Help & Advice Needed for Nervous UK Drivers

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Hi all,

Family and I are all driving round the resorts for the first time when we fly out from England to see our Uncle Sam in August. Never drove 'on the wrong side of the road before' and never been to the U.S.

Any helpful tips on driving, especially from other Brits who can recall their first time? We are a bit worried.

Also, if anyone could provide us with links to any decent maps or provide details of where we can buy some good maps that would be a help.

Thanks guys! This place is a real blessing!

 

[boBQuincy]

As an occasional driver in U.K. I can sympathize with you! "Wrong" side driving is hard on the nerves.

The best advice I can give is to always look both ways before pulling out of anywhere.

I didn't have too much trouble when I was following traffic, it's only when I was on my own that I went around the roundabout "my" way!

Practically all the cars for hire in the U.S. have automatic transmissions, one less distraction to worry about anyway. And when you inevitably go to get in the wrong door of the car, just put your camera bag on the seat and look as if "I meant to use that door".

I have not found any good maps of WDW and prefer to use ones I print from Microsoft's "Streets & Trips".

Oh yes, stay off I-4, even I dread to use that road. 417 is a much better way to get to WDW (it's worth the few dollars in tolls).

 

[spotlight]

Thanks.

I was also wondering if anyone knows if it is possible to hire a sat. nav. system with the hire car? If so, how much would it cost?

 

[Edd]

Garmin has good nav aids. If you rent a car ask for one that has a GPS installed. A good nav aid costs about $300 - $400. I bought one, the best, for 795.00. You are better off getting a rental that already has one. We call them GPS units over here.

 

[Karthur]

Having been in the opposite position recently I can sympathize! I found driving in the UK strange but I got so used to that I got into the "wrong" side of my truck at the airport when I returned home!

One thing: we have much fewer "round abouts" or "rotaries" here in the Southern US. That's a plus for me because they always confused me. I swear I must have driven other drivers crazy trying to figure out where to enter and exit them.

On GPS...I know some rental car companies have them in certain cars. I recently had a rental from Hertz with it pre-installed and wasn't charged extra for it.

Hope this helped a bit!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

If you rent your car from Alamo, you can get a GPS unit for $9.99/day. I've never used one so I can't say if it's worth it but I think I would have been willing to try one when we went to Ireland on our honeymoon! (too bad they didn't have them 11 yrs. ago)
I'm guessing other car rental companies offer them too. One bit of driving advice: If you're on a road with more than one lane in each direction, slower traffic should keep right so that others can pass in the left lane. This part was very strange for us in Ireland where faster cars were passing us on the right. good luck!

 

[WillCAD]

I have this map:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/05...7236/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-8040729-6251925?ie=UTF8

and it's very useful when I drive in Orlando.

I have also seen this one in stores. It's much more detailed and also great for finding your way in an unfamiliar city:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0528857460/ref=pd_bxgy_text_b/104-8040729-6251925?ie=UTF8

You will also get a fairly good basic map when you pick up your rental car.

And this will be an indespensible site for you - exact, turn-by-turn driving directions from the Orlando area airports to all of the WDW resorts:
http://allearsnet.com/pl/directions.php

 

[Donald is #1]

As with many of the other posters, I can sympathize with you as I have driven in Ireland a couple of times. As the other posters have mentioned, the biggest problem that I had was the round abouts since they went the opposite direction. Actually, I also found it harder when there were fewer cars on the road. I found that when I was in traffic it was a bit easier for me because all of the cars around me kept me concentrating on the correct side of the road.

As for the rental cars, yes you can get GPS systems in them. However, I would suggest that you tell them that you want one when you make your reservation becuase not all cars have them. I have rented cars 3 times this year on business trips and none of the cars had GPS. Please note though, that I did not ask for it either since my company will not pay for it.

 

[Jcricket Fan]

The following is a link that has maps & info. for our UK visitors. I hope the info. helps. It has a walk-Thru of arriving at the airport as well as road maps to head out to resorts inside & outside WDW.

http://www.kissimmee-us192.com/british/default.htm

Happy traveling!

Colleen

 

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Thanks to all my american friends with the help given above!

 

[NotUrsula]

Here is a link to the Florida Driving Handbook, the official "rule book" if you will.
It has illustrations of the road signs, etc.
http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us/handbooks/English/

There is a link to buy a bound copy, but you can just look at/print the individual chapters online at no charge. The last couple of chapters won't do much for you, as those mostly have to do with issues only important when you live there (that is true of parts of the first couple of chapters as well.)

Also, here is a simple tip given me by an elderly mechanic at Dooley in Belfast, which applies here, too: "The lights on the cars directly in front of you are supposed to be red. If the lights are white, you're in trouble."

 

[spotlight]

Ruadisneyfan2 said:

If you rent your car from Alamo, you can get a GPS unit for $9.99/day.

Thanks for that info. This is where we are renting our car from when we arrive. Was wondering though if you (or anyone here) could please tell me do we have to pre-order this before we arrive or can we just upgrade when we arrive?

Also, are they easy to use? We have one here so assume that they are similar to UK one's. If we were to just type in 'International Drive' from where we set off in Sanford would that be enought to get us there or do you need to put zip code in as well?

Thanks guys.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I would request it ahead of time especially if this is a "must have." I've never used one so I have no idea how it works. Be sure to request maps at the rental office. The last few times I was there I wasn't given a map and I know I had been given one in the past. Perhaps they're only given out upon request now.