MCO vs. TPA car rental deals?

[Ed J]

We prefer to fly from ACY (Atlantic City) over PHL (Philly) as ACY it just that much more convenient in every way for us.

Airfares are now being listed for next years trip and due to high demand for Jersey week the ACY flights to MCO are double + than a flight out of PHL.

The flights to Tampa are still reasonable (I'm not looking for "cheap" flights either, I want to stay under a grand for 3 of us) they are at 208 a head right now. I mapped it and it only adds about 40 miles to our trip, I'd rather do those miles in Fla than in NJ / PA.

My question is to those who have rented cars at both AP's, have you found the deals to be comparable? Or am I looking at a potential hurting for that time of the year (first week of Nov.) for a car in Tampa?

** Added
Have you ever done the trip from Tampa to the Orlando area and is there any reason why you did or did not like going that route?

 

[csarenz]

The may just be my experience, but we've found the car deals at TPA to be comparable to the ones at MCO the times we have flown there.

We also flew into TPA a few times because the flight schedules and costs were better for us. We have had no problems with the drive from TPA to Disney. It's an easy drive both ways and pretty much just the highway.

 

[brenda1966]

I'm finding cars to be expensive at both airports, but about the same rate.
Our friends drive up from Tampa and meet us. Sounds like a fairly straightforward drive. If it saves a lot of money, a drive that is probably worth it.

 

[Detailor]

When I've researched car rental prices from the Tampa vs. Orlando airports I've found prices to be roughly the same.

But everytime that I've flown to Tampa, whether going to Orlando or not, I've used Priceline to get an outstanding price. Perhaps because the Tampa airport is much less busy I've found greater Priceline availability and acceptance of lower bids vs. Orlando. I've rented there 5 or 6 times in the last 6 years and have always gotten an on-airport car rental company and had no problems.

BTW, the drive from the Tampa airport to the Disney area is very easy (I think that it's I-275 north through Tampa to I-4 east). A commute of probably about an hour.

Dick Taylor

 

[Windjammer]

It would be good to check the one-way prices to and from MCO and TPA as well. I often fly from PHL into Tampa and then out of MCO back to PHL. The car rental fees are the same as if you pick up and drop off at the same airport.

Steve