FL residents-I need some help...Please

[ktkerber]

We will be driving from the Miami airport to Disney's Port Orleans. We want to make sure we have enough toll charge money. Can you guesstimate about how much toll charge money we need? Are all the tolls paid in quarters? We learned our lesson a few years ago when we did not have exact change and the machine wanted quarters and all we had were paper bills.
Also what would be the best route to take when driving from Miami to Disney? We will be driving up on a Sunday so hopefully the traffic won't be too bad. Google maps is showing 2 routes 1)Florida Turnpike/Ronald Reagan turnpike or 2) I95, Florida turnpike, and Ronald Reagan turnpike. We only have 2 days to spend in the world so we want to get there as quickly as we can. This is kind of a spontaneous trip to use up some 2 day tickets we had left from before after a cruise in Miami.

Thanks so much...
Kristen

 

[Be1021]

The turnpike is definitely the way to go. The reason it is giving you two routes is that when you reach Jupiter 95 and the turnpike are practically parallel to each other. It is easy to transfer if you want to save some money by taking 95 half way instead of the turnpike.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Although they are close to parallel, I-95 tends to be much more crowded that the Turnpike. And the main plaza where you pay the large toll does have booths with real people in them.

 

[Isi]

With so many tolls to pay I suggest you go to www.sunpass.com and purchase the sunpass. I don't think it matters if you are not a florida resident..the transponder go as low as $4.99 and its given back to you..

 

[AgentGabs]

Are you using a rental?
If you are and you're renting through Hertz or Advantage you can opt to use the Plate Pass to just use the Sunpass lane and avoid the toll line all together

Here's the FAQ with more information

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

With so many tolls to pay I suggest you go to www.sunpass.com and purchase the sunpass. I don't think it matters if you are not a florida resident..the transponder go as low as $4.99 and its given back to you..

This takes time to activate--but I love mine! But if this is just 1 trip, I'm not really certain if it is worth purchasing.

 

[NoeyLane]

From Miami International via the Turnpike will probably run you about $3 in tolls up to Commercial Blvd toll plaza on the Turnpike (approximately) - the tolls run $1.00 for non-Sunpass users. I live in Broward County, so I know on the Turnpike from Commercial Blvd toll plaza to Mile Marker 88 Toll Plaza. The Mile Marker 88 plaza is your "ticket" plaza - the ride to Disney from there is around $15 for non-Sunpass. Then if you use Osceola Parkway, I believe it is another $1.00-$2.00 on that stretch. I'm not 100% sure on the Miami Airport to Commercial Blvd portion, but I don't think I'm that far off on the amount. So, I think it will run around $20 each way.

Most of those toll plazas do not require exact change - there are attendants. You really only run into that trouble on the smaller exits but they usually will mark those as exact change only.

Hope this helps! Have fun!

 

[Mom2Ashli]

With so many tolls to pay I suggest you go to www.sunpass.com and purchase the sunpass. I don't think it matters if you are not a florida resident..the transponder go as low as $4.99 and its given back to you..

I would have to agree with this. You pay $4.99 and they credit that $4.99 to your transponder when you register it. Some of the tolls are cheaper if you have a Sunpass. And you don't have to stop at the toll booths, you just use the sunpass lane and it deducts the amount of the tolls from your account.

I did see where rental car companies are now offering it to their customers, so you might want to check with them if you are renting a car.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I would have to agree with this. You pay $4.99 and they credit that $4.99 to your transponder when you register it. Some of the tolls are cheaper if you have a Sunpass. And you don't have to stop at the toll booths, you just use the sunpass lane and it deducts the amount of the tolls from your account.

I did see where rental car companies are now offering it to their customers, so you might want to check with them if you are renting a car.

I don't think that's an option here. I have one of the $4.99 transponders and it affixes directly to the windshield of the vehicle, which will be a rental car. The rental car agency might not be happy about that. Also, to activate it, you have to enter the tag number of the vehicle, which the OP won't have until arrival. Also, even though the transponder costs only $4.99, you have to activate it with at least another $10 deposit, which the OP would lose if it wasn't all used up.

I would just take some small bills and a couple dollars' worth of quarters and pay as you go.

 

[MissBritt]

My Sunpass affixes to the window with suction cups. I don't think that would be a problem in a rental. We just made the trip from Port of Miami to Gainesville a few weeks ago with Sunpass, and it was so much faster. I will have to look up the account balance to see what we spent to make that trip. It was almost all Turnpike.

 

[manhattan]

According to the Turnpike site - it will be $16.70 - if you enter over by the Dolphin Mall and exit at Osceola Parkway. This is taking the turnpike straight, which is what I would recommend, this way you don't have to worry about missing your exit accidently. Like pp have stated, you will find manned booths along the way, so have a couple of singles available and near Orlando you can pay with a $20.