Check your southwest flights . . . to Tampa!

[Disney Princess]

This only helps if you are planning on renting a car. I just checked our SWA flights for late January, and we now have $88 credit per person for switching to Tampa instead of Orlando. We've done the drive from TPA before, so it doesn't bother us. And there's no way our rental car will be $240+ more (x the 3 people who received flight credit). If you aren't using ME - check your fares!

 

[Pinnochio]

nice savings....i've done this a few times too.....only an hour and ten to wdw....

 

[jwwi]

Just did this last month, worked out great, I was able to get the car rental for the week with my airline savings.

 

[agavegirl1]

Considering this for my next trip. Might stay in Tampa a night and do Busch Gardens. Thanks!

 

[scottmel]

We did this one year and I didn't mind it. DD however hated it. Claimed the TAmpa airport was depressing and loved MCO so much more! LOL hey if there is savings involved I will arrive underground if necessary! LOL!

 

[puffkin]

We did this for our Thanksgiving trip. Couldn't touch MCO, the prices were outrageous. I saved about a $1000 flying in/out of Tampa. I ended up getting a pretty fantastic deal on a minivan too for the week ($194 ). Plus with flying home that holiday weekend, Tampa was so much easier to deal with since its a smaller airport. We had no issues. I'd do it again.

We also flew into Tampa in June because we did Clearwater for 3 days before heading to WDW. That was really nice as well.

 

[My3kiddos]

Last week we flew in to MCO and out of TPA. The cost was pretty close, but the flight times were better. I was shocked that the rental car picking up at one airport and dropping off at another was cheaper than if I dropped off at MCO.

ETA: The one advantage of TPA is the flights aren't usually as full and if you don't get an A boarding pass you still have a good chance at sitting together because there isn't as many families with children boarding ahead of the B group. There were actually empty rows on our flight last Tuesday.

 

[kristenrice]

We are totally changing it up for our trip in May. We live 10 minutes from the Grand Rapids airport, 90 minutes from Flint and about 2 hours from Detroit. In order to save money and fly non-stop, we've driven to FNT or DTW multiple times.

In May, there are non-stops out of GRR to MCO for $155/person. I looked at FNT and the price is $130/person from FNT to MCO. That option won't work this time because the savings would only be $100 and that would be eaten up by parking and a hotel the night before. The FNT-MCO departs nice and early (6:55am) so we'd have a good chunk of day left when we arrive. OTOH, the GRR-MCO flight doesn't land until 4pm which means we'd have time for dinner and that's about it.

So, I decided to check TPA. FNT to TPA would be $122/person and it doesn't land until 7:10pm. Nope...not going to happen. Then I checked GRR to TPA...$115/person!! Even better, it is a 6:30am flight so we land at 9am! Even with the drive and a stop for groceries, we are still rolling into the resort around noon. So, by flying into TPA, we are getting in 6-7 hours earlier AND saving a total of $160. I rented a car from Alamo (via UCT) for about $65. We're going to stop for groceries and head to AKV, drop off our stuff (since I'm sure the room won't be ready) and then drop off the car at the Car Care Center.

Our trip home is an adventure too. I loathe having a "long" drive (i.e. to TPA) before a flight. I get so anxious with the slightest traffic delay and we haven't had the best of luck with our ground travel (flat tire= 3 hour delay, minor accident= 1 hour delay, DH hit a deer= 1 hour delay) so I am terrified we'd miss our flight. For that reason, I have no desire to fly OUT of TPA. I'd much prefer MCO so that I can use DME. I settled on flying MCO to FNT for our trip home. It's $119/person and the flight departs at 2pm...PERFECT. We'll get a one-way rental from FNT (about $40) which we can return the next day to GRR. I looked at flying home to GRR, but the non-stop flight is at 10am...nope, no way, not happening! I refuse to get up at 5am to go HOME. The price was only $8 more per person ($32 total) so we are actually spending a little more to fly home to FNT, but the times make it worthwhile.