To rent a car or not to rent a car...

[jengrey]

Has anyone used the WDW buses lately?

I've been reading quite a few negative reviews regarding the resort bus service from the past year (long waits, it taking way too long to get to the parks because the bus stops at numerous resorts, overcrowding, etc, etc). Were the buses from your resort to the parks horrible, decent, or great? I'd like to know because I'm debating renting a car at MCO and driving to and from the parks. My husband and I will be staying at POFQ and, although I've stayed there before and have taken the buses with no real problems, that was 5 years ago.

...and one more question: does anyone have good recommendations for rental companies?

 

[KikoKea]

We have never rented a car and like it that way. We have Sunstate Transportation pick us up at the airport and bring us back when we leave- about $100 round trip and someone else does the driving. The buses and monorail have always worked out with the lines and waits being fairly short, maybe 15 min max. But, we go in 'off' times, such as the Fall, Jan, or early Spring and we are never in "rush" mode. We normally do not leave WDW, either. For us, dealing with a car would be more of a hassle than a help.

 

[NonnaT]

It's funny, this entire thread convinced me to again rent a car! We had planned on using ME, however I just got a great deal on a rental and took it. As I was reading the various posts, I remembered why I don't like using WDW transportation! Thanks guys!

 

[DarthVader]

When I stay on property, I avoid renting a car. This coming April, we'll be renting a car because we're flying to Ft. Myers to visit family and then driving up to Orlando. I'll be turning the car in that weekend to the car care center on disney just to avoid paying for a car that will largely be sitting there.

 

[MickeyMomV]

Spending $50 a day to save 10 to 15 minutes throughout the course of the day never made sense to me. I'll just let the bus driver deal with the horrible out of town drivers. I mean seriously, getting rear ended because you need to get a pic of the Welcome to WDW sign is stupid. Or rear ending somebody else because they slam on the brakes to get a pic of the WDW sign..... If you are staying on property just save the money and aggravation and take the bus.

 

[DarthVader]

Spending $50 a day to save 10 to 15 minutes

You're not really even saving that much time either. Consider that you need to park the car, say the MK parking lot. You have to wait for the next tram to deliver you to the TTC, then wait for the monorail to bring you to the MK. All told you're possibly adding an additional 30 minutes of time which is not even including the travel time to the park.

The bus, you have to 20 minutes if you just missed the bus, then you add in travel time. That's it.

 

[SAV]

Spending $50 a day to save 10 to 15 minutes throughout the course of the day never made sense to me. I'll just let the bus driver deal with the horrible out of town drivers. I mean seriously, getting rear ended because you need to get a pic of the Welcome to WDW sign is stupid. Or rear ending somebody else because they slam on the brakes to get a pic of the WDW sign..... If you are staying on property just save the money and aggravation and take the bus.

Where are you renting from? Last June I rented a car for 10 days and I paid $182 out the door, with all of the taxes and fees included. The base rate was $133.

Other than at MK, which is probably a wash time wise, you save way more than 10 to 15 minutes, unless you get extremely lucky both ways and get on a bus immediately as you walk up and it leaves just after you get on. Otherwise you are either waiting in a line to get on the bus or waiting on the bus for it to fill up. At the resort itself, either you are waiting for it to stop at the other bus stops when you get on or when you get off...depends where your room/stop is at on the route.

In all of my trips, I have never yet gotten rear-ended or hit someone else...I guess I don't factor in far fetched possibilities in or I would have to factor in a plane crash or train derailment or car accident on the drive down into my decisions of whether to fly, drive, train or walk down from Illinois.

 

[SAV]

The bus, you have to 20 minutes if you just missed the bus, then you add in travel time. That's it.

That really isn't it. You also need to factor in the time it takes at your resort to stop at all of the other bus stops to either load or unload people(depending on if it is morning or night). While the bus folks are doing that, I am either driving to the park since I could just walk to my car and go or back in my room since I just have to park my car and walk in to my room.

At MK, the bus vs drive debate is a wash. You are either waiting in a line to catch a monorail/boat/bus or waiting in the line for a tram while bus folks are waiting in their line to get on the bus each way.

 

[SMS55]

We drive since we only live 3.5 hours away. However, on site we use the buses. We stay at value resorts and always ride the buses to and from the parks. They are especially useful late at night when you're dead tired and don't want to drive. Especially at MK, you just walk to the bus stop instead of taking a monorail, then a tram and then walking to your car. I've done that one many times. We do drive off site to eat sometimes because we get gift cards for christmas to various chain restaurant. The buses aren't bad. They're not dirty and don't smell bad. You might have to stand but that's usually in the morning on our way to the parks. We're the last ones out of the parks so we're ok with seating on the way back.

 

[smk]

We drive from Indiana so we have a car on site. However, once it is parked it is parked. We never get back into until we leave from vacation! I can think of one trip when we got in the car and that was to run to a CVS to buy aloe because I spent too much time in the sun. We go every year, so once we used our car.

However, if the OP wants to rent a car, then rent a car! We are all different people, with different needs and wants. All we all really have in common is that we all love WDW. Hope your vacation was/is going to be great!

 

[NonnaT]

Spending $50 a day to save 10 to 15 minutes throughout the course of the day never made sense to me. I'll just let the bus driver deal with the horrible out of town drivers. I mean seriously, getting rear ended because you need to get a pic of the Welcome to WDW sign is stupid. Or rear ending somebody else because they slam on the brakes to get a pic of the WDW sign..... If you are staying on property just save the money and aggravation and take the bus.

My car rental is only $14.00 per day. It seems well worth that as we have 3 early am ADRs and we would probably have had to taxi it. Reading this thread just made me anxious about using WDW transport. Lol

 

[sxeensweet]

My car rental is only $14.00 per day. It seems well worth that as we have 3 early am ADRs and we would probably have had to taxi it. Reading this thread just made me anxious about using WDW transport. Lol

I love using our car! So much faster and less hassle! I think you will enjoy having the car. We use the monorail where and when we can, but for everything else we use our car and love the space, guaranteed seat, and speed of it compared to the busses. And that's a great price esp if you were going to have to get a cab three times for early reservations.

 

[MickeyMomV]

My car rental is only $14.00 per day. It seems well worth that as we have 3 early am ADRs and we would probably have had to taxi it. Reading this thread just made me anxious about using WDW transport. Lol

We have had several early ADR's over the years and never had to Taxi it. WDW transportation runs pretty smooth and gets people where they need to be when they need to there.

 

[DarthVader]

We have had several early ADR's over the years and never had to Taxi it. WDW transportation runs pretty smooth and gets people where they need to be when they need to there.

We needed to taxi to an early morning ADR over at the Poly (from the CBR), I suppose we could have taken a bus to MK, then waited for monorail to the poly but that was going to add a lot of time and dealing with two girls and a wife we're always pressed for time

Generally speaking the bus system works well enough though I do see the value in using a taxing on occasion.