Planing a 5th anniversary trip. Rental car to drive?

[Mainahman]

My wife and I will have been married 5 years next September, and have decided since we didn't get a honeymoon that we would like to take a trip for our 5 year. We haven't decided what time of year, but even if it is before the actual anniversary date, it will be in celebration of that. We are considering renting a car and driving from Maine. Anyone know a rental car company that gives unlimited mileage? Its close to 1500 miles one way for us to drive, but i want to see if it is cheaper then flying for us.

 

[ratherbeinwdw]

My wife and I will have been married 5 years next September, and have decided since we didn't get a honeymoon that we would like to take a trip for our 5 year. We haven't decided what time of year, but even if it is before the actual anniversary date, it will be in celebration of that. We are considering renting a car and driving from Maine. Anyone know a rental car company that gives unlimited mileage? Its close to 1500 miles one way for us to drive, but i want to see if it is cheaper then flying for us.

Enterprise has unlimited in Georgia. Not sure about Maine.

 

[Nero the dog]

Could you rent a car one way, drop it off at Disney. Then rent one way for the return. If you are going to stop on site you can just use the Disney transport.

 

[Mainahman]

We will be staying at POP! At least thats the plan at this point. I noticed most places dont do unlimited miles on 1 way. We would use Disney transportation as well, so really the rental would be to save wear and tear on our cars.

 

[dreamfinder]

Keep in mind that even if you get a rental with unlimited miles, they often only cover certain states. So even if you rent it in Maine, they may only give you permission to drive it in New England. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[Mainahman]

The more i check it might just be easier to fly again, The wife really wants to go ASAP, and i want to wait till later in the year so i can see mine train done. But if i could swing a first week of February trip, then its super cheap to fly. Even cheaper then driving!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

It sounds like flying would be easier, then you can take magical express or rent a car in Orlando and drive to one of the beaches. Is there a reason you don't want to or can't take your own car? Driving trips are fun.

 

[Mainahman]

We would like to keep the wear and tear down on our cars. Its about 1500 miles each way. We took the magical express last time we were there, and neither of us have a reason to leave Disney. I have family in nearby lakeland, but they all work in orlando anyways, and have come to have dinner with us before, so no car would be fine, its really coming down to what will be cheaper.

 

[Disnee4Me]

We drove down three years in a row from Connecticut with my DH's Trailblazer, but it's now 11 years old with 80,000+ miles. We go just before Christmas and usually hit some bad weather (bad snow storm in Virginia one year). It's just four airfares at that time of year would be steep plus we spend a week visiting my mom down in Delray Beach. When we go next (Christmas 2014), I am giving serious consideration to renting a car as the miles on the Trailblazer will be close to 100,000!!

 

[Mainahman]

Our Ford Escape is over 100,000 and i rather not put another 3000+ on it that quickly, and my Avenger is approaching 100,000. I want them to last as long as possible, that's why we were considering if we were to drive to get a rental car. We are going to run both numbers tonight, see what we can find for cheap flights, and for cheap rentals. Looks like shes decided on a week, and that would be the last week of May. So at least ive got dates to run prices on now

 

[draybook]

My wife and I will have been married 5 years next September, and have decided since we didn't get a honeymoon that we would like to take a trip for our 5 year. We haven't decided what time of year, but even if it is before the actual anniversary date, it will be in celebration of that. We are considering renting a car and driving from Maine. Anyone know a rental car company that gives unlimited mileage? Its close to 1500 miles one way for us to drive, but i want to see if it is cheaper then flying for us.

Wow, I would rather fly. We're about half the distance and we drive. The rental car is about $400 for two weeks and we spend about $250 in gas for the whole trip. Flying from Memphis to Orlando would be about $680 round trip for the four of us, but we'd HAVE to have a car while down there for Universal and such. That added cost is the only reason we don't fly.


I just saw that you don't plan on leaving property. I would fly if I were you guys, provided you find a nice fare.

 

[Mainahman]

We flew last time, and have taken a family vacation to Virginia and drove. That was 14.5 hours and i drove it straight. Whats another 8-9 hours right? ha! We have no need to leave campus, and i thought it might be a way to extend the vacation a bit if we drove, I think ill try trusty Kayak.com tonight, and see if i can uncover anything. I am now afraid of if it would be allowed to drive a rental that far.

 

[tare]

I would rather fly but renting a car and driving I would think is expensive. Just use your own car and drive straight thru if you want. With two of you that's no biggie.

 

[luv]

For two people, it will cost about the same amount to fly, even with a cheap rental car at the airport, so you might want to think about that.

I have rented cars and driven them from up north to Florida and back. I wanted to drive down and fly back, but they were going to charge like $1200 or $1500 extra for that, so we drove both ways. The last time I did it, they said that soon they'd have some deal where you could drive one-way, so maybe that exists now. I don't know.

Have a fun trip and Happy 5th!!

 

[Mainahman]

Thanks @luv ! I think we talked it through and might end up taking my car and making 2 days of it. Have it gone through by a mechanic, since we cant book flights for next September ( we decided that the last week in September would work best for us) we can at least book the Disney portion and start paying on that, and then have the car checked out for the drive. Im sure it would be fine, as we took it to Virginia a few years ago, and then we only have to pay for gas and tolls.

 

[dreamfinder]

The last time I did it, they said that soon they'd have some deal where you could drive one-way, so maybe that exists now. I don't know.

Have a fun trip and Happy 5th!!

Some airport rental locations do offer one way rentals, usually not suburban locations however. However, typically they are much more expensive as the originating location "loses" a car in the process. But you can sometimes find amazing one way deals. Those happen when a given area has a surplus of rentals that need to go elsewhere, or when a location needs extra cars from other locations. If they can find a renter able/willing to do the drive, they don't have to pay someone to haul the cars around, or lose business by having them in the wrong place, so they do it cheap.

 

[luv]

Driving is fun! It's an adventure!

Stopping two nights makes it a much easier drive than just stopping once, but I know days are limited and sometimes you just want to push on through.

 

[Mainahman]

heck if i knew i could stay awake and not be dead my first day there id drive straight through! Were thinking drive half one day, get a good night of sleep drive the second half the next day, and arrive on Sunday and get just a room only for Sunday, and hit the parks hard on Monday at rope drop.

 

[Nemo14]

If you're going in September, you'll find some pretty good rates for flights when they do open up. I don't know how far up in Maine you are, but don't rule out flying out of Boston or even Providence. For now though, book your Disney stay, then just keep checking for when the flight information is announced. we've driven it and also flown it from RI, and for 2 people, you really don't save much by driving, and it's a lot of miles to put on your car, and a lot of stress on you.

 

[Mainahman]

Were about 2 hours or so from the New Hampshire border, about a half hour north of the state capital. I didnt even think of boston, In 3.5 hours i can be there. Thats what scares me the mileage. My car and is at 95000 and some change now, so it will be even closer to 100,000 next year when its time to go.