Best Drive from Airport to Animal Kingdom Lodge?

[TahoeTessie]

I read the 417 does not have cash booths anymore as of August 20, 2025. Does the 528 still accept cash and if so, how much? We will have a rental car for 14 days, so I do not want to spend $13.99 a day / $200 just to use the rental car toll pass and getting that hang tag pass at the airport might take too much time to set everything up. We will be arriving after 11pm after traveling all day from California so we will all be extremely tired. What is the best route to travel from the airport to Animal Kingdom Lodge? I am figuring it would be going north out of the airport, getting on the 528 west, hopefully paying a cash toll, going south on hwy. 4 and then west on Osceola?

 

[Mikey15]

Personally I believe the path of least resistance towards AKL is to head south out of the airport, take the 417 west, and get off at Osceola Parkway, which takes you right to the AKL entrance gate. Setting up the Visitor Toll Pass will make things easier.

You can also take the south exit of the airport past the 417 and turn right on Simpson Rd, which will take you to Osceola Parkway. I’ve gone this way before for some shopping stops on the way. There’s stoplights and such on this section of Osceola Parkway, so it is a slower way to go, AND there’s also a cashless toll section where Osceola Parkway crosses the Shingle Creek wetlands (the ‘headwaters of the Everglades,’ as they are known). You CAN dodge this toll by diverting down Dyer Rd towards US-192 and then back up to Osceola Parkway, but you’re again adding time and distance to an already slower route.

I’ve also gone a toll-free route out the north side of the airport paralleling 528, but it was worse. This starts with a heavily trafficked area near the Florida Mall, followed by either I-4 or a more convoluted route through the SeaWorld area to get to I-Drive.

 

[megsters]

The Visitors Toll Pass is really quick. You can have the app downloaded before you leave home. Just enter your rental car license plate when you get your car, and you're off.

 

[hardcorestitch]

I read the 417 does not have cash booths anymore as of August 20, 2025. Does the 528 still accept cash and if so, how much? We will have a rental car for 14 days, so I do not want to spend $13.99 a day / $200 just to use the rental car toll pass and getting that hang tag pass at the airport might take too much time to set everything up. We will be arriving after 11pm after traveling all day from California so we will all be extremely tired. What is the best route to travel from the airport to Animal Kingdom Lodge? I am figuring it would be going north out of the airport, getting on the 528 west, hopefully paying a cash toll, going south on hwy. 4 and then west on Osceola?

According to the Central FL Expressway Authority, the 528 is currently in a “cashless transition underway” status. Very soon, the 528 will go cashless.
Do you want me to give you a toll free route in this case?

 

[hardcorestitch]

I read the 417 does not have cash booths anymore as of August 20, 2025. Does the 528 still accept cash and if so, how much? We will have a rental car for 14 days, so I do not want to spend $13.99 a day / $200 just to use the rental car toll pass and getting that hang tag pass at the airport might take too much time to set everything up. We will be arriving after 11pm after traveling all day from California so we will all be extremely tired. What is the best route to travel from the airport to Animal Kingdom Lodge? I am figuring it would be going north out of the airport, getting on the 528 west, hopefully paying a cash toll, going south on hwy. 4 and then west on Osceola?

According to the Central FL Expressway Authority, the 528 is currently in a “cashless transition underway” status. Very soon, the 528 will go cashless.
Do you want me to give you a toll free route in this case?