Flying out of Tampa, instead of Orlando..realistic drive time?

[jerseygal]

Return flight for our mid December trip is much less expensive than flying out of MCO, save $330 for three of us, also flight time is better, early evening, which means we get all of the day to enjoy.
I googled it, seems about 1 hr 15 minutes...This particular trip will be a Universal trip which we will have a rented car anyway, so no added cost of renting a car...Anyone check prices out of Tampa instead of Orlando and fly out of Tampa? Think I will book it, I find Jet Blue to be better leg room anyway and we love the tvs! Thanks!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

On a good day it will be one hour and 20 minutes. But i would allow extra time since you did not say what time your early evening flight is you could be dealing with rush our traffic.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Minimum1.45
Traffic likely etc
Enjoy n safe travels!

 

[katallo]

We're using Jet Blue this trip as well. SW Jan fares from BWI are high plus "lowest" fares are late at night. I would always allow extra time for traffic depending on the day of the week (rush hour) etc. But, overall, without major delays it's not a bad drive. One thing to note, there is one cashless toll near the airport so be careful of your route. You can avoid it. We have a Sunpass so it's not a problem.

 

[writerguyfl]

All the major mapping websites let you enter a date and time. The result shows the time based on historical traffic data. Here are some examples between the Universal Orlando Resort and Tampa International Airport:

• Leaving on a Sunday at 7am (aka now): 1 hour 30 minutes with traffic https://binged.it/2PYWpRV
• Leaving on a Tuesday at noon: 1 hour 39 minutes with traffic https://binged.it/2PWtuhr
• Leaving on a Friday at 5pm: 2 hours 21 minutes with traffic https://binged.it/2PZbu67

 

[sam_gordon]

We stayed in Kissimmee last month and flew in/out of Tampa.
The month before I made daily trips from Poinciana to Tampa for 4-5 days (usually getting on I4 at Celebration).

I'd plan on at least 90-105 minutes. I will say I *LOVE* the Tampa airport. From when we left the rental car garage, we were at our gate 30 minutes later. Just know there is a tram from the rental car garage to the main terminal, then another tram from the main terminal to the airside terminals. You don't go through security until the airside terminals.

Also, before you get on the tram at the rental car garage, there is a "remote" bag check. I don't remember if it serves Jetblue, but it does do a number of airlines.

 

[mco65]

Done that a few times. The drive from Tampa to Orlando is easy enough but construction and traffic can slow you down a bit. I wouldn't bet on making it in 1:15... but 90 min to 105 min should give you plenty of room.

 

[goofy4tink]

I've made it from Tampa to WDW in an hour 15 mins....once. That was on Easter Sunday, at 7:30am, driving about 70 the entire way. Little to no traffic. Otherwise, it's going to be more like 90+ mins, a lot more at commuter times.

 

[monorailsilver]

I checked prices for April and it was the cheapest out of all the airports.

Ft. Myers (or destination) was close to $600 RT. Such a shame since it’s 15 min from my sisters.

Miami and West Palm didn’t save a dime. Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale were the cheapest but Tampa maybe by $25. I did check Orlando but that would of been a 3-4 hr drive and I wasn’t doing that!

We chose FLL because the Tampa flight got in at 5pm on a Friday a week before easter so how many NEers were going to be going there for spring break plus people working in Tampa. But we are going to stay on singer island for a few days before we go to the west coast...and if red tide is still bad we will hotel it the entire week on that coast.

 

[jerseygal]

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I checked prices for April and it was the cheapest out of all the airports.

Ft. Myers (or destination) was close to $600 RT. Such a shame since it’s 15 min from my sisters.

Miami and West Palm didn’t save a dime. Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale were the cheapest but Tampa maybe by $25. I did check Orlando but that would of been a 3-4 hr drive and I wasn’t doing that!

We chose FLL because the Tampa flight got in at 5pm on a Friday a week before easter so how many NEers were going to be going there for spring break plus people working in Tampa. But we are going to stay on singer island for a few days before we go to the west coast...and if red tide is still bad we will hotel it the entire week on that coast.

Hope for all residents, businesses, and tourists, Red Tide will be gone! Red Tide is going on about 10 months now, right? Hope for you planning a trip to Ft.Myers! Our flight is early evening on a Sunday, don't think it will be that bad! To save $330 for three, One way, will "bite the bullet" and drive a little further, especially since we have a rental car anyway.

 

[JimMIA]

I think TPA is a great alternative for a LOT of WDW visitors...for a variety of reasons. Sanford, north of Orlando, is another alternative provided an airline you want to fly goes there.

As much as I love my home town, I don't consider Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, or West Palm Beach viable alternatives unless you are spending part of your vacation with us (which you should!)

Also, do what writerguyfl did above. Put your actual anticipated day of week and departure time from Universal into Google Maps and you'll get a pretty accurate estimate of your drive time. And then...remember that it's only an estimate, so don't push your luck too much.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

All the major mapping websites let you enter a date and time. The result shows the time based on historical traffic data. Here are some examples between the Universal Orlando Resort and Tampa International Airport:

• Leaving on a Sunday at 7am (aka now): 1 hour 30 minutes with traffic https://binged.it/2PYWpRV
• Leaving on a Tuesday at noon: 1 hour 39 minutes with traffic https://binged.it/2PWtuhr
• Leaving on a Friday at 5pm: 2 hours 21 minutes with traffic https://binged.it/2PZbu67

That is super cool!

 

[jerseygal]

I think TPA is a great alternative for a LOT of WDW visitors...for a variety of reasons. Sanford, north of Orlando, is another alternative provided an airline you want to fly goes there.

As much as I love my home town, I don't consider Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, or West Palm Beach viable alternatives unless you are spending part of your vacation with us (which you should!)

