Orlando- car vs no car?

[Beebeeeight]

Can't decide whether we should get a hire car-please help!

Staying on I-drive for 2 weeks doing 5 Disney parks plus universal & IOA.

Hotel does shuttle to U/IOA.

Flying to MCO.

We have 'free' car hire but it will be $390 for CDW & infant seat.

So add on parking of $20pd plus fuel/tolls car seems more expensive.

BUT

There's 5 of us so I-trolley and Lynx passes will be $200 plus airport transfers and will probably need big taxis home sometimes if bus queue is too long and we are all exhausted.

Also when we've looked it up it says 2hr journey door to gate on public transport vs 20 min drive!!!!

I don't think that will work with a toddler!

Mners help me choose!

We've been twice and hired a car. Best thing ever. Much easier as you can head off earlier and it will be easier

Oh car. Definitely. There are loads of things to see other than the parks, like the Kissimmee rodeo and boggy creek airboat rides and Celebration (mad wee place) and old town Kissimmee with the Friday night car rally. Get a car and drive about. 😀

Definitely get a car, the place is massive & taxis can be very expensive.

Just a thought but could you change destinations to a different hotel or holiday. with your travel agent, they might charge a fee but it might be less than the car hire/taxi

I love driving in Orlando. Don't take the free car. Sort out your own car hire.

Check whether your hotel does a free trolley pass for I-drive. Many of them do. Can get a taxi to supermarket.

Personally I would hire the car but we have done it without and coped ok.

Kids loved the supermarket by the way, novelty value.

Beebeeeight, you need a car. Orlando's poorly served by public transport.

We are broke and may need a loan to afford car hire

Perhaps you should borrow a little to take some of the pressure off, so you can really enjoy your holiday.

Do you have travel insurance which would cover your change in financial circumstances? Also some tour operators would allow a change in the case if redundancy etc.
The Dibb site would help you work out if it's doable on your budget. Cost of park tickets etc.
The USA maybe isn't always a good place to live or holiday in when skint.

We've been a few times and didn't ever have a car, until this year. This year we had a car because the hotel shuttle didn't arrive at MK until 10am and we'd have had another 40 mins onward to other parks.

I would recommend having a car.

The hire places charge $15 a day for sat nav so we thought we'd do without. It took us almost 2 1/2 hours to drive the 20 min journey from the airport because they closed the main road and we got lost!!! Be advised they don't supply maps.

when you go to universal/IOA pay for the refillable drinks i paid $12 for 1 day it will be cheaper for 2 but it is well worth it, theres drinks fountains all over the place and its shareable and worth paying for
disney was about $4 for a bottle of water and coke

and id go with the hire car if your accomodation doesnt do the shuttle services

and id say you could split epcot and hollywood studios in the 1 day tbh thers lots to see but not many rides and use the fast pass on the app for rides you do want to go on
universal and IOA could potenitally be done in a day again depending on how many rides you want to go fast passes could be worth the extra expense compared to a 2 day ticket ( i was only there for a day so was willing to pay for the express passes so i wasnt spending too much time in queues)

if money is tight have a massive breakfast- you dont say where your staying but i was in old town kissemee and it was about 30mins to disney car park and about 40 mins to universal from memory

Thanks, lots of good tips.

We probably will get the car, might have to sell an organ though!

I've never driven on the right so am a bit wary of it. We'll take a paper map with us.

I'm giving 2 days for the big parks because we will have a toddler who will want to toddle, not be pushed in a buggy all day so it will take ages to get round the rides. Also we'll need to do the child swap thing so one adult can stay with the toddler whilst the other rides.

We are trying to plan our fast passes atm.

Is it best not to book them for before 10/11am as the rides are quieter then? With the little one we'll have no lie ins anyway so might as well get there early.

We are planning on eating as much as we can in the morning then taking big packed lunches to last the day. We will not be buying any food or drinks in the parks.

We'll take a paper map with us.

Ask for a map when you pick the car up from the hire company.

If you have a smartphone, use the navigation function on it.

Be careful taking food into the park opened things like drinks were taken off us at Disney was a few years ago I can't remember why check to see.

I would think about buying the refillable cups. Can't remember how much they were but it worked out quite cheap. And it was very very hot so we drank a lot.

Best money saver is to take those small squirty robinson juice things and ask for iced water in the parks. It is free and the juice makes it taste better!