Has anyone found sensible car hire prices yet?

[nursejackie]

I am here now with an Alamo rental. 10 days cost £543 for a compact SUV. I went for the 'skip the counter' option and just walked straight to the garage from luggage collection. I was met by an alamo staff member who told me to take a midsize SUV instead (I assume they had oversold the compact), it was marked in a few places so I took a video before setting off. I drove to the exit, had my documents checked without any wait time and set off to Disney. Couldn't have been easier, I would highly recommend it.

 

[jjj4]

I am here now with an Alamo rental. 10 days cost £543 for a compact SUV. I went for the 'skip the counter' option and just walked straight to the garage from luggage collection. I was met by an alamo staff member who told me to take a midsize SUV instead (I assume they had oversold the compact), it was marked in a few places so I took a video before setting off. I drove to the exit, had my documents checked without any wait time and set off to Disney. Couldn't have been easier, I would highly recommend it.

Glad it was a painless experience. Just wondering did you book direct online before your arrival?

Hope you have a great holiday.

 

[nursejackie]

Glad it was a painless experience. Just wondering did you book direct online before your arrival?

Hope you have a great holiday.

Yes I booked about a month ago. Had only read good things on here about Alamo so followed suit. Car been perfect (up to now), we just use it for the parks Disney Springs and dining at other Disney resorts. We don't leave the bubble, unless I take a wrong turning

 

[Molyneuxd]

I am here now with an Alamo rental. 10 days cost £543 for a compact SUV.

You got a good deal, just checked for 14 days - 12 months out 1st-15th Aug 23 and it’s quoting £1300 for compact SUV

Now is it worth waiting until much closer than booking in advance?! Hmmm!

 

[Ruttangel]

10% off at Alamo, using the old Brit guide link, Alamo.co.uk/brits, £630 for 2 weeks instead of £700

 

[jjj4]

You got a good deal, just checked for 14 days - 12 months out 1st-15th Aug 23 and it’s quoting £1300 for compact SUV

Now is it worth waiting until much closer than booking in advance?! Hmmm!

I’ve often wondered if there happens to be an optimum time when to book ahead….

 

[marcais]

I’ve often wondered if there happens to be an optimum time when to book ahead….

I initially booked in October last year for the trip I'm currently on, then periodically checked to see if prices had gone down. They got to their lowest about a month before my trip, so I booked then and cancelled my original booking.

My theory is it's better to book ASAP to make sure you have something. You can always rebook if you find something cheaper. Just make sure youur original booking has no cancellation fees.

 

[deno]

So, we have a couple more days left here in Orlando on our 22 day trip and so far my travelling around costs break down as:

£560 on Uber, fuel and 2 car hire days which was for a trip to KSC and Busch Gardens.

To rent a car for 3 weeks, resort parking and fuel would have run to about £1,880 (and I think that’s a conservative cost as I was struggling to get any good deals).

I’m sold on the Uber thing. We haven’t had to wait more than 5 minutes for a ride the whole trip and have gone EVERYWHERE we needed to go with ease. A prime example of the ease is this morning. Came out of the Yacht Club lift and called the Uber and it was just arriving with a drop off so we hopped in and straight to typhoon lagoon and drop off at the entrance. That beats driving here by a country mile. We’d have to go retrieve the (hot) rental car from the car park and then park up and walk to typhoon lagoon.

We’ve eaten offsite whenever we wanted, used Disney buses when easier (Magic kingdom) and Uber’ed when it’s not (Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs etc)

I’d recommend it, 100%. I’ve been renting a car every trip since 1992. Never again.

The rest of the trip I’m not so gushing about. I think after 35 years of visits this may well be my last.

 

[jjj4]

So, we have a couple more days left here in Orlando on our 22 day trip and so far my travelling around costs break down as:

£560 on Uber, fuel and 2 car hire days which was for a trip to KSC and Busch Gardens.

To rent a car for 3 weeks, resort parking and fuel would have run to about £1,880 (and I think that’s a conservative cost as I was struggling to get any good deals).

I’m sold on the Uber thing. We haven’t had to wait more than 5 minutes for a ride the whole trip and have gone EVERYWHERE we needed to go with ease. A prime example of the ease is this morning. Came out of the Yacht Club lift and called the Uber and it was just arriving with a drop off so we hopped in and straight to typhoon lagoon and drop off at the entrance. That beats driving here by a country mile. We’d have to go retrieve the (hot) rental car from the car park and then park up and walk to typhoon lagoon.

We’ve eaten offsite whenever we wanted, used Disney buses when easier (Magic kingdom) and Uber’ed when it’s not (Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs etc)

I’d recommend it, 100%. I’ve been renting a car every trip since 1992. Never again.

The rest of the trip I’m not so gushing about. I think after 35 years of visits this may well be my last.

That’s interesting to read your experience. I’m still undecided what to do…… Just wondering how did you get from the airport and what was the cost etc? I hope you enjoy the remainder of your trip.

