First time car hire

[Guest]

Hi all, I figured this was the best forum for these questions so here we go.

This is Orlando visit number 7 for us but our first time with a car so I have a few questions/thoughts basically just to set everything straight in my mind.

We are arriving in at Orlando International and have already completed the skip the counter process (I've just read the sticky and that all seems fine) so our first drive will be to the Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando I've printed a map and we have the sat nav on the phone so that should be okay, are there any pointers for the drive or is it just pretty straightforward?

We are probably going to do a day trip up to Daytona, has anyone done this? It looks like a pretty straightforward drive is there anything else to consider with this?

Busch Gardens, drive or just get the free shuttle up there, I can't make my mind up, any thoughts to help me make a decision?

As for the orlando parks I think we'll just get the shuttle busses to and from the universal parks, save on petrol and parking plus we might want to have a few drinks on those nights.

We will drive to the Disney parks but do you just park at each park? We've got the buses so many times it's just an alien concept to me lol.
If we want to get the boat over to magic kingdom do you park at the transportation centre?

Oh and finally tolls, I've seen them on some maps, will we need to pay any at any point.

Thanks very much for any answers

[Guest]

Print the directions large easy to read in bad light or short time,
Loads of youtube video's to watch but it's straight forward.
Try an automatic before you go if you are not familiar with them.
Daytona is a straight forward and a nice drive.
Busch Gardens if you take your car you can leave when you want, Take the bus and leave when they want.
Busch Gardens is an easy drive until you leave the freeway or leaving Busch Gardens returning to the Freeway.

Toll are easy either stop and pay or use Sunpass automatic number recognition and pay at the end.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by juneandpeter

Print the directions large easy to read in bad light or short time,
Loads of youtube video's to watch but it's straight forward.
Try an automatic before you go if you are not familiar with them.
Daytona is a straight forward and a nice drive.
Busch Gardens if you take your car you can leave when you want, Take the bus and leave when they want.
Busch Gardens is an easy drive until you leave the freeway or leaving Busch Gardens returning to the Freeway.

Toll are easy either stop and pay or use Sunpass automatic number recognition and pay at the end.

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Thanks for the speedy reply, where am I likely to encounter tolls?

I assume it's only when we travel out of Orlando, so Daytona and Tampa? What sort of prices are we usually talking?

[Guest]

We are also staying at Rosen Inn at Pointe - at least for part of our stay. After leaving the Airport you have a few choices but I would say the most direct and quickest route would be to use the 528 Beachline West expressway for most of the way. This is a Toll road.

You could go in to iDrive via Sandlake Road, but this is slower and I think you still hit one toll on a short part of the 528 you will need to use.

If your hire car is from Alamo they will bill you for the actual cost price of going through the tolls ( their cars are pre-registered to use the e-pass systems) plus an administrative charge which is a maximum I think, of $19.50 for the duration of your trip. Much better than faffing around with trying to find exact change or using the manned booths.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Morph

Thanks for the speedy reply, where am I likely to encounter tolls?

I assume it's only when we travel out of Orlando, so Daytona and Tampa? What sort of prices are we usually talking?

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You will encounter toll on many roads in Florida. I think it cost around $5 from the Airport(MCO) to IDrive.

[Joshie1]

Make sure you are familiar with the lights, wipers etc before you leave the garage and if you are not used to the automatic, do a few laps of the garage to get used to the feel of it.

Parking at Disney is a doddle - if you have a Park Hopper tickets and plan on doing Epcot and MK on the same day you could park at either one and use the monorail to move between the two. But you only pay once for parking per day for the Disney parks so you could drive from one park to the next keeping your ticket on the dash.

The car will be hot when you get back to it and a good trick is to put a few frozen bottles of water into the boot so that you have cool water to drink while waiting for the aircon to kick in.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Northernson

We are also staying at Rosen Inn at Pointe - at least for part of our stay. After leaving the Airport you have a few choices but I would say the most direct and quickest route would be to use the 528 Beachline West expressway for most of the way. This is a Toll road.

You could go in to iDrive via Sandlake Road, but this is slower and I think you still hit one toll on a short part of the 528 you will need to use.

If your hire car is from Alamo they will bill you for the actual cost price of going through the tolls ( their cars are pre-registered to use the e-pass systems) plus an administrative charge which is a maximum I think, of $19.50 for the duration of your trip. Much better than faffing around with trying to find exact change or using the manned booths.

See more...

Thanks for that, we are with alamo so with this epass do I just drive straight through? Do I need to acrivate it or anything like that?And no matter how many tolls we pass I'll just be billed $19.50 at the end of the trip?

[Guest]

Originally Posted by juneandpeter

You will encounter toll on many roads in Florida. I think it cost around $5 from the Airport(MCO) to IDrive.

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Thanks, I take it this epass thing is more economical then

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Joshie1

Make sure you are familiar with the lights, wipers etc before you leave the garage and if you are not used to the automatic, do a few laps of the garage to get used to the feel of it.

Parking at Disney is a doddle - if you have a Park Hopper tickets and plan on doing Epcot and MK on the same day you could park at either one and use the monorail to move between the two. But you only pay once for parking per day for the Disney parks so you could drive from one park to the next keeping your ticket on the dash.

The car will be hot when you get back to it and a good trick is to put a few frozen bottles of water into the boot so that you have cool water to drink while waiting for the aircon to kick in.

See more...

We won't be hopping this time but thats a good tip for the future thanks. The water in the boot (or should I say trunk) is a top idea. I'll keep a case of 24 in there from walmart.

[Scully]

It's 19.95 admin fee, plus the actual cost of the tolls.