So we are a month away from this trip...there were still a few details that were left unfinished...until today. Because we plan on spending two days at Universal we need a rental car. We would like to use that rental car to shop for groceries before checking in at Kidani.
For the past couple days, I have been checking around at various websites with a variety of options. I checked about renting at MCO, returning at WDW. Renting from MCO for the duration of our stay so as to return to the same location. Shuttle transportation to Universal and over to Disney taking DME back at the end of the trip.
Finally it dawned on me, what if we just got the car for a couple days and returned it the day after we checked in at Kidani. Our worst quote was $1450 to return the car at WDW, the best quote for duration of stay was $700. Shuttles to and from Universal/Disney was going to run around $200 total. Through AARP a four day rental would have run us about $250 and that seemed reasonable for the flexibility of a grocery run.
The only thing was I would need to get back to Kidani from the airport. I looked into a Mears shuttle, and when I indicated my destination, the website said that I DME was an option to the place that I was going to. I thought that you could only take DME if you had an airplane flight. So after about half an hour on the phone waiting for a Member Services agent, I finally got through. Turns out that since we want to return the car the day AFTER we check in at Kidani, once we get checked in, I can go to the DME kiosk at the hotel, and make a reservation for the following day. I can take the car back to the airport and catch a free bus back to the resort. The BEST part? We got a Mini Van through Costco Travel for only $147 for the three days!
Fran can rest in the room while I return the car and now we have our transportation all sorted out!
I'll be back later to report on some of the dining decisions that we've come up with too!