Flying to Tampa

[WDWorBUST]

Tampa is the destination of the week for Southwest and there is finally a fare I'm willing to live with for our September trip available. Would you go ahead and book it so you know you will get to fly?? If I did that I would be able to change it to Orlando if they offered the specials later....is that right?? Or would you risk it?? Right now we were really thinking we were going to end up driving.

Thanks!!
Amanda

 

[Lewisc]

Tampa is fine as long as you're going to rent a car. If you fly into MCO you can get free transfers from Disney. Make sure you're saving enough to cover a rental car.

 

[WDWorBUST]

Thanks for the response. We were renting a car anyway - so I'm just hoping the difference isn't too much. But the flights were over $1000 into Orlando as of yesterday which I just couldn't do and I could get them for $707 to Tampa. I will change to Orlando if they open up internet special fares to Orlando and there are flights available. I just wanted to be sure that I had something more desirable than driving 22+ hours with a 2 year old So if the same fares become available for Orlando I can switch still - that is right isn't it??

 

[jcsbama]

Be aware of the traffic! Last year, DH had a conference at Disney for a few days and I got to stay w/ my best friend that lives in Orlando. We then had a wedding in Tampa to attend at the end of our trip. So, we figured since Tampa was going to be the last stop, we would fly into and out of Tampa. Boy, did we regret it. Our flight arrived about 11:00 pm. I think it was only like 50 - 60 miles from where we were going, so we figured maybe a little over an hour drive, if that, since it was so late. Wrong. It took us 3.5 hours to get to my friends house. Poor DH had to get up to be at his conference at 7:00 am. Our drive back was during the middle of the day on a Saturday, so we knew it would take awhile. Needless to say, we didn't expect the five hours it actually took. We were extremely late for the wedding rehearsal dinner. My advice, don't fly into Tampa and make that drive unless the few hundred dollars you save is worth losing two full days of your vacation driving 120 miles roundtrip. The construction on I4 that is still going on is a nightmare and you don't want the stress, frustration and anxiety of wanting to start your vacation while fighting the traffic and the idiots that can't drive, IMHO.

 

[kilee]

Wow, we've never had delays like that going between Tampa and Orlando. We do it most every trip. We have family and friends that live in Tampa. We've always used the I-4 too. I would think your next best thing would be to find a back road route to Orlando.

 

[WDWorBUST]

Thanks for the warning!! My hopes are that we will actually get to change it to Orlando at some point this summer. If not - even 5 hours is better than 22 Although if we do end up flying into Tampa I will definitely be getting construction updates and alternate routes ready before we arrive.