Car or no car?

[Kerpow]

Hi, our trip to Disney is fast approaching and I'm wondering if we should rent a car or not? We're staying on property so would be a slave to the buses if we don't have a car. What are some considerations around renting a car? If we do have a car, do we have to pay parking every day, etc.?

Thanks in advance for your insight!

 

[Disneydreamer23]

where are you staying?

 

[Kerpow]

where are you staying?

At the Art of Animation.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

At the Art of Animation.

I wouldn't, you can use the busses and if they are ever bad call an uber it was 8.61 from Pop to Magic Kingdom.

 

[JIMINYCR]

A lot of guests drive and swear they are much happier getting around on their own... much faster and without the frustrations with crowded buses and long waits for the next bus. It depends on how comfortable you are driving around Disney property, and if you are willing add the added expense to your budget. Rental prices can vary and depends on length of use. When staying on property the parking at resorts and parks are free.
When we flew down I always relied on Disney transportation and rented vehicles only for when we wanted to do off property trips. That worked out fine. Several years ago we started driving down because of incidents with the airlines damaging my DW's w/c. Having our own vehicle on property does give us the option of driving ourselves but I really dont find myself using the van much. The bus system at times can be slow but it is efficient and I never found it intolerable. I'd rather put the keys in the safe and let Disney drive.

 

[Pixieish]

We've done both, and enjoy both. They each have their plusses and minuses.

Car
PLUSSES
A place to lock up stuff that doesn't fit in the tiny room safe.
No waiting for buses.
Less time spent on travel.
Free parking.
Google Maps makes it super easy to get around.
There's a gas station near DS that is very easy to get to.
Car-seats.

MINUSES
Self-parking.
Sometimes you have to park far from the resort when you return.
Sometimes you have to walk a bit to get to your car at the end of a long day.
Car-seats (they're either a pain to travel with or expensive to rent).
Have to remember to get gas.
Some people can handle driving in strange places, some people cannot. (Hubby drove me nuts a few times.)

Bus
PLUSSES
No worrying about parking.
They can be super fun.
No worrying about where you're going.
Can collect the "Travel" cards from the drivers.
Can meet some interesting people.
Easy peasy.
No worrying about refilling before returning a rental.

MINUSES
Waiting for them to arrive and/or the next bus because the 1st one was full.
They can be super crowded.
Strollers are a pain in the behind unless they're simple umbrella strollers (I would fashion a strap so you can shoulder it)
Exiting ANY park at closing requires a long wait when you're tired.
Getting from resort to resort is a hassle (for dining, shopping, etc.)
Getting from park to park is a hassle unless you use other transportation (boats, monorail)

Like I said...we've done both and there are plusses and minuses to both - what usually ends up as the deciding factor is whether we want to spend the extra on a rental. Sometimes we Disney on a budget, sometimes not.

 

[wplong1]

If it fits your budget (and I would think it would be less than renting a car): Uber

To me the buses are the least magical transportation and biggest waste of time at WDW. Other than monorail destinations or returns, on our last trip this February we used Uber to get to parks in the morning and to get to and from dining reservations each evening. Never waited more than 5 minutes, transfers are quick, DIRECT and to designated Uber drop off areas near entrances of the parks or at the front door of hotels (MK would be closest to Contemporary of course), and I don't think a single ride was more than about $8 or $10. Literally saves hours of waiting and frustration.

 

[King Racoon 77]

 

[Pixieish]

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[Bartledvd]

Never rented a car yet at wdw go for 14 nights each year stay on site with four kids busses can be a pain at times but rarely and i see same issue with people waiting for the trams monorail or boats just to get back to there cars not to mention me and my wife prefer the option to have a drink if we want one no chance i would ever drive after touching alcohol. Uber is great cheap option to get you to any very early or offsite meals

 

[Dave B]

I would rent a car 100% for sure, it allows you so much freedom and gives you back multiple hours to enjoy your trip more, rather than waiting for busses, or waiting in line for busses, especially at the end of the night

 

[Weather_Lady]

It depends a bit on how much moving around you intend to do, and between what locations.

