Car seat rentals?

[Valentina1234]

We are travelling to Disneyland with our 2 and 5 year olds. I'm contemplating bringing the car seats or just renting them through our car rental at the airport. Any advice on which is the better option?

 

[LMO429]

omg i am in the process of trying to figure this out for disneyworld. not sure what to do there are pros and cons of both.

the pros of your own car seat is you know they are safe and not beat up but the con of it you have to lug them throughout the airport or gate check. i would not check my car seat like luggage that is for sure

 

[Gracie09]

bring the car seat for the 2 year old and have her sit in it on the flight.
Bring a low back booster for the 5 year old and carry it on as one of your carry-ons.

 

[Valentina1234]

bring the car seat for the 2 year old and have her sit in it on the flight.
Bring a low back booster for the 5 year old and carry it on as one of your carry-ons.

Unfortunately my 5 year old is not 40lbs yet.. I'm in Canada so she has to be 40lbs for the booster. So I will have 2 big car seats. We are able to check both car seats free of charge on the airplane which is great. Just don't want the hassle of installing them when we get there. Hard decision!

 

[LYSE]

I did some research on this recently and also traveled recently with our seat... (it sucks)

If you go through the rental company there are several stories about getting the expired seats or the wrong type of seat...then you are just stuck.

Unfortunately the best solution I was able to come up with is buying a dedicated light weight travel car seat that is easier to lug around.

For our WDW trip in 6 months we are going to buy this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00II43SN6/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1

It's not the lightest one..but it's the lightest one that uses the latch system that I can find (I want an easy install in the rental..)

 

[LMO429]

I did some research on this recently and also traveled recently with our seat... (it sucks)

If you go through the rental company there are several stories about getting the expired seats or the wrong type of seat...then you are just stuck.

Unfortunately the best solution I was able to come up with is buying a dedicated light weight travel car seat that is easier to lug around.

For our WDW trip in 6 months we are going to buy this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00II43SN6/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1

It's not the lightest one..but it's the lightest one that uses the latch system that I can find (I want an easy install in the rental..)

Is this one FAA approved?

Does it fit on the actual airplane?

 

[Valentina1234]

If you rent through the car rental company, do you still have to install the car seats yourself? Anyone know?

 

[Muskrat191]

Both your children can use their car seats on the plane. This guarantees that car seat is not damaged by the airline staff, and you have a seat when you arrive that you are familiar with to install and use in the rental car. Transport Canada recommends the use of child restraints on aircraft until age 7 or 49" tall: https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviat...vices-referencecentre-acs-600-605-003-493.htm

I am in Canada and have travelled with both lightweight (Evenflo Sureride/Titan 65) and heavier (Clek Fllo, Diono Radian RXT) seats. I use a folding luggage cart to move the seats through the airport, and then place the cart in the overhead bin.

 

[Muskrat191]

If you rent through the car rental company, do you still have to install the car seats yourself? Anyone know?

I bring my car seats so I don't have to rent, so I have no personal experience. However, a quick Google came up with this link for Enterprise that says the customer installs a rented seat: https://enterprise.custhelp.com/app...hild-safety-seats?---north-american-locations I would assume other rental companies would be similar.

 

[LYSE]

Is this one FAA approved?

Does it fit on the actual airplane?

Yes it's FAA approved, its basically just a Disney Themed Cosco APT 40RF which is FAA approved..it's a little wide though (I think 22-23 inches) so just keep that in mind with today's narrow seats..it may infringe on your space if you plan to use it on the plane.

 

[oceanwave]

I would bring your own carseats with you and use them on the plane. The problem with renting a car seat is that you don't know the history of the car seat. You would also have to install the seat yourself. Just make sure the carseat will fit in the plane seats. I use the Envenflo Titan 65 just for travelling as it's lightweight. You could also look at the Cosco Scenera Next for your 2 year old.

 

[eddyeddy]

We are going September for 10 days staying on Disney Property with a 5 and 2 year-old.

I'm getting a rental car and while the rest of family goes for Disney Magical Express I'm gonna collect the car seats that shall be bought online at Target or Walmart. Looking for Cosco Scenera for my 2 year old also and trying to find a harnessed convertible to booster car seat for my older girl.

So far I got to the following options
https://intl.target.com/p/cosco-hig...-car-seat-vibrant-red/-/A-50738398#lnk=newtab
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O8RRFZ4/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza?th=1

 

[MissMet]

We travel with ours & check them with the luggage. We have travel bags for them that have wheels & backpack straps. They check for free & you can cram all the diapers, wipes, and anything else you want for that matter in the bag & they don't charge you- as long as there's a carseat somewhere in there. So it ends up saving us a little money since it cuts back on the number of checked bags we need. We've never had ours damaged in any way during travel & we're coming up on our 11th & 12th flights with carseats. If you're worried about them getting damaged, then I'd buy a really lightweight, cheap carseats & check them- they're near indestructible. Dealing with carseat throughout the airport, security, and on & off the planes is a deal breaker for me. Way too much work, plus they take up a lot of room in the row itself. My kids like to move around some & play more freely where if they were in their carseats, there's not much leeway or space.

One time we rented them through the car rental agency. Not only are they dirty & expensive but you still have to install them yourself & now you're dealing with an unfamiliar carseat, with no directions. If I have to install a carseat, I'd much rather one I know well.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

If you rent through the car rental company, do you still have to install the car seats yourself? Anyone know?

It has been awhile since our daughter has been in a car seat but when we did travel to Disneyworld and rented a car and rented a car seat, you had to install it yourself. They do not want to be responsible if it's installed in correctly. I do recall car seat rentals being a bit on the dated side. I hated renting a car seat but I did not want to lug one from California to Florida either (and the younger years...a stroller on top of that).

 

[Valentina1234]

We travel with ours & check them with the luggage. We have travel bags for them that have wheels & backpack straps. They check for free & you can cram all the diapers, wipes, and anything else you want for that matter in the bag & they don't charge you- as long as there's a carseat somewhere in there. So it ends up saving us a little money since it cuts back on the number of checked bags we need. We've never had ours damaged in any way during travel & we're coming up on our 11th & 12th flights with carseats. If you're worried about them getting damaged, then I'd buy a really lightweight, cheap carseats & check them- they're near indestructible. Dealing with carseat throughout the airport, security, and on & off the planes is a deal breaker for me. Way too much work, plus they take up a lot of room in the row itself. My kids like to move around some & play more freely where if they were in their carseats, there's not much leeway or space.

One time we rented them through the car rental agency. Not only are they dirty & expensive but you still have to install them yourself & now you're dealing with an unfamiliar carseat, with no directions. If I have to install a carseat, I'd much rather one I know well.

Thanks, I agree with much of what you said and am definitely leaning towards bringing our own.

 

[TOBS2010]

So three years ago we rented a car in Florida and asked for a carseat. I too at the time was debating back and forth about bringing our own or just using that one. It was a major appeal that we wouldn't have to lug the stroller, a diaper bag, back pack with some extra toys and books and a carseat through the airport. I was warned by friends to check the carseat at the gate, as opposed to putting it in with the luggage to reduce the likelihood of damage to the carseat being tossed around a ton with all the suitcases.

I ended up deciding to get a carseat bag that DH could wear on his back to carry it. At one point we also were pushing it around in the stroller when DS wanted to be carried in the airport after landing. I can not express to you how glad that we had his carseat with us because when we got to the car rental counter the carseat that they had was disgusting---and much older than anything DS had ever ridden in. Thankfully we were able to decline the carseat they had and install our own. They do not install them by the way---that's all on you.

Moral of the story---for safety and sanitary reasons I would recommend bringing your own.