Disney to Tampa Bay?

[Gnat]

Hello

We are going to Disney for 10 days late January. On Tuesday Jan 25th we have tickets for a Lightning game - How hard is it going to be to drive there and back (staying at All Star Sports)? How long will it actually take? Will we be in rush hour traffic on the way there?

The game starts at 7:30 so would like to be there about 6:30 to give us a safety cushion of time.

We have never even been to Florida before so we honestly have no clue! All help would be greatly appreciated!


Thanks

*Oh and for those of you read my location and knew that Tampa Bay is playing the Leafs that night - Yes we are driving 24 hours to get to Florida to watch a team that is based 2 hours away from where we live!!!! Pure coincidence!

 

[drew64]

Depending on traffic it should be about 90 minutes each way.

 

[Magicbus]

Just a little clarification. Tampa Bay is not the name of any municipality. This misconception probably stems from the naming of several professional sports teams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Tampa Bay Rays, which are located in St. Petersburg. It refers to the collective Tampa Bay Area, the hub of which is the city of Tampa. So you'll actually be driving to Tampa.

 

[goofy4tink]

If it were me, I would leave WDW by 4:30. Traffic in the Tampa area can get nasty. People say that Boston drivers are nuts??? Yeah, not so much when compared with Tampa drivers. It takes about 70 mins to drive from WDW to the airport area....at a pretty non-busy time of day. I would leave 2 hrs to make the drive..just in case.

 

[Letsbgoofy]

I just wanted to add that it's an easy drive. We flew into Tampa 2 years ago so my son could go to his cousins graduation before our WDW trip. I was surprised how easy it was to get from USF to WDW. My friend lives in the Tampa area and we had some trouble getting to her house (we should have brought the GPS) and it gave me the idea that this was a difficult trip but it's really not.

I didn't notice that the drivers were bad and I'm from a small town, but this was also the weekend and no rush hour. It took us a little over an hour from USF (which I believe is right in Tampa) to Disney - no traffic but it was about 10 pm.

 

[Detailor]

Hello

We are going to Disney for 10 days late January. On Tuesday Jan 25th we have tickets for a Lightning game - How hard is it going to be to drive there and back (staying at All Star Sports)? How long will it actually take? Will we be in rush hour traffic on the way there?

The game starts at 7:30 so would like to be there about 6:30 to give us a safety cushion of time.

We have never even been to Florida before so we honestly have no clue! All help would be greatly appreciated!


Thanks

*Oh and for those of you read my location and knew that Tampa Bay is playing the Leafs that night - Yes we are driving 24 hours to get to Florida to watch a team that is based 2 hours away from where we live!!!! Pure coincidence!

It's about 70 miles from All Star Sports to the St. Pete Times Forum where the Lightning plays in Tampa. Most of that mileage is highway mileage so it goes pretty quickly until you get to the immediate area of the arena. It'll probably take just under an hour and a half (if you happen to drive at about the speed limit) to get near the arena and you should expect some additional time due to what I think would be weekday rush hour traffic and to find a parking lot. Getting there early will typically allow you to park closer to the event. If it were me I'd start out at two and a half hours before the time that you want to enter the arena to give myself a cushion and then I'd be happy if I didn't have to deal with any of those traffic concerns & just getting there early.

Dick Taylor

 

[cbg1027]

When I drove from Clearwater (west side of Tampa Bay) to All Star Sports at a non-rush hour time, it took me exactly 90 minutes.

So I agree with the other posters, I would give it 2 hours since you'll be driving during rush hour.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

In December 2007 my Dad and I drove from the Polynesian to Tampa to see the Leafs play the Lightning and it took us about an hour getting to the St. Pete Times Forum. Now we got down there a couple of hours before the game to be on the safe side and we were able to park in a lot across the street from the arena, so once the game was over we had no problems finding our car and getting back onto I-275 and then I-4.

I also wanted to say if you haven't been to a Leafs game in Tampa before it's great because when I went there was a lot of Leafs fans, so it's almost like watching them play at the Air Canada Centre.

 

[goofy4tink]

In December 2007 my Dad and I drove from the Polynesian to Tampa to see the Leafs play the Lightning and it took us about an hour getting to the St. Pete Times Forum. Now we got down there a couple of hours before the game to be on the safe side and we were able to park in a lot across the street from the arena, so once the game was over we had no problems finding our car and getting back onto I-275 and then I-4.