 

[deno]

That’s interesting to read your experience. I’m still undecided what to do…… Just wondering how did you get from the airport and what was the cost etc? I hope you enjoy the remainder of your trip.

Aaah good point actually, need to add that.

I used Mears with a private transfer. Huge van for 4 adults, 4 suitcases and 4 hand luggage is $293 return.

Happy to answer any questions, this really was the way to go for me. We went to that outlet mall over on Vineland and the parking there is a nightmare. It was a joy to just hop out of the cab and start shopping

EDIT: with the Mears, we waited FOREVER to get through immigration. Our flight landed at 2:30pm and we got through to the baggage claim area around 4:15pm. Our driver was waiting there dutifully, not at all phased by our late arrival. So if you’re doing the same don’t worry about that aspect as I was in the immigration queue

 

[cheryl.UK]

We didn't bother with a car. We spent $32 on the Sunshine flyer which was OK and only one stop before our hotel. So far I've only spent $90 on Uber and we've been here a week. We usually use the buses anyway to get around Disney. This is going to save us a fortune!

 

[marcais]

If I was staying onsite I wouldn't have othered with a car either. Especially as they now charge you a daily fee for parking at the resort hotel.

We've been staying offsite. I suspect it probably would still have been cheaper to Uber everywhere, but it would have been much more marginal and we wouldn't have had the flexibility to just nip round to Baskin Robbins for an ice cream on a rest day, or change plans about where we were going to go shopping because traffic was mental on the I-4, causing us to come off it 5 miles before the exit we needed to use.

I wouldn't put anyone off taking the Lyft/Uber option if they think it works for them, but the savings wouldnt have been significant enough for me to give up the flexibility.

 

[disneyholic family]

So, we have a couple more days left here in Orlando on our 22 day trip and so far my travelling around costs break down as:

£560 on Uber, fuel and 2 car hire days which was for a trip to KSC and Busch Gardens.

To rent a car for 3 weeks, resort parking and fuel would have run to about £1,880 (and I think that’s a conservative cost as I was struggling to get any good deals).

I’m sold on the Uber thing. We haven’t had to wait more than 5 minutes for a ride the whole trip and have gone EVERYWHERE we needed to go with ease. A prime example of the ease is this morning. Came out of the Yacht Club lift and called the Uber and it was just arriving with a drop off so we hopped in and straight to typhoon lagoon and drop off at the entrance. That beats driving here by a country mile. We’d have to go retrieve the (hot) rental car from the car park and then park up and walk to typhoon lagoon.

We’ve eaten offsite whenever we wanted, used Disney buses when easier (Magic kingdom) and Uber’ed when it’s not (Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs etc)

I’d recommend it, 100%. I’ve been renting a car every trip since 1992. Never again.

The rest of the trip I’m not so gushing about. I think after 35 years of visits this may well be my last.

my daughter and son-in-law used lyft when they did anything on their own and were very pleased with the service and cost.
we rented a minivan as we need the flexibility (and we don't pay for parking since we're DVC).

I'd really be interested in your thoughts on your visit and why after 35 years this may be your last.
we also had issues with our visit, though we are planning to go back in 2026. Hopefully WDW will be improved by then. And universal will have added epic universe.

 

[Ruttangel]

Ive just come back and we loved it but some issues:

• Epcot takes forever to navigate now that middle of park blocked
• Animal Kingdom, it seemed like very little to do here, Kite Tails is very odd but it’s going end of month
• only 1 water park open, long queues
• Hollywood, loads of rides here now but long waits as not paying for Genie +, we worked out that going late in evening crowds were gone and much cooler
• Magic Kingdom, with teenagers it’s the least favourite park, did lots of rides when fireworks were on, a bit annoying that it closes at 6 some nights for halloween party but that did make the park empty after 2pm.
• everything costs a fortune, family of 4 in a sit down restaurant easy spending over £250 on one meal.
• something is missing, not seeing a lot of joy just people on phones stressing about next ride to book
• Staying at AK lodge noticeable that lack of cultural representatives really takes away some of the unique atmosphere of that resort

Oh, and one more thing, the park reservation system, we were staying at Boardwalk and it’s so annoying that you can’t just pop into France bakery in the morning unless that is your park reservation…

 

[meggiebeth]

We visited in late August / early September and after much consideration, decided not to hire a car for the length of our stay. Earlier this year the prices for one week were obscene - close to £800 for one week - but in the weeks before our trip, prices dropped to £300-400 for nine nights. We paid just over £200 for seven nights pre-COVID.

We ended up renting a car for one day for about $60 when we were there, but it was a hassle to collect from our resort. I think next time we’d just hire one for the whole stay! We really noticed the lack of convenience as we wanted to go offsite a little more than we managed in the end.

 

[disneyholic family]

i thought the prices were high last summer, but in looking for a car for September 2023, i'm finding the prices much much higher.
Anyone found anything lower than the brit guide discounted price?
It definitely is cheaper than the others i've seen, but it's still very costly.

