renting car fofr disney trip while staying on site

hi everyone - we are staying onsite in disney at the animation resort in october

i know that disney transportation will take us everywhere we need to go - but wondering if renting a car will make getting to dinner easier and such - or if it is a big waste.

I am unfamiliar with the locations of stuff - but am worried that using disney transport would take a long time.

i know that everything will get me there - but of we head back to the hotel after the parks before dinner- am i looking at loooong commutes back?

her is an example of our planned days -- and like i said we are staying at the disney animaion resort/

monday - arrive dinner at ohana

tues -magic kingdom - dinner 5pm
whispering canyon lodge

wed - animal kingdom
dinner 7:00 coral reef

thurs -epcot - morning - princess breakfast dinner - prob downtown disney

fr - hollywood studios - dinner 6:40 cape may cafe at beach club

sat - magic kingdom - dinner 6:40 - cinderellas table


thanks in advance

Re: renting car fofr disney trip while staying on site

In my experience with Pop Century (right near AoA) your commutes (once you're on the bus) will be 10-15 min for EPCOT and Studios, 15 min for Animal Kingdom and 25 min for Magic Kingdom. Of course you have to wait up to 20 min for the bus.

Monday- getting to dinner at 'Ohana will be easy. Take the bus to Magic Kingdom and then take the boat or monorail to the Polynesian. I'd allow an hour to be safe, but it should take less time. To go back, you reverse it. If your dinner is later than MK is open, then you take the bus to Downtown Disney and then bus to AoA. This is one time a car would be faster.

Tuesday - Boat from Magic Kingdom to Wilderness Lodge (takes 10 min). From WL take the boat back and get on the bus to AoA.

Wednesday- This is easiest. if you're going back to the resort first, just take the EPCOT bus. If not, take the bus from AK to EPCOT.

Thursday - Same as Wed, either take a direct bus from EPCOT to DTD or go to your resort first. Wednesday and Thursday are days when having a car really wouldn't provide much benefit.

Friday: You can walk or take a 20 min boat ride from Studios to Beach Club. To go back, either walk through EPCOT to grab the bus back to AoA, or walk or bus it back to the entrance to DHS and take the bus back to AoA. If you're taking a break on this day, the buses will be more of a pain, but yu'll still use DHS as your hub

Sat: No issues at all.

A car might be helpful on half of your days, and the other half I don't think it will help. DH and I are not big on having cars while onsite. What we do instead is figure we would have spent $150 on a car, well that's our taxi fund. If we have a late dinner at a resort, going from a resort back to our resort is always the biggest pain, so we'll take a taxi. It's roughly $15-20 for a taxi ride from basically any point on property to any other point. We usually don't use a taxi more than once because the system really isn't hard to navigate once you realize that all parks are "hubs" and so is Downtown Disney (except that you can't get from DTD to a park). One night a cab might be especially helpful is the night you're going to Cape May. You can enjoy the movies at Beach Club or the whole Boardwalk area and not worry about park closing and how you're getting home.

I'm sure you'll get a lot of opinions from people who love having cars on property, but I personally don't want to deal with parking lots on vacation. Also, it's like you have to wait for the tram to your car, get in it, take it, get out of the parking lot, wait to get into another parking lot. It doesn't save as much time as it might sound like because the park parking lots are really HUGE, plus you have to navigate the roads, etc. For me personally, I'd rather not.

Re: renting car fofr disney trip while staying on site

both times we went we stayed on site and rented a car. Our feeling was we didnt want to be at the mercy of the buses. I have heard of people waiting 30 minutes just for the bus to come get them at their hotels.

For us its just easier.

renting car fofr disney trip while staying on site

We drive to WDW 95+% of the time and the car sits from the moment we arrive until it's time to leave. There are bus horror stories for sure, and I've been in them, but dodging tourists who are shooting across 3 lanes of traffic because THIS IS THE ONLY WAY INTO MAGIC KINGDOM AND I GET ONE SHOT AT IT, or waiting for the trams to take me to my car (no choice at Magic Kingdom, you have to take another form of transportation to get between the park and your vehicle), or following behind Mr. Brakey who's trying to read the signs AND use his GPS AND text a friend... well, I'd personally rather wait for a bus.

- Kimberly Hill
Mouse Tales® Travel
LIFamilies Travel & Vacation Sponsor
Creating Magical Vacations for LIFamilies since 2008

renting car fofr disney trip while staying on site

Renting a car makes things so much easier and faster. No waiting for busses, no waiting while wheelchairs get loaded and unloaded, no waiting through 3 busses, no standing on crowded busses when your feet are killing you, no having to take a taxi or freak out about transportation when you have an early reservation... I imagine with kids it makes it even eiaser and less stressful.

We never drive to the MK though, I hate the TTC.

Re: renting car fofr disney trip while staying on site

We stayed on site and rented a vehicle. It worked out well for us because DS was sick the whole time and we had to go off site to the doctor, the pharmacy for meds and most nights we got take out because DS didn't feel well enough to go out to eat. We also drove to buy things we forgot or snacks at the local CVS or supermarket. We usually took the buses to the parks and DTD.

If DS wasn't sick, we probably would not have used the car as often. But it was great to have a car when we needed to see the doctor and get meds.