Renting a Car from Alamo to Drive to the Port

[shaycamp21]

If we rent a car from Alamo (at the Dolphin) to drive to the location by the port will they shuttle you to the port? And to rent a car to drive and drop off at MCO will Alamo pick you up from the port?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

If we rent a car from Alamo (at the Dolphin) to drive to the location by the port will they shuttle you to the port? And to rent a car to drive and drop off at MCO will Alamo pick you up from the port?

I believe all the rental car options at the port have a shuttle to/from port to their Port Canaveral locations.

 

[dcassetta]

I have done both of these things with Alamo. So the answer is yes, and yes. I've also never been charged to drop off fee for that one way from the Dolphin to Port Canaveral.

 

[tarheelz]

I have a similar plan upcoming. Please someone jump in and let me know if this is a bad idea for a January departure from Port Canaveral.

1) Land at MCO on Thursday evening, pick up rental car at National (One Day Rental), and drive out to Cocoa Beach to spend the night (probably at the Four Points).
2) Get up in the morning, walk out to the beach, grab leisurely breakfast.
3) Drop DW and DD off at Terminal and drop car off at National location on Mullet Drive.
4) Take shuttle back to Terminal.

Upon Return:
5) Jump on National shuttle to rental counter.
6) Pick up car and return to Terminal to pick up family and luggage.
7) Drive to WDW for the Week!!! (Weekly Rental)
8) Return car to National at MCO.

The one day rental will be essentially free. (Just the taxes and the parking fee in Cocoa Beach for the night.)
The weekly rental is a given anyway as we'll be staying at BWV and we always like having a car for groceries and exploring off-site.

Any glitches with this plan?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I have a similar plan upcoming. Please someone jump in and let me know if this is a bad idea for a January departure from Port Canaveral.

1) Land at MCO on Thursday evening, pick up rental car at National (One Day Rental), and drive out to Cocoa Beach to spend the night (probably at the Four Points).
2) Get up in the morning, walk out to the beach, grab leisurely breakfast.
3) Drop DW and DD off at Terminal and drop car off at National location on Mullet Drive.
4) Take shuttle back to Terminal.

Upon Return:
5) Jump on National shuttle to rental counter.
6) Pick up car and return to Terminal to pick up family and luggage.
7) Drive to WDW for the Week!!! (Weekly Rental)
8) Return car to National at MCO.

The one day rental will be essentially free. (Just the taxes and the parking fee in Cocoa Beach for the night.)
The weekly rental is a given anyway as we'll be staying at BWV and we always like having a car for groceries and exploring off-site.

Any glitches with this plan?

Sounds like a plan.

 

[shaycamp21]

I have done both of these things with Alamo. So the answer is yes, and yes. I've also never been charged to drop off fee for that one way from the Dolphin to Port Canaveral.

Did they also pick you up from your Disney resort to get the car (do you call them for pick up) or do you just use Disney transportation to get to the Dolphin?

 

[bumbershoot]

Did they also pick you up from your Disney resort to get the car (do you call them for pick up) or do you just use Disney transportation to get to the Dolphin?

I don't think Dolphin has any shuttle services.

But you can price it out renting from Car Care Center, which does have a shuttle for most of their open hours.

 

[dcassetta]

The Dolphin does not have shuttles just to get a rental car. But you can take Disney transportation there. I have not rented from the car care center so I'll defer to others on this.

 

[byanks7]

I have a similar plan upcoming. Please someone jump in and let me know if this is a bad idea for a January departure from Port Canaveral.

1) Land at MCO on Thursday evening, pick up rental car at National (One Day Rental), and drive out to Cocoa Beach to spend the night (probably at the Four Points).
2) Get up in the morning, walk out to the beach, grab leisurely breakfast.
3) Drop DW and DD off at Terminal and drop car off at National location on Mullet Drive.
4) Take shuttle back to Terminal.

Upon Return:
5) Jump on National shuttle to rental counter.
6) Pick up car and return to Terminal to pick up family and luggage.
7) Drive to WDW for the Week!!! (Weekly Rental)
8) Return car to National at MCO.

The one day rental will be essentially free. (Just the taxes and the parking fee in Cocoa Beach for the night.)
The weekly rental is a given anyway as we'll be staying at BWV and we always like having a car for groceries and exploring off-site.

Any glitches with this plan?

