Allegiant Air into Sanford and St. Pete

[Buckalew11]

I am hoping someone can tell me ( I have read search for this and get too many different answers) how long is the drive from Sanford to WDW resorts and from St. Pete to WDW resorts?

Allegiant Air is coming to Knoxville. We could fly from Knox. to St. Pete or we could drive to Chatt. and fly into Sanford.

Finding a way to WDW w/o renting a car is the most desirable for DH. He loves a towncar service to WDW (ME would be great also but service).

So, can someone here help me out? A lady at Sanford said 30 mins. but I find that hard to believe.

 

[Edd]

The drive to WDW from Sanford is 1 hour. You will usually come in about 1500 and so you would have to take the 417 to Disney because of the I-4 traffic. If you get in after 1900 than you would be able to take I-4. Car Service to Disney runs from $180.00 to $250.00 roundtrip. It is approximately 50 miles. Most car services will stop at a grocery store for you to get groceries. There is no bus transportation set up to get you to Disney. Check the internet for the appropriate car service.

 

[Buckalew11]

Thank you Edd!! I felt sure the lady at Sanford's welcome center was wrong about the 30 mins. I am not sure why she would have given that info (??). One hour sounds more like it. And thanks for the tips on the drive and the car services!

 

[gw_lit]

From Clearwater/St. Pete Airport (PIE) to WDW resorts, I'd figure at least 1:45 to 2:00 hours. If it's rush hour, getting across the causeway can add even more time.

 

[Lewisc]

Allegiant recently pulled out of a bunch of airports. They don't even run daily flights for most routes. I'd try to avoid them.

Doesn't Southwest fly out of TN? They fly into MCO so you could use DME for free as opposed to having to rent a car out of St. Pete or pay for a towncar out of Sanford.

 

[CarolA]

Allegiant recently pulled out of a bunch of airports. They don't even run daily flights for most routes. I'd try to avoid them.

Doesn't Southwest fly out of TN? They fly into MCO so you could use DME for free as opposed to having to rent a car out of St. Pete or pay for a towncar out of Sanford.

The closest SW airport is Nashville which is at least a three of four hour drive (I can't remember where in East TN Buckalew is)

However, I would watch DL once Alligiant comes in. THey defend TYS pretty hard and you might get a deal on them to MCO?

There are towncar services that do the Sanford run, its more costly then MCO, but cheaper then one would be out of St. Pete. I have done the drive from Sanford to MCO and I can do it in half an hour. Edd's probably closer since you do have the traffic issue to worry about. (I used to do some work at a site in Sanford)

 

[Edd]

Carol.

Kind of stupid. What is DL and TYS.

 

[Buckalew11]

Carol.

Kind of stupid. What is DL and TYS.

DL= ? I am not sure. Help Carol!

TYS= McGee Tyson, Knoxville's airport which is where I usually fly from/to.

Carol, please explain that for me too. I am not sure what you are saying either!! TIA

 

[Edd]

I got it. Once Allegiant comes into Knoxville, watch the other airport for better fares to MCO.

 

[Buckalew11]

Ohhh! Yes, when Airtran and Flyi were flying out of TYS, great rates were everywhere. Once they left the rates went sky high.
I am wondering if Alligiant will help with this though because they are not going to offer flights to MCO. Just St. Pete. (From Chatt. they'll fly into Sanford)

I need some good rates!!

 

[CarolA]

DL+ Delta airlines

Sorry!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Just adding that I have done the WDW to Tampa (St Pete area) and back drive a fair number of times, visiting the Tampa DIS folks when I'm there. I plan for about an hour and a half, unless weekday rush time, then could be up to 2 hours. I know last Dec, lots of construction near Tampa, pretty slow go. But it's an easy drive.

Good to see you, Bren.

 

[Sandi]

We flew Allegiant from Lansing, Michigan to Sanford in July. The flight was fine -- no frills, but the attendants were a hoot (good at their jobs and really nice people). They do not fly every day, but we got decent days and times. I am watching for them to open up February because I will fly them again (assuming they are still here). The fare was less than half what NWA, DL, and UAL were going to charge.

Our arrival time was rather late, so I was driving to WDW in the dark. We made it to SSR in just a little less than an hour (we ran into night time construction). Driving back to Sanford was a breeze. I love that little airport.

We rented a car from Alamo and was very satisfied with that.

