Opinions on rental car??

[MattyD]

Hi, I've been to WDW 7 times (all for a week at a time) and we always stay on site and take advantage of the Disney transportation. We're (a family of 4, my wife and I, our son 4yrs, and his Grammy) going again in a couple weeks Sept 21-27th, POFQ (my favorite!) but this time I found a great deal on car rental thru Alamo. I've reserved the car(p/u at MCO) for this trip.
Will this be much of a time saver traveling from resort to the parks?
Is it a headache driving around WDW?
Which resorts should I make a point to try and see? We have a couple half days open and I'd like to visit 2 resorts or so while we have the car. I've been to POFQ, POR, Caribbean Beach, Fort Wilderness, & visited the Boardwalk, & Saratoga Springs.
Thanks for any advice!

[flutter]

Hi, I've been to WDW 7 times (all for a week at a time) and we always stay on site and take advantage of the Disney transportation. We're (a family of 4, my wife and I, our son 4yrs, and his Grammy) going again in a couple weeks Sept 21-27th, POFQ (my favorite!) but this time I found a great deal on car rental thru Alamo. I've reserved the car(p/u at MCO) for this trip.
Will this be much of a time saver traveling from resort to the parks?
Is it a headache driving around WDW?
Which resorts should I make a point to try and see? We have a couple half days open and I'd like to visit 2 resorts or so while we have the car. I've been to POFQ, POR, Caribbean Beach, Fort Wilderness, & visited the Boardwalk, & Saratoga Springs.
Thanks for any advice!

I rented a car last Dec because I was staying at SOG and heard that the bus service wasn't great.....the couple of times we did use the bus we had no problems. I loved having the car and had no problem driving around, I think it helped that I was at a MK resort so just followed the signs to the MK to get back to the resort and the park signs getting to the parks. I did get a little truned around driving someone to Pop Century....they told me they knew how to get there from Epcot...not entirely true but we found it Maybe your sense of direction is better than ours I had planned on bringing my gps unit but forgot it in my car back in PVD

[flutter]

Oh which resorts to see....Wilderness lodge, AKL,Poly...GF

[SnwhtNdwrfs]

Last trip we only stayed on night on Disney property so we did rent a car. We only had one problem and that was finding POFQ after we missed the correct turn but I can now say I know where CM parking is at Epcot! Sometimes it is faster to drive than to use Disney transportation or so I think.

Enjoy your trip!

ANd I agree with flutter on the resorts. WL is my favorite and well worth the time!

[disneydame2004]

Driving on Disney property is pretty easy. They have lots of signs guiding you to where you want to go. The only thing is that it helps to have a rough idea of what is located where, since the overhead signs tend to direct you to "Epcot Resort Area" or "Downtown Disney Resort Area" and not "Port Orleans French Quarter" until you get to the small sign that says "turn here". When you check in, ask at Bell Services for a map - they have a nice large one of all the roads on property.

You can easily fill an afternoon visiting the resorts on the monorail loop and MK area - park at the TTC, take the resort monorail to the Contemporary for a look-around, then hop back on to the Grand Floridian. If the weather is nice, you can take a boat from the GF to the Polynesian (or take the monorail again), wander around there, grab a Dole Whip at Captain Cook's, and then walk back to the TTC to get your car and drive over to Wilderness Lodge.

Animal Kingdom Lodge would be separate trip, but well worth it.

Have a great trip!

[Keasmom]

I drove to WDW and used the transportation system, I did drive once. My GPS did not recognize the ASMu address and it tried to loop me around-I used the map and located with no problem. Just get you bearings and landmarks and it is easy enough. All of the above suggested resorts are great so with that, have a great trip.

[disneycrazy1956]

I used Alamo once, they had a huge line at midnight to pick up our car. That is not what you need after a long day. Oh, and by the way Alamos pick up is not right in the airport. We had to take a shuttle to get to alamo, not bad and it was free. Just another way to make the day longer. We've only rented a car on two of our 11 trips to WDW, we mostly have used Mears or a town car service and even drove three times from Delaware. It's not hard getting around WDW just get one of the over view maps and get your bearings. It really is signed very well. We drove this summer but still used Disney transportation most of the time, possibly a mistake when we wanted to visit a AKL and had dinner reservations for 1900 Park Fare. The buses were not running as often as in other visits. One last thought watch the speed limits, they have really started watching for speeders, we saw a bunch of people stopped by police.

[croc614]

we usually rent a car for a day just to do the skycoaster and go shopping. You can talk to the front desk and theyll have a shuttle come pick you up for a rental and when you drop it off theyll bring you anywhere you want to go in wdw. Or if you stay at the swan there another rental place right at the hotel

[tiggerguy]

I used Alamo once, they had a huge line at midnight to pick up our car. That is not what you need after a long day. Oh, and by the way Alamos pick up is not right in the airport. We had to take a shuttle to get to alamo, not bad and it was free. Just another way to make the day longer. We've only rented a car on two of our 11 trips to WDW, we mostly have used Mears or a town car service and even drove three times from Delaware. It's not hard getting around WDW just get one of the over view maps and get your bearings. It really is signed very well. We drove this summer but still used Disney transportation most of the time, possibly a mistake when we wanted to visit a AKL and had dinner reservations for 1900 Park Fare. The buses were not running as often as in other visits. One last thought watch the speed limits, they have really started watching for speeders, we saw a bunch of people stopped by police.

Alamo is now on the airport grounds and has been for about 5 years

[disneydame2004]

WDW Today's podcast today sounds like it is perfect for you: First timer's guide to car rentals!
Give us 5 minutes and we will give you the world - WDW Today episode #459

[disneycrazy1956]

Thanks tiggerguy I guess you can tell its been awhile since we rented a car.