Is driving from TPA to POFQ really that bad?

[Majordis]

We are heading to WDW April 26th and the flight to Tampa is $600 cheaper and arrives earlier in the day. The flight arrives 11am and we plan to rent a car to drive to French Quarter. I know this has been asked before but any recent reviews on the drive midday, mid week? Is traffic really bad during the day?

 

[disneyseniors]

We are heading to WDW April 26th and the flight to Tampa is $600 cheaper and arrives earlier in the day. The flight arrives 11am and we plan to rent a car to drive to French Quarter. I know this has been asked before but any recent reviews on the drive midday, mid week? Is traffic really bad during the day?

My daughter and family did the same thing. They got a cheaper flight into Tampa and rented a car to drive to Orlando.
They said the traffic was horrendous and it took twice as long as they thought it would. I don't remember the exact hours, but they were not happy campers and won't do that again. This was in the late AM.

 

[Majordis]

My daughter and family did the same thing. They got a cheaper flight into Tampa and rented a car to drive to Orlando.
They said the traffic was horrendous and it took twice as long as they thought it would. I don't remember the exact hours, but they were not happy campers and won't do that again. This was in the late AM.

Thank you. This helps a lot.

 

[TheMouseKId]

We are heading to WDW April 26th and the flight to Tampa is $600 cheaper and arrives earlier in the day. The flight arrives 11am and we plan to rent a car to drive to French Quarter. I know this has been asked before but any recent reviews on the drive midday, mid week? Is traffic really bad during the day?

I do that drive every time I go to Disney because I live in Tampa. Honestly, it depends on the day. I've had it take 1 hour and 15 minutes some days and others it takes 2 and a half hours. It depends on rush hour traffic. I4 gets congested early morning and late evenings, and sometimes during the weekend. You should be fine.

 

[sam_gordon]

We've flown into Tampa when visiting my mom (lives in Poinciana... just south of Kissimmee).

Pros:
Cheaper Airfare
Smaller airport (compared to MCO)

Cons:
Drive time (which could vary)

As PP said, you could get to WDW in 1:15, about 45 minutes longer than from MCO, or it could take 2:30. So two hours more than from MCO.

I would price out the rental car from Tampa and whatever transportation you'd take from MCO. Are there additional savings there? If you have an early return flight, that could change the decision too.

I would not write off Tampa based on a single experience.

 

[Mle8308]

Tampa can be a great alternative airport! For April I don't think the weather will be much of an issue. We did it one August and I will NEVER do it again. Driving back to the airport in the afternoon in the summer months can be risky due to the awful FL thunderstorms. We left Disney in bright sunshine, we left 4 hours prior to our flight time, we were going to stop on the way to get something eat. Well, we ran into an awful storm that had I-4 shut down, no one was driving because you literally could not see one foot beyond the front of the car. Everyone was stopped on the highway. I'd lived in FL and even by FL standards, it was a bad storm. Then, because someone was driving like a crazy person on the shoulder, they crashed into another car and that led into a 5 car pile up. It took a long time for police/rescue to arrive and we were stuck there not moving for about 90 minutes. And then on the other side of I-4 heading towards Orlando, there were people looking at the accident and not paying attention, which caused another bad accident on that side! It was crazy. Fortunately our flight was delayed due to the weather or we would have missed it. To make a long story short, leave a lot of time to get back to Tampa and if it's the summer, check the weather radar!

 

[georgina]

I drive from Orlando theme parks to Venice FL to visit family when I am down there. So, I4 to 75 south. Usually not too bad in the middle of a weekday, I always try to time it when traffic won't be too bad. (Of course there could always be accidents or construction) Right now Google maps says about 1 hr 18 min to Tampa airport from WDW.

 

[MrKnight]

I would not recommend this, as mentioned by pp, driving time can easily exceed 2 hours with traffic.. In addition, from my experience, the car rental experience at TPA is also a hassle, the car rental center is a separate building from the main airport terminal and requires a long ride on a peoplemover train, once at the car rental center you have to navigate multiple levels of escalators to find your car rental pickup area, and there are hefty facility fees tacked on to your car rental bill just for renting at TPA..

IMO it is not worth it, I always fly directly into MCO, it is not only the closest airport to WDW, but it is also a much larger airport and extremely easy to pickup a car rental as the car rental locations at MCO are actually on-site in the main terminal..

 

[bumbershoot]

It's been awhile, but renting from Tampa was fine in my past experience, and so was the drive.

Just please price it ALL out before committing.

 

[sam_gordon]

In addition, from my experience, the car rental experience at TPA is also a hassle, the car rental center is a separate building from the main airport terminal and requires a long ride on a peoplemover train, once at the car rental center you have to navigate multiple levels of escalators to find your car rental pickup area, and there are hefty facility fees tacked on to your car rental bill just for renting at TPA..

