Renting A Car

If you decide that the Disney Magical Express is not for you and your plan is to rent a car from the aiport (MCO):

1. Cheapest rate is not always the best deal.

2. At MCO, some car rental companies like Hertz, Advantage, Ace, Payless, are OFF TERMINAL. Meaning you must haul your luggage on a shuttle bus just to get to the car lot. This will drain your clock and your energy. Avis, Alamo, National, and Budget are in terminal and a short walk from the rental counter to the car.

3. It's also a good idea to use a rental car company that has an additional location close to your hotel. This past trip, our minivan had bad alignment and problems starting, and it was my responsibility to get it running and back to the nearest location to exchange it for a new minivan. Luckily, Alamo had a location less than 5 minutes away. Avis, Alamo, National, and Budget all have locations in the Disney area.

4. Minimum Child Age for booster & car seats is a different in Florida than most other states.

5. Rental car companies charge $60 per booster seat for any fraction of a week. On your way to the parks from the Airport, there is a Target that sells booster seats for $20. Your own car seats or booster seats can be checked as luggage.

6. Rental car companies offer to prepay your tank so you can return it less than full.

7. Rental car companies offer to prepay all your tolls for one flat fee. I find this to be very useful, if only as a time saver. You can fly through the tolls like an EZ pass without stopping and digging for quarters and wait in line while the people in front of you are digging for quarters as well. Florida has a lot of toll roads with which to bleed the tourists.

8. If you normally forget where you park, get a car with a distinctive color, or one with a remote alarm switch. We've spent a good portion of our lives walking aimlessly around character named parking lots searching desperately for the ubiquitous white minivan.