Driving to Miami - timing, keep rental or return?

[sanders3]

We're looking at doing a couple of days in Legoland followed by the Dream out of Miami at the end of August. I'm gathering it IS feasible for us to drive from Legoland to Miami the morning of (a Monday)? Legoland is roughly the same distance as Orlando, a touch under 3.5 hours (without traffic). Would allowing for 4.5 hours be sufficient?

I'm thinking we probably can't get to Miami before noon, realistically (unless we left super super early - otherwise we'll aim for earlier and end up getting a later start, having to stop twice, etc...). One adult, two school age kids (so not helpless, but not entirely helpful either). Easiest/least stressful to drop off car at either port location or MIA (with Disney transfer then, just for simplicity) or keep and parking at port?

It's about $150 extra to keep the car, once you factor in transfers, parking costs, etc. I was inclined to do that until I read a post from late 2021 suggesting the garage might not actually be anywhere near the terminal and we'd have to do a shuttle anyway. It wasn't clear then that heading to port would save either much time or effort.

For context, we're usually arrive early, lunch on board types, so a 4 hour drive and looking at a post-noon arrival already makes me a touch nervous - but we can't come down the night before. We latched on to the idea before I realized the Dream was out of Miami, not PC...(and the cost difference means doing the Wish instead is not in the cards).

 

[myth2001]

We drove from MCO hyatt to Miami cruise port this Feb.
Allowing for 4.5 hours would be a good idea, the last part in Miami is where the traffic issues start to pop up.
If you plan to return car rental at port location

• For Avis/Budget, yes you have to use a free short shuttle to port
• Be sure to check the rental location is open late enough.

We ran into some traffic closer to Miami and barely made it to rental location before closing at 1pm. (Which also mean the shuttle is not available anymore and we had to uber)

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I would definitely give yourself ample time and use a real time directions app like Waze for traffic issues. Palm Beach, Broward and Dade (MIA), will all have traffic. Normally mornings are better than afternoons. I would recommend leaving early and dropping the car at the port and using the shuttle to the terminal. If I wanted to be at the Port by noon, I would plan to be on the road leaving ORL at 7a.

 

[KatieKepic]

We cruised from Miami in February. We did Vero Beach before and drove from there the morning of the cruise. We opted to keep the rental car and park at the port. I can't remember the exact cost differential but with 3 kids in tow, I wanted to be able to easily get to Orlando if one of us tested positive. Luckily we were able to sail but I ended up being very glad we kept the car. Several in our cruise group on social media posted about long waits to get a car after the cruise as they had to wait for one to be returned before they had one available and one person even had theirs cancelled and had to scramble to find a replacement car. If you do opt to return and then pick up, I would recommend renting from the Miami airport and not one of the locations near the port to avoid that possible scenario. You'll need to take a Disney bus, uber or taxi to the airport though.

When we went, they were having to shuttle from the parking garage to the terminal. I'm not sure if they're still doing this but it wasn't bad at all. We drove to the terminal, dropped off our luggage, packing in the garage, caught the shuttle back to the terminal. After the cruise, we took our luggage with us on the shuttle (they put it underneath the bus) and they brought us back to the garage.

We drove to Orlando after the cruise (Disney World). We left Miami at 9:00 and arrived at WDW at 12:20 with a stop for restrooms.

 

[BrokeMack]

We're planning on doing similar in Jan for MDAS only we'll be driving the night before. Anybody have any thoughts on departing out of FLL vs MIA? looks like a 30 min ride instead of 15. Anything else I should know? (sorry to hijack your thread)

 

[myth2001]

Several in our cruise group on social media posted about long waits to get a car after the cruise as they had to wait for one to be returned before they had one available and one person even had theirs cancelled and had to scramble to find a replacement car. If you do opt to return and then pick up, I would recommend renting from the Miami airport and not one of the locations near the port to avoid that possible scenario. You'll need to take a Disney bus, uber or taxi to the airport though.

Second this, happened to us. Had to wait until around noon.

 

[myth2001]

We're planning on doing similar in Jan for MDAS only we'll be driving the night before. Anybody have any thoughts on departing out of FLL vs MIA? looks like a 30 min ride instead of 15. Anything else I should know? (sorry to hijack your thread)

We left via FLL, FLL is smaller than MIA, and generally thought to be less hectic.
Again be sure to allocate plenty of time for the ride. There is a lot of potential for traffic jam.

 

[auntlynne]

We're planning on doing similar in Jan for MDAS only we'll be driving the night before. Anybody have any thoughts on departing out of FLL vs MIA? looks like a 30 min ride instead of 15. Anything else I should know? (sorry to hijack your thread)

I prefer FLL to MIA; I can’t pinpoint a specific reason - might be flight options or prices - or the actual facility. (I used both airports since Dec 2021 and am flying into FLL this fall).

We have opted to travel from Fort Lauderdale to Miami Central Station on the Brightline train. It is requires an extra step of getting from airport to train station in Fort L and train station to Port of Miami. But it is clean, runs on a regular schedule and let’s you sit back and check out South FL as you pass by. Brightline has a program to transport you within 5 mikes of the station before and after your train ride. (POM is <5 miles).

