Car rental ??

[Wonderwoman1982]

I wondered, with all the nearby car rental places, what is your experience for easiest (and cheapest place to check) for renting a car. And please let me know how you got the car, got to the agency. etc. since we'll be staying in a resort and have to way to get there ourselves. Like, will any of them come pick me up from the resort? Or, I know there's that one on Disney property, but how do you get there?? I will need a car for a few days to visit Universal. And NO I'm NOT taking a taxi, it'll be better for our group to rent a car. Thanks guys.

 

[Itinkso]

I wondered, with all the nearby car rental places, what is your experience for easiest (and cheapest place to check) for renting a car. And please let me know how you got the car, got to the agency. etc. since we'll be staying in a resort and have to way to get there ourselves. Like, will any of them come pick me up from the resort? Or, I know there's that one on Disney property, but how do you get there?? I will need a car for a few days to visit Universal. And NO I'm NOT taking a taxi, it'll be better for our group to rent a car. Thanks guys.

If we don't rent at the airport, we rent from National/Alamo at the Dolphin. We will just hop on a bus from a park to Dolphin to pick up the car. When we have dropped the car off, we would usually go back to a park or DTD.

I have heard that you can get shuttled from the Dolphin but we've never asked because it has always worked fine according to our plans. You can request a shuttle if you rent from the Car Care Center which is near MK.

 

[figment_jii]

I've always rented a car from the Dolphin (Alamo or National). It's a pretty easy process (both pick-up and drop-off).

In terms of getting there, I stay at an Epcot resort most often, so I just walk. Otherwise, I would probably take a bus from your resort to DHS and then take the boat or walk to the Dolphin.

 

[nkereina]

Are you picking up the car mid-trip or at the end of your stay at WDW? If you're leaving WDW to go to Universal, you could also take DME back to the airport and pick up your car there. Not sure how prices compare.

If you are getting the car at the end of your trip and go with the Dolphin option, keep in mind you can't bring luggage on the regular Disney buses. You'd either have to bus over there, get the car, and drive back to your resort to collect the luggage. Or take a taxi to the Dolphin with your luggage to pick up the car.

If you're just getting a car mid-trip for a day, then you can disregard

 

[michsig]

We always rent from EZ Rent A Car at MCO. It's always been the cheapest, and they usually offer discounts as well.

 

[ThumpersMommy]

We always rent a car right from MCO (usually Dollar or EZ rent a car). We reserve it online ahead of time and then its an easy process to pick it right up once you land in Orlando. Returning is easy as well. Sometimes they try to convince you to pre-pay for a full tank of gas, so you do not have to fill it up before you bring it back, but it is very expensive and not really needed. There are a few HESS stations throughout WDW property and we always fill up from there on the way back to the airport and have never had any trouble with it.

 

[richmo]

It's not quite clear to me what you're doing, but here goes:

- You may want to start by looking at rates for a full MCO to MCO rental. Depending upon the length of your stay, you may get kicked into weekly rates, which is a good thing. The absolute cheapest rentals at the airport are usually off airport grounds, but not always. For convenience, I'd stick with on-airport rentals.
- If you are at a Disney resort and only need a rental for a shorter period, the easiest is probably to go with Alamo or National. There are locations at the Car Care Center (which is on the Magic Kingdom exit road) or the Dolphin hotel. In the case of Alamo (which usually runs cheaper), you would make your online reservation using the CCC location. The day before you pick up your rental, you would call the Alamo CCC location and tell them when and where you would like to be picked up, typically your resort...try to get picked up about a half hour before your rental starts. If you're returning the car to the CCC, you drive there, then the shuttle will take you pretty much anywhere on property, including the parks.
- Also keep in mind that you can mix the two scenarios above. You could pick up a car during your visit at the CCC, then drop it back off at MCO...or the reverse.

In any scenario, a way to keep costs down is to check rates frequently. My advice is to book something then to continue looking. Reserving a prepaid rate is almost always a bad idea unless the trip is only a few days away. Rates often (but not always) fall anywhere from 2 to 14 days before your pickup date.

 

[Wonderwoman1982]

Thank you all for your replies. What I am doing is staying at WDW resort for 10 days. At some point, MID trip, we'll be visiting Universal for 2 of the days. So that's why I'm wondering about a car rental place I can somehow get to from my resort. I"ll keep an eye on rates! It actually MIGHT be cheaper for me to rent for the 10 days from the airport, than to rent for 2 1/2 days from Car Care Center. BUT we shall see! Thanks everyone.

 

[SarahKate]

Most of the nearby rental places will come and get you and bring you there to pick up the vehicle. We've done this a handful of times through the two places at the Car Care Center as well as an off-property rental company.

They will also deliver you back to your resort after you return your car.

You might want to do a little cost comparison to see what it would be to get the car at MCO at the beginning of your trip vs. getting it later. You might be surprised!

Last trip, we rented from MCO and it was awesome! We got a great rate and everything was perfect...we used Thrifty. Took about 2-3 minutes at the desk, walked across the street to the HUGE parking garage and drove off with our SUV. It was sooo easy. And I loved that it didn't eat into our vacation time because we had it at the start. DH and DD went ahead and rode the Magical Express bus because DD really wanted to, so I just met them at the resort (beat them there by about 15 minutes and already got checked in by the time they arrived).

 

[The Sasquatch]

There is an Alamo right by the ttc and poly

 

[Junebugwv]

We've picked up rental cars from the airport, Downtown Disney Resorts, Dolphin and the Care Care Center. I actually like the DTD resort rental companies (or care care center) because they send a shuttle for you and they will return you to the resort when you drop off the car. I have also done a pick up at DTD and returned at the airport when I did not want to take ME.

 

[goin' goofy]

We got a great deal from Avis at the Hilton in Downtown Disney. We took the buses from our hotel to the DTD Marketplace and walked (its about 10 minutes, all sidewalks). We were checked out in about 15 minutes and they told us to just pick whatever we wanted out back, even though we only booked a Compact.

 

[D&R love Disney]

I usually use Budget, join the fastbreak club it's free. I've been modifying my reservation for about a month and have gone from $355 to $188 for an intermediate car for 10 days.

 

[Wonderwoman1982]

Thanks guys. I"m still not sure what I'm doing, BUT I have a car reserved for the whole length of my trip (as of now) thru EZ Car Rental. Their rate is only about $50 more than for almost 10 days, then almost everyone else's rates for 2 1/2 days! I'd rather spend the extra, because we can hit up the grocery store, and the occasional out to eat at somewhere else besides the parks and resorts!

 

[SarahKate]

Great deal! I think you will like having a car the whole time. It just makes things easier.

We are going on a cruise and then going to WDW when we return. We're picking up our car at the airport, leaving it at the port (well, at the hotel that has a free parking pkg) and then we'll have it when we return. It was WAY cheaper to do that than to use shuttles and rent when we got back.

 

[richmo]

Thanks guys. I"m still not sure what I'm doing, BUT I have a car reserved for the whole length of my trip (as of now) thru EZ Car Rental. Their rate is only about $50 more than for almost 10 days, then almost everyone else's rates for 2 1/2 days! I'd rather spend the extra, because we can hit up the grocery store, and the occasional out to eat at somewhere else besides the parks and resorts!

That's good. I'm not surprised in that you're mostly on a weekly rate, which sometimes is much less. I'm not sure when your trip is, but continue to check rates, right up to departure day. There are almost always rate reductions in the last two weeks before and I've sometimes obtained my best rate about 2 days before. Just keep checking...