Driving tips-

[DnA2010]

Hi there,
We will be in Orlando from March 17-26 staying offsite. We are planning on 3-4 days of DW, then 2 at US/IOA and also a day in Tampa and a day at Discovery Cove-

We have a car and will be doing a lot of driving- is there a driving tips thread/roads to avoid? Can anyone advise? will be bringing our GPS, but anything we should know?

 

[bankr63]

Hi DnA,

We'll be there the week before and doing pretty much the same itinerary (Sarasota instead of Tampa for a day). My two tips:

1) Update your GPS maps before you go, and download the Points of Interest file for Orlando from Mousesavers.

2) Consider if you need tollsaver from your rental company, and then check their policy. IMHO Budget gouges and National has the fairest policy. It depends a bit on where you stay as to whether you need it or not. If we stay at Vistana, we really only hit tolls on the way to/from the airport. But if we stay at Silver Lake (West Gate side), it is harder to avoid toll roads. A few minutes familiarizing yourself with the local toll roads in relation to where you are going should give you a good idea if you will need the feature.

If you have a higher end GPS with traffic it can be helpful for avoiding road construction. But then their roads don't disintegrate as quickly as our Canadian roads, so we don't see nearly as much of that.

If you have the "Unofficial Guide to WDW" they have a good section on roads to avoid. We try to stay off of the North end of I-Drive and avoid the Crossroads near DTD during busy times of day. There are a couple of back routes into DTD that can save time.

Have a great trip!

 

[buzz2400]

we always have a car and do the same thing. We have found that leaving universal and going towards disney on i-4 in the evening can get bumper to bumper. Also if you go from universal to disney on i-4 and you are in the right lane, be careful because many times the right lane disappears. We have also found that if you follow the disney signs, disney makes you go in very long loops. We have been there enough times that we know are way around (we usually stay at pop century) so we don't have to follow the signs anymore. We once went to tampa and it was very easy. All of the places you listed are very well marked with directions so you won't have a problem getting lost.

I would definitely avoid international drive. All it is is traffic lights and bumper to bumper cars. You might also want to pick up one of those travel magazines that are all over and just look at a map to get a bearing before you go driving around.