We will be renting a car (Alamo through Costco) and wondering a few things. Number 1 - tolls. Can we just get the toll pass from Alamo? I read there was some sort of free toll pass you can sign up for but at this point, saving a few bucks is not my first priority. Easy is! We will do online check in and try to bypass the counter.
Second thing- we are staying at AKL. Should we drive to a couple of the parks. Not MK - we are planning on bussing there. We will probably just play by ear how we feel and if my DH wants to drive. I’m just looking for opinions.
You can get it there, you can get it at a kiosk in the car rental area, or you can possibly bring your own from home. I bring my EZPass and have had no issues with it. I recently had the brilliant idea to bring some of the velcro Command strips to attach it to the vehicle window, and I always set an alarm to remind me to take it with me when I return to the airport to go home.
Generally when I have a car I drive everywhere except MK, or if I know I plan to be drinking.
We rented through National in March. I didn’t do anything about tolls. I just drove, and let National bill me for the tolls later. I don’t recall them overcharging or anything. Anything I would have saved was minimal, and simply not worth the hassle.
ETA…actually, we did pay for SOME of the tolls as we drove, now that I think about it. But we didn’t have enough cash to do that for all the toll booths.
I’ve admittedly never rented with National, but there is a significant upcharge when you pay for the toll retroactively vs with a transponder. Could one view it as a convenience fee? Sure. for me I hit the tolls on the way to the bubble and on the way back. Probably minimal financial impact. But I would be wary of counting on that as an overall practice or advice.
Like you, we rented through National also earlier this spring without a transponder on the FL turnpike. It was all done by cameras looking at license plates. National will invoice you a $4.95 charge per day that you use the service. So, a $5.00 toll becomes $9.95. The service charge is on a daily basis, so you are only charged the days you actually use it, and you get charged to the same card you used for the rental itself. We got a receipt via email from HTA (Highway Toll Administration, LLC). It works well if you don’t mind paying the service fee (which I kind of do, but had no other option).
Yeah. I suppose it would add up if you are planning to drive on the toll roads a lot during the trip. For us, it really was just getting to/from the airport.
I rent Alamo through Costco. I fly JetBlue so until recently you could not pick up a transponder at terminal C.
Alamo has charged me $4.75 a day (not per toll, per day) plus the toll charge to drive through all tolls. I generally pay about $18 in tolls after my trip. It is a convenience fee that I happily pay. (Edited to reflect $.25 increase in toll charge)
I’m with you. At this point I’m thinking convenience is going to win out. Unless someone else wants to handle it! I have enough with all the Genie Plus/VQ. Etc. stuff to do.
Im glad to hear! I have no idea how crowded parking gets but hoping a lot of people take Disney transport. But No rope dropping for us this trip. We are West Coast so it’s difficult. It will be nice not to wait for a bus at the end of the night. The last time we stayed at WL and waited like 45 minutes coming out of HS.
Be aware if arriving later you’ll need to take a tram to the park entrances, else endure a walk that could be lengthy. Parking lots do get very busy even with lots of people taking buses.
And, just as an aside, you can pay for preferred parking - but the later you are the further back that is. Once we paid and were one row across from regular parking I was unimpressed.
I looked into this and I would recommend just going with Alamo’s toll pass that is already installed in the vehicle. You will be charged automatically for whatever the tolls you incur are, plus a flat fee per day that you incur a toll.
From Alamo’s website:
TollPass Convenience Charge
$3.95 - $5.35 per usage day not to exceed $26.75 per rental period. Charges are in currency of rental location, not toll location. There is no TollPass Convenience Charge on rental days that you don’t use a toll road.
Late arrival for sure - I would say most commonly after noontime - since they will put you in wherever a spot has been made vacant
But late morning I disagree because you’re unlikely to get put into such a spot with folks not having left yet, and more likely to be near to regular parking.
I would be mad if I got parked right by the regular parking! We are planning on going morning to Epcot and AK but not at the break of dawn. Epcot we will likely take a break though so preferred parking may be worth it.
I was unimpressed.