Ever Fly Into Tampa???

[Lexxiefern]

Anyone ever do this? It could save us $51 per ticket to fly into Tampa. We even found our minivan rental $15 cheaper through Tampa. I did a mapquest search and it says that it is 78 miles from the airport to the Boardwalk (about 1 hr 20 min).

Just wondering if anyone has tried this. Is it worth it?

Thanks!

 

[Lewisc]

YES go for it. Mapquest lies, you can make it in not much more than an hour (Orlando takes 20-30 minutes).

 

[travelin' tigger]

We flew into Tampa last Dec. with no problems, rented a car and drove to Orlando.

I'm doing it again on Thanksgiving (I have family in the area) since it was $10 more to MCO and also those flights booked up faster than Tampa - I might have my DBF trying to get the same flight in the next month or two!!!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

I have done it a couple of times. Easy airport to get around in.
Not a bad drive to the resorts, and yes, mapquest does undercalculate driving times. I think they are timing horses and buggies.

 

[zurgswife]

Took me 55 mins from the airport to MK last January.....It was a straight through drive....we are planning on driving into St. Pete for Christmas and I'm figuring our drive from St. Pete will be closer to 90 mins..

 

[debster812]

Piece of cake to drive it. And I agree, it should not take much more than an hour.

Easy airport, they even have a monorail like MCO.

 

[kylara]

Only thing you might want to avoid if flying into Tampa is coming in around rush hour. There are time the rush hour in Tampa makes the rush hour in Orlando look good. Otherwise the trip is very easy and doesn't take much more than an hour.

 

[rsschneck]

We are flying into Tampa for our October trip for the very same reason. At the time I booked I figured I saved $450 (3 tickets) instead of flying into Orlando. I got round trip air on Delta for $213 including taxes.
Anyone looking to fly from West Coast should keep checking the Delta web sight. Late last night that special came up again. By the time I was going to post it this morning the same ticket was up to $393. You gotta be quick!

 

[jessgood1]

Glad to see this! I was just asking DH tonight what he thought about flying into Tampa. It doesn't save us much money (but will keep checking). But the times are FAR better for the flights. I just can't see us getting 3 kids to the airport by 5:00 AM (an hour drive)!

BTW, what airline are you flying that has the savings of TPA vs MCO?

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by jessgood1
Glad to see this! I was just asking DH tonight what he thought about flying into Tampa. It doesn't save us much money (but will keep checking). But the times are FAR better for the flights. I just can't see us getting 3 kids to the airport by 5:00 AM (an hour drive)!

BTW, what airline are you flying that has the savings of TPA vs MCO?

SWA and Delta are the primary ones.

 

[Lexxiefern]

Thank you everyone for your replies! We went ahead and bought the tickets - $191 a piece out of PVD. We will be arriving at noon so hopefully the rush hour traffic won't be a problem.

There are 6 of us flying so we saved over $300 total. Only 1 person doesn't want to fly into Tampa. Hopefully he will not pout the whole day

Oh, these tickets are with Southwest.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Lexxiefern
Thank you everyone for your replies! We went ahead and bought the tickets - $191 a piece out of PVD. We will be arriving at noon so hopefully the rush hour traffic won't be a problem.

There are 6 of us flying so we saved over $300 total. Only 1 person doesn't want to fly into Tampa. Hopefully he will not pout the whole day

Oh, these tickets are with Southwest.

Nice savings, good for you!!! I think you will like the airport, it is very easy to negotiate. And, the ride to Disneyworld is very easy.

 

[Epscot]

Thanks for reassuring me about TPA. I saved $56/ticket (x 3) by flying from BNA (Nashville) into TPA instead of MCO on Northwest. The traffic shouldn't affect us because we are flying in on Sat and flying out the next Sun.

 

[ttfn3]

We have flown into Tampa for our last 3 Disney trips. It's an easy drive. It took us a bit over an hour in drive time. I actually prefer the Tampa Airport itself to the Orlando Airport. And our flight times are SO much better than Orlando.

If you have the time and you want to eat lunch on the drive over, I highly recommend the Branch Ranch. You'll see signs for the restaurant. It's about half way between Tampa and Orlando. It's a yummy restaurant and a nice break from the drive.

 

[dcfromva]

I think it took us a little over an hour to get to WDW from TPA because we stopped at a drive through on the way... (This was a Friday night around 9PM). It wasn't a big deal as far as we were concerned. If I could find a good deal flying into TPA, I wouldn't hesitate to take it.

-DC

 

[ksmom]

Don't know much about this subject. If we fly to Tampa, can we get a town car and how much would it be vs Orlando?

 

[zurgswife]

I imagine a towncar would be very expensive....

We are renting a car for 1 day each way....a mini van at Christmas and it is costing us about $170 for 2 days includnig taxes....Which sounds high until you figure a weekly rental at that time has been hovering around $350+ (lately it's more like $600) and we are going for 2 weeks.....and a towncar from MCO would be like $120 including tip with a 20min grocery stop....We get a grocery stop as long as we want...

we are renting national and dropping the car at the dolphin which is very convient because we are staying at the BWV....