Orlando to Fll where to drop the rental?

My DD 10 and 7 have been reading Harry potter with their mom so I thought for our upcoming august fll cruise I'd take a detour to visit hogworth and diagon alley?

I think it's a 3 to 4 hours drive from Orlando to Fll but where would you guys suggest returning the rental car and then to the cruise port?

Or do you think this should be another vacation on its own?

J

If you are renting from Budget, if you drop off at the location on SE 17th St there is a free shuttle to the terminals.

If you are renting from Budget, if you drop off at the location on SE 17th St there is a free shuttle to the terminals.

And this location is almost across from the port entrance on Eisenhower Blvd. Otherwise most all of the other rental companies are located at the airport. If you turn the car in at the airport just grab a taxi to the port. Taxi fare should be about $12-$14 from the airport.

And this location is almost across from the port entrance on Eisenhower Blvd. Otherwise most all of the other rental companies are located at the airport. If you turn the car in at the airport just grab a taxi to the port. Taxi fare should be about $12-$14 from the airport.

We drove down the day before our cruise and returned the rental car to the airport and then took a taxi to the hotel. It was really easy. If you are going to use the 17th street location be sure to check their hours to make sure you will be in town before they close.

So sometimes a weekly rental is cheaper than a 4 or 5 day rental, is that what you ended up doing or were you there for a week...

My DD 10 and 7 have been reading Harry potter with their mom so I thought for our upcoming august fll cruise I'd take a detour to visit hogworth and diagon alley?

 

I think it's a 3 to 4 hours drive from Orlando to Fll but where would you guys suggest returning the rental car and then to the cruise port?

 

Or do you think this should be another vacation on its own?

 

J

If you have the time & schedule to make it happen, by all means go for it in one vacation. Budget is important, but you have to remember you are knocking a nice chunk of it out by already having flights to Florida so why not take advantage of that by doing Orlando.

How long are you planning to be in Orlando for? You said take a detour . . . are you flying into FLL, renting a car to Orlando and driving back down? Are you flying into Orlando, renting a car, driving to PE and then back to Orlando post cruise. . . or flying out of FLL after flying into Orlando?

If you can swing it, I definitely suggest staying onsite at Universal / IOA . . . it is pretty awesome. The pools are amazing and you get Express Line privileges and Early Access to the parks. But I certainly wouldn't hesitate to stay off site (especially with a rental). Some great hotels in the Orlando area that can be had for cheap.

Reply back with your travel dates/info and I can help out more.

So sometimes a weekly rental is cheaper than a 4 or 5 day rental, is that what you ended up doing or were you there for a week...

Rental cars are like Disney passes. The cost of a 4 day disney pass is pretty similar to a 7 day pass. Renting a car for 4 or 5 days is a similar price to renting a car for a week. In fact most rental car companies just charge the weekly rate (if lower) instead of the daily rate x the amount of days. You aren't obligated to use the entire week up if you rent it for a week.

Ok so this is what I'm trying to figure out...and thanks for the input - always appreciated.

I'm planning to fly down to Orlando and spend 2-3 days. Drive to FLL pick up the cruise from there and then fly home when the cruise is over.

Due to work and flight schedules, I won't arrive in Orlando until 11:30 pm...

They "key" is Universal because I want to take the kids to Universal, but specifically Harry Pottery (HP). I was looking at the hotels and Portofino Bay Hotel looks to be the best fit for the the family but I really don't want to pay $300 for one night especially arriving as late as I am...

So, option would be rent a car and then stay at a cheaper hotel and then go to Portofino Bay Hotel the next day, pick up the room key (can I check in early to get the express passes???)...if possible

Or alternative would be to take a taxi to the hotel and bypass the car rental for the three days and rent a car (there is a Hertz car rental on site) to get me to FLL.

What do you think?

Actually as long as I can rent from hertz I can drop it off at the hotel and save taxi fares and pickup some provisions. ...

The question I'm having is with young kids do I really need the express passes?

Ok so this is what I'm trying to figure out...and thanks for the input - always appreciated.

 

I'm planning to fly down to Orlando and spend 2-3 days. Drive to FLL pick up the cruise from there and then fly home when the cruise is over.

 

Due to work and flight schedules, I won't arrive in Orlando until 11:30 pm...

