Flying into Tampa?

[jliucci]

I am looking at flights for our trip in November and i am noticing its considerably cheaper for us to fly into Tampa instead of Orlando, but we have never done this before. Has anyone ever flown into Tampa, how did you get from the airport to your Disney hotel. We don't plan to rental a car for our week in Disney as we use the buses. Also, we will have 2 small kids who will require caseates/boosters if we took a car/uber. Does Uber have caseates?

Thank you

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Seems to me that any savings you might get from fly in/out of Tampa, you'll quickly give up if you need to Uber the 75-90 minutes from TPA to Disney. I expect you could get someone to take you, but it'll be expensive - and then you need to get back. We love flying in and out of TPA - it's usually cheaper and much easier than Orlando. But we wouldn't do it without a rental car.

 

[sam_gordon]

I've got to agree w/PP. When we've flown into Tampa, we get a rental car. You could do two one day, one way rentals (one for arrival, one for return) and it MAY be cheaper than a week long rental, but would need to be priced out.

 

[jliucci]

Seems to me that any savings you might get from fly in/out of Tampa, you'll quickly give up if you need to Uber the 75-90 minutes from TPA to Disney. I expect you could get someone to take you, but it'll be expensive - and then you need to get back. We love flying in and out of TPA - it's usually cheaper and much easier than Orlando. But we wouldn't do it without a rental car.

Hmm I've never used Uber before so I'm not sure about costs, but its about $1200k for round trip for 4 of us to Tampa and close to $3k into Orlando.

 

[lockets]

For an $1800 savings it would be worth it as long as you’re ok with adding the extra travel time to your trip.

No Uber doesn’t come with boosters. You’d need to bring those, or hire a car service in advance that would supply them.

Also Uber is a hail service and you might find it difficult in the moment to hail one that will take you from Tampa to Orlando without cancelling your trip.

Probably best to look into round trip car services, or to rent a car for one day only to go to Orlando as rental locations are convenient at airport, then return the car in Orlando near the parks when you arrive and then use a car service to get back to Tampa (so picking up a car rental in Orlando doesn’t waste time on your trip). Something like that?

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

If the flight difference is that great I'd probably just rent a car. Even if you don't use the car at all while on WDW property it will likely be cheaper than a towncar to/from WDW. At $1,200 vs $3,000 I'd 100% do Tampa.

 

[Darcy03231]

We've done it a couple of times over the years. I either rented a car or used a car service (there was no Uber/Lyft in those days). One nice thing about having the car was it allowed us to do some stuff off-site (meals/shopping).

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Hmm I've never used Uber before so I'm not sure about costs, but its about $1200k for round trip for 4 of us to Tampa and close to $3k into Orlando.

Agree with other posters - for that big a difference in airfare, it's worth looking into. I would expect if you Google transportation from TPA to WDW, there will be some options - and maybe Uber is cost-effective in this case. Renting a car isn't cheap these days either, and you'd likely need something like and SUV or minivan with your family and luggage - plus you might need to pay nightly parking fees at Disney (unless you're DVC). So I'm not changing my mind completely about recommending a rental - but for up to $1800 it's worth the effort to find an option to get you from TPA!! Heck, even if you flew into Orlando, you'd be paying something for transportation, too. Good luck!

 

[sam_gordon]

For $1800 difference, there is no doubt I'd go into Tampa.

My first preference would be private car.
Second choice would be two one day rental cars (to avoid paying parking fees)
Third choice would be week long rental.

Even with any of the above, you should still be saving at least $1000, if not $1100-1200. No brainer.

 

[SteveH]

We've always rented a car to go from TPA to Disney, we the drop off the car once we're checked in. Getting 2 car seats from uber or lyft will be next to impossible.

At one point somebody said that Tony Hinds did Tampa to Disney runs, so that might be an option to check out.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

We flew into Tampa for our November trip. It saved us probably $500-$600 (family of just 2). We then rented a car, which we returned to the Disney CarCare Center. We then took DME from the resort back to OIA to fly home (the flights home were so much cheaper then the outbound flights from Dallas).

 

[DizneyLizzy]

You can usually get an Uber with ONE car seat but not two. If one of your kids is big enough for a backless booster, buy an inflatable one and stick it in your carry on.

In terms of cost, unless you’re coming in at a high volume time, it’s not as expensive as you think. I took a Lyft all the way from WDW to a town an hour south of Tampa and it was $113 plus tip (I tipped generously since it was a two hour ride). This was at 9:30 AM on a Monday, so no surge pricing or traffic. This was on par with a one way rental, but much more convenient and saves me gas/tolls.