 

[Minniemoo15]

We cruised from Miami in February. We did Vero Beach before and drove from there the morning of the cruise. We opted to keep the rental car and park at the port. I can't remember the exact cost differential but with 3 kids in tow, I wanted to be able to easily get to Orlando if one of us tested positive. Luckily we were able to sail but I ended up being very glad we kept the car. Several in our cruise group on social media posted about long waits to get a car after the cruise as they had to wait for one to be returned before they had one available and one person even had theirs cancelled and had to scramble to find a replacement car. If you do opt to return and then pick up, I would recommend renting from the Miami airport and not one of the locations near the port to avoid that possible scenario. You'll need to take a Disney bus, uber or taxi to the airport though.

When we went, they were having to shuttle from the parking garage to the terminal. I'm not sure if they're still doing this but it wasn't bad at all. We drove to the terminal, dropped off our luggage, packing in the garage, caught the shuttle back to the terminal. After the cruise, we took our luggage with us on the shuttle (they put it underneath the bus) and they brought us back to the garage.

We drove to Orlando after the cruise (Disney World). We left Miami at 9:00 and arrived at WDW at 12:20 with a stop for restrooms.

This is super helpful… we are doing Vero Beach before our Miami cruise and driving up the morning of. What time did you leave VB at?

We are going to keep our rental as well as we are driving back to MCO after we disembark. We have a 4:30pm flight that I am hoping we aren’t too rushed to make.

 

[sanders3]

This is super helpful… we are doing Vero Beach before our Miami cruise and driving up the morning of. What time did you leave VB at?

We are going to keep our rental as well as we are driving back to MCO after we disembark. We have a 4:30pm flight that I am hoping we aren’t too rushed to make.

Wow, back to MCO is brave (though I think fine on timing if things go as normal). I contemplated it - flights are just simpler there, more options, and more that aren't awful, plus I like our hotel options better (we ultimately decided to fly out a day after the cruise). But decided I'd come to deeply regret the decision to tack a 4 hour drive onto our day...

I ended up adjusting things on the front end and we'll be driving to...somewhere in Miami the evening before. Feels less stressful. We need to be nearish port, since we're meeting a friend for breakfast that AM and she's coming in on the bright line. But I was banking on being able to do laundry that night, between our two phases, and good hotel and laundry in that area seem basically mutually exclusive. So TBD. And then flying out of FLL the day after cruise gets back. And staying...again TBD that night. I'm getting the feeling hanging on to the car will feel like a pain in the moment - but reading the post cruise car rental horror stories convinces me it's worth it to avoid that.

Last time we flew into FLL, and got to Miami somehow. And then flew out of MIA. It's pretty fuzzy (only 2 years ago, but our departure was 2/29/2020 and we returned 3/5/2020, which was an interesting time, and then pandemic has blurred all memory before) - but I do recall thinking FLL was easier and MIA was more of a pain than MCO (which I find fine, usually - crazy check in line in Feb, but we have precheck and never had an issue at security). I can't tell you why though. We did arrive at MIA more than 4 hours before our 1pm flight, in disembarkation day, so having to wait to check bags may have played a role in my perception...

 

[Minniemoo15]

Wow, back to MCO is brave (though I think fine on timing if things go as normal). I contemplated it - flights are just simpler there, more options, and more that aren't awful, plus I like our hotel options better (we ultimately decided to fly out a day after the cruise). But decided I'd come to deeply regret the decision to tack a 4 hour drive onto our day...

I ended up adjusting things on the front end and we'll be driving to...somewhere in Miami the evening before. Feels less stressful. We need to be nearish port, since we're meeting a friend for breakfast that AM and she's coming in on the bright line. But I was banking on being able to do laundry that night, between our two phases, and good hotel and laundry in that area seem basically mutually exclusive. So TBD. And then flying out of FLL the day after cruise gets back. And staying...again TBD that night. I'm getting the feeling hanging on to the car will feel like a pain in the moment - but reading the post cruise car rental horror stories convinces me it's worth it to avoid that.

Last time we flew into FLL, and got to Miami somehow. And then flew out of MIA. It's pretty fuzzy (only 2 years ago, but our departure was 2/29/2020 and we returned 3/5/2020, which was an interesting time, and then pandemic has blurred all memory before) - but I do recall thinking FLL was easier and MIA was more of a pain than MCO (which I find fine, usually - crazy check in line in Feb, but we have precheck and never had an issue at security). I can't tell you why though. We did arrive at MIA more than 4 hours before our 1pm flight, in disembarkation day, so having to wait to check bags may have played a role in my perception...

Originally we were flying out of MCO the day after the cruise.. I had booked a savanna room at AKL for that night post-cruise that I was so excited about. Then the airline canceled our flights and we have no other option but to leave at 4pm the day the cruise ends. Super bummed but it is what it is!

 

[KatieKepic]

This is super helpful… we are doing Vero Beach before our Miami cruise and driving up the morning of. What time did you leave VB at?

We are going to keep our rental as well as we are driving back to MCO after we disembark. We have a 4:30pm flight that I am hoping we aren’t too rushed to make.

We left VB around 7:15, made a stop for restrooms & breakfast (just got food & ate in the car as we drove. We were on the bus from the parking garage to the terminal by 10:30.

Coming back we left Miami sometime between 8:30-9:00 ( I texted my sister that we cleared customs at 8:10). We got to WDW at 12:20. We did make a stop on the way back for restrooms as well.