I’m so glad, I hope all runs smooth. Also just wanted to give my condolences for your loss. Sounds like a wonderful woman.
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Wanted to seek some input and share some insight on renting a large van for our group.
Because of my families poor sense of direction (putting it midly) and lack of knowledge in regards to technology (Uber/Lyft/MDE and also putting it mildly) I opted to rent a 15 passenger Ford transit van. I will be the only driver but don’t mind a bit. Actually prefer it.
Will drive everyone to the parks in the AM, drive whoever wants a midday break back to the house, and drive them back to the parks for evening touring.
So I checked prices from multiple companies. Picking up and dropping off at MCO. Got prices anywhere from $700- $1000. Kept booking when i got a better quote over the period of a couple of months. Lowest price i could come up with was around $675 for the week. However, If we were to pick up at CCC in WDW vs. MCO i got a quote of $400 for the week. My only problem was how do I get the 9 of us to WDW to pick up the van and save the $275. ( I brought this up in another thread but hoping to gather some additional insight here) DW already specified she does not want family to be left in the airport for a few hours while I uber to CCC, reserve, and head back to MCO. I thought about car service but there goes the $275 savings.
$400 a week for the van is a great deal. If i don’t go van and opt for 2 vehicles we would need at least 2 larger suv’s for all the baggage to and from airport. Then it’s double the parking each day at parks.
I know its “un-liner like” but im seriously considering renting a campsite for the day and utilizing MDE. If we get an early flight we wont be able to check in our house til 4pm anyway. This will give us a place to have some lunch on property and explore FW a bit. I could get a Minnie van or Uber over to the CCC while the rest of the fam is petting the horses. And my DD29 said her and DD14 would love to camp out on night 1 if we pop over to Wal-Mart and pick up a cheapie 2 man tent. I doubt they will once they see the house. But who knows. So do I have to turn in my liner card if I choose this as an option?
There has been some chat about renting campsites that are used for this purpose. Some folks think its genius. Others think its a bit manipulative - especially during peak times when the campsites sell out. But if your daughter does intend to use the campsite, there is no manipulation there at all. However, you have to scan your MB in order to gain access to MDE. If you all aren’t on the reservation, I can’t see how you would all be allowed to ride MDE…
A 7 or 8 passenger Shuttle van in 2017 only cost me $60 or $70 one way from MCO to Disney Springs area. Put the kids with the bulk of the folks in that, and the balance of the people can take a cheap Uber/Lyft over to CCC. I haven’t priced this, but I imagine this would cost roughly $100 total. Depletes some of the savings, but not the full $275.
You can have 9 on a campsite reservation afaik.
As long as someone intends to use it I don’t see a problem.
The real problem, IMO, is when people book to get the FPs etc and then cancel. I wish they’d actually stop that; they could just follow through on their warning that you’ll lose the FPs - tie the FPs to a reservation AND ticket, not just the ticket.
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You’re right! Its up to 10 people.
What is AFAIK?
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Thanks for the tip @SillySamsMom. I’m not wanting to sound cheap, we will easily be dropping 10k+ on this trip when everything is said and done. But why should I pay almost $300 more when I don’t have to. I had no idea there were shuttles from MCO to DS or WDW. A car service for 9 + bags was going to be more than the savings. But if we can spend $100 and still save almost $200 I’m inclined to check into that. That would easily pay for a dinner one night for our group (offsite of course)Thanks for the tip.
Thanks @Nicky_S. This intrigues me. I’d love to have the rest of family experience DME. It would also be nice to spend time at the resort before our check-in. If flight was early enough I’d love for the family to have breakfast at trails end. I hear good things about the buffet there. My Dgd would love to see the horses and ponies and possibly ride one. We are 3rd generation campers. We have had seasonal sites where we live going back 30 years so just being able to relax at the site until our check-in time would be fun for us. I’m also sure DD’s would love spending the night there. DD29 is like a 2nd mom to DD13. They go on overnights together all the time. Camping, skiing, indoor water park excursions, etc…
This only works if im able to get an early flight though (before noonish). After that it’s value diminishes. DD’S could still spend the night but we’d likely give up DME, breaky @ TE, exploring resort, pony rides, hanging at the campsite, etc… If we arrive afternoon it just makes sense to head towards our rental home and stop off and pick up some supplies/groceries.
AFAIK = as far as i know
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I do not, in any way, think you sound cheap. Disney vacations are not cheap! I just recently asked DH if he wouldn’t mind eating a PB&J 1 or 2 days a week to save us $30-50 per lunch for quick service!
I used Platinum Transportation for our shuttle. I just did a quick online chat with them for you. 9 people, $120 flat rate. Gratuity not included. What they didn’t tell me was WHERE to meet them when i used them and we ended up with a slight delay due to that. So, with whatever you choose, make sure you know clearly where to meet them.
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Our cost last year at $60-70 was for 5 people. So, maybe breaking up the group would be worthwhile… anyway, food for thought!
@SillySamsMom…OMG that was so thoughtful of you. Thank you very much. Im going to look into the cost of splitting it up between that and an uber but even at $120 + tip that would save enough for an off-site dinner.
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You are so very welcome!! I am happy to help in any way that I can!
I am also going in October. Our first MNSSHP.
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You know you can do all that, except MDE of course, without staying onsite?
Take a rest day and do breakfast, the fun stuff at Fort Wilderness, (ponies, kayaking, archery …), walk over to WL, boat ride around the lake (there’s a circular boat that goes FW, WL, CR, FW etc, or the other way round - sometimes at busy times they do both ways).
Hop off at CR, ride the monorail round, do the Epcot loop, resort hop at Poly and GF.
The possibilities are endless lol!
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I think you mean DME (Disney’s Magical Express), not MDE (My Disney Experience)? Easy trip-up.
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Well caught! 
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We will be going 17th-24th but skipping the MNSSHP. Not sure it would suit our group. Hopefully we’ll cross paths.
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This is quite true but the main reason for doing it would be to utilize DME to get to property and then CCC to pick up the rental and save the $275. All the other stuff would be a bonus.
Here’s another money saving tip that may come in handy for large group planning. I’ve got reservations for the rental van to and from our local airport on arrival and departure days. We were going to do a car service but we live well over an hour from the airport and the cost was going to be $300 each way for 9 of us. I decided to rent the same 15 passenger transit van we will ne renting in WDW and drive us all to and from our local airport myself. $100 each way so total savings of about $400.
Lol, I know a lot of my posts sounds like I am always looking to save a buck, well alrhough thats true, thats not what this trip is all about. We will be doing character meals everyday, BBB for Dgd, dessert party or Illuminations cruise ( havnt decided which one. Maybe both), dinner show (HDDR or SoA, again havnt decided which one.) EMM for the whole group, and lots of other fun things. But if I can save a hundred here and a hundred there I’m thrilled to be putting those hundreds right back into the trip for all the extras.
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Lol, I’ll update how I saved money on purchasing park tickets and also how we saved on our off property rental home tomorrow or the next. Its late and I gotta a busy day ahead.
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