Car Rental vs Mears Connect questions?

[Matrixleos]

DW, DD and I will be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge during Memorial Day weekend for 4 days and 3 nights. Looking at Mears Connect Standard pricing, round trip airport drop-off and pickup will cost the 3 of us about $100 ($33.60 each). Looking at car rental prices at MCO, I can get Skip the Line reservations for a compact car for 3 nights for roughly $150-200 range ($40-50 per day with taxes and fees).

Seeing that this is a short trip and we wanted to maximize our time at our Disney resort on both arrival and departure days. We also have park hopper added to our tickets, so having a car would help avoid the long bus transfer wait times going between the parks. I think spending a extra $50-100 for a car rental would be worth it. Although I did have a couple of questions...

1) Staying at a Disney resort, would there be extra fees for parking at any of the four Theme Parks on the days we use Park Hopping for?

2) Staying at a Disney resort, would there be extra fees for parking my car at the resort?

3) Staying at a Disney resort, would there be extra fees for parking at different Disney resorts? Like parking at Port Orleans French Quarter for beignets or BoardWalk Inn to visit the Disney Boardwalk?

4) Staying at a Disney resort, would there be extra fees for parking at Disney Springs on our departure day after checking out?

Just trying to figure out a rough estimate of costs of using a car rental and all the different fees associated, compared to using Mears Connect and just using all the different Disney transportation options for free but most likely possible having to deal with long wait periods to reach our destinations. Thanks

 

[CarolynFH]

DW, DD and I will be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge during Memorial Day weekend for 4 days and 3 nights. Looking at Mears Connect Standard pricing, round trip airport drop-off and pickup will cost the 3 of us about $100 ($33.60 each). Looking at car rental prices at MCO, I can get Skip the Line reservations for a compact car for 3 nights for roughly $150-200 range ($40-50 per day with taxes and fees).

Seeing that this is a short trip and we wanted to maximize our time at our Disney resort on both arrival and departure days. We also have park hopper added to our tickets, so having a car would help avoid the long bus transfer wait times going between the parks. I think spending a extra $50-100 for a car rental would be worth it. Although I did have a couple of questions...

1) Staying at a Disney resort, would there be extra fees for parking at any of the four Theme Parks on the days we use Park Hopping for?

Nope, if you’re staying at a Disney resort you park free at all the parks.

2) Staying at a Disney resort, would there be extra fees for parking my car at the resort?

No, you park for free at your resort.

3) Staying at a Disney resort, would there be extra fees for parking at different Disney resorts? Like parking at Port Orleans French Quarter for beignets or BoardWalk Inn to visit the Disney Boardwalk?

There are no parking charges. However, depending on how busy it is and other factors, you might not be allowed to park at certain resorts, specially the ones close to parks, like BW, if you don’t have a dining reservation or other reservation there. The parking lots are not large enough to accommodate the resort guests plus everyone else. Since POFQ isn’t close to a park, most people report being able to park to get beignets is allowed. For the near-park resorts it’s usually better to take Disney transportation there - for instance, for BW you could park at DHS and then walk, boat, or Skyliner to the BW.

4) Staying at a Disney resort, would there be extra fees for parking at Disney Springs on our departure day after checking out?

No, parking at DS is free to everyone all the time.

Just trying to figure out a rough estimate of costs of using a car rental and all the different fees associated, compared to using Mears Connect and just using all the different Disney transportation options for free but most likely possible having to deal with long wait periods to reach our destinations. Thanks

We like having a car - it makes park hopping much easier. If we want to visit a resort, we make an ADR at one of the restaurants there, and we limit the amount of time we park in their lot to three hours or less, out of consideration for the guests staying there. We’ve circled the BW parking lot too many times looking for a spot when we wanted to go back to our villa there!

Edited to add - And too many times we’ve watched that lot empty out after the Epcot fireworks!

 

[Matrixleos]

Nope, if you’re staying at a Disney resort you park free at all the parks.

No, you park for free at your resort.

There are no parking charges. However, depending on how busy it is and other factors, you might not be allowed to park at certain resorts, specially the ones close to parks, like BW, if you don’t have a dining reservation or other reservation there. The parking lots are not large enough to accommodate the resort guests plus everyone else. Since POFQ isn’t close to a park, most people report being able to park to get beignets is allowed. For the near-park resorts it’s usually better to take Disney transportation there - for instance, for BW you could park at DHS and then walk, boat, or Skyliner to the BW.

No, parking at DS is free to everyone all the time.

We like having a car - it makes park hopping much easier. If we want to visit a resort, we make an ADR at one of the restaurants there, and we limit the amount of time we park in their lot to three hours or less, out of consideration for the guests staying there. We’ve circled the BW parking lot too many times looking for a spot when we wanted to go back to our villa there!

Edited to add - And too many times we’ve watched that lot empty out after the Epcot fireworks!

Thanks for all that info. Yeah it makes the decision for the additional costs for getting a Car Rental a no brainer. I also liked your recommendation to park at DHS and then being able to take a boat to the Disney Boardwalk. We've never taken a boat ride on previous WDW vacations and it sounds like fun thing to do on our departure day.

 

[Stratman50th]

I'm going to second what @CarolynFH said. Only because it's all correct and you now have the info.

 

[CarolynFH]

Thanks for all that info. Yeah it makes the decision for the additional costs for getting a Car Rental a no brainer. I also liked your recommendation to park at DHS and then being able to take a boat to the Disney Boardwalk. We've never taken a boat ride on previous WDW vacations and it sounds like fun thing to do on our departure day.

Oh yes, we love the Friendship Boat ride between DHS and BW. BTW, from DHS it stops at Swan/Dolphin first, then Yacht & Beach, then BW, then Epcot, then sails in reverse in the way back to DHS. You might want to take the boat in one direction and the Skyliner in the other. It takes about the same length of time as the boat even though from DHS you go to CBR, then change lines to get to Epcot, and reverse on the way back.