First Time Driver at WDW

[STEVEO1982]

Hi all,

This is a two part question so bear with me:

1.) As a first time driver in America as a whole is it much different apart from being on a different side of the road to driving in the UK or are there any tourist guides that anyone can direct me to in order to make the process as easy as possible?

and 2.) Is it possible for a hire car to be collected and dropped off at a Disney Resort or does it have to be at the airport?

Thanks
Steve

 

[Figgy1]

Paging @Mr Ferret 88

 

[DisneyJoe]

There are car rental locations at the Disney MK Car Care Center as well as the Swan/Dolphin and other locations, Enterprise Car Rental also brings the car to you.

 

[King Panda 77]

Are you doing a package deal with one of the bigger companies or are you sorting all things seperate ?

 

[STEVEO1982]

Are you doing a package deal with one of the bigger companies or are you sorting all things seperate ?

It's going to be my first trip with my family (2 adults, 2 children) so we will be doing a package deal with Virgin Holidays more than likely.

My dad has driven for all the other times we have visited the area but it will be first time going without him and my mum so just wanted to know how easy it is etc.

 

[King Panda 77]

It's going to be my first trip with my family (2 adults, 2 children) so we will be doing a package deal with Virgin Holidays more than likely.

My dad has driven for all the other times we have visited the area but it will be first time going without him and my mum so just wanted to know how easy it is etc.

We have gone with Virgin multiple times and it is super easy.
You collect and drop off the hire car from the airport.
I would highly recommend Downtown Disney check in on the return.
When you first leave the airport just pay close attention to the signs and you will soon be on the right track.
I find it easier driving in the States than in the UK ( live in the Channel Islands) so you should be good.
If you have any other questions feel free top send me a private message or ask here.

 

[STEVEO1982]

We have gone with Virgin multiple times and it is super easy.
You collect and drop off the hire car from the airport.
I would highly recommend Downtown Disney check in on the return.
When you first leave the airport just pay close attention to the signs and you will soon be on the right track.
I find it easier driving in the States than in the UK ( live in the Channel Islands) so you should be good.
If you have any other questions feel free top send me a private message or ask here.

That's great buddy. Really appreciate it. I think we done the Downtown Disney check in many years ago when it was near to the old Disney Quest building. Can't wait to go back but so much will have changed and things to see means it will feel like the first time over again!

 

[King Panda 77]

That's great buddy. Really appreciate it. I think we done the Downtown Disney check in many years ago when it was near to the old Disney Quest building. Can't wait to go back but so much will have changed and things to see means it will feel like the first time over again!

No problem. Like i said if you have any other questions driving or not i will do my best to help or tag someone who may well know .

And welcome to the Forums

 

[Rob562]

I can't speak to the differences between driving on the opposite side of the road, but one thing to consider is having a GPS so that you have one less thing to worry about while you're on the road. I know rental car companies will offer a standalone GPS unit for a fee, but if you already have one you can make sure that a US map is installed and bring it along.

Or if you'll have a mobile phone that'll work in the US you can install a GPS app. I usually suggest Waze, since the maps are updated very regularly by local map editors. So any changes to the WDW roadways will be reflected in the maps in a matter of days.

If your phone won't have service in the US, you can use Google Maps on your phone and download the area maps over wifi for use offline. You won't get live traffic info, but it'll still give you turn-by-turn directions as you go.

Lastly, be prepared with a few small US bills and coins for the couple of tolls between the airport and Disney.

-Rob

 

[King Panda 77]

I can't speak to the differences between driving on the opposite side of the road, but one thing to consider is having a GPS so that you have one less thing to worry about while you're on the road. I know rental car companies will offer a standalone GPS unit for a fee, but if you already have one you can make sure that a US map is installed and bring it along.

Or if you'll have a mobile phone that'll work in the US you can install a GPS app. I usually suggest Waze, since the maps are updated very regularly by local map editors. So any changes to the WDW roadways will be reflected in the maps in a matter of days.

If your phone won't have service in the US, you can use Google Maps on your phone and download the area maps over wifi for use offline. You won't get live traffic info, but it'll still give you turn-by-turn directions as you go.

Lastly, be prepared with a few small US bills and coins for the couple of tolls between the airport and Disney.

-Rob

The hire car companies offer sunpass for your length of stay which can be worthwhile.

 

[Rob562]

The hire car companies offer sunpass for your length of stay which can be worthwhile.

Yeah, but a roundtrip from the airport is only $4-$5. If you're only driving that once, and not going anywhere else in the state, you'll be paying a lot more than you need to just for the convenience of SunPass.

I just checked Alamo's site. Their service is $3.95 per day that you drive through a toll lane, up to a maximum of $19.75 for the entire rental period, *plus* the cost of the tolls. Round-trip from/to the airport would be $8 more on top of the $8 in tolls. I presume other rental companies have similar fees.

