Flying into Tampa

[stormer]

Flights to Tampa are cheaper than Orlando for the dates we are looking at. Has anyone ever flown to Tampa and then driven to Disney? Any thoughts on how long of a drive it is? Is Tampa a big airport where we would be able to rent a car?

 

[nmills]

We only ever fly into Tampa. I am pretty positive you can rent a car, it's a pretty big airport. It's about a 2 hour drive from Tampa to Orlando, my dad lives in Tampa and drives back and forth often for work. Of course depending on what time you might hit some traffic. We love tampa it is so easy to navigate, nothing like Philly airport.

 

[gmeh1]

Flights to Tampa are cheaper than Orlando for the dates we are looking at. Has anyone ever flown to Tampa and then driven to Disney? Any thoughts on how long of a drive it is? Is Tampa a big airport where we would be able to rent a car?

Tampa is a smaller airport than MCO. You can rent a car at the airport. Go to the website for a list of car rental agencies there.
The drive will be approx. 1 hour.

 

[gmeh1]

We only ever fly into Tampa. I am pretty positive you can rent a car, it's a pretty big airport. It's about a 2 hour drive from Tampa to Orlando, my dad lives in Tampa and drives back and forth often for work. Of course depending on what time you might hit some traffic. We love tampa it is so easy to navigate, nothing like Philly airport.

It is only about 1 hour from Tampa airport to Disney property. I can make it from my house which is on the other side of Orlando city in 1.5 hours. I am approx. 30 mins from Disney.

 

[bearloch]

Tampa is a very nice airport you can rent a car there with no troubles and u get on the I-4 and shoot straight into disney depending on time of day its about a 90 mins start to finish!! i live just outside of Tampa and it takes me about 65 mins form my door to the Happiest Place on Earth!!

BTW when are you traveling? if this yr PM me I have some rental car coupons I will send u that expire 11/12!

 

[nmills]

It is only about 1 hour from Tampa airport to Disney property. I can make it from my house which is on the other side of Orlando city in 1.5 hours. I am approx. 30 mins from Disney.

I guess my dad drives slow! Haha. He is in land o lakes so he is about 30 minutes from the airport, so I guess it makes sense that it takes him longer. I think I will use the excuse he drives slow

 

[gmeh1]

I guess my dad drives slow! Haha. He is in land o lakes so he is about 30 minutes from the airport, so I guess it makes sense that it takes him longer. I think I will use the excuse he drives slow

LOL, yep, he drive slow.

 

[stormer]

Thanks for the quick answers. We are looking at Presidents week - Feb 2013 so the airline prices are crazy.

 

[champ.49er]

Another one here that recommends flying into Tampa to save money. Last year, the savings were over $200 per ticket, so we used that extra savings elsewhere. It's worth the 1.5 - 2 hours of driving each way.

 

[goofy4tink]

We fly out of Tampa often. My ds lives about 8 miles from Tampa International, so when we go to WDW we often drive over to see him and then fly out of TPA. It usually takes us about 75 mins to get from WDW to TPA. When we drove from the Doubletree, in Tampa about 2 miles from TPA, on Easter morning a few years ago, it took us 65 mins..no traffic to speak of.

 

[Southernswthrt]

We are flying in and out of Tampa for our trips in Dec and Feb. Don't know that I will ever fly out of MCO again b/c I can't justify the price difference! Never flown TPA before but hear that it's smaller and easier than MCO and yes the rental companies are on property.

 

[DebbieB]

Any airport that has commercial flights has rental cars available. Maybe not all companies, but at least some.

 

[gmeh1]

http://www.tampaairport.com/

 

[dznygurl]

We are flying into Tampa for our trip this November. Even with having to rent a car for one day just to drive to WDW, we come out way cheaper. However, we found a decent price for our flight back home through MCO.

 

[LisaTC]

Another advocate for TPA here. Last October we saved $200 by flying into TPA and out of MCO. This year we are saving $400 by flying into TPA roundtrip. That's way more than what I spent on rental car. I like having a car anyway. TPA is an awesome airport. Not the beast MCO is. We have Emerald Club (national) and they had some decent vehicles. We reserve midsize and get whatever is on the aisle, which happened to be a Kia Sorrento, midsize SUV. Had less than 100 miles on it. The National people at TPA were awesome, efficient, friendly and speedy! The baggage claim is like 100 feet from car rental alley. Love TPA. We got to POR in about 70 minutes. It was an easy, peasy drive. Emerald Club is nice, spouses, etc can be added free, etc. Bypass the counter. Can't recommend it enough.