We almost always rely on Disney transportation (usually four times a day -- to a park in the morning, back to resort after lunch, back to park around 4pm, and back to resort late in the evening) and have been pleased with it. While it seems like there's an average of one instance per week-long vacation where we have to wait for transportation for an unusual amount of time, we otherwise almost never wait more than 10 minutes for a bus (or monorail, or boat launch). If we're making a rare trip from our resort to another resort, we use Uber/Lyft (at a cost of ~$12-$15/trip). I commute 90 minutes a day in my "regular" life, so the last thing I want to do at WDW is drive some more - on unfamiliar roads no less - and stress about parking. I treat the few minutes' wait at a bus stop and the air-conditioned ride to a park as a time to relax and chat with my family (something I don't get to do much of at home). Candidly, what with parking and walking/taking a tram to get to/from park entrances and parking lots/TTC, I don't think that renting a car would save us all that much time in the long run.

 

[Bullseye1967]

I am always for having my own vehicle, even though we have done it both ways. The time it saves having a car makes the difference for us. Also we like to visit different resorts for ADRs or just to check them out. It is the tiredness at the end of the day and no waiting for a bus that makes a difference for us.

 

[newhorizons1]

We just got back from a week at WDW yesterday. We drove. We took a bus on our first day and drove the remaining days. Personally I've had nothing but bad experiences with the bus transportation system at WDW lately. The only park that it was a pain to drive to was the Magic Kingdom because you have to park at the TTC.

 

[jaklgreen]

We never rent a car. One of the benefits of a WDW vacation for us is the fact that it is completely care free. We don't need to worry about the every day things like sitting in traffic. We love just getting on a bus and not having to deal with driving with all of the other tourists. I just came back from a 2 week stay and had zero issues with the buses.

 

[Brainleech419]

I would say use buses to get to the parks and back and use uber (or lyft) to get everywhere else

 

[Dave B]

Or just rent a car and have all the flexibility and freedom you could want

 

[thomas998]

Your parking is free if you stay in a resort so don't worry about that. I would never ever ever rely on Disney Transportation. While it can work and sometimes people never have a bad experience with it, we used it once on a trip and before the trip was done rented a car because the buses are so horrible.

If you never expect to be leaving the parks right after the fireworks or at closing then you might not ever have a bad situation... but we left on one night at MK late when everyone was leaving and had to wait in line for a bus back to the resort for almost 2 hours. Never again.

 

[jimbojones]

Hi, our trip to Disney is fast approaching and I'm wondering if we should rent a car or not? We're staying on property so would be a slave to the buses if we don't have a car. What are some considerations around renting a car? If we do have a car, do we have to pay parking every day, etc.?

Thanks in advance for your insight!

Personally one of the great joys of a wdw vacation for me is that I don't have to drive. WDW is a place where I don't have to worry about anything including driving. I take long road trip vacations every year and don't dislike driving but at WDW I love not having to think about it.

 

[Ted Daggett]

We always rent a car, but that is mostly due to the 5 of us would rather sit in the comfort of a rental car than try to squeeze into a crowded bus. On the bus we rarely sit together, since it is rare that there are 5 seats next to each other. There is one benefit of the bus -- the bus terminal at MK is much closer than the parking lot, and you do not need to go through the TTC. However, my family loves to ride on the large ferry that goes from TTC to MK, so if you ride the bus, you never get to experience that (unless you take a round trip on the ferry).

One way we save a little money is by having my wife and 2 of my kids take DME from the airport, and all of the luggage goes with them on DME. Then my other daughter and I will rent a much smaller car, since we don't have to worry about putting all of the luggage into our car along with 5 people. This significantly reduces the rental car price. Also, my daughter and I will stop at a grocery store and get milk, cereal, water and other items to have in our room to save a little money on overpriced waters and breakfasts. Then on check out day, we check our bags at the hotel in the morning, and we can store all of our carry on bags in the car, so at the end of the day, we can just walk to the parking lot, get in our car and drive straight to the airport. The DME requires you to go back to your hotel, and leave 3 hours prior to flight departure... by having a rental car, you can stay much later at the parks.

One year we did have a little issue.... we rented a car that we all remembered as being silver, and went straight to DHS. When we left DHS, we got to the lot and there were hundreds of silver cars that all looked very similar, and we couldn't really remember the type of car that we rented. We roamed around for about 30 minutes clicking the panic button on our car key until we found it.... The bus probably would have been better that day...