Renting a car from All-Star Movies

wisconsinminnie

New Member
Hello,

I am wondering how it's possible to rent a car for 1 day at the end of my vacation. My friend wants to see the ocean, so how would I go about getting to the car-rental place? Are there shuttles that would pick up at my resort or would I have to take a cab? How far away is it to the ocean?

thanks in advance!
 

mrerk

Premium Member
There are a few car rentals on site. The easiest would probably be the one at the Car Care Center near the MK parking lot. I believe it is a National/Alamo car rental. They will pick you up at your resort.

The nearest beach would be Cocoa, about 1 hour east of WDW. Or you can go to Daytona which is slightly further away.
 
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Eeyore

Mrs. WDWMAGIC [Assistant Administrator]
Premium Member
There is a car rental office off the lobby of the Dolphin Resort (Alamo I think). It would be very easy to get to. Take a bus to Epcot and then walk through the international gateway to the Dolphin (this would require theme park admission), take a bus to Downtown Disney and then over to the Epcot resorts (this option could take a long time), or take a bus to MGM and then either walk or take the boat to the Dolphin. I'm not sure if you can just walk up and get a car, a reservation may be required. :wave:
 
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Rob562

Well-Known Member
Eeyore said:
There is a car rental office off the lobby of the Dolphin Resort (Alamo I think). It would be very easy to get to.
[snip]
I'm not sure if you can just walk up and get a car, a reservation may be required. :wave:

The Dolphin has the combined Alamo/National desk, just like the Car Care Center. You can walk up to the desk and rent a car if they have one available, but for the best rate you should definitely have a reservation. (Especially if there's a specific sized car you want). The Dolphin rental desk will send out a van to pick you up, too. (They offered it to us, but I decided to go by way of the Studios to get one final ride in on Tower of Terror, and then walked over)

Two years ago, because the people in our group were arriving at the airport at three different times but departing virtually all at the same time, we decided to get two one-day rentals. I arrived first and rented the car, drove to WDW and checked into the hotel, bought my AP, etc. That afternoon I returned to the airport and picked up the first friend. Then very late that evening my second friend arrived, and we went and picked him up. The next morning we dropped the car off at the Dolphin, grabbed breakfast at Tubbi's, and then walked over to Epcot.

On the return trip, I did as mentioned above: busses from our resort to the Studios, rode Tower twice, then walked over to the Dolphin. We then returned the car at the airport.
This was before Magical Express, and thanks to my warehouse club discount rate the two one-day rentals plus gas was still less than the three round-trip fares on Mears that we would have needed. It was also more convenient for us.

One final Alamo/National rental tip that I've discovered:
Once you make your reservation, keep checking back on the site every few weeks. I've found that often prices will slowly go down up until about one month before your rental date. If you find that the price has gotten cheaper, you can book the new rate and then cancel the original reservation. (It's easy to do, as they don't require a credit card number) I've saved $30-$50 on rentals by doing this.

-Rob
 
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ErickainPA

New Member
Reserve your car at the Car Care Center, call Alamo 24 hours to 1 hour before you want to be picked up and they will meet you in front of the resort and take you to the CCC. You get your car and it's easy to exit right after you get the car, took us about 5 mins to get the car and be on our way. You can even return it to the airport instead of going back to the CCC with it. It's super easy and we got a great rate.
 
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shoppingnut

Active Member
I have used National at the CCC and returned it to the Dolphin which worked out very well. National will pick you up at your hotel and take you there, you just call them 24hrs in advance as well for the pick up. I would go on line and book it which will be less costly than just showing up or calling the day before and they do tend to have coupons on line. Also another thing I noticed at the CCC when picking the car up, since I booked a compact, they were trying to upsell me into a full size car which I didn't need, so I just said no I don't want it and I ended up with it anyway at no extra charge. My opinion is that they have many more larger cars there because families tend to rent and that they are trying to upsell rather than give you the upgrade for free.
 
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3fordisney

New Member
Last Dec our car left us on the highway on the way to WDW:( . We rented a car to go pick it up from the dealership. We were staying at All Star Sports. We asked Guest Services in the lobby and they gave us a number for Alamo. We called and they set us up. The shuttle came every hour on the hour and was right on time. My husband went to Alamo at the AAA travel center, near the TTC. He picked it up and came back to the hotel. It was fast and easy. We went the next day to pick our car up. When we got back, we called Alamo and told them we were done with the rental. They closed the ticket out at that time and then told us to leave the car in the check-in parking lot. We gave the car keys to guest services.

We had a time trying to get to WDW, but had no trouble renting to pick up our car. Its very simple and easy to do. The car was very clean and it was great to leave the car at the hotel and not worry with returning it ourselves.
 
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garyhoov

Trophy Husband
Rob562 said:
The Dolphin rental desk will send out a van to pick you up, too. (They offered it to us, but I decided to go by way of the Studios to get one final ride in on Tower of Terror, and then walked over)

I had sort of a strange experience, and I'm not sure if it is a policy or just something strange about the time I was there, but it may be useful for anyone who is planning.

I was staying at Pop Century in Dec. a year and a half ago, and I decided ahead of time to rent a car for a day.

I saw that the Dolphin had them, and, since that was reasonably close to Pop Century, I reserved one there a few months before our trip.

I had a car (two-seater) so I hoped I could drive it over to the Dolphin, leave it there and use the rental car for a day. They told me I couldn't do that, but they could pick me up. . . but then they said they didn't have van service to the Dolphin, so they would do it through the MK office - but they could do that no problem.

It worked out fine for me, but anyone who is thinking about reserving at the Dolphin and getting van service should ask that question. Maybe it was just the day or week or month that I was there, but they told me they couldn't do it to that location.
 
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mikemand25

New Member
Book your car for the CCC and just call a few hours before you want to pick up the car. They will pick you up right in front of the lobby of the hotel. The two companies on property are Alamo and National Car Rental. They run bus service I believe all day as long as you call in advance.
 
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shoppingnut

Active Member
mikemand25 said:
Book your car for the CCC and just call a few hours before you want to pick up the car. They will pick you up right in front of the lobby of the hotel. The two companies on property are Alamo and National Car Rental. They run bus service I believe all day as long as you call in advance.

The CCC is the easiest to deal with in picking the car up, I was told that transportation was only to the CCC and not the Dolphin. The CCC is only open until 4:30p, so when we decided to return the car later at night at the Dolphin with the valet, otherwise we would have had to drop it off when they open the next morning at the CCC which I think was 7 or 7:30am. We were able to just take the bus to wherever we need to go or go to DTD or whatever park was open very late to transfer buses to get to our hotel. I know I've always rented from National because I have emerald aisle service which does give me a better discount and done it ahead of time so I was able to look for coupons on line. Since Alamo and National are the same company, I assume you can drop off at the Dolphin too, but I would confirm that since I've never rented from them.
 
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typhoonguy

New Member
Beach

But dont go to Cocoa or Daytona... spend the extra 20 minutes longer in your car and head to Clearwater! I live near Pop Century (3 minutes from) and I can get to Cocoa in about 55-60 minutes, where as I can get to Clearwater in about 1 hr 20. It's a MUCH better beach!
 
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