For guests staying on property, Walt Disney World offers an all-inclusive internal transportation system. From the time your family arrives at the Orlando International Airport until it’s time to go home, you don’t have to drive at all. Still, there are some very important reasons you might consider taking your transportation into your own hands. Here is why Wayfinding TravelingMom Jennifer Kaufman and her family choose to rent a car at Disney World.
Why We (almost) Always Rent a Car at Disney World
With countless busses, monorails, boats, trams, Segways, and horses, Walt Disney World has an incredible internal transportation system for guests staying on property. (I’m sort of kidding about the Segways and horses. They have them, but you’re not really allowed to show up at the parks on horseback. At least as far as I’m aware.)
But what if you’re not staying on property? Or what if, like us, you just can’t stand to be on someone else’s timetable? Never fear, it’s easier (and probably cheaper) than you may think to rent a car at Disney World.
Here’s why we do it, even though we stay on property:
1. Time is Money
If this were the only reason I could give, we’d still rent a car on our trips. Despite traveling to Disney parks frequently, I will be the first to admit I’m a total grouch when I have to wait on someone else to get me where I want to go. Busses “come frequently,” but even still, it is suggested to give yourself an hour and a half trying to get almost anywhere, just in case. That’s an hour and a half I’d like to be doing other things.
2. Kids and Kid Stuff
We are mostly out of the stroller phase, since my youngest turned four last year. But if you do have a stroller, it’s so much easier to throw it (and everything that has found its way into it) into the trunk of a car at the end of a long day, than to hold everything in your hands while trying to fold and unfold the stroller for the bus. And not lose the kids.
(TravelingMom tip: If you don’t have a car, please note that the monorail at Walt Disney World and some of the boats will allow you to roll your stroller directly on without folding it. This is invaluable information when you have sleeping kids!)
3. Naps
As mentioned above, sometimes the kids need to sleep – perhaps especially at Walt Disney World, right? Even if they don’t, one of our most valuable bits of advice is to head back to your hotel or resort to, at the very least, get a change of scenery mid-day. If your child is nearing meltdown status, you’ll want to make your getaway as quickly as possible.
4. Fun Outside the Parks
Whether or not you’re staying on property, it’s worth noting that Walt Disney World is so, so much more than just four parks and a bunch of hotels. With two water parks, multiple golf courses (miniature and that other kind), Disney Springs, Disney’s Boardwalk, and much more, you should absolutely check out some of the things outside the parks. While there is generally transportation available to these locations one way or another, sometimes because they aren’t as high-traffic, the bus routes are combined and/or make multiple stops along the way.
5. Hotels
No matter what you call your home away from home on your Disney vacation, the restaurants, tours, decor (especially at Christmas!), and entertainment at each of the Disney resorts on property should be on your radar. Anyone can visit the resorts – and with dozens of them to check out, I’m pretty sure you can find something everyone loves!
6. Side trips
We rarely actually leave Walt Disney World property when we’re in Florida, except maybe to go to Port Canaveral to board a Disney ship. But if you want to go to the Orlando Eye, Universal, the beach, or anywhere else outside the Walt Disney World gates, you’ll almost certainly need a car.
7. Grocery/Pharmacy Runs
Walt Disney World is absolutely doable without wheels of your own. More than any other place I’ve ever been, you can get everything delivered to you – from groceries and baby gear to medication. There are also on-property urgent cares, etc. should something go south while you’re on vacation. That said, it’s been very nice for us when we’ve had to make a pharmacy run (or seven, on our last trip) to have our own car. In addition to convenience, you’ll save money taking care of these errands on your own, especially if the need strikes in the middle of the night.
The Choice is Yours –
It’s certainly not a requirement to rent a car on a Walt Disney World vacation. In fact, many people I know absolutely relish the fact that once they drop their car off at their home airport, vacation begins – and that vacation may include absolutely no driving. Nowhere else I know of has such all-inclusive transportation, from the time you land at the Orlando International Airport until it’s time to go back home. I’ll admit that’s pretty special, but I also know far too many people who plan a vacation and assume they’ll just “pop on over” to the Magic Kingdom from their resort, and run about two hours later than they’d like during their whole trip.
