What would you do? Rental Car vs. Mears/Resort Transportation/Uber and Lyft

[JC1984]

Trying to find out what is best for our situation. It will be myself, my wife, DS (6), DS (5), and DD (2). We will be staying at OKW for 9 nights. I have rental car booked for that time at $339 but am trying to see if it makes more sense to do Mears/Resort Transportation/Uber and Lyft. Please bear with me as it has been 11 years since I have been to WDW.
We have plans to go to the parks but also on our first full day wanted to make a trip to Publix in the morning to get some groceries for the week. We also had plans to visit one of the water parks and also go to the miniature golf courses. I know everything parks wise from OKW is a bus ride and maybe a transfer but what about miniature golf or even footgolf?

So what would you do? Keep the rental car? Get the Mears and just Uber to Publix? Instacart is out of the picture as my wife loves Publix and needs to be there in person (nostalgia from her high school job). I feel like the rental car is more convenient for a lot of reason but am all about saving a few bucks here and there since I am realizing how much more expensive a trip to WDW is over our annual Aulani trip.

 

[bfost87]

If you're staying on site, I would just use Mears Connect, and then take an Uber to the grocery store (or rent a car for one day, and then drop it near/at Disney).

I PREFER having a car because it makes things easier a lot of times, but if you're on site, there's really no reason for the extra cost. Really depends how you like to travel.

 

[JC1984]

If you're staying on site, I would just use Mears Connect, and then take an Uber to the grocery store (or rent a car for one day, and then drop it near/at Disney).

I PREFER having a car because it makes things easier a lot of times, but if you're on site, there's really no reason for the extra cost. Really depends how you like to travel.

I like you like to have a rental car as I feel like I will have more control over my situation if day morning busses are a mess or I know I can drive straight to Blizzard beach as opposed to going to AK then over. But your right extra cost is what gets me.

 

[SteveH]

Rental car hands down, just based on the ages of your children. For 9 nights at $339 your talking less then $40 a day.

 

[CarolynFH]

Getting to non-parks activities like mini-golf from OKW would be quite a trek and involve transfers, as you suspect, via Disney transportation, but with a rental car it would be quick and easy, no worrying about how long you’ll wait for transportation with impatient kids. Add in the desire to shop at Publix, and a rental car would definitely be my choice.

Also, OKW is quite spread out, with multiple bus stops, and you might want to drive to parks too just to make the journey there and back more efficient especially if someone needs to return to your villa for a nap or just to get out of the hubbub. Not to mention avoiding the aggravations that come with folding the stroller to get on the bus and keeping tabs on 3 small kids in a crowded, standing room only bus. So again, I’d vote to keep the rental car.

 

[sam_gordon]

What are you doing for car seat(s)? Renting? Bringing your own?

There's another option you haven't mentioned... private transfer. Most private transfer companies include a grocery stop. You can do a one way from MCO>OKW with the private company, do your grocery stop with them, then return to MCO with Mears/Sunshine flyer.

I've always been one, when staying on the grounds, I don't want to worry about driving. If we had plans to go off site, we might rent a car for a day.

 

[sam_gordon]

Not to mention avoiding the aggravations that come with folding the stroller to get on the bus

As opposed to the aggravations that come with folding the stroller to put it in the trunk?

 

[Wood Nymph]

OKW is one of the few WDW resorts that really works better with a car. The food options are very limited there and with a long stay like you have, you would benefit from being able to go to a grocery store.

 

[JC1984]

a lot of great perspective and insights you all! I really appreciate the thoughts. You have given me a lot to chew on.

 

[CarolynFH]

As opposed to the aggravations that come with folding the stroller to put it in the trunk?

Well, maybe I should have said folding it and then holding on to it while standing on a crowded bus with 3 littles!

 

[EACarlson]

Personally I would go with the rental car, but I always prefer a rental car. I'll go through the math. Mears is going to be $118 for the five of you round trip, that means you're really paying $210 to have the car for the week. If you figure in $20 for Uber each way for the grocery trip you're at $170. How much time can you save compared to the bus in those 9 days. Figure with 5 of you, would you save 4 hours? I think so, and would give you the option to go somewhere off site for meals if desired. The only downside is that you are going to need two boosters and a car seat. I personally would never trust the car seats available from the rental companies and would much prefer my kids to be in seats from home while on the plane anyway.

 

[JC1984]

Personally I would go with the rental car, but I always prefer a rental car. I'll go through the math. Mears is going to be $118 for the five of you round trip, that means you're really paying $210 to have the car for the week. If you figure in $20 for Uber each way for the grocery trip you're at $170. How much time can you save compared to the bus in those 9 days. Figure with 5 of you, would you save 4 hours? I think so, and would give you the option to go somewhere off site for meals if desired. The only downside is that you are going to need two boosters and a car seat. I personally would never trust the car seats available from the rental companies and would much prefer my kids to be in seats from home while on the plane anyway.

Your rights we bring our own cars seats and boosters when we travel so not worried about cost there but the convince of a car outweighs little savings

 

[bfost87]

Well, maybe I should have said folding it and then holding on to it while standing on a crowded bus with 3 littles!

I’m not even worried about that, for me, it’s when you’ve not been paying attention and the bus pulls up and here you are with a stroller filled with crap that you’re now scrambling to get closed.