Please Help With Tampa Airport and Car Rentals

[The Pluto People]

Hi! We are considering flying into the Tampa airport (cheaper fares). Can anyone help with info on rental car companies at that airport? We have previously rented from the Emerald Aisle at Orlando and were very happy with our experiences there...are there rental companies on site (no jitneys - just walk to the car) at Tampa? And, is Tampa about an hour from WDW? Thanks for any info at all about the Tampa airport or car rentals.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by The Pluto People
Hi! We are considering flying into the Tampa airport (cheaper fares). Can anyone help with info on rental car companies at that airport? We have previously rented from the Emerald Aisle at Orlando and were very happy with our experiences there...are there rental companies on site (no jitneys - just walk to the car) at Tampa? And, is Tampa about an hour from WDW? Thanks for any info at all about the Tampa airport or car rentals.

From what I recall Dollar is definitely onsite. We used Alamo, which is offsite, but only about a 2 minute ride. Tampa's web site would have all this information.

Tampa is between one hour and one hour and 15 mins. from WDW.

I liked flying into Tampa, no toll roads and it is an easy drive.

 

[Lewisc]

Gail is right, not much more than an hour drive (about 75 miles). Last I checked Dollar, Thrifty, Avis, Budget and Hertz were all in the terminal.

BTW I checked the airport website. Enterprise is also listed as an onsite agency.

They claim you should allow 2 hours to drive to Disney. Gail we must be fast drivers, other than construction I can't imagine the drive even taking 90 minutes.

 

[tjmw2727]

My dh uses tampa lots for business, they have a great website with all the information you need and more. There are about 5 car rental companies onsite and according to DH even the offsite ones are pretty easy to get to and fairly close.

I have had great luck getting DH discounts at Tampa with the codes from mousesavers at Tampa as well as MCO so give her site a try if you like.

TJ

 

[cindala]

Originally posted by The Pluto People
Hi! We are considering flying into the Tampa airport (cheaper fares). Can anyone help with info on rental car companies at that airport? We have previously rented from the Emerald Aisle at Orlando and were very happy with our experiences there...are there rental companies on site (no jitneys - just walk to the car) at Tampa? And, is Tampa about an hour from WDW? Thanks for any info at all about the Tampa airport or car rentals.

With what airline are you finding cheaper rates into Tampa? We are still trying to find a decent airfare, and I checked Tampa from both Newark and LaGuardia on Delta and Continental, and the fares are both really high!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Lewisc
Gail is right, not much more than an hour drive (about 75 miles). Last I checked Dollar, Thrifty, Avis, Budget and Hertz were all in the terminal.

BTW I checked the airport website. Enterprise is also listed as an onsite agency.

They claim you should allow 2 hours to drive to Disney. Gail we must be fast drivers, other than construction I can't image the drive even taking 90 minutes.

Yep, I do drive fast, but, with what they consider a 2 hour drive they must be doing about 40-45 mph. LOL

 

[siobhan1997]

Hi we are flying with Jet Blue from JFK to Tampa and then returning from Orlando back to JFK. WE got an excellent rate from them .

As far as rentals we are using Budget, we got a great deal, base rate $199.98 for an immediate size car with a free upgrade to full size for two weeks picking up at tampa airport and dropping off at Orlando airport. Got this deal through budget website under mastercard deals. Check it out!

 

[rsschneck]

http://www.tampaairport.com/transportation/transportation_grnd_trans.html

check the web sight I posted

We usually use Dollar with mousesavers codes

 

[CarolA]

National is about a 5 minute bus ride away.

Also, give yourself a little extra time. They are doing construction on I-4 at the i-75 interchange and at rush hour it can be a MESS!!!

 

[The Pluto People]

Thanks for all the quick replies! Cindala: We would like to fly Continental out of Newark. I was looking for fares for the last week of June...an early morning flight to Tampa was $216 compared to $245 for a flight leaving the same time to Orlando. Are you condsidering JetBlue? My DH thinks we would have to leave our house too early to get an early flight from JFK - do you have any experience flying JetBlue?

 

[MikeWazowski]

I'm glad to here the drive from Tampa is'nt that bad. I will be flying to Tampa Feb. 10-17 on Airtran out of Buffalo (total for two with taxes and fees came to $347.80, $71.00 each way per person). We were flying to Tampa to save money too. We also got a car (compact) from thrifty for $128.80 (with taxes and fees, $84.88 w/o). Thrifty is also on-site.

 

[cindala]

Originally posted by The Pluto People
Thanks for all the quick replies! Cindala: We would like to fly Continental out of Newark. I was looking for fares for the last week of June...an early morning flight to Tampa was $216 compared to $245 for a flight leaving the same time to Orlando. Are you condsidering JetBlue? My DH thinks we would have to leave our house too early to get an early flight from JFK - do you have any experience flying JetBlue?

We are planning on the first week of July, and the fare on JetBlue is over $300!! I have friends who rave about JetBlue, but the price just is too high for our flights.

I fooled around with different airports and if I leave out of LGA and return to JFK, I can get $224. Out of LGA back into Newark is $234. I'll check out Continental and see what their fares are into Tampa for our dates. Probably high since we want to leave the 3rd, just before the holiday!