 

[wayneg]

I

i thought the prices were high last summer, but in looking for a car for September 2023, i'm finding the prices much much higher.
Anyone found anything lower than the brit guide discounted price?
It definitely is cheaper than the others i've seen, but it's still very costly.

Last month I picked up from Tampa Waterside rather than the airport cost £350 instead of £1000 at the airport. Matt is going over in Feb so been checking prices for him, Airport £800+ but 20 min Uber north of MCO £450 (£515 less 12% cashback) see if this works https://www.rentalcars.com/search-r...&doMinute=0&doHour=10&ftsType=C&dropFtsType=C

 

[SkyGuy]

I

Last month I picked up from Tampa Waterside rather than the airport cost £350 instead of £1000 at the airport. Matt is going over in Feb so been checking prices for him, Airport £800+ but 20 min Uber north of MCO £450 (£515 less 12% cashback) see if this works https://www.rentalcars.com/search-results?aceid=&adposition=&affiliateCode=google&cor=gb&feeditemid=&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyracBhDoARIsACGFcS5ktLVZOP_BOsLhhMAnISwU_CewgRR9Zems5NSYl3JgXmIjsHECa3IaAiPhEALw_wcB&label=us-ikkWPAPYkwg2oa00*ik3dwS343450721206&loc_interest_ms=&loc_physical_ms=1006849&ppc_device=m&ppc_devicemodel=&ppc_network=g&ppc_param1=&ppc_param2=&ppc_placement=&ppc_target=&ppc_targetid=kwd-5604037883&ws=&location=-1&dropLocation=-1&locationName=Orlando&dropLocationName=Orlando&coordinates=28.5353,-81.3833&dropCoordinates=28.5353,-81.3833&driversAge=30&puDay=2&puMonth=2&puYear=2023&puMinute=0&puHour=10&doDay=20&doMonth=2&doYear=2023&doMinute=0&doHour=10&ftsType=C&dropFtsType=C

By 20 minutes Uber north of MCO, do you mean south Orange Avenue or Sanford (or something else entirely)? South Orange Avenue *may* be a 20 minute drive during a non-rush hour time frame, but Sanford, while 20ish miles away, will more likely be a 45-60 minute drive, possibly longer depending on when your flight lands - just a heads up for you. I-4 is a MadMax level wasteland.

 

[Tony Toon]

I initially booked in October last year for the trip I'm currently on, then periodically checked to see if prices had gone down. They got to their lowest about a month before my trip, so I booked then and cancelled my original booking.

My theory is it's better to book ASAP to make sure you have something. You can always rebook if you find something cheaper. Just make sure youur original booking has no cancellation fees.

Totally agree. We've had 2 trips this year - DCL in September and New Year trip forthcoming.
September trip was for DH, myself, DS, DDIL and grandson so booked a full-size SUV to cope with buggy, cases, travel cot etc with Alamo through Andy at Discount Florida Car Hire for 15 nights - £1714 in April 2022. Kept checking and watched the price rise until about 6 weeks before when it started to drop. Kept cancelling (free) and rebooking until the cheapest price a month before we arrived - £960.
Booked our New Year trip car hire at the end of May: only 3 days but £263 for an Intermediate car. Again watched the price going up until a drop in July - £224. Again more price rises until the past couple of weeks - currently booked for £113 and don't expect it to drop any further but will keep checking.

Takes seconds to check on Andy's site: no deposit until full payment 6 weeks before the car hire date. Refunds appear on your card in a couple of days.

Mrs TT

 

[disneyholic family]

I

Last month I picked up from Tampa Waterside rather than the airport cost £350 instead of £1000 at the airport. Matt is going over in Feb so been checking prices for him, Airport £800+ but 20 min Uber north of MCO £450 (£515 less 12% cashback) see if this works https://www.rentalcars.com/search-results?aceid=&adposition=&affiliateCode=google&cor=gb&feeditemid=&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyracBhDoARIsACGFcS5ktLVZOP_BOsLhhMAnISwU_CewgRR9Zems5NSYl3JgXmIjsHECa3IaAiPhEALw_wcB&label=us-ikkWPAPYkwg2oa00*ik3dwS343450721206&loc_interest_ms=&loc_physical_ms=1006849&ppc_device=m&ppc_devicemodel=&ppc_network=g&ppc_param1=&ppc_param2=&ppc_placement=&ppc_target=&ppc_targetid=kwd-5604037883&ws=&location=-1&dropLocation=-1&locationName=Orlando&dropLocationName=Orlando&coordinates=28.5353,-81.3833&dropCoordinates=28.5353,-81.3833&driversAge=30&puDay=2&puMonth=2&puYear=2023&puMinute=0&puHour=10&doDay=20&doMonth=2&doYear=2023&doMinute=0&doHour=10&ftsType=C&dropFtsType=C

wow! that's a huge difference.
I'll check it out.