A rental car may not be right for your family, but if any of our reasons resonate with you – especially the one about being particularly impatient (I know it can’t just be me!) – please at least don’t overlook the option. Whichever decision you make, you’ll be in the most magical place on Earth.
And even if I have to ride a bus, I’ll take that over being home almost any day.
Romantic Weekend in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Now that resorts charge a nightly parking fee, having a car is more expensive – even value resorts charge guests $13 per night to park. We used to always take the buses, but after quite a few trips standing in a LONG line at the end of the night with sore feet waiting for bus, then waiting a long time for ECVs to load, then standing on the bus jammed in like sardines for the ride back, and constantly being late to rope drop in the morning because there just aren’t enough buses running in the morning – I had enough. I spend a lot of money to be at Disney and spending a couple extra hundred dollars to have a comfy ride that’s ready to go whenever I need it is totally worth it. So worth it. I will never go to WDW without a car again. Ever.
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We have taken 3 Disney vacations with our boys, and tried money saving methods (flying into Sanford the first time, and renting a car and staying off-site last year), which always seem to backfire. My advice is to just book everything through Disney, stay on site, take the Disney shuttle from the Orlando airport, enjoy the Disney transportation, and relax! You’re going to spend money no matter what, so enjoy your vacation and don’t add unnecessary stress.
If you must rent a car, do NOT rent from Sixt Rent a Car. We rented a van for a family Disney vacation and returned it undamaged on 6-24-16. Upon return, a Sixt employee inspected the vehicle thoroughly, and said, in effect, that the car was OK, and we were good to go. There are four adult witnesses in our party who will attest to that. In addition, Sixt emailed us a return receipt on 6-26-16, with no mention of any damage.
18 days after the return on 7-12-16, we recieved an email from Sixt accusing us of damaging the vehicle. I refuted their claim, and asked for photos. They sent blurry photos taken in the dark, of which the date taken properties had been removed from the photo files.
157 days after the return on 11-29-16, we received an email from Alternative Claims Management asking for $1680.99 for damages. I again refuted their claim that any damage to the vehicle occurred while it was in our care. I received another email on 3-15-17 asking for $1207.68. It included some new photos taken in the daylight, which looked like someone had taken a baseball bat to the vehicle. It was obvious damage to the hood, which would have immediately been noticed upon the vehicle’s return.
Renting from Sixt was the worst travel decision we’ve ever made. If you’re renting in Orlando, choose a major company who is set up at the airport, and avoid waiting around for a shuttle to hell.
Another great option for alternate transportation throughout Disney, and especially between resorts, is Uber. It’s very efficient and fairly inexpensive. It also saves the hassle of walking or finding a tram back to the parking lot (especially at MK where you have to go the whole way to the TTC).
We do love using Uber in WDW! Last I experienced you couldn’t actually take it to or from the Magic Kingdom, but you can take the quick walk to the Contemporary and get one there!
Great advice! Thanks 🙂
I agree. Having your own transportation is nice. But you also have to consider the cost of parking. Most of those places you mentioned charge for parking and when you also take into the account the cost of the rental car, you’ve added a fairly significant expense to your trip.
That’s an excellent point, and one I didn’t think of. If you’re staying on property (or have an annual pass) parking is free though, so many people will probably overlook that as I did. Super pricey if you have to pay though, so worth making a note while crunching numbers. Thanks!
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#7 is so valuable! Its a time saver (and a major convenience) to be able to make that necessary grocery run, especially when staying at a ‘home away from home” resort 🙂
We have always thought this, especially since we have had trips on which we needed emergency runs, etc. On our most recent trip though, we were literally at the pharmacy 6 or 7 times as two different illnesses made their way through our family. We’d have probably given up if driving there wasn’t an option!
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I would not have co side Ted this car rental option before reading your frank advice. Thank you.
Thanks! It’s obviously not necessary and for many travel groups the likelihood of truly needing car go down. Always worth having somewhere in mind though. Each trip is different!
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