Disney Transportation vs. Car

I'm about as impatient as they come and need to control my own destiny! My middle brother inherited all the patience genes and I inherited some of my Mom's claustrophobia - waiting for a bus and then crammed in a bus = hell on Earth for me.

We did the Disney transportation the first time, and that was enough for me. We've always rented a car since, and now that we drive down, I'm even happier!

Yay! Jeff is on our side in the Disney transport debate. Us drivers always feel outnumbered!

If i'm on resort, i'm on disney transportation. Sure, sometimes it can take a bit of extra time, but it's so nice not to have to drive. Plus we usually pick a resort (such as Pop) which has a dedicated bus, it makes a world of difference.

CarCarCar!

We've waited for our last bus. I just felt like we were always rushing to an ADR when we took Disney transportation, because you had to make so many switch overs and stops. It took hours to get to an ADR. Now, we leave 15 minutes before the reservation and we're there with time to spare.

The ONLY reason I'd consider taking Disney transportation is to go to the MK -- that parking lot and commute thing stinks.

Disney transportation! Even with our bad experiences, it is usually just fine. I don't mind waiting sometimes and just don't want to deal with driving and parking. Last trip was awesome since we were at a monorail resort. Automatically makes it easier!

Whether we have a car or not we still use Disney transportation for anyplace we go to in WDW. If we have driven down we always leave the car parked EXCEPT to go off property to eat.

Car please!

We use the buses, it saves us the cost and hassle of a hire car. Any trips off-site require a taxi, but the total cost of that is still less than the hire car+insurance would be.

I'm actually a hybrid kinda girl. I agree w/ admin about the ADRs; we were late the first time we used Disney transportation because we didn't know just how much time we would need to allot. But MK - if I can drive a bus up to the front - absolutely. The monorail/ferry thing is an exercise in patience after so many trips.

The insurance is pretty crazy isn't it? I think I saw some quotes and they were astronomical.

Yep, car hire included with the holiday package is quite common for bookings in the UK, but insurance is always extra. Driving standards in Orlando do not seem that great and they hammer us Brit's a bit harder still because we drive on the other side of the road.

A Disney bus driver once gave us a beautiful rendition of the mickey mouse club march all the way back to the resort. He had his Donald impression down to a tee

Which is actually so unlike me And I laughed when I reread my post, and had a mental image of me driving a bus up to the front of MK - mothers grabbing small children, people diving out of the way as I swung the behemoth vehicle into the "slip."

Tony, this may be a silly question, but is the insurance absolutely necessary? Time and again, we've been told by experts not to take the insurance, because most of the time, your credit card and your own policy provide it. Is that not the case for British drivers abroad?

It's these kind of differences that I always find interesting. A friend who just moved from Australia back to Scotland was looking for car recommendations. I told him I loved my Honda Civic. He told me that Hondas were WAY beyond their budget. I had no idea.

It's not normal for UK credit cards to provide insurance for hire cars. It's sometimes possible to get your own policy to extend to a hire car when in the UK, but most will take the hire companies policy as it's more convenient and usually included in the hire charge.

I thought car insurance was compulsory in the US (as it is in the UK) and with no other options it leaves the hire companies policy as the only choice, I'm sure they know this and charge accordingly. I certainly wouldn't want to drive without it, it only takes a moment of inattention (even from other drivers) and the consequences and cost could be horredous.

Car hire in the UK does seem to be more expensive than elsewhere and the price rockets as soon as you move up from a motorised shoe box, but it's hard to know if the quoted prices include the same options/cover.

Tony, have you ever rented a car over here?

Car all the way. Never did the bus thing and never intend to. I think its much quicker and easier driving, more comfortable and no aggravation.

Nope, always decided that the cost was greater than the need and never had a problem getting around with Disney transport, I-Ride, Lynx and Taxi's when needed. I'm hoping that the new high speed rail link will have stops close enough to International Drive and DTD to make using that an option too.

Talking to friends who have rented cars in the US, opinions range from 'never again' to 'couldn't manage without it'. Personally, it's a hassle I can easily do without.

Car insurance is required in the US, although I think rules vary from state to state. Thanks for the information...always nice to learn something new. We've never rented a car when we've been abroad, (never had to with good public transportation) but I'll certainly pay attention if we do. Driving in a foreign country is very intimidating to me. Always afraid I'm going to violate some hidden rule

Hi,

I hope you don't mind a long post.

I'm in the public transit camp. Because of a retinal detachment a few days before my 17th birthday and the resulting surgery, I was forbidden to take driver ed that fall, and never took lessons. I therefore need to be extremely careful that where I vacation allows me to get around cheaply and easily without a car. That's partially why WDW, with the 75th-largest transit agency in the United States, is one of my favorite vacation destinations. I am very familiar with New Jersey Transit, Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO, which runs a commuter train called the Speedline between downtown Philadelphia, PA and seven Camden County, NJ towns (note to our British friends: a county in the United States is the equivalent of an English shire)), and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA, which operates an underground train, an elevated train, five streetcar lines, 125 bus routes and seven regional rail lines in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery. Two regional rail lines terminate, respectively, in Trenton, NJ and Wilmington, DE).

I used the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA or "T") while in Boston June 8-11, 2001; Washington, DC's Metro, and Pittsburgh's Port Authority of Allegheny County transit this past summer. One of the reasons I'd love to visit London, UK is that the Tube (and public transit in Europe) is generally so good. The best public transit system I've experienced is DC's. It is clean and efficient, much like Disney Transit. Boston's is the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, dating from 1897. New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is the largest in the world, with 468 subway stations--subways are what Americans call underground trains--, 26 subway lines and 300 local and express bus routes.

I will take a taxi as only a last resort, because you pay more just to get into one than you do for a ride on most public transportation. I have nothing against cars; I just can't drive.

Jim