 

[GoofyBaseballMom26]

I was really excited to hear we were finally getting another airline in Kville too until I saw the ONLY flight on Allegient is to the ST Pete area. Wonder if that will broaden any further once they get their feet wet here. There aren't that many Allegient flights out of St Pete either. I was hoping they would have cheaper flights to Vegas too since they are headquartered there, but I don't know if that would have anything to do with it.

I too am hoping Delta will lower their prices now. Although they are definately the cheapest to MCO out of TYS they are still $100 more per ticket than they were in 2005. Maybe the lower gas prices may help too.

As far as flying out of Nashville goes. I'd rather pay a little more and have the convenience of flying out of Kville than driving to Nashville and fighting the traffic there. It's a good 3 hours from Knoxville. An early flight would mean a hotel room too.

 

[Lewisc]

The option seems to be a 3 hour drive to get to Nashville vs a 2 hour drive from St Pete to WDW. If you're staying at a WDW resort DME will transport you to/from MCO for free.

You have to decide which alternative is more attractive.

As far as flying out of Nashville goes. I'd rather pay a little more and have the convenience of flying out of Kville than driving to Nashville and fighting the traffic there. It's a good 3 hours from Knoxville. An early flight would mean a hotel room too.

 

[Edd]

Lewis,

These people are getting deals where they are sometimes saving $200.00 per ticket per person flying into Sanford. Why would they want to go to MCO to get a free ride on a bus and pay the airlines, maybe $600.00 to $800.00, or more, per family. What kind of a choice you talking about.

Allegiant has been landing Sanford for over two years now and it looks like they have there stuff together to run out of a smaller airport. The scheduling is not like the regular airlines, I will admit, but the passengers are enjoying non-stop flights to an airport that is not jammed with passengers everyday. The taxi rides and the car service rides to WDW are double the price, but the money saved in purchasing a ticket to Sanford justifys it.

 

[Lewisc]

I'd agree with you if the savings is $200 per ticket but passengers are still able to book flights with SW for under $200 per ticket. Change the savings from $200 /ticket to $50 per ticket. Most of the savings will go to pay for ground transportation.

Now assume the passenger is flying into St. Pete, that was the post I was responding to. I'd expect passengers could rent a car, two one trips for not much more than $100 but a towncar would be prohibitive.

Allegiant is still deciding what airports they want to service. I'm sure they'll service Sanford, as long as they're in business. Recently Allegiant dropped some NE cities leaving customers scrambling. I'd prefer to use another carrier, if the fare was somewhat reasonable.

I stand by my suggestion of looking into whatever fares are availble with SW from Nashville. The poster can drive 3 hours to Nashville and take SW or fly to St Pete, rent a car and drive 2 hours.

I'll agree an $800 savings is enough to consider flying Allegiant and flying into Sanford but that's not what I said.

Edd--what would you charge R/T to tranport a family from St. Pete to WDW?

Lewis,

These people are getting deals where they are sometimes saving $200.00 per ticket per person flying into Sanford. Why would they want to go to MCO to get a free ride on a bus and pay the airlines, maybe $600.00 to $800.00, or more, per family. What kind of a choice you talking about.

Allegiant has been landing Sanford for over two years now and it looks like they have there stuff together to run out of a smaller airport. The scheduling is not like the regular airlines, I will admit, but the passengers are enjoying non-stop flights to an airport that is not jammed with passengers everyday. The taxi rides and the car service rides to WDW are double the price, but the money saved in purchasing a ticket to Sanford justifys it.

 

[GoofyBaseballMom26]

Do you think there is any chance that Allegiant might start flying into Sanford from Knoxville like they do from Chattanooga. (Everyone get out their crystal balls) That would be a great scenario for us. Let me know if I'm getting OT here, not trying to.

 

[Buckalew11]

Well, the difference for me is somewhere around 252-350 for a ticket on USAir or Delta compared to 98.00 on Allegiant. Big enough difference to drive to Chatt (an easy drive) and fly into Sanford even if I have to pay double what I normally would pay TTC to get me from the airport to WDW.

I would LOVE to see Allegiant fly straight through from Knox to Sanford. I would use them instead of DL because with Allegiant there, DL's price goes back through the roof. Since they aren't "true" competition for DL since they will only be flying from TYS to PIE, I doubt DL will drop their price. But we can hope for better news!

I wouldn't consider driving to Nashville to fly to WDW unless that was my only option to get to WDW. Of course, I would take off walking if I had to... LOL

And "Hi" to you too, Mr. Dan. Been missing you!!!!