When I've done it, it has not been a hassle. Actually pretty easy. Collect your luggage, up an escalator to the people mover train, 2nd(?) stop is the car rental. Counters are right there if you need them, or follow the signs to the garage (just look at the signs so you get on the correct escalator), then get your car and go out.

They even have a pull off before you get on the road to set up your GPS (if so needed).
Big bonus (at least for Delta)... they have a luggage check in location AT the car rental center. So after returning your car, you can check your luggage right there before getting back on the train to the main terminal.

As far as "fees", this is why it's important to factor everything in. If you weren't going to rent a car in Orlando, renting in Tampa cuts into any airline savings. If you were going to rent in Orlando, then price out the difference.

 

[Majordis]

Thank you for all the great advice. We are going with Tampa.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

When I've done it, it has not been a hassle. Actually pretty easy. Collect your luggage, up an escalator to the people mover train, 2nd(?) stop is the car rental. Counters are right there if you need them, or follow the signs to the garage (just look at the signs so you get on the correct escalator), then get your car and go out.

They even have a pull off before you get on the road to set up your GPS (if so needed).
Big bonus (at least for Delta)... they have a luggage check in location AT the car rental center. So after returning your car, you can check your luggage right there before getting back on the train to the main terminal.

As far as "fees", this is why it's important to factor everything in. If you weren't going to rent a car in Orlando, renting in Tampa cuts into any airline savings. If you were going to rent in Orlando, then price out the difference.

Southwest also has luggage check in within the car rental center.

Also, rental facility fees of some kind seem to get added on across airport and non-airport locations in my experience. I’ve paid them at MCO, TPA, the CCC at WDW, and both Alamo and Budget when picking up a car at Port Canaveral following cruises. (For my 2 most recent rentals with Budget, it was called a port access fee at Port Canaveral and a Concession Recovery Fee at MCO, but effectively the same thing, since it was unavoidable.)

 

[DVC-Don]

It's a crap shoot. We got off a cruise the 30th in Tampa. The normal 1 1/4 hour drive home took 3 hours due to an accident on I-4 near Plant City.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We prefer flying into and out of Tampa, even with the possibility of a longer drive time to WDW. We were caught up in a traffic jam once (out of 6 times), but we always make sure we leave plenty with of time just in case. We also prefer the Tampa airport to MCO because it's calmer and the TSA agents have been friendlier in our experience.

 

[mzozzietj]

We love flying into Tampa. It's a much more manageable airport than MCO, shorter lines, less people. That said, I'd just keep an eye on the times for driving. Plan to stop for a meal if the traffic gets bad. Usually it takes us under 2 hours to go from Clearwater to Orlando (which is farther than Tampa) but last trip it took us almost four hours to get from Orlando (Universal) back to Clearwater due to accidents on I4. I don't think you'd have much trouble with traffic at 11am but keep an eye on things using Waze or similar app. For $600 less I'd do it!

 

[Stratman50th]

I always try and coerce friends and family into flying into Tampa instead of Orlando if I have to do a pickup. This is for purely selfish reasons. We live off of I-4 almost right in between the two. I absolutely hate I-4 over in the Orlando area. Except for around 10:00am and 2:00pm (and even during that time anything can happen) Orlando always seems to have horrible traffic!

PS: From our house to Disney property is another 24 miles east on 4 so Tampa is further. it is a lot less stressful unless there's an accident like @DVC-Don said. But all of I-4 can be a crapshoot at any time.

 

[LiDa]

We are heading to WDW April 26th and the flight to Tampa is $600 cheaper and arrives earlier in the day. The flight arrives 11am and we plan to rent a car to drive to French Quarter. I know this has been asked before but any recent reviews on the drive midday, mid week? Is traffic really bad during the day?

I used to be a travel agent & actually lived in Tampa Bay for a few years. It can be much cheaper to fly into TPA & I sometimes booked my clients that way. The drive is about 90 minutes -- or 2 hours, the way I drive! As long as you're not going anywhere else in Tampa Bay, you shouldn't have any extra problems with traffic. Midday should be fine. It's a straight shot up from TPA to MCO, so nearly impossible to get lost. If the timing & price are better for you, it's a decent option.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

We've done the trip from TPA to WDW many times over the years - most trips were a breeze. We had one with a major traffic backup that cost us an extra hour. Then again, we've had 30-45 minute delays coming from MCO. TPA is so much easier to fly in and out, the flights are often cheaper. And if flying in and out of TPA, rental cars are often a bit cheaper, too. We'll be doing this next mont - a couple nights in Tampa area for spring training baseball and a week at Disney - great way to get out of the cold/snow in the northeast for a couple weeks!

 

[Anthony1971]

I personally have never seen bad traffic in Orlando nor from Tampa but I will say this with a side of caution. A 50 mile trip where I live is 2 hours on a great day . We have also made it from TPA to AKL in under an hour in the past so I will give you a flip side. Going back the same trip we hit some traffic but it was very light in my world…. But that really extends your travel time so on the way back I would leave at least 5 hours before the flight for traffic and car return.