Orlando Car Rental – The Complete Guide

Without a doubt, one of the biggest dilemmas and doubts faced by most travelers is whether or not they should rent a car in Orlando for their vacation.

And in this post we will give you a lot of information and tips about everything related to Car Rental in Orlando.

We'll give you the pros and cons of renting a car for your Walt Disney World vacationIn addition, we will show you how to save money with car rental Orlando, some tricks and traps.

And of course, before any tips, you need to determine if you need to rent a car at Walt Disney World.

Unlike many other vacation destinations, a Walt Disney World rental car is not a strict necessity.

In fact, it has been even less advantageous in recent years depending on how your trip will be.

So don't assume booking a rental car is a strictly necessary step in your travel planning.

If you've already determined that a rental car is right for your family, you can skip straight to the second half of the article, where we'll give you some tips for saving money on rental cars in Orlando.

Let's start by analyzing whether you should rent a car in orlando or use one of the transport options offered there, such as Uber.

Is it worth renting a car in Orlando?

That's the million dollar question. One that has many travelers wondering since the start of a new Disney era in Florida in 1971.

Before we give you more information, we need to tell you, if you decide to rent a car, that there are several companies on the market to carry out your rental!

And of course, we always recommend that your car rental be done on a trusted website. For those who like to solve everything online, we recommend the rent cars because in addition to being extremely reliable, you can compare prices between major rental companies and make the best car reservation for you and your group!

But if you are one of those people who prefer a personalized service, we recommend that you make your quote with our partner rental agency clicking here!

Secure your car reservation for Orlando here at the best price!

Normally, I would cut to the chase here and list the pros and cons in a table, but I think it's best to start with my personal experience here.

We had some experiences without renting a car and many renting and we have several clients that we recommend renting and others that didn't make much sense

A number of factors can affect your trip and they are all different.

Firstly, if you need more professional assistance, be sure to hire our travel consultancy clients.

Second, the first thing you should consider is:

Do you want to feel the “Disney Bubble” effect?

The “Disney Bubble” Effect is that throughout your trip you will actually be inside the Walt Disney World resort.

Unfortunately Disney's Magical Express no longer exists.

He was the shuttle that took Disney guests free of charge to their hotels.

However it has been removed and replaced by a regular bus company and of course the service is no longer free.

Now you have to pay a fee of approximately USD $16 per adult.

With that in mind, let's move on with our review.

Upon arriving at your hotel, which will be some Disney hotel like:

• All star
• Art of Animation
• Grand floridian
• Polynesian Resort
• Animal Kingdom Lodge
• … among many others

After that you will take some Disney transportation like the Monorail, bus or Skyliner for any of Disney parks.

Giving your schedule you will return to dinner at your Disney hotel and will do so in the next few days.

That is, you are ALWAYS at disney.

For some this may seem ridiculous or far-fetched, for others this is a dream come true (we love this effect), mainly because hotels and other resort locations have so many activities to do.

But this is not possible if you want to leave the complex to visit the others. Orlando parks like Universal and SeaWorld for example.

As we are content producers and need to cover as many hotels and things to do there in Orlando, it is almost impossible for us to travel without renting a car today.

Since then, I've appreciated the utility and convenience that a rental car can provide on an Orlando vacation, but I'm far from convinced that a rental car is ALWAYS the best option.

Quite the contrary, in reality, many travelers want to make the trip as economically as possible and often the car can considerably increase the cost of their trip when adding the values of gasoline and parking, for example.

Will Renting a Car Save Me Time?

As far as my actual experiences of driving a rental car are concerned, they were definitely good experiences.

In terms of transport airport to the hotel, I would guess that I saved, on average, about 10 minutes per trip not to mention that I love driving on good roads like Orlando.

Honestly, comparing the time savings from airport bus, transfer and car rental is a waste of time.

This will only happen 2 times in your trip.

If your focus is saving time on your trip, we need to evaluate it from a more focused perspective on your vacation days.

So let's evaluate the time savings of some common points for you to assess whether Orlando Car Rental is worth it.

Hotel Transportation to Disney Parks

If you're staying at a hotel that isn't near any theme parks but has a shared bus route, your time savings can be huge if you rent a car.

Disney bus transportation to the parks is extremely inefficient and it is not uncommon to see three buses in one park pass you at the bus stop while you are waiting for a bus to another park.

If you are staying at an All-Star Resort and are heading to Epcot or for Disney's Hollywood Studios, you can save up to an hour a day in transport time.

On the other hand, if you're staying at a resort adjacent to one of the theme parks, you won't save time with a rental car.

This is the case if you are in a Magic Kingdom Area Resort going to Magic Kingdom by boat or monorail, and also Epcot Area Resorts going to Epcot or Disney's Hollywood Studios on foot or by boat.

And of course, we have to take into account now that the Parking is paid at Disney hotels.

For example, a guest from Contemporary You will be incredibly ahead walking to the Magic Kingdom (or taking the monorail) than driving to the Ticket & Transportation Center (Magic Kingdom parking lot) and then taking the monorail or bus.

In fact, I would argue that bus transportation from any on-site resort has the potential to be faster than driving to the Magic Kingdom, as the buses stop right at the park entrance, while the parking lot is quite far away and you'll need to take a monorail or boat to the park after stopping your car.

As a frequent visitor to the Magic Kingdom, I find driving and parking at the Ticket & Transportation Center to be a huge hassle, and I find it almost never saves me time.

