Rent car to drive to pier and park for cruise

lovetotraveltx

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
We have a 3-night Dream cruise booked in May. We are at WDW before and after cruise. We are just 2 adults. Thinking of renting car day before cruise to go to Disney Outlet and buy some drinks and then park at ship for the cruise. Have you done this? Thoughts? Any great deals out there now for May? Thank you!
 
Is the cost of the rental car for the extra days, plus cost of parking, worth not having to drop off and pick up rental car?

You can also take uber/lyft /taxi from WDW to get drinks, and then take the DCL shuttle to and from the port.
 
I have to agree. The shuttle is no bargain, but for just the 2 of you it would be better than paying for the rental car to sit in a parking garage for 3 days.
 


We paid to rent and park a car for a week long Fantasy cruise this fall. We enjoyed having the freedom to move on our own schedule and go to the store if needed. It was worth the extra cost for us. It also gave us a place to store extra stuff that we didn't need on the ship - dirty clothes, etc.
 
We try to rent a car whenever we are in Florida. So, we usually do WDW for a few days before and we have used that rental to get from WDW to the port and park it there...it may be more expensive but we loved the convenience of having our bags brought right to our car by a porter and getting on our way to next part of our vacation.

MJ
 
Yesterday I canceled my transportation from the ship to the hotel. I decided my husband could take an Uber to the airport the following day while my daughter and I cruised the day earlier and had a car to come back to at the port. I decided to commit to this decision upon finding out that I might get to the park anywhere from noon to 2:30 although if I had a rental car I might get there as soon as 9:30.
 


We did the rental car, but turned it in near port prior to departing so we did not have to pay parking. They shuttled us to port and then at embarkment day we jumped on shuttle to the rental place and got another rental. It was best cost for us an not too much trouble.
 
For a family of 4, is car rental typically cheaper than the $280 round trip Disney transport?
 
For a family of 4, is car rental typically cheaper than the $280 round trip Disney transport?

When we did our 3 night Dream Cruise, the cost of car rental for a midsize SUV plus parking at the terminal was half the price of the roundtrip for four people. I booked our rental car initially when we first booked our cruise and flights (reserve only, not paid upfront) and then rebooked the rental when prices dropped substantially a couple weeks before the cruise.
 
For a family of 4, is car rental typically cheaper than the $280 round trip Disney transport?
Depends on what type of car you need, given the luggage for four people. Would you fit everything in the trunk of a sedan, or would you need a minivan?
 
Its cheaper to rent for the entire period and park then to rent and drop then pick up after the cruise.
 
Its cheaper to rent for the entire period and park then to rent and drop then pick up after the cruise.

We have a 3 day cruise in May as well and this was true for us, or at the very least the costs were close to equal. Especially when we considered other factors...like needing transportation to Sea World & Discovery Cove before the cruise. It was amazing to me how much more expensive it was to pick up and drop off at two different places, rather than to just rent/return to the same place and keep the car longer. So we're going to pick up and return at MCO. And I'm still hoping to get a better price on the rental car as we get closer to the trip.
 
We have a 3 day cruise in May as well and this was true for us, or at the very least the costs were close to equal. Especially when we considered other factors...like needing transportation to Sea World & Discovery Cove before the cruise. It was amazing to me how much more expensive it was to pick up and drop off at two different places, rather than to just rent/return to the same place and keep the car longer. So we're going to pick up and return at MCO. And I'm still hoping to get a better price on the rental car as we get closer to the trip.
Usually the prices rise the closer you get. Look for discount codes to save more $.
 
You can often get a break on rental costs if you rent for a full week.

We are a family of four so we were also using the $280 as a yard stick. We looked at doing two one way rentals but it wasn't really going to save us much. Not enough to deal with the hassle of shuttles at the port, etc.

ETA: I found my old planning spreadsheet with some costs in there. We were traveling in on Thursday, sail on Saturday, so rental was 10 days.
Rental + parking costs = $466
2 one way rentals = $248

We decided it was worth the extra cost to pay parking. $200 is not chump change so opinions may vary.
 
Usually the prices rise the closer you get. Look for discount codes to save more $.

Yeah, we already have a car booked at a price we're "okay" with, but that doesn't stop me from checking frequently just in case there's a drop! :)
 

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