Car hire or not

[lovin5643]

Family of 4 going out in August 2015. We are staying at the Enclave Suites just off I Drive.
When we have been before we have always had a car but chose the location this time so it would necessary. We will not be doing any Disney Parks. Will probably not use much at night either as my wife won't drive over there and I want to be able to have the occasional drink.

I am trying to work out the pros & cons of car hire or not ie cost convenience etc. So my questions are;

1) Approx cost of transfers to/from MCO
2) What size of car needed for 4 people and 4 cases
3) Cost of parking at parks Sea World, Universal, Busch Gdns
4) Are the buses etc suitable if most of our travelling is in I Drive

Also looking at other posts it seems that it may be possible to get cheaper car hire with Virgin Flying Club. Can this be done even if we are not flying with Virgin?

[tspill]

I wouldn't consider Florida without a car. In fact I wouldn't go if I didn't have a car.
Others do, but I think that I would lose out enormously without the flexibility of having a car.
Four people and cases - probably a full size

[Guest]

If thats really all you're going to do then I suppose you can do without a car. However, if you want to do anything else it will be a major pain. I wouldn't worry about the size of the car too much, you can always have a case on your knee for the 25 minutes from the airport, you're not going to need space for cases another day. Maybe just get the cheapest car, or rent one for a few days, so much more convenient to go shopping or even further afield for a meal.

[debidee]

Originally Posted by Ilivehereorland

If thats really all you're going to do then I suppose you can do without a car. However, if you want to do anything else it will be a major pain. I wouldn't worry about the size of the car too much, you can always have a case on your knee for the 25 minutes from the airport, you're not going to need space for cases another day. Maybe just get the cheapest car, or rent one for a few days, so much more convenient to go shopping or even further afield for a meal.

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I agree - get one for a few days when you fancy shopping / nice meal/ trip to celebration and don't want to be dependant on a bus or cab! It's handy if you just want to get up and go! Xx

[lovin5643]

Cheers guys,
Just trying to sort the logistics really, thats why I asked about the transfer costs.
It looks like I can get a standard car for about £330 (17 nights) with Alamo. Assuming this is inclusive of everything its not to much to not use everyday.
The other option would be to book transfers and get a smaller car for 10 days or so.

[porridge]

We usually have a car, but have done buses too. You can get the Iride trolley up and down I Drive, to the outlets, Seaworld Wet n Wild. As far as I am aware it doesn't go to Universal - you have to walk 15 mins or so from the nearest stop - but you may find your hotel offers a shuttle there. You can get to the Florida Mall on the Lynx bus from IDrive. Busch Gardens would mean you getting the Iride to Seaworld, then getting the Bus to Busch (I think you need to reserve seats on the Busch bus beforehand).
Iride is fine - cheap and easy to use. But it can get crowded, and it may take you an hour to get from one end to the other.

If you want to rent a car, then you would need ideally a standard SUV. We used to get a normal full size car, but only took 3 cases. This year we booked a standard SUV as we were taking 4 cases, and there was much more room.

I think parking is about $15 a day (but we didn't do FLorida this year, so prices may have gone up). Petrol is cheap (in Georgia this year we paid $3 or less a gallon).

[Guest]

We are here at the moment personally I would not consider the U.S. without a car unless staying in a city like NYC where they are jus a hindrance.

I actually have a friend staying at the Enclave suites right now they didn't take a car as it was their first time and frightened of the driving. I picked her up the other day and took her shopping. She was telling me the kind of costs they have had for taxis really could have had a car for less.
I had said to her before she came out about car hire think they regret it now that they didn't.

A mid size SUV would be fine for your party size.

Alison

[lovin5643]

Convenience wise the car seems the best option. It looks like transfers will cost around $75 so I can discount that. The Enclave have shuttles to Universal and Sea World but only 2 departures and returns a day. I suppose that once I factor in the cost of the I Ride passes etc the car looks better all the time.

Do I need to book now or can I leave it till later as would rather not pay another £300 out this far in advance.

[Guest]

You can leave it if yo want I just booked our car for this trip a week before we came out. Companies like usrentacar (usually very competitive on price) let you pay a deposit to
Lock in the cost and you pay the balance later.

Alison

[Gryff]

Like Alison I would never consider not having a car we've had guests who did do it without a car and spent a fortune on transport and never did half the things they wanted to do went back the next time with a car and had a completely different great holiday

Helen