Car rentals from resorts

[LisMol]

I’ll be staying at AofA for 5 days and then heading down to St. Pete for a few days to unwind.

We’ll need to rent a car to get down there but I’m unsure about the logistics.
Would we need to leave the property and go to a rental outlet? Or, is there something set up within the resort area?
Does anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks!

 

[Bullseye1967]

Dolphin and Swan have rental car places.

 

[Rob562]

There is a combo National/Alamo desk at both the Dolphin and the Car Care Center near the MK parking lot. The CCC location can send a van out to pick you up from your hotel to bring you to the pickup location. It's best to schedule the van pickup the day before. (The phone number should be in your confirmation email) The Dolphin is reachable from Studios and the back gate of Epcot.

Most other major rental car companies have desks one of the hotels along Hotel Plaza Blvd. I'm not sure which offer a pickup shuttle, but worst case scenario you could take an Uber there, or take a bus to Disney Springs and walk.

Oh, and if all of the on-property locations are overly expensive, look at what the price is to rent from the airport. If it's a huge price difference, it might be worth it to take the free Magical Express back to the airport to rent the car. (There's no requirement that you actually be flying out to take DME)

-Rob

 

[Bullseye1967]

There is a combo National/Alamo desk at both the Dolphin and the Car Care Center near the MK parking lot. The CCC location can send a van out to pick you up from your hotel to bring you to the pickup location. It's best to schedule the van pickup the day before. (The phone number should be in your confirmation email) The Dolphin is reachable from Studios and the back gate of Epcot.

Most other major rental car companies have desks one of the hotels along Hotel Plaza Blvd. I'm not sure which offer a pickup shuttle, but worst case scenario you could take an Uber there, or take a bus to Disney Springs and walk.

Oh, and if all of the on-property locations are overly expensive, look at what the price is to rent from the airport. If it's a huge price difference, it might be worth it to take the free Magical Express back to the airport to rent the car. (There's no requirement that you actually be flying out to take DME)

-Rob

Great info but car rentals from an airport always cost 30 to 40% more because of airport fees that get stacked on.

 

[nickys]

Great info but car rentals from an airport always cost 30 to 40% more because of airport fees that get stacked on.

Yes we find that too. We always rent from the Dolphin because we find it's not a bad price. I'm sure there probably are better rates out there, but the airport rates are far higher.

 

[slappy magoo]

Great info but car rentals from an airport always cost 30 to 40% more because of airport fees that get stacked on.

Yes we find that too. We always rent from the Dolphin because we find it's not a bad price. I'm sure there probably are better rates out there, but the airport rates are far higher.

OK, I'm going on memory, which isn't necessarily aces. We almost-always drive to WDW. A couple of years ago, we thought about flying for an August trip, but also renting a car after a few days, and renting it onsite then returning it the day before we flew back unless we needed to drive home*

(*My wife is an educator, she hates the idea of going to WDW during hurricane season, possibly getting stuck there, and missing the first day of school. It's exactly what happened our first trip, where we flew and rented a car. We wound up driving that rental car all the way back "home" to Philly airport, where they didn't penalize us for not filling up the tank AND gave us a "sorry-for-your-trouble rebate. But I digress.)

Long story short (too late), I went to all of the different rental car official sites, as well as travel sites like priceline and travelocity, pricing rentals from different locations at WDW versus picking one up the day we arrive at MCO. Even with renting the car for fewer days than if we picked up at the airport, every location at WDW and every rental company and every type of car had a higher price quote than renting at MCO, even with their extra fees. And we're talking significantly more, like $100 more for 2 days' fewer rental time.

I can only think it's an issue of volume. There are so many cars to rent at the airport that the pricing has to be more competitive, as opposed to at a hotel where you're perhaps a little more susceptible to increased prices because you DIDN'T get one at the airport.

But also this was 2 years ago. Services like Uber and Lyft existed then, but not as omnipresent, as familiar, as they are now. The ability to travel across the city for a double sawbuck or so might make the pricing at hotel rental lots more competitive.