Key West and Disney/Universal

[kathy87]

Hi,

I thought someone may be able to help me. I am looking to do a few days in Key West and than going to Orlando or vise versa. Can anyone tell what is the least expensive and most efficient way to do this? I am traveling from Boston. I know there is a ferry from Miami or Ft. Meyers. Is it easier to drive from one of these locations and then fly back to Orlando? I'm sure people do this combination, I am just looking for the easiest way to accomplish this.

Thanks so much

 

[ronandannette]

Hi,

I thought someone may be able to help me. I am looking to do a few days in Key West and than going to Orlando or vise versa. Can anyone tell what is the least expensive and most efficient way to do this? I am traveling from Boston. I know there is a ferry from Miami or Ft. Meyers. Is it easier to drive from one of these locations and then fly back to Orlando? I'm sure people do this combination, I am just looking for the easiest way to accomplish this.

Thanks so much

Organize your plane tickets to arrive in Miami and leave for home again from Orlando (shouldn't really change the price of the tickets). Pick up a rental car at MIA and drive down the Keys - that part is an experience in itself. Drive back to Orlando and do your WDW days. Drop the car off at MCO and fly home.

 

[osopecoso]

Hi,

I thought someone may be able to help me. I am looking to do a few days in Key West and than going to Orlando or vise versa. Can anyone tell what is the least expensive and most efficient way to do this? I am traveling from Boston. I know there is a ferry from Miami or Ft. Meyers. Is it easier to drive from one of these locations and then fly back to Orlando? I'm sure people do this combination, I am just looking for the easiest way to accomplish this.

Thanks so much

Just fly directly to key west. I believe American flies there. Rent car there and drive to Orlando (6-7 hr drive). There is a ferry from key west to Naples. You can rent a car in Naples and drive to Orlando (about 2 hrs)

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

Lots of options, just depends on how much you want to drive and if you want to do the Keys first or second. Lots of airport options in FL making the options numerous.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Just came back from a vacation where we flew into Ft. Lauderdale, rented a car and stayed in Miami for a few days, then drove to Key West. Then after four days we drove from Key West back to Ft. Lauderdale for the flight home. The drive takes about 3 1/2 hours and isn't bad at all. I would not drive from Key West to Orlando; the drive is too long.

 

[bdiddy]

It's a really fun and beautiful drive from Miami to Key West so I highly recommend doing that no matter how you configure it.

Our vacation last year was 2 days at Universal, Key West for 9 days, another day at Universal and then a day at Magic Kingdom. We had so much fun and really loved Key West!

Depending how long you are in Key West you should look into a day trip out to Dry Tortugas. We went and actually camped a night and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I highly recommended seeing that little piece of paradise if you have time.

 

[LadyD]

This past May we did a trip to Disney followed by a trip to the Keys. We flew from Orlando to Key West, spent a few days in the Keys, and then drove from Key West to Ft. Lauderdale to fly home. It worked out really nice. We took our time driving out of the Keys and making numerous stops along the way (there was a lot of key lime pie sampling). It was a lot of fun and the drive out of the Keys is really pretty (at least I think it is). Flying back out of Miami is the closest and easiest if you're driving out of the Keys, but Ft Lauderdale wasn't that big of a difference to drive to.

We took an Uber from WDW to the airport to fly to Key West (~30 min). The flight from Orlando to Key West was about an hour and a half direct if I remember right. Driving out of the Keys, we split it up over two days so we could take our time exploring the other Keys. We drove from Key West to Key Largo and stayed at the Hilton there for a night near the John Pennekamp State Park and then drove to Ft Lauderdale the next day to get an evening flight back home. It really allowed us to see the Keys and not feel rushed while minimizing how much time we were traveling at any given point during our vacation.

In terms of cost, it is going to depend on days for flying, length of time you need to rent a car, and any deals you can find either on flights or car rentals. We flew to Key West from Orlando on Silver Airways direct. They regularly run deals. For us, it was cheaper to tack on the trip to the Keys at the end of the trip because of the deals we found on the flights. For us to fly out from the Keys back to california was going to result in some horrendous layovers. I think one had us in one of the Florida airports for like 8 hours, which is why we ultimately decided to drive to the airport instead.