Getting out and about in Florida to see the attractions almost always requires a rental / hire car, especially if you rent a villa. Only the central hotels and Disney hotels run shuttles to and from Disney, Universal and Seaworld, and even this limits when and where you can visit if you don’t have a car rental. Public transport is limited.
Hire or rental is generally cheap, we paid around £20 a day for a compact 4 door car in 2012. Watch out for the convertibles – great for 2 people but with a family the boot can often end up too small for all the luggage. Our Ford Mustang on one visit only had room for 2 large suitcases. You also won’t get a guaranteed model unless you go to a specialist, so that dream Mustang you always wanted relies on a bit of luck! Dollar gave us a Mustang in Vegas and Orlando but it does depend on who their supplier is.
When you turn up at the airport be sure to send a member of your party in advance to the hire / car rental desk. Orlando international airport run an annoying double baggage pickup system where you have to abandon your cases (again) to go on the train between terminals. Very frustrating. If you send an advance party you can avoid the queues at the hire car desks, which can be large, and save time. The car hire desks are one floor below where you arrive into the airport lounge.
Watch out for extras. Especially when you’re tired after a flight and only want to get home to your Florida Villa! We were once sold extra insurance we didn’t need, and specifically told we needed it. If this is the case then complain and get a refund at the end – it worked for us.
A car seat is expensive so take your own as the infant luggage allowance. We put ours in a cardboard box for the plane hold.
Sat Nav generally costs the same as buying a unit. Don’t bother – we found everywhere we needed without using a sat nav, there aren’t that many roads you need to use in Florida. It can add to the fun and atmosphere of the holiday!
Toll pass – we didn’t bother with toll roads and especially not the toll pass. It’s only a pain getting to and from the airport, but still can be avoided. The main I-4 is not a toll road. If you are venturing further then maybe consider it for long distances.
So once you’re done then exit the airport and the car rental place is across the first road and on the ground floor of the car park. Easy enough. Be careful exiting the airport and read ahead with the signs – Florida signs often don’t give much advance warning!
Getting around with a hire car is very easy. You will probably get annoyed with all the red lights – especially on the 192 (a reason why we picked a Tuscan Ridge location for our disneyworld villa) but remember you can turn right on a red signal unless there are specific signs saying “no turn on red”. Fuel is cheap (just over 2 GBP per US Gallon) but the cars use more fuel especially with all the stop start driving.
Watch out for rain storms – the roads get incredibly slippy as soon as it rains.
Just remember you are on holiday and relax when you take to the road!
