Hire car or DME?

[chmurf]

1 thing you mention in your opening post

family of 5

DME might be easier if you all have luggage, for the trip from and to the airport

Then it all depends on what the family is made of.
If it's all adults and teens, then disney transportation will be enough, and you stil can catch an odd uber ride if you need to go places outside of the bublle.

But if strollers or younger kids are involved, I would strongly recommend renting a car.
Except for Magic Kingdom where Disney Transportation is the way to go, you'll save a lot of time if you need to take breaks for afternoon naps for example. Strollers have to be folded on transportation, and carrying sleepy/sleeping kids while standing on overcrowded buses will make you wish you had a car.


there are pros and cons.
if you mainly want to stay in the bubble, and everyone is 12+ (for example), then using DME and Disney Transportation is absolutely doable.
But, if you have young kids, or family with mobility issue, or whatever that might become a challenge on occasions, or you are doing half park days with breaks, then the car will be very helpful.

[Tynxuk]

Originally Posted by chmurf

1 thing you mention in your opening post

family of 5

DME might be easier if you all have luggage, for the trip from and to the airport

Then it all depends on what the family is made of.
If it's all adults and teens, then disney transportation will be enough, and you stil can catch an odd uber ride if you need to go places outside of the bublle.

But if strollers or younger kids are involved, I would strongly recommend renting a car.
Except for Magic Kingdom where Disney Transportation is the way to go, you'll save a lot of time if you need to take breaks for afternoon naps for example. Strollers have to be folded on transportation, and carrying sleepy/sleeping kids while standing on overcrowded buses will make you wish you had a car.


there are pros and cons.
if you mainly want to stay in the bubble, and everyone is 12+ (for example), then using DME and Disney Transportation is absolutely doable.
But, if you have young kids, or family with mobility issue, or whatever that might become a challenge on occasions, or you are doing half park days with breaks, then the car will be very helpful.

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Thank you for taking the time to answer, our youngest child is 9 so no worries about folding strollers, this year we only left Disney once to go to Walmart (well technically twice as I guess moving to Universal hotel day counts) and used the transport for all the parks. Our main concern is DME from and to the airport, we fly in late as going Norwegian next year so I'm a little concerned about driving in the dark on arrival (we took a wrong turn on exiting the airport this year in day light and as navigator that was stressful enough).
Also thinking the money saved by not getting a hire car may be used towards upgrade our return flights.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

OP. There are certain situations where having a car just doesn't make sense. Yours is one of those scenarios.
I personally always hire but to be frank it really is not cost effective. However it gives us total flexibility to dine anywhere on site without worrying about waiting for buses - but thats just me.

As you allude to, money saved can be used elsewhere. Give it a try and let us know how it goes.
Personally I think you have it right and can let the bus take the strain literally.