 

They "key" is Universal because I want to take the kids to Universal, but specifically Harry Pottery (HP). I was looking at the hotels and Portofino Bay Hotel looks to be the best fit for the the family but I really don't want to pay $300 for one night especially arriving as late as I am...

 

So, option would be rent a car and then stay at a cheaper hotel and then go to Portofino Bay Hotel the next day, pick up the room key (can I check in early to get the express passes???)...if possible

 

Or alternative would be to take a taxi to the hotel and bypass the car rental for the three days and rent a car (there is a Hertz car rental on site) to get me to FLL.

 

What do you think?

You COULD just stay at the Hyatt IN MCO...it's really nice, and sometimes you can get really good rates..plus all you have to do is claim bags, and go up to the hotel in the elevator.....and there IS a bit of a food court if you're hungry though at that time I think the only thing open is McDonalds (maybe 1 other place)...the hotel i think has food pretty late, if not 24 hour room service...it's a favorite of mine.

That way you can just pop down to one of the car rental counters, do your stuff, and get going.....I've done that too. Actually, I picked up the car, drove up to the hotel and ran in and loaded my stuff. I was able to get the doorman to let me leave the car for 5 minutes while they got my bags for me.

Then you can head over to the hotel and get settled. They would PROBABLY give you what you need for your express pass, but I am not sure how that all works.....It's likely that no rooms would be ready, but hey, you never know. Worst case, they store your bags, you go to the park, come back and crash in your room!

There are a gazillion airport hotels too that are cheap...just be selective. Stay with the bigger chains...the Country Inn is nice, most any Marriott brand will be fine (Meaning Courtyards, full service Marriotts, Fairfield Inn, etc) The Wingate Inn was nice as well. Some are older but they'd all be good for a night. I would steer clear of the real budget places.....

And yes, depending on how many days you need the car, check weekly rates too...sometimes it's the same or only a few dollars more. That helps..you will not pay less to return it early (most likely) BUT if your an hour or so late, they'll charge for a whole day. Meaning, if you've committed to a full week, needing only 3 days, but you're late on the 3rd day, you'll come out ahead as the hourly rates can be really high...

Car rental prices change like the weather too. I generally keep checking rates up until I actually pick up the car....

Have fun!!

BTW Hertz has a return location at the Crowne Plaza in Ft Lauderdale, which is basically opposite one of the entrances to the pier. They also have a shuttle too. (That's the one that is listed for Port Everglades..)

They also have a location at/near the Bahia Mar in Ft Lauderdale, the Harbor Beach Marriott, Hilton Marina, Hilton Beach resort, Hyatt Pier 66, Renaissance, and more. Those probably do not have shuttles and have odd hours, so you'd need to call Hertz to see when you could drop off the car, and if they offered a shuttle. That said, a cab from pretty much any of those places, to the pier should be in the 15-20 range, plus tip..or maybe less....

Actually as long as I can rent from hertz I can drop it off at the hotel and save taxi fares and pickup some provisions. ...

 

The question I'm having is with young kids do I really need the express passes?

If you are going to stay at the Portifino, the express pass is included as well as early admission.

So this is what I would do:

August 20 - Arrive 11:30 pm at MCO. Have an MCO hotel already booked (preferably with free breakfast included). Take the free shuttle to the hotel, check in and go to bed.

August 21 - Wake up, eat breakfast, check out and take a taxi to the Portifino Bay Universal. When you check in, hopefully a room is ready, if not, they will store luggage and you will have access to property. They will give you a room key to use as your "Express Pass" for the park. I'd head straight into IOA and straight for Harry Potter. Just enjoy the day at IOA and the pool area at the hotels (you have access to all of them). It's a fun park. Plenty of dining options at City Walk.

August 22 - Make it a late morning. Maybe some more pool time, something to eat, checking out the property, etc. Check out at 11 a.m. and pick up your car rental. The reason you do a late morning is because you want to make sure you only need the car for 24 hours. Nothing more. 11 a.m. is a good time to arrive at the drop place in Fort Lauderdale the next day.

I'd start making my way down south. Where you end up for the night is up to you. You certainly don't have to stay in Fort Lauderdale. You have a car . . . Boca Raton is a good stopping spot with nice hotels at lower prices (Embassy Suites) and the Town Center Mall is nice.