I also wanted to say if you haven't been to a Leafs game in Tampa before it's great because when I went there was a lot of Leafs fans, so it's almost like watching them play at the Air Canada Centre.

An hour??? Did the wheels hit the pavement at all??? I'm pretty heavy on the gas pedal, but it has never taken me an hour to get from
WDW (and that would be BW) to Tampa International. I use that as a reference point simply because my ds lives about 8 miles from there...and he is on the way to St Pete...St Pete would be another 15 or so mins down the road from ds. It takes about 90 mins to get from WDW to St Pete.
I just don't want anyone to underestimate how long it will take them to get from WDW to Tampa/St Pete.

Oh, and for the record, I didn't say the drivers were 'bad' per se, but they are fast. I'm not all that used to traffic merging on the left, at speeds of 80+ mph...or bumper to bumper moving at 70-75..especially when I'm not entirely sure of where I'm going. That was my point...it wasn't that they were bad drivers..just very 'peppy' and prone to snap judgements in lane changes.

 

[Gnat]

Thanks for the responses everyone!!

Would the rush hour traffic in the evening be heading towards Tampa or out of Tampa? I assume out - people going home from work???



CR Resort Fan 4 Life - Would you be able to give me a comparison of what driving in Tampa is compared to sections of Toronto??? I'm from a very small town and driving into some parts Toronto is a bit chaotic to me - will it be a high strung drive????? And I've actually never been to a Leaf game at all

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

An hour??? Did the wheels hit the pavement at all??? I'm pretty heavy on the gas pedal, but it has never taken me an hour to get from
WDW (and that would be BW) to Tampa International. I use that as a reference point simply because my ds lives about 8 miles from there...and he is on the way to St Pete...St Pete would be another 15 or so mins down the road from ds. It takes about 90 mins to get from WDW to St Pete.
I just don't want anyone to underestimate how long it will take them to get from WDW to Tampa/St Pete.

Oh, and for the record, I didn't say the drivers were 'bad' per se, but they are fast. I'm not all that used to traffic merging on the left, at speeds of 80+ mph...or bumper to bumper moving at 70-75..especially when I'm not entirely sure of where I'm going. That was my point...it wasn't that they were bad drivers..just very 'peppy' and prone to snap judgements in lane changes.

Well it was around an hour because we had left sometime in the afternoon and we didn't run into any problems along I-4 or I-275, so those factors helped. Plus the exit for the St. Pete Times Forum was either the 2nd or 3rd exit one once on I-275, so we didn't spend a long time on there.

CR Resort Fan 4 Life - Would you be able to give me a comparison of what driving in Tampa is compared to sections of Toronto??? I'm from a very small town and driving into some parts Toronto is a bit chaotic to me - will it be a high strung drive????? And I've actually never been to a Leaf game at all

From what I can remember driving to the St. Pete Times Forum was easy once we were on the various streets in Tampa, because we had printed directions from Map Quest before we left. Plus like I said before we got down there a few hours before the game so there was no issues with traffic. Now after the game there was a some traffic because everyone was trying to leave at once, so it be like any city once a sporting event has finished.

 

[DOOM1001]

I've done the drive dozens of times from the Tampa area to Orlando.Since a lot of those drives were from Busch Gardens to the Disney/Universal area I've always timed my trips from Fowler ave and I-75 which is about 3-4 miles north of I-4,from this location it's always been about 1 hour and 10 minutes to the Disney area and another 10 minutes to I-Drive and Universal.So unless you get bad traffic 2 hours should be enough to get there find the arena and park.

 

[5boyz]

Thanks for the responses everyone!!

Would the rush hour traffic in the evening be heading towards Tampa or out of Tampa? I assume out - people going home from work???



CR Resort Fan 4 Life - Would you be able to give me a comparison of what driving in Tampa is compared to sections of Toronto??? I'm from a very small town and driving into some parts Toronto is a bit chaotic to me - will it be a high strung drive????? And I've actually never been to a Leaf game at all

I live in Brampton, a not so small town anymore and I am freaked out driving in TO..... BTW.....I LOVE MUSKOKA....

 

[Gnat]

I live in Brampton, a not so small town anymore and I am freaked out driving in TO..... BTW.....I LOVE MUSKOKA....

I love Muskoka too - however I do feel like a country hick when I go into a city - Brampton included!

 

[5boyz]

I love Muskoka too - however I do feel like a country hick when I go into a city - Brampton included!

LOL!!! We use to be known as a hick town, so you would fit right in