AUGUST 2017 Car rental watch

We are going to Disney for 6 nights at the start of our trip so we would be looking at not having a car for the first 6 days. We would use the Magical Express to get to Disney. I would rather have a car for the full time though. Fingers crossed!

Sounds great. Disney at the first part of the vacation and then enjoy the Orlando area on the second half of vacation. I like doing it that way too. My DD11 isn't a huge Disney fan and she prefers we do it that way as well. I hope we find some good rental rates real soon !!!!
 
The prices are starting to come down for my rental out of Tampa -- on the Costco website and only with Budget. I booked a 12-day small SUV for $404 total. Smaller cars were in the mid $300s. Worth checking the site again. :thumbsup2
 
The prices are starting to come down for my rental out of Tampa -- on the Costco website and only with Budget. I booked a 12-day small SUV for $404 total. Smaller cars were in the mid $300s. Worth checking the site again. :thumbsup2
I'm looking for an 11-day rental Aug 19 - Aug 30 and it's still $498 for a standard car! But that's out of MCO so maybe it's more expensive. That's on the Costco site.
 
Prices went up a couple of hundred for minivans mid-August. I'm SO glad I have the $288 reservation for 7 days.
 


Just started following this thread. We'll be headed to Tampa for the week in late August. Best rate I could find for a minivan was $422 total going through BJ's.
 
In case this helps anyone else in the future, we reserved a minivan in mid-April through the Costco Travel site for $288, including taxes/fees, extra driver, for a week in mid-August. That ends up being $41.14 a day, inclusive. The prices have been up and down all over the place since. Not close to $288 though. I could not find it under $350 anywhere else. Totally worth our Costco membership.
 
Just started following this thread. We'll be headed to Tampa for the week in late August. Best rate I could find for a minivan was $422 total going through BJ's.
Hi, I just ran a week from Tampa airport, August 23rd - August 30th (best guess) and came up with a minivan for $219/$325.07 tax and fees included. It most likely does not include a second driver. That was searching direct with Alamo.

I also ran those dates through the Costco Travel site, and came up with $318, which would include taxes/fees and a second driver. If you need a second driver, it might be worth it to purchase a Costco membership. You would have to run the numbers.
 


I just booked through Costco last night, $274 for an intermediate with Alamo, Aug 23-30. That's down from what it was a week or so ago. USAA is still over $300 for that time, and its cheapest ones are with Budget.
 
Prices seem to be dropping for our stay via Costco. Rates down to $288 for an intermediate for 10 days with Budget. Rates were over $40 about week/10 days ago.
 
Has anyone picked up a car at the
  1. car care center
  2. DoubleTree near Disney Springs
  3. Dolphin
Pros/ cons?
 
My 12-day rental out of Tampa went down another $20 on the Costco website. $383 for SUV with Budget. :thumbsup2
 
Has anyone picked up a car at the
  1. car care center
  2. DoubleTree near Disney Springs
  3. Dolphin
Pros/ cons?
I have never done. But to me I like being in control of my departure from the airport and from my resort for return flight. Plus taking time to leave my resort to rent a car - cannot imagine a more annoying disruptive activity. But while not a good fit for me it could be a good fit for you but those are the cons I can imagine.

On the pro side the rates can be significantly cheaper from location but you should be renting less time (even hours less) because of travel to/from airport not included and that can make a difference.
 
I have never done. But to me I like being in control of my departure from the airport and from my resort for return flight. Plus taking time to leave my resort to rent a car - cannot imagine a more annoying disruptive activity. But while not a good fit for me it could be a good fit for you but those are the cons I can imagine.

On the pro side the rates can be significantly cheaper from location but you should be renting less time (even hours less) because of travel to/from airport not included and that can make a difference.

I agree with Mccurran that I would rather have the car rental returned to the airport. Magical Express is not too bad from airport to WDW, but we fly International to Canada and they make us return WAY too early. You really have to compare all the options.

MCO does have airport fees on the rentals... but it also has way bigger selection of vehicles. I have rented from Dolphin before & they didn't have the size vehicle we selected. They also close in the early evening.

One year, there was a tip on the boards to pick up rental at Shades of Green and return to mco at a cheap rate. Apparently they needed more vehicles in one direction only. :confused3 That worked for us, but generally we do find it more convenient, less expensive, and better selection to just price watch mco rentals only. But worth looking. I find it easiest to compare on the Costco site.
 
Costco rates are down another $12 for my stay for a Budget rental. I ended up booking it directly through Budget with the $25 off coupon and it was $3 more but I don't need to renew my Costco membership so I'm ahead $57! Still hoping the rates fall a few more dollars.
 
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Costco rates are down another $12 for my stay for a Budget rental. I ended up booking it directly through Budget with the $25 off coupon and it was $3 more but I don't need to renew my Costco membership so I'm ahead $57! Still hoping the rates fall a few more dollars.

I HIGHLY recommend saving a pdf/jpg of any quotes with coupons - there are quite a few posts lately that talk about "live links" in emails (from the reservation) later quietly removing the coupons. This was especially true with Alamo, and I'm not sure if Budget does this, but I would save that pdf/jpg quote just to be certain. Print it out and take it with you. I'd also find that coupon when I first used it, and print that out as well.
 
Has anyone picked up a car at the
  1. car care center...Pros/ cons?
Yes on Car Care Center.

Pros: Gives you the ability to use Magic Express one or both directions, if you wish.
Gives you the options of renting a vehicle for just part of your trip
Provide transportation from your resort to the Car Care Center before you pick up your car
Provide transportation to your resort (or anywhere on property) from Car Care Center after you return the car
The ability to pick up at MCO and return to CCC or vice versa without penalty
On rare occasions, may be less expensive than renting at MCO for the same time period
If you require going to counter, may be less waiting time than MCO

Cons:
Usually more expensive than renting at MCO, for the same time period
More limited vehicle selection
Online checkin direct to car not available (I don't think)
May take some time out of your park day to get or drop the car off

How it works:
You make your reservation online, like you would with any other Alamo reservation, but of course use the CCC as your pickup and/or dropoff location. The day before you are going to pick up the car, call the local Alamo CCC phone number (not the reservations number) and let them know when you want to be picked up and at what resort. I would have them pick you up about a half hour before your scheduled reservation time. When you drop the car off at CCC, the shuttle runs fairly frequently and will take you pretty much anywhere on Disney property. No need to call for that.
 
Costco rates are down another $12 for my stay for a Budget rental. I ended up booking it directly through Budget with the $25 off coupon and it was $3 more but I don't need to renew my Costco membership so I'm ahead $57! Still hoping the rates fall a few more dollars.

Mine just came down another $6 again too! :thumbsup2 I like this trend!
 
I'm down another $20 today via Budget.
On the Costco website I the rental was $10 cheaper through Avis.
 

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