7 people, 1 car

[Snapper]

Hiya Experts,

My whole tribe will be in Orlando in August; 7 people in total. The current plan is to hire an Explorer or some other similar SUV that has the third row of seats. I'm trying to work out if an Explorer or similar would be big enough to ferry us all from the airport over to my villa on 27 in one single run. With the third row of seats up there isn't much room for luggage in the back. I'm flying in a day early to do some grocery shopping and sort the car, etc. but that still leaves the equivalent of 2 families worth of luggage arriving with 6 other people. My current plan is that sis and the kids do a runner through MCO and leave dad and brother-in-law to pick-up the luggage. We are hoping that the folks on luggage duty won't have to wait too long for me to get over to 27 and back for them - plus the kids don't have to hang around in both baggage reclaim areas after the long flight.

Anyone done anything similar or have any thoughts whether this will work or how to do it better?

Steve.

[pigletsplace2003]

Hi Steve , there are 7 of us when we go and we have always used a 7 seater people carrier ( Dodge Sport ). There has alwas been plenty of room for the 7 of us and luggage , would be a pain doing 2 runs from the airport so my suggestion would be to use the people carrier .

[janice]

Hi Steve,

Would it not be better for you to book an 8 seater mini van? At least that way you will have a spare seat that could hold some luggage and it can be belted in. We hired an 8 seat for 6 of us just to accomodate the luggage and 2 golf sets as there isn't an awful lot of boot space in the vehicles. The other alternative is to do it the way you said as it's only for coming from and going to the airport. Once you are there you won't need the extra space.

[Nostromo]

My party of 7 went this time. We booked an 8-seater and were given a Ford E-350, which would have been just right for ourselves and our luggage if it had just 8 seats. Unfortunately, we accepted the Dollar agents offer for a 12-seater free upgrade, which turned out to be the same van with an unwanted 4th row of seats in the luggage space.

Dollar seem to use Ford E-350s these days. As long as you make sure that it is an 8-seater, there will be enough space for the 7 of you and luggage in one trip. It costs only some £20 a week more than the 7-seater which has considerably less luggage space.

TWO trips to US27 after a long flight would be shattering to anyone. It takes close to 45 mins each way for those 3 trips. I think you would be better off doing it all in one go.

[fiona]

There were 5 of us last year (adults or adult size) + golf clubs (for one) and we had a SUV from Dollar at Miami. Very uncomfortable and barely enough room for the luggage - 4 cases and 5 pieces of hand luggage.

Once all the luggage was out we put back the seat in the boot which made the back seat more comfortable as it did not take 3 very well - something was digging in at the back all the time.

We've never had a mini van apart from 1 night when there was nothing else available, but we changed it the next day for a luxury, and although we are not keen on them, I would think one of those would accommodate you better than an SUV. Unless someone else knows better??

[Susan J]

The trip to the 27 twice would take you about 4 hours start to finish - I'd rather pay £20 than do that !!
Have them sit on the luggage or have it on their knees if necessary !!
Or if none of that is acceptable, have some people follow in a taxi.

[Nostromo]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Susan J
The trip to the 27 twice would take you about 4 hours start to finish - I'd rather pay £20 than do that !!
Have them sit on the luggage or have it on their knees if necessary !!
Or if none of that is acceptable, have some people follow in a taxi.
[/quote]

Most 8-seater vans have about twice the luggage space of a 7-seater and you'll be all right.

[Farida]

If you don't want to drive a van, then a 7 seater people carrier will just about get you to your villa ....and, depending on how much shopping you do, back to the airport.Remember you only have all your luggage with you twice on the whole trip.
However, if the 'van' doesn't bother you, you'll have a lot more room in it.
I certainly wouldn't recommend the two trips...and you would definitely have two trips in an SUV

[Trav100]

We have been with the tribe many times with different party numbers - a 7 seater people carrier is ideal with bags of luggage space too. This time there is 10 of us (2 drivers) so we booked a 8 seater mini-bus and a car - most of the time there will be only 6 passengers in the bus but therer is the option of 2 more if me and hubby want to drive off on our own somewhere in the car. Also we put Gold Cover on both so can mix and match drivers.

***.co.uk have fantastic prices on for Orlando - we got both vehicles and still saved money on what it was costing for 1 elsewhere - try them?

[gingerbear]

We have just returned from 2 weeks in Florida, we hired an 8 seater
GM Safari from this site. It was brilliant 6 adults, 1 baby and their luggage just about fitted.

I was going to hire a 7 seater, if I had done this it would have been a disaster, with 2 trips to Davenport from Sanford, especially with the roadworks on the 4 which we got stuck in.

You always need more space than you think, even with the 8 seater we would have struggled if we had bought any sizeable souvenirs.

Mind you the baby stuff takes a lot of space he had more luggage than any of us! even the wife!