If that happens, that savings is minutes, and I'd rather have the convenience of not having to drive myself and be dropped off in front of the park.

Mind you, I'm not saying that bus transportation from Walt Disney World it's super efficient. But to go to the Magic Kingdom specifically, it's the best option.

For the other 3 parks, where the parking lots are located right next to the park, there is definitely a time saving going there by car.

If you are doing one park per day and are not staying at one of the Epcot Area Resorts (Boardwalk Inn, Beach Club and Yatch Club), will save time driving to the parks.

Transportation Between Disney Parks

We've been to the Magic Kingdom many times late at night after a park, as it stays open late, and it's much easier (and more fun) to take a monorail in front of Epcot to the Magic Kingdom than to go out to the parking.

Likewise, if I want to get from Disney's Hollywood Studios to Epcot for a night tour of World showcase, the vibe aboard the Friendship Boats that operate between the parks is much better than the emotion inside a rental car.

The general tip here, based on our experience and the practical realities of driving versus using Disney transportation, is that rental cars can definitely save you time.

However, they can also cost time and, more importantly, can be a hassle at times when dealing with complex Disney parks.

We have several Walt Disney World transportation tips that consist of various hacks and other strategies to save time using transportation offered by Disney.

If you're staying at Disney and are concerned about the cost of a rental car or the impact of an immersive experience, renting a car may not be for you.

With that said, there are several advantages to securing your Orlando Car Rental.

The biggest one is the freedom to go anywhere whenever you want.

Car Hire at Disney Orlando

While some Disney fans think that Walt Disney World provides “free” transportation, the reality is that transportation is provided to discourage car rentals.

Of course, that way you'll spend more time at one of Disney's facilities.

What it means to eat at Disney restaurants, do shopping at Disney stores and, perhaps most importantly, not visiting non-Disney theme parks.

Having a rented car allows you to go to the supermarket at your leisure, be it a Walmart, Target or any other.

Venture out into considerably cheaper outdoor restaurants (as we've already talked about here Five Guys, Shake shake, Culvers…).

And of course, it will give you the chance to easily visit outside local non-Disney attractions.

To be fair, there are workarounds for all of the above: grocery delivery services, the Lynx and Mears Shuttle public transit system, Uber, Lyft, and private transfers to get between Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort.

Save money on Orlando Car Rentals

First of all, we recommend that the lease be made at a well-known rental company and a reliable website.

There are several sites where you can rent a car, among all, what we recommend most is the rentacar.com.

There you will be able to make your entire reservation with excellent prices, in addition to having one of the best supports on the market if you need it.

But if you are one of those people who prefer a personal service, we recommend that you make your quote with our partner rental agency. clicking here!

There are countless other ways to save money when renting a car, but unless you're an aggressive bargain hunter with a lot of free time, I don't think it's necessary to try to list other options.

Rentacars and direct quotes with our partner at the link provided above are already a good guarantee of the best price available to the general public 98% of the time.

Also, I recommend changing your pick-up and drop-off times (especially if it means saving an extra day on your rental car rate by keeping your pick-up and drop-off times to one day plus the <24 hour window).

I also usually do not pay for the additional insurance offered, as my credit card already pays for this coverage.

Therefore, I recommend checking with your card if it offers any advantage on your trips.

I always ignore any upgrades and addons as they are useless and unnecessary.

Likewise, I never do the full tank option, because it's never worth it.

Don't let this fool you - most of the time you'll need to return the car with less than half a gallon of Gasoline to save money with this option.

Orlando Car Rental Companies

As for car rental companies in Orlando, I had experience with some agencies in Orlando such as Alamo, Hertz and Fantasy Car (our partner).

In the past, Hertz has been my preferred car rental company and I think their customer service is reasonable and their vehicle fleet is very good.

Despite never having had a real problem with any of them in Orlando, I must say that the practicality and values of our partner Fantasy Car are unsurpassed.

Again I leave the link to quotes with them in case you want to make a quote so you can see the difference in prices.

This is because, in addition to the values being much better than those offered by the large rental companies, you will not incur any additional charges during your trip.

In addition, you won't have to face long queues to pick up your car as it will be delivered directly to you as soon as you disembark!

And of course, if you don't speak English well, even better because your car will be delivered by someone who speaks English, Portuguese and Spanish!

By the way, this is an important point to highlight.

The car pick-up and drop-off process can be relatively painful for those who don't speak very good English at the big agencies like Hertz, Alamo, etc.

There are other agencies that offer cheaper prices such as Thrifty, Avis and Budget. But in them you will have the same conditions as the others.

I haven't had the opportunity to use any of them in Orlando yet, however using Thrifty on my trip to cancun and I can say that my experience with them was horrible, so it's the only rental company that I don't recommend you use.

Orlando Car Rental Overview

As you can see, there is a lot of information to digest about renting a car in Orlando.

In general, the tip is, you need to assess what your focus is on renting a car or not in Orlando, whether it is freedom, ease of movement, money saving, time saving, fear of driving, etc.

With that in mind, check which hotel and which parks you are going to as these factors completely affect your decision.

Evaluating all these points, you will be able to determine if the best strategy for you is car rental in Orlando or not.

I hope this helped you determine if an Orlando rental car is for you, and if so, how to save money on one.

If you have any unanswered questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or call us at our social networks and I will be more than happy to help!

I hope again that this post helped you in your research for your trip to Disney or Orlando.

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