Just back-- flew to TPA, drove to Orlando

[MouseLover]

Tampa airport was really easy to find my way around in, and to drive to & from.
We rented from Budget, which is "in terminal." You walk out of the main building, across a street, and into the car rental building. Budget Avis, and a couple of more rental desks were inside there. We had rented a mid-size SUV for 8 days, for a total of $204 including all taxes & fees. DH called to check on this 2x, to see what would happen if they were out of that class. Our reservation listed "Ford Escape or similar." He asked "What happens if you are out of Escapes?" Rude answer: "An Escape." Q: What other midsize SUV's do you have there? Rude answer: An Escape. Well, imagine that -- we get there, and no Escapes, no midsize SUVs at all. We were offered a convertible at an increased charge. We were offered a Taurus or Chevy Venture van at the same fee. We didn't want to drive a car, and we already have a Venture at home, so we said we would wait. When we walked back to where the vehicles were, there was a silver Escape sitting freshly washed and waiting for a drive. We inquired about that one, and were told: You can't have that one. I have to take care of my customers. (We weren't customers??) Anyway, finally they brought us a Chevy Tracker. (This vehicle had an Avis sticker in the door.) It was okay -- not extremely comfortable, but easy to find in a parking lot.

Drive to Orlando: Construction is a HUGE mess. It took us about 2 hours + 5 minutes to get from the airport to our hotel. Traffic was stop & go, stop & go, all the way. Also, this was rush hour on Friday afternoon. The return trip took us about 1 hour + 10 minutes, much better!

We would definitely fly into Tampa again to save $300.

 

[cudworth]

Thank you very much for the info I have been looking for . Can you tell if the gas tank on your rental was full and you returned it full or was it done some other way. Is it easy to get back to the Tampa Airport from Disney.

 

[MouseLover]

The gas tank was full, and we returned it full. We filled up about 3 miles from the airport. Budget was going to charge about $4.67/gallon if they had to do it!!

Gas prices ranged from $1.71 to $1.98/gallon. The cheapest we saw was at the Hess stations, on Disney property. The crossroads area was near $2/gallon, but if you drive down the street a mile you can save 20-25 cents per gallon. Easy for us since our hotel was down the road a bit.

We had absolutely no problems getting back to TPA. We made a detour about 10 minutes from the airport to visit relatives for a few hours. Then we made a sidetrip to Hardrock Casino in Tampa. Rental car return was very quick and hassle-free. We checked in using self-serve kiosk.
TIP: We were instructed to remove any undeveloped film from our luggage, as the xray machine that scans checked luggage is very strong and would destroy any pictures. SUPPOSEDLY the carryon luggage scanner will not harm film below 800speed.

Security check was quicker and easier than here in Fort Smith, LOL. (Small airport with only two airlines.) We shared some nachos at Chili's Too in the airport while waiting. Surprisingly, the prices were the same as at home.

We will definitely use TPA again at a savings of $100 per ticket. The drive will not be bad at all once the construction is completed. Also, we were in Friday rush hour traffic, which I'm sure added to the problem. Watch carefully, traffic would be moving about 40-45 mph, then increase to 65-70 for a bit, and suddenly STOP.

 

[cudworth]

Thank you for all your help I hope traffic is'nt to bad our flight on NWA arrives at 12noon the 4 of us DW DS DD and myself are taking only carry on so hopefully we can be out of the airport by maybe 12.30 if all works out . I have signed up for fastbreak with Budget so hopefully that speeds things up. Did you use fastbreak?

 

[perdidobay]

DH and I have flown into TPA several times for the savings... and if you don't arrive/depart in rush hour, it's only a hour drive to WDW. Of course, if you leave some luggage on the shuttle bus like I did, it's an extra 2 hour drive there and back to WDW

 

[bostonlass]

Thanks so much for the report! We're flying into Tampa at around 1pm on a Friday afternoon so hopefully we'll beat the traffic. We're not checking in luggage either.

I hope I get a nicer Budget person than you did!

 

[cudworth]

Please let me know how it worked with Budget and the contruction on the highway when you get back.