Disneyworld with no car?

I'm posting this for a friend from work. She asked if it's possible to get around near Disneyworld, Florida with no car. Every holiday she has seen is fly and drive, and she isn't confident about driving on the other side of the road. I told her that I have absolutely no idea, but someone here should be able to chime in.

Thanks in advance.

It will depend on if she is staying on their property or very close or not - it is certainly possible if you stay in a Disney hotel and use their transportation system.  You can even get pretty cheap taxi rides if you want to run to a grocery store or somewhere else.

Thanks for responding so quickly. I think the Disney Hotel would probably be a bit too pricey - pretty sure she's looking for a cheapish holiday. I'll pass that on though, thanks!

I think a lot of the hotels in Orlando offer lots of transportation to the parks and there are local buses, etc as well.  A lot of the main strip in Orlando has resturants, etc in walking distance as well.  Been a while since I've been (nearly 5 years since I lived in Florida!  Time flies when you're having fun)

When my whole family went to Disney in 2006, we found that staying on Disney property would be cheaper overall. They have about 25 hotels on their property, from cheap and simple (yet still cute and themed) to luxurious. There are plenty of package deals to chose from, and if you stay on their property, you can get packages with vouchers for meals (which is a WHOLE lot cheaper than just buying food in the parks), and discounts on park tickets and other attractions.  Plus you can use their transportation  buses, trams, ferryboats, etc.

Tell her to pick up the most recent copy of Birnbaum's Disney Guide. It is a wealth of information.

I live in near Disney World.  If they are not staying on Disney property they will absolutely want a car.  The public transport is dismal and taxi's while cheap compared to London will eat a hole in the budget very fast, and they are not as convenient as a rental car by far.

M

I've stayed on both the Disney Park hotels and International Drive multiple times without a car.

Having a car while in the Park is unnecessary- usually a shuttle from the airport has been included in the hotel price (at least the last time I stayed at the Yacht Club it was)

On Intl Dr Almost every hotel there will have free shuttles to both Disney Parks and Universal, as well as a shuttle from the airport. There are also tons of restaurants you can walk to on the drive, or a really short cab ride (though usually you'd be at the park during mealtimes anyway).

There are plenty of package deals to chose from, and if you stay on their property, you can get packages with vouchers for meals (which is a WHOLE lot cheaper than just buying food in the parks), and discounts on park tickets and other attractions.  Plus you can use their transportation  buses, trams, ferryboats, etc.

A lot of hotels outside of the Disney properties have Disney ticket + meal packages & you pay a lot less for the room. Though I do loved the 4 times I stayed in the park & think if you have the money you should do it!

Frankly- unless you want to shell out for the nicer Disney hotels, I found taking a shuttle from the Int'l Dr hotels to the Parks was just as quick as taking the Disney shuttle from the cheap-ish Music & Sports resorts.

I think a lot of the hotels in Orlando offer lots of transportation to the parks

Absolutely! No need for a car at all! We stayed in a bargain basement Holiday Inn wannabe and had a free shuttle whenever we wanted it.

is it possible without a car, yes.
but you spend a lot of time waiting for shuttles.  I've had many friends come with the thought of taking shuttles, and say next time we get a car so we just get in and go.  If you are used to waiting around for someone else to drive you then you won't mind.

jmo,
M

is it possible without a car, yes.
but you spend a lot of time waiting for shuttles.  I've had many friends come with the thought of taking shuttles, and say next time we get a car so we just get in and go.  If you are used to waiting around for someone else to drive you then you won't mind.

jmo,
M

I agree, and I would prefer to get a rental car as well. Every time we go back to visit, we rent a car. I don't even drive! My British DH does the driving. However, my friend REALLY doesn't want to drive on the other side of the road.

Thank you everyone for your input! She'll be quite happy to hear about the shuttles.

The airport is nowhere near Disneyworld so she'll need to look into that as well.

If you stay on iDrive there's a lot of shuttles and a couple of the other places are walkable, or taxi-able for not much money, there's two ends to international Drive the cheaper end and the nicer end, so she'll need to do some research before she books.

I used to go for weird weekends there when I worked at Disney and my friend was an air hostess, we would fly out on a Friday night and back on a Sunday morning, and spend the entire time drunk and eating half price Disney food because of my staff discount.

We did Disney with no car, but we stayed on property at one of the value hotels. This was back in 2001 and we only paid 49 a night. BUT, I've had friends stay on International Drive without a car and they've been fine too and not had a complaint. It is doable.

she probably has already been but for anyone else thinking about this.

If WDW is the only destination then staying on property has a lot of perks.
1. Free shuttle from the Airport to your hotel
2. Free transportation within the Disney Grounds and you can go to Downtown Disney  and it is a short walk over to the Grocery store from there
3. Ticket deals and Meal Deals( Free Dining-so worth the cost)
4. Early entry into the Parks, during busy times this really makes a difference
5. no gas, taxi, or car rental needed 
6. SAFE -----------Not ending up with a hotel in a bad part of Orlando

check out a few Disney forums for other tips, Disney always discounts their rooms about 3-6 months before you are scheduled to arrive but these go fast have to join a forum to know when they are about to be released and jump on them

Since no one else has mentioned it, I thought I should mention one factor that your friend may or may not be accounting for.  I don't know about the hotels and such because as a Florida native it was always a day trip for me, but make sure she understands that if she were to get a car to take from an off-property hotel to WDW, parking that car at the parks is not free.  I don't know what it is these days, but it's never been cheap.