81]

We love ME!!!

 

[praisefor3]

Got good news this morning on our dilemma. We arrive at 2:05 at MCO and the Dolphin rental closes at 4:00. So I called them to see what they suggest. She said that the Car care center will honor our Dolphin reservation and all we have to do is call them when we are ready and they will send someone to pick us up all the way til 7:00 p.m. We are now planning on skipping the hassle of the MCO car rental and doing this after we all ride ME and check in together!

We've already had some pre-Magical moments for this trip with things working out (such as our deluxe airport hotel for the night before the trip giving us free parking for 13 days and a rate of $79!) so we are starting off on a great note!

Thanks for the advice! The car care center couldn't accommodate our original reservation but it looks like it will work out anyway!

Oh and I forgot to add that the trunk fits the exact measurement of the airline maximum size requirement for luggage so I just have to make sure she keeps it under 50 pounds!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I just ran a quick check through my account with National, using a pick-up date of June 8 and return date of June 15. For my standard Intermediate car the total price, including all fees and taxes was $572.37 at the airport but only $359.05 at the Dolphin. The only thing that I changed on the compare with the location.

 

[praisefor3]

Well...that was another one of our "pre Magic moments" that worked out great. We are flying down from but our oldest has to be dropped in Nashville on the way home for the summer for her camp counselor position. They had a drive-out-of Florida special so we got our mini-van for 13 days for $217 (after coupon also.) We were just going to pick it up on the last day to drive home but when we realized how cheap it was, we couldn't pass up the convenience of having it for the whole trip. We don't really mind the bus transportation but now that we have it I'm sure we will use it at least some of the time. Plus we are switching hotels (5 nights each) so it will make that a bit more convenient as well. Two hours after I made the reservation they must have sold out of the mini-vans because now you can only get a mid or full size car. Still a great deal if anyone else happens to have similar fly/drive circumstances but not big enough for us. Finding great deals DOES take some time and searching but it has been worth it for us.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I've moved this thread to the Transportation board.

 

[HELPDESKGUY]

Rental car if you value your vacation time and don't mind paying.