Tarheelz
the only thing i would do differently is upon your return, take the whole family with you on the shuttle to the rental car company. that way, you get the car and are on your way

 

[byanks7]

Tarheelz
the only thing i would do differently is upon your return, take the whole family with you on the shuttle to the rental car company. that way, you get the car and are on your way

 

[shaycamp21]

Just a note to everyone--there is a big difference in price renting from the one in the Dolphin over the Car Care Centre one. We will just take Disney Transportation to the Dolphin as the cost is $40-50 more (for the one day rental) using the Car Care Centre for the same size vehicle.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Tarheelz
the only thing i would do differently is upon your return, take the whole family with you on the shuttle to the rental car company. that way, you get the car and are on your way

I'll just point out that, often, it's much easier for one person to get on a shuttle than for a whole party (with luggage).

 

[tarheelz]

Thanks, byanks. The most eminent Princess Shmoo is reading my mind. I suppose so long as we have the idea in mind that I might just jump on alone, if we are lucky and a shuttle is available for all three of us and our bags, we'll take advantage of our good fortune.

 

[fredandkell]

Thanks, byanks. The most eminent Princess Shmoo is reading my mind. I suppose so long as we have the idea in mind that I might just jump on alone, if we are lucky and a shuttle is available for all three of us and our bags, we'll take advantage of our good fortune.

I've done exactly what you said multiple times and never had a problem. Like other posters, I'd recommend the whole family taking the shuttle. The one time my husband went without us it ended up taking FOREVER; much easier to keep everyone together. The rental car shuttles are right outside the port and are very easy to get to, well-marked, etc.

 

[bumbershoot]

Tarheelz
the only thing i would do differently is upon your return, take the whole family with you on the shuttle to the rental car company. that way, you get the car and are on your way

I like sending one person with NO luggage because there's less of a line, less of a crush, and we don't have to tip the driver per piece of luggage that s/he touches.

Just a note to everyone--there is a big difference in price renting from the one in the Dolphin over the Car Care Centre one. We will just take Disney Transportation to the Dolphin as the cost is $40-50 more (for the one day rental) using the Car Care Centre for the same size vehicle.

Keep checking. The only absolute with car rentals is that there are no absolutes. That rate could flip tomorrow. It could be even the next day. Then start the cycle all over. Or maybe it'll never change.

 

[Impromark]

THREAD REVIVE!

We just booked a rental for our Thursday arrival at MCO ahead of a Saturday departure from PC. Dropping off the fam and the bags and then heading to drop off the car at Budget, then shuttling back seems a solid plan. What tends to be the best drop-off time to avoid the crowds, though? We obviously want to be there for as early an embarkation time as we can book...

And just so's I know, we can't literally WALK back to the port, right? There don't seem to be any pedestrian crossings to get there... But I'm a runner, and it does only seem like a couple miles from the Budget office back to the port. DOES anyone do this? Or am I on a (runner's) high here?

Mark

 

[Cheerio]

You can't walk, but it can take up to an hour to return car and get back to the port depending on lines (took DH about 25 minutes but there was no line and shuttle was packing up as he arrived)

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We obviously want to be there for as early an embarkation time as we can book...

You select a Port Arrival Time. Not an embarkation time. The terminal opens at 10:30, with boarding beginning around 11:15-11:30. Your boarding number (you get this when you check in at the port) is tied to the PAT you select.

 

[Impromark]

Sorry, yes - PAT is what I was talking about, and selecting the earliest one possible (for DCL first-timers such as ourselves, anyway) has been suggested by basically everyone.

I'm only concerned about some of the horror stories I've read here about people waiting for ages for the shuttle to come. Anyone ever been in a rental place waiting for the bus, thrown their hands up in the air, and said "The heck with this - I'm grabbing a cab. Who's with me?!"?

Mark

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Sorry, yes - PAT is what I was talking about, and selecting the earliest one possible (for DCL first-timers such as ourselves, anyway) has been suggested by basically everyone.

I'm only concerned about some of the horror stories I've read here about people waiting for ages for the shuttle to come. Anyone ever been in a rental place waiting for the bus, thrown their hands up in the air, and said "The heck with this - I'm grabbing a cab. Who's with me?!"?

Mark

I’ve only used the Alamo/National/Enterprise shuttle at PC. It looked to me like it ran almost continuously. The trip is reasonably quick once everyone is aboard. It was about 20-25 minutes between the time I dropped off DW and our luggage at the port and the time I was back there after returning the car to Alamo. The lot attendant checked in the car and I was ready to go directly to the shuttle. Going port to car rental pick-up, I had done on-line check-in at home, but there was no skip the counter option at the port location, so still had to wait in line at that end.