August 23 - Check out and arrive at car rental drop location by 11 a.m. Shuttle to port and enjoy the cruise.

would i really need the express pass???

kids are 10 and 7 - what rides would this be good for? HP is not included in the express pass and really, that's the main attraction for them...how long is the wait?

Haven't been there in a while so not sure....planned on going a couple weeks ago when i was there on a cruise but I had plans for Nassau and opted to just diddle around in PC and not drive all the way to Universal....

BUT many schools in the south will be back in session by the time you go....I would think wait times would not be horrible...

Check the height requirements...that might rule out some of the rides from the start.

I googled "harry potter universal good for kid"s and found several articles...not sure if any would be prohibited links so I won't post them, but there was some decent info....some of them even have photos of the rides..

Hope that helps!

would i really need the express pass???

 

kids are 10 and 7 - what rides would this be good for? HP is not included in the express pass and really, that's the main attraction for them...how long is the wait?

It's late summer, and school in Orlando is back in session . . . but you still will have a lot of tourists in the area that week getting in a late vacation.

The main thing here is . . . the Express pass is FREE with your stay at the Portifino Bay . . . so yea, you should probably take advantage of that. Even though the main purpose of this trip is for Harry Potter, I'd almost guarantee the kids are going to be interested in other things the park has to offer. Make sure you go to Harry Potter early to get it out of the way with a smaller wait and then you can always go again later in the day or near closing time.

Harry Potter waits can and will be over an hour during peak hours of the day. Less in the morning, less around closing time.

I think its going to be crowded regardless because they are also opening Diagon Alley this summer.

I'm still trying to figure out the logistics of the trip...

I could...

Arrive Tuesday night 19th, rent from Hertz and drive to a nearby hotel.

Next morning, Wed Aug 20 drive to Portifino, drop car off and off to universal

Stay till Friday and drive to FLL? Nervous of any issue, so should I drive the day of the cruise or the night before...never can figure this out...

We have done the exact same thing before with our family (my husband, myself and our two kids). We stayed at an offsite hotel the first night after flying into Orlando, then headed straight to the Hard Rock Hotel at 8:00 a.m. the next morning, checked in and picked up our room keys which serve as your express passes for US/IOA. We had already purchased our park tickets online and had them with us. We left our luggage there and headed straight to IOA for a great day on the rides with very little wait time thanks to the express pass. We took a mid-afternoon break to get into our hotel room and have a swim back at the hotel, then went to CityWalk onsite for dinner.

Also, I'm not sure if you're aware, but when you stay onsite for one night at the Universal hotels like Portofino Bay, Hard Rock or Royal Pacific, you also get express pass admission to the parks for the entire day on the day you check out. What we did was get up early on our second day, head to the parks and do the rides with almost no waits for the first part of the morning, and then went back to the hotel to check out. We rented a car from Hertz at the Hard Rock and hit the road to Fort Lauderdale around 1:00 p.m., then spent the late afternoon and evening at a hotel on the beach and exploring the area a bit. We dropped off the rental car the next morning at the Hertz location near the port before our cruise. We're planning on doing the same thing before our next cruise - it made for a great start to our trip!

Good luck with your planning and I hope you have a wonderful time,

MouseGirl

thanks mousegirl for the input...

i decided to just rent the first night at Portofino, even though we arrive late, so that when we wake we can just go...go...go...

where did you return the car in FLL??

We dropped our Hertz rental off at their Port Everglades office at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, at State Road 84. From there a free shuttle will take you to the terminal - 5 to 10 minutes drive. They run a shuttle to all the cruise ships from that office. The car return is inside the parking structure of the hotel, on the top floor.

Anyone know of one that is hilton close to a hertz rental area. Since I plan to stay Fri-Sat - going to drop the car off once I get to the hotel and then "park" myself there until the next night. Taxi to the port...

We are doing a similar Universal/Miami cruise around that same time. Was able to reserve from Sixt car rental for the 4 days Orlando to Miami for less than $140 total including taxes. They have an office relatively close to the cruise port- $8 taxi rate, and they will call a cab for you when you drop the car off.

The Express pass will be VERY handy! Staying onsite you will also get early entry- get there at the opening to do Harry Potter 1st thing, and then enjoy the benefits of the Express Pass for the rest of the day without the long waits for other rides!