Driving to Disney World

kikismom

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 15, 2019
I hope I'm in the right spot for this question, I've done some searching around can't seem to find my answer.

We are frequent Disneyland visitors and are planning our first Disney World trip for October 2020, I'm a bit overwhelmed by the amount of things to do and see at DW! My husband has a conference in New Orleans so we are planning on flying to New Orleans then taking a few days to travel along the Gulf to Orlando. We are planning on staying at Port Orleans - French Quarter.

My question, we are renting a car in New Orleans and hope to drive to the airport in Orlando to drop it off. Since we aren't flying in can we still use the Magical Express to our hotel? We know approximately what time we will be there to drop the car off.

I've been researching the hotels and feel like the one we picked is good for our family, it will be me, husband, and our daughter who will be 7. We are hoping for something small but with a good pool. We spend quite a bit of time at the pool each day. If anyone has other ideas for small with a good pool please throw them out there.

Thanks in advance!
 
As long as you are going to a Disneyworld resort, you can get the Magical Express from the airport to your resort.

As far as small - the resorts are not really small anywhere in Disney but French Quarter probably has the most intimate feel to it.
 
An option worth exploring might be to drop your rental at one of the rental desks/companies on WDW property and Ubering to your resort. Picking up/dropping off at airport rental counters are almost always more expensive because of the fees charged by the airport (which are then passed on to the customer). When you're pricing out your rental see if there is any difference in price just based on the drop-off location, you might be surprised.

Drive safe!!!
 


Watch out for the one way drop off charge by the rental company! It can be more than the actual rental. You may want to look into flying to Orlando.
 
Watch out for the one way drop off charge by the rental company! It can be more than the actual rental. You may want to look into flying to Orlando.

I looked at similar dates for this year and flying seems super expensive between New Orleans and Orlando. I can't seem to find any direct flights except for Spirit Air and we don't want to fly them or Frontier. With bag fees it adds up to almost $600 for flying. I was surprised such a short flight was so expensive. We live in Washington and flying similar trips on the west coast are really cheap.

I was planning on going through Costco but they only let you drop off at the Orlando airport, they aren't allowing a drop off anywhere else. I think we will just suck it up and pay the extra fees.
 


Watch out for the one way drop off charge by the rental company! It can be more than the actual rental. You may want to look into flying to Orlando.
We had a one way rental for five days picked up from MCO and dropped off at MSY. Cost was $58. Not even kidding.
 
Look for a Costco discount code for Alamo and book on the Alamo site. The car care center at Disney is Alamo and they will take you to your resort, at least they used to not sure if they still do, if not just Uber or Lyft to your resort. You can also drop off at the Dolphin Hotel which is an Epcot area resort, I know they have Alamo and I think others, but I've never checked. I've been able to get some very good rates from Alamo using various discount codes. They let you stack discounts, ID code and coupon for example. Weekly rates, at least 5 days, are much cheaper than daily rates so if you don't originally have 5 days it will be worth keeping it after you get to WDW for the 5 days. It is usually more expensive to pick up at one place and drop off at another, but in any case the airport will probably be the most expensive option.
 
I looked at similar dates for this year and flying seems super expensive between New Orleans and Orlando. I can't seem to find any direct flights except for Spirit Air and we don't want to fly them or Frontier. With bag fees it adds up to almost $600 for flying. I was surprised such a short flight was so expensive. We live in Washington and flying similar trips on the west coast are really cheap.

I was planning on going through Costco but they only let you drop off at the Orlando airport, they aren't allowing a drop off anywhere else. I think we will just suck it up and pay the extra fees.

Don't know if you looked at Southwest, but they have daily flights to Orlando, with several non-stop from New Orleans. And the prices are usually pretty decent.
 
I have gone from other area in florida and dropped my rental at the car care center on Disney property. There is a complimentary shuttle from the car care center to your resort. The Swan and Dolphin also have a rental car drop, you just need to tell the vallet staff upon your arrival. I cant think of the two rental car companies that use the WDW car care center, but they may be worth looking into for a drop off.
 
Don't know if you looked at Southwest, but they have daily flights to Orlando, with several non-stop from New Orleans. And the prices are usually pretty decent.

You are amazing! I just looked at prices for various dates and it looks like we should be able to get those flights for fairly cheap.

I have a new question. If we switch to Pop it will save us about $700 on the trip. We wanted to stay at PO French Quarter but that is alot of extra spending money.
 
If it's just you two I'd say switch to POP especially if you're coming in from New Orleans, you don't need to artificial one after the real one IMO.
 
We were talking about that. We've always wanted to stay at Port Orleans but that was before we were going to the actual New Orleans on the same trip. I booked Pop today.
Your daughter will love POP. It's my son's favorite: the food court is his favorite thing. And the newly renovated rooms feel very nice. :)
 
We were talking about that. We've always wanted to stay at Port Orleans but that was before we were going to the actual New Orleans on the same trip. I booked Pop today.

Once you see the real New Orleans you don't need to stay at POR. Wise choice on saving the cash and put that toward the flights!

I am from New Orleans and that drive is just miserable. Done it twice and hopefully never will again.
 
As my tell from my avatar logo, I am a huge fan of New Orleans and have been there many times. That being said, I think you made the right choice in changing over to Pop.

The drive isn't bad, but I would recommend seeing/stopping at the free naval aviation museum in Pensacola (and if you really plan it out, you can catch their free practice show).
 

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