Also, do what writerguyfl did above. Put your actual anticipated day of week and departure time from Universal into Google Maps and you'll get a pretty accurate estimate of your drive time. And then...remember that it's only an estimate, so don't push your luck too much.

Thanks, yes, we try not to cut it short. We usually leave in plenty of time; don't need that kind of stress; would rather sit at the gate or get a quick bite to eat before boarding.

 

[cruisin5]

Add at least 15 minutes to return the car at TPA. They built a gorgeous building dedicated to rental cars it is accessible by tram.

 

[monorailsilver]

OHope for all residents, businesses, and tourists, Red Tide will be gone! Red Tide is going on about 10 months now, right? Hope for you planning a trip to Ft.Myers! Our flight is early evening on a Sunday, don't think it will be that bad! To save $330 for three, One way, will "bite the bullet" and drive a little further, especially since we have a rental car anyway.

I don’t think it will be that bad either. We did most of the drive twice when we drove to my sisters and when we did the auto train and had to drive the remainder. It went quick!

Any way to save which is why we decided to suck it up and do the 2 hour drive. I mean the 15 min drive tomher hosue from the airport is so nice but we are a family of 5 and that would be close to $1000 more just for that. I would do Tampa in a heartbeat if going to Orlando and it saved me that much. Are you flying in and out of Tampa? Did you add in the car rental if you are picking up/returning at a different location? But it is probably still cheaper!

We rented a car for a day when we did Disney last mont...OMG, last month as In August! It was either grocery delivery which would of been more then the car rental, do an Uber/lyft or bring some food with us. It was the best $55 spent. We were at the BC so my dh just walked to the dolphin to rent and the next day after we did DHS in the am we dropped it off.

When we went in April, we went to a beach in Bonita springs. It has a small parking lot and there were a bunch of spots mid morning which is rare! We knew why as soon as a few in our family were having runny noses and then the dead fish. So sad. We love the beaches south of Ft. Myers and didn’t get to see any other then that one which thankfully the waves were too rough for swimming. We went north 3 times, Sanibel/Captiva twice and key largo and singer island for 3 days.

Fingers crossed for them. My sister said she has not been to the beach and that is one of the reasons she moved there.

I think TPA is a great alternative for a LOT of WDW visitors...for a variety of reasons. Sanford, north of Orlando, is another alternative provided an airline you want to fly goes there.

As much as I love my home town, I don't consider Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, or West Palm Beach viable alternatives unless you are spending part of your vacation with us (which you should!)

Also, do what writerguyfl did above. Put your actual anticipated day of week and departure time from Universal into Google Maps and you'll get a pretty accurate estimate of your drive time. And then...remember that it's only an estimate, so don't push your luck too much.

Can’t wait to go back to the East coast in April! Looking forward to our stay on Singer island! I need to book some other hotels as a just in case red tide is still there. I hope not and we all want to pick sharks teeth and won’t be able to if that is the case.

 

[JimMIA]

Can’t wait to go back to the East coast in April! Looking forward to our stay on Singer island! I need to book some other hotels as a just in case red tide is still there. I hope not and we all want to pick sharks teeth and won’t be able to if that is the case.

Here's a link to the "Fish & Squish" (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) Red Tide weekly update:

http://myfwc.com/redtidestatus

As you can see, we do not allow Red Tide on the East Coast, so you won't have any problems at Singer Island.

ETA: Also, there is a low pressure system ("Potential Tropical Cyclone 7") that is expected to develop into a tropical storm by tomorrow afternoon. It will pass through the Keys into the Gulf and will hopefully disturb the Gulf enough to disperse some of the red tide.

 

[monorailsilver]

Here's a link to the "Fish & Squish" (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) Red Tide weekly update:

http://myfwc.com/redtidestatus

As you can see, we do not allow Red Tide on the East Coast, so you won't have any problems at Singer Island.

ETA: Also, there is a low pressure system ("Potential Tropical Cyclone 7") that is expected to develop into a tropical storm by tomorrow afternoon. It will pass through the Keys into the Gulf and will hopefully disturb the Gulf enough to disperse some of the red tide.

I have been looking at that. Have a few months so hopefully it will be gone!

Thanks!

 

[rg35]

Return flight for our mid December trip is much less expensive than flying out of MCO, save $330 for three of us, also flight time is better, early evening, which means we get all of the day to enjoy.
I googled it, seems about 1 hr 15 minutes...This particular trip will be a Universal trip which we will have a rented car anyway, so no added cost of renting a car...Anyone check prices out of Tampa instead of Orlando and fly out of Tampa? Think I will book it, I find Jet Blue to be better leg room anyway and we love the tvs! Thanks!

Check to make sure that returning your rental car to a different drop off location from the pick up location isn't a lot more expensive. Picking up at MCO and dropping off at TPA could eat into some of your $330 savings.

I saw something in another thread today that a rental company wanted to charge $300+ dollars to drop their car off at the car center in WDW instead of returning it to MCO, so they took the car back to MCO and an Uber back to WDW, so I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[jerseygal]

Check to make sure that returning your rental car to a different drop off location from the pick up location isn't a lot more expensive. Picking up at MCO and dropping off at TPA could eat into some of your $330 savings.

I saw something in another thread today that a rental company wanted to charge $300+ dollars to drop their car off at the car center in WDW instead of returning it to MCO, so they took the car back to MCO and an Uber back to WDW, so I thought it was worth mentioning.

WOW, thanks for mentioning! Will check!

 

[sam_gordon]

Oh, BTW, we left from the intersection of 192 & Poinciana Blvd (Legacy Vacation Condos) at 8:30A on a Monday and we were at our gate a little before 11am. This includes one (seemingly slow) stop at McDonald's on 192, and a stop to fill up the rental car just before downtown Tampa (about 20-25 miles from the airport).