Can you rent a car at MCO and return at WDW?

[lionqueen]

I thought that you used to be able to rent at the airport and return to the Car Care Center but when I try to price it out the Alamo and National website does not recognize the Care Care Center? Has snyone ever rented at the airport and returned the car to the car care center?

 

[bumbershoot]

Enter "Celebration FL" and it'll show up. I have never been able to get it to show up just looking up "car care center."

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Yep, we have. I haven't rented with National, only Alamo. They don't, at least didn't at the time we rented in 2019, charge for different drop off location from pick up location.
Just opened my app to check, I saved it in my favorites
It's exact name and location is
Orlando Walt Disney World Car Center, 1000 Car Care Dr Orlando 32830, 888-826-6893

ETA - I used the above zip code to search in the National app and the Car Care center is the first choice to come up in the search results there

 

[Laurieannc]

We do this every trip that we fly down. Usually we use National, but our next trip we are using Alamo. I enter Lake Buena Vista as the return location and then on the following page you can pick Orlando Walt Disney World Car Center. You can drop the car off there and they have a shuttle to take you back to your hotel.

 

[OKW Lover]

Just a reminder that Alamo is not the only rental agency with offices on WDW property. Other companies have locations at the various hotels on Hotel Plaza Blvd. It might be worth checking for better prices.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We rented from Alamo in March (2022) and returned it to the Car Care Center without any difficulties, I think Alamo might have charged a fee since we didn't return it to the same pick up location. Just a couple weeks ago (in June 2022) we rented from Avis with pick up at MCO and return to their location at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista and that worked really well and there was no fee to drop off at a different location. The Hilton is right by the pedestrian bridge to Disney Springs too.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

We rented from Alamo in March (2022) and returned it to the Car Care Center without any difficulties, I think Alamo might have charged a fee since we didn't return it to the same pick up location. Just a couple weeks ago (in June 2022) we rented from Avis with pick up at MCO and return to their location at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista and that worked really well and there was no fee to drop off at a different location. The Hilton is right by the pedestrian bridge to Disney Springs too.

Alamo has never charged a fee, as such, when we’ve rented at MCO and dropped off at the Car Care Center. However, the rental cost can sometimes be higher than we’ve been quoted for the same rental period with pick-up and drop off at the airport. On a couple of rentals back in the late 20-teens, we actually got a lower rental cost for CCC pick-up with airport drop off Or the reverse. It was likely a function of the number of cars being dropped off at the CCC compared to the number being picked up. If they anticipated excess inventory building up at that location, the rental rate could drop to encourage more one-way rentals to reduce it. That was pre-Covid, of course, before they reduced the overall size of the rental fleets. Now, locations may be working to keep their inventory up to meet anticipated demand.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

We rented via MCO over Memorial Day and they couldn't have gotten more cars at the airport location. I forget now which side of the airport we returned on but there were so many cars crammed in the garage they were parked in there like sardines in a can, turned in all directions so they could fit as close and as tight as they could. I'm not sure their inventory is down at all now. LOL. Cause I know it can't be up cause if it was, they'd have to stack cars on top of each other. LOL

DH and I both commented that in all the years we've been renting we'd never ever seen anything like it.

 

[texmarques]

question: I'm planning on renting a car at mco, stop by a supermarket to buy some groceries, then drop off my luggage at Pop Century and finally return the car at the car care center. Is this feasible? If my room isn't ready by the time I arrive can I drop off my bags (and groceries) on bell services and come back to it later? If I get to do that, will I have to pay parking? BTW, when and how is parking charged?

If anyone could answer any of these questions, I'd really appreciate.

 

[FCDub]

question: I'm planning on renting a car at mco, stop by a supermarket to buy some groceries, then drop off my luggage at Pop Century and finally return the car at the car care center. Is this feasible? If my room isn't ready by the time I arrive can I drop off my bags (and groceries) on bell services and come back to it later? If I get to do that, will I have to pay parking? BTW, when and how is parking charged?

