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Hoping to go to Orlando in June 2006 for the first time.
In the family group there will be mysef, my wife and 4 kids ( 2,6,9,15).
The question is, on a villa holiday is public transport frequent / good enough to do the parks without hiring a car. We are hoping to go to the Lake Buena Vista area.
Obviously for doing Cape Kennedy i dont mind having a car, but with the cost of hiring and Insurance, surely public transport /Taxis would work out cheaper for getting to the other parks.
While you might just about be able to manage a few things without a car, you will be very restricted in the choices available. America is not a country known for its public transport facilities and Orlando is no exception. Taxis are very expensive and you are wrong in thinking that the cost of Car Rental (check out the links on this site for the best all inclusive package, including full nsurance cover) will be more than taxi & public transport. Car rental from this site is very good value. There are a few buses - like to Busch Gardens, but even these are restricted and reduce your flexibility. Since you are going for the first time, you probably are not aware how much further apart A & B are in Orlando and vicinity and quite frankly, you could regret not getting a car. My advice therefore is that unless you have a strong reason not to be driving in the USA, get a car.
My advice would be to hire a car :)
Never done it without a car so can't give an opinion on how easy/difficult it would be. But I would definatley recommend the flexibility & freedom your own car would give you, not just to get to the parks but to all the other fun things to do and see there :)
Hello Baz,
Have you had a quote from the car hire link above....They are the very good, I'm sure other's will agree.
You will have much more freedom with your own car and with 4 children I'm sure it will be alot less stressful.[msnwink][msnwink][msnwink]
I would definitely budget for a car if at all possible.
Could I just ask which villa communities you have looked at if you are staying in the Lake Buena Vista area?
Same here - we "did" Orlando without a car many years ago when we were poor studants ;) and I would not reocommend it. Public transport is practically non existant as are pavements if you plan to try and walk anywhere. On top of this the temperature can also make it very hard walking anywhere - would definaltly recommend you go for a car. It is alot more resaonably priced than you think and well worth it - the cost from the airport in a taxi would go a heck of a way towards the cost[msnsmile2]
In Orlando, as elsewhere in the USA, "very near" often means around 2 miles. So even a simple thing like getting milk or posting a letter will require a car because it is too far to walk. WDW alone is a huge place and for example, it takes about 10 minutes by car to get from Animal Kingdom to Magic Kingdom. The non-Disney parks like Universal Studios, Sea World etc are considerably further away. You will find it very hard and very expensive to visit those places without a car.
Must agree with everyone else. You do need a car in Orlando, remember having a similar conversation with my brother the first time he came to Florida, after a day he thanked me for insisting he got a car. He also said that I do the same as the locals as I keep saying everthing is round the corner or just up the road a bit when in fact its miles away. Everything is so spaced out their is no shortage of space in Florida and I have never stayed anywhere that I have even been able to walk to a local shop.(well not if I wanted to be gone for less than an hour and a half)
Looks like i,ll be having a car then! Thanx for your help and advice everyone
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Don't think you will regret it, but you would definitely regret not having one.