Getting to Disney from Tampa

[crashbb]

Well, actually St. Pete's Beach.

I will be at a conference in St. Pete's Beach and I'm making use of already being in Florida by heading to WDW when the conference ends (on a Friday evening). Any suggestions on how best to get to WDW?

I was thinking of renting a car at either TPA or PIE and returning it at the Dolphin (I'll be staying at YC). I can do that for about $50 (plus transport to TPA or PIE).

Thanks for any suggestions/advice.

 

[disneyldwjr]

Well, actually St. Pete's Beach.

I will be at a conference in St. Pete's Beach and I'm making use of already being in Florida by heading to WDW when the conference ends (on a Friday evening). Any suggestions on how best to get to WDW?

I was thinking of renting a car at either TPA or PIE and returning it at the Dolphin (I'll be staying at YC). I can do that for about $50 (plus transport to TPA or PIE).

Thanks for any suggestions/advice.

I think your idea of renting a car and returning at WDW is great. Just a FYI, if you return it to the Car Care Center rather than the Dolphin will get you a free ride to your resort, assuming you are staying onsite.

The ride from Tampa is very easy - I4 all the way. If there are no construction delays it should take you a little over an hour.

 

[crashbb]

I think your idea of renting a car and returning at WDW is great. Just a FYI, if you return it to the Car Care Center rather than the Dolphin will get you a free ride to your resort, assuming you are staying onsite.

The ride from Tampa is very easy - I4 all the way. If there are no construction delays it should take you a little over an hour.

Thanks. I am staying onsite - I figured that walking to the YC from the Dolphin would be even easier/faster than getting a ride from the Car Care Centre.

 

[ducklite]

I think your idea of renting a car and returning at WDW is great. Just a FYI, if you return it to the Car Care Center rather than the Dolphin will get you a free ride to your resort

Why on God's earth would the poster take the care all the way to the Car Care Center when they are staying at the YC, a quick five minutes stroll from the Dolphin as they stated in their post?

To the OP--renting the car and returning it at the DOlphin will certainly be the least expensive and most efficient way to get between the two locations. You'll want to plan on about a 90 minute drive between the YC and TPA as there is still some construction, although it's likely going to be more like 75 minutes--very easy.

Have a great trip!

Anne

 

[goofy4tink]

I think that disneyldwjr misread the post, that's all. Someone seems a little cranky today
Yes, the walk from the Dolphin back to YC is easy. We rented a car from the Dolphin when we were at POP last spring. Even that was easy....just made the pick-up day part of our Epcot day.
We drove to Tampa on Sat morning, about 9ish...got to the Doubletree Guest Suites, just past the airport at about 10:20. Easy ride. Have fun!!! We can't wait to get back to Tampa!

 

[3AmigosMom]

So glad to hear it's an easy trip from Tampa. We couldn't pass up $44 ea way from Chicago. We're flying in early Sunday morning, so I'm not terribly concerned with traffic, but our return flight is at 8pm on Friday nite. Any forseeable problems with that??
Thanks

 

[salmoneous]

Note that there is a Dollar rental in St Pete Beach. If you are at the Don Cesar, it's about 1/2 mile up the street. There's a Dollar at the Grosvenor where you could drop it off. Might be worth checking the price.

 

[ducklite]

So glad to hear it's an easy trip from Tampa. We couldn't pass up $44 ea way from Chicago. We're flying in early Sunday morning, so I'm not terribly concerned with traffic, but our return flight is at 8pm on Friday nite. Any forseeable problems with that??
Thanks

You'll want to allow for PLENTY of time--I would leave at least two hours for travel. I-4 can get very backed up during rush hour, and there's a lot of traffic headed that way after work on Friday's.

Anne

 

[disneyldwjr]

I think that disneyldwjr misread the post, that's all. Someone seems a little cranky today
Yes, the walk from the Dolphin back to YC is easy. We rented a car from the Dolphin when we were at POP last spring. Even that was easy....just made the pick-up day part of our Epcot day.
We drove to Tampa on Sat morning, about 9ish...got to the Doubletree Guest Suites, just past the airport at about 10:20. Easy ride. Have fun!!! We can't wait to get back to Tampa!

Thank you, that is exactly what I did. Well all miss stuff from time to time.
And, yes, you are totally correct, it is an easy(and lovely) walk from the Dolphin to the YC.

 

[disneyldwjr]

Thanks. I am staying onsite - I figured that walking to the YC from the Dolphin would be even easier/faster than getting a ride from the Car Care Centre.

Hi,
I did a "duh"!!! Sorry, I did misread your post. Soooooo, I guess you won't be needing that ride from the CCC.
Have a great trip!!! You got a great rate.

 

[disneyleslie]

Does anyone know if there is an easy place to drop off a car at Universal? We are driving from St. Pete to Universal and staying two nts - not sure if it's worth it to drop the car there and then rerent when going over to disney - I hate paying the $12 parking fee at universal.

Thanks
Leslie

 

[Lewisc]

Hetz has desks in the three Universal hotels. National has a desk in the Universal Sheraton hotel.

 

[crashbb]

Thank you so much for all of your help.

I had chosen Alamo since it had a drop-off at the Dolphin. However, I now realise that the hotel in Tampa has an Avis inside it. It might be easier to rent from there and drop off at a DTD hotel (Hilton has an Avis inside). The only thing is that the Avis in the Hilton closes before I'd get there. Does anyone know if there is a system in place to drop off cars after hours? I'll call them in the morning, but people here seem to know pretty much everything, so I figured I'd ask. I could also do Dollar (next door to Tampa hotel) and drop off at, I think, the Grovesnor. Again though, the desk closes before I plan to get there.

 

[ducklite]

Just take the car over the next morning. You're paying for 24 hour increments, so keeping it over night isn't going to cost anything more.

As long as you've got it, you might want to stop at Publix on the way and grab some bottled water and maybe snacks or forgotten items.

Anne