To rent a car or not?
For an Orlando vacation.
From Leanne D
Posted July 23, 2011 at 7:53 AM
Me again looking for more advice please. During my 11 day vacation at Universal and Disney, should I rent a car? I have purchased the park hopper and I have 2 children ages 10 & 8. I have heard various reasons for both from friends but would like some advice here.
Thanks
You should,
Especially if going between Disney and Universal, you should rent a car.
Also, if you are staying at a Disney resort, you can park in any of their parking lots for free during your stay. I find that more convienet for EPCOT and DHS which has their parking lots pretty close to the gate.
Personally I would get a car. If you anted to take in the local sights A car is invaluable. Also, I know parking daily charges can be a pain but truth be told your on vacation, live a little. That freedom a car offers far outweights the alternative, which is being stuck to the shuttles etc. Sure you could spend all your time in the parks, but their are an abundance of of things to do along I4 or the 192 that you could chose to do. Plus the shopping. Car. Defo.
11 Days + 2 resorts = rent a car.
Personally, I'm the type of person that did a WDW only vacation and rented a car and never left the resort area. I didn't want my schedule dictated by the WDW transportation, although it's good. If I wanted to go park to park or hotel to hotel I could, whenever I wanted.
I totally agree with everyone. You do not want to be at the whim of someone else's schedule. Especially now that Disney is cutting short their monorail operations for evening Extra Magic Hours. That's going to put a bigger strain on the buses. And you're doing Universal too and might want to venture to a mall, shopping center, or restaurant elsewhere if you get tired of resort food.
Here is your best and easiest solution.. Rent a car for a few days of the trip… Let me elaborate..Go to Universal for the first days of you trip, return the car, then the second half of your trip, use Disney transportation.. You will save a few $$ and get to experience everything.
Rental car for 4 days * Amount of rental + parking fees at park (about $14)
When you return the auto to the airport you can then get back to your resort by the Disney buses if you are staying at a Disney hotel..
It comes down to how much traveling you are going to do outside of each park complex. If you stay on Universal property you don't need a car, if you stay on Disney property you can do without a car. I f you are going to travel around and go to Gator Land or any of the water parks or Sea World, you will find having a car is an advantage.
Can you rent a car inside WDW?
rent a car. Make sure you take a trip to the supermarket to stock up on things for your room. It is very expensive buying basics in the hotel shops. You will save a fortune on snacks for the kids. We bought breakfast items so we could eat first thing then head out early (make sure you get to magic kingdom rope drop). It also makes a nice change to go somewhere different for a meal and it makes the trips between universal and disney much easier.
From Leanne D
Posted July 28, 2011 at 6:11 AM
Looks like car rental is the way to go. Thanks for all your advice I really appreciate all the help in planning my first Disney World trip!
enjoy your trip!! There is SO MUCH to see & do around the parks as well. Orlando is chalk full of fun. So with renting a car you can tootle around & see all the other good stuff. With the way Orlando is set up it is easy to get from place to place. I reccommend "Old Town" in Kissimmee for something fun one night to walk around, see the stores, (it's small & free). Prime Outlets & Bealles Factory Outlet mall are both amazing. In fact depending on where you stay on your way to Universal you will see one of the outlet malls off to the side of the freeway. I-Drive (international drive) where Universal is has a ton of cool stores, weird shops, food etc. You can park at one part & just walk around. Also, there is the Mall of Millenia. It is a high class mall complete with vallet parking etc. Yeah, we don't SHOP there, we just like to walk around mouth agape! The Florida mall is something cool to walk around in with kids too. The huge M & M store, Disney Store...there is just so much. (just giving ideas for the inevitable rain you will get hit with or when you guys want just a small break from the big parks). :)
To me it all matters where u are staying at if ur staying in disney don't rent a car but in universal or off grounds defently do it will save u time and money in the long run
From Leanne D
Posted August 15, 2011 at 10:28 AM
Thanks for all the extra ideas Annette. We will look into some of those for sure.
Definitely hire a car. I've gone without one in the past as I was too chicken to drive in the US (I'm from Scotland) and it was a PAIN. You will inevitably miss a bus by about 30 seconds and have to wait for the next one....at night they are overcrowded (when you just want to get home and flop into bed) I'll never ever go without a car again. And these guys are righ- half the fun is just sseeing some other attraction which catches your eye as you are driving past and swinging in past on a whim!
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