-Rob

 

[ratherbeinwdw]

I highly recommend that you use the Magical Express to your resort and let Enterprise pick you up. I just got back from Ireland. It was so helpful to have the driver give me pointers as he drove back to Enterprise. The best tip I got for driving on the left was "tight left, wide right". I made a point of saying this at every turn. You, of course, would do the opposite. You will do " tight right, wide left". Driving on the left wasn't very difficult, but the narrow roads, especially, in the country with all the tour busses was terrifying.
I bought all the insurance Enterprise had available, as Ireland is one of the few countries that many American insurance companies won't cover. Many credit card companies won't cover there either.
I don't know which country you live in, but if the roads are anywhere as narrow as they are in Ireland, you should have no trouble driving here.
We do have right turn on red after a complete stop. Just make sure and look left for traffic before turning right on red. People will honk at you if you don't turn when nothing's coming.

 

[STEVEO1982]

I highly recommend that you use the Magical Express to your resort and let Enterprise pick you up. I just got back from Ireland. It was so helpful to have the driver give me pointers as he drove back to Enterprise. The best tip I got for driving on the left was "tight left, wide right". I made a point of saying this at every turn. You, of course, would do the opposite. You will do " tight right, wide left". Driving on the left wasn't very difficult, but the narrow roads, especially, in the country with all the tour busses was terrifying.
I bought all the insurance Enterprise had available, as Ireland is one of the few countries that many American insurance companies won't cover. Many credit card companies won't cover there either.
I don't know which country you live in, but if the roads are anywhere as narrow as they are in Ireland, you should have no trouble driving here.
We do have right turn on red after a complete stop. Just make sure and look left for traffic before turning right on red. People will honk at you if you don't turn when nothing's coming.

I live in England and there are roads here that are the same as you have experienced in Ireland. Very narrow but if you're used to them you are fine.
I think we would get the hire car at the airport and pay the extra insurances etc including the sat nav option to make things easier. I think I will be fine in the Disney area and going to Universal resort but the one that really makes me nervous is the trip to Busch Gardens.

 

[mmnw]

Can you Uber or use Lyft? I don’t use, but I’m sure others know approximate cost.

 

[thomas998]

You do not want to rent your car at the airport. If you do they will add on a airport surcharge of I think 10 or 15 dollars a day which adds up quick on a long trip. We have found that most of the larger local rental car companies in Orlando will allow you to drop pick up a car at a location away from the airport and drop it off at the airport location when you leave for no additional fee. However a few of them will charge a fee for that so you have to make sure up front.

So assuming you don't want to pay the extra airport surcharge here are ways we have done it.

1) used a taxi at the airport to take us to the rental car location that was near the airport but not part of the airport, the cost was less than 20 dollars for a taxi and it eliminated the daily surcharge for a week's trip so it made sense.

2) used Disney's magic express to take us to the resort and then rented a taxi to take us to a nearby rental car location. We could have used the rental car location at Disney but they were significantly higher per day than one at a nearby hotel.

3) found a hotel near the airport that also had a rental car satellite office located in the hotel and used that hotel's shuttle from the airport to the hotel where we just got the car and then drove to the hotel we were staying at.

So there are the 3 different ways we've gotten cars without getting ripped by the Orlando airport authority.

I would suggest you also do the following if you want to keep things as reasonable as possible. Check on an almost daily basis the major rental car companies to check prices for cars. The prices of rental cars fluctuate more than the price of stocks. You will also find that the same rental car company will have different prices for the same level of car at different locations in Orlando. We have also found that sometimes SUVs will be less than cars it just depends on what the demand is for cars as to how they set the prices on any given day. Out method has always been to make a reservation early for the best deal we can find than then continue to look and if we see a better deal make a reservations for it and then cancel the old reservation. We might end up making 4 or 5 different reservations and cancellations before we end up at the final place but it can often save hundreds of dollars.

And I assume you are over 25 years old, because some of the rental places have age restrictions.

Car seats... If you need one, don't get it from the rental car place especially if you only need a booster seat for your kids. Unless you are only going to have the car for a day it is cheaper to buy a car seat at a Walmart and throw it away at the end of the trip than to pay the rental fee for a car seat at the rental car company.

Take a very good look at the car before you drive it off the lot, make sure they note every ding and scratch.

Check your credit card and with your current insurance provider to see if either will cover your car insurance. You don't want to pay for the insurance at the rental car place if you can help it because it is insanely expensive. I'm not sure if UK credit card companies offer insurance on rental cars but I know my in the US does as long as I use the credit card to rent the car I'm covered.

Oh, and they will often offer you a add on where any tolls on the road will be billed to you later. At some rental places they add on an additional daily fee when you use that service that can be a bit high. You're best bet is to pay for tolls in cash and not use the rental cars plan in some cases... just check how the plan works at the place you use.

And last thing to make sure you do is look at a map before you get there, especially of the Disney area. While you can use the signs at Disney to get around you can also get to and from some places faster using other roads that they Disney doesn't advertise. I think they do it because it makes it easier for them... in fact there is one way to MK using normal road that ends up letting you bypass having to pay for parking which I assume only exists because the majority of the traffic that uses the road is coming from Fort Wilderness so they assume everyone would be exempt from having to pay to begin with and they don't want to create toll booths that would rarely collect any money... So go use google map and get familiar with the area. Getting from the airport to the Disney area is easy its only a pain going to and from the various Disney parks and resorts.