If anyone could answer any of these questions, I'd really appreciate.

Sure but you might want to check a grocery delivery service and see which is cheaper. You might be surprised and it could save you a lot of headaches. Bell services will take your groceries and bags, yes, and then you can be on your way. Parking is charged by night, so in theory you would not have to pay — but check your folio.

 

[texmarques]

Sure but you might want to check a grocery delivery service and see which is cheaper. You might be surprised and it could save you a lot of headaches.

I'm an international traveler, so paying anything by credit card is something I want to avoid the best I can. Also some of these delivery services, like instacart, I can't even download on my phone, until I arrive in the U.S., and that's a hassle. But thanks for the tip, anyways.

How would they go about charging for parking? If they do, and I have already returned the car, would I be able to contest the charge?

 

[chidseyc]

I did exactly what you mentioned last week. I was planning on using Disney transport during our trip and found that in my case it was cheaper to rent a car for one day from MCO and return it to the car care center. I did the same for my departure day. They won’t charge parking in this situation as long as you tell them. The car care center offers a free shuttle to and from your resort.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

We rented a car last week when we were there. We checked and compared prices between picking up and dropping off at MCO versus picking up at MCO and dropping at the Disney Car Care Center. It was about $300 cheaper for us to pick up and drop off both at MCO versus picking up at one and dropping off at the other. We were needing to pick it up on our 3rd day of the trip, so we just took an Uber from our resort to MCO to get it then dropped it off at the same location a week later.

 

[texmarques]

They won’t charge parking in this situation as long as you tell them.

Thank you for your testimony, but, and sorry if I sound obtuse, but who is *them*? I mean, who should I tell? The front desk at the hotel? Someone in the Parking lot? Or at the car care center?
Again, sorry for all the questions, but it's my first time planning a Disney trip (I've been before, but I was just a kid) and I'm trying to set everything up as best I can.

 

[daisy2013]

You sure can. We have done this multiple times. The ccc will give you a ride back to your hotel after you drop off the car. Bell services can hold you packages/luggage if your room is not ready

 

[sam_gordon]

I picked a random 1 day in April (April 8-9) from Alamo, pick up at MCO, return at Car Car Center (search for Celebration, FL if you can't remember the address). "Pay later" for a midsize was $107.

Changing the return so it was drop off at MCO, "Pay later" for a midsize was $114.

When we traveled to florida last January, we picked up at Tampa and returned at Sarasota and were charged extra. The best thing you can do is just price out your situation and see what makes sense financially.

 

[EACarlson]

Thank you for your testimony, but, and sorry if I sound obtuse, but who is *them*? I mean, who should I tell? The front desk at the hotel? Someone in the Parking lot? Or at the car care center?
Again, sorry for all the questions, but it's my first time planning a Disney trip (I've been before, but I was just a kid) and I'm trying to set everything up as best I can.

The guard at the parking lot. Explain what you are doing and they usually won't charge you. You may have to go to the front desk and explain again.

 

[chidseyc]

The guard at the parking lot. Explain what you are doing and they usually won't charge you. You may have to go to the front desk and explain again.

When I arrived the guard didn’t ask and I told the front desk when I checked in. If you go straight to your room and do online check-in I would check your account in the app to make sure there’s no charge. If there is, you can let the desk know.

 

[texmarques]

Thank you for all the help!

 

[Beachmom0317]

Thought I'd share my experience. We land at 9pm JetBlue next month. My kids will be exhausted and last month it took awhile for us to take the shuttle to the rentals cars. I decided to look into a Lyft to the resort, and then pick up the rental car the next morning at the CCC and return at MCO when we fly home. It gave me a price of $232 versus the $500 I was going to pay to do MCO pick up/drop off. Even if the Lyft on arrival night costs $45 were still saving. Worth a shot to always play around with your options!