RSW (Fort Myers) to WDW - toll roads?

[Sirenn]

Cheers, everyone! Planning my first trip back to WDW since 2004 (aiming for Jan/Feb 2015, with any luck!) Some preliminary price comparisons are showing that flying into Southwest Florida International (RSW) will save my fella and I around $200 on plane tickets and close to $100 in car rental fees. Not a bad trade-off for a ~3 hour drive to WDW, hey?

Here's my question though: I've just come across a reference to the Toll-By-Plate program, and I'm not sure what kind of tolls (if any) that we'd come up against driving between Fort Myers and WDW. It looks like one of these two routes is recommended:

I-75 to I-4
FL-31 to US-17

Which way would you recommend, in terms of traffic and tolls? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[OKW Lover]

You won't encounter any tolls on either of those routes. Traffic wise the I-75>I-4 route would be the easiest. The other route looks shorter, but you'll encounter lots of stop lights and business districts.

 

[Sirenn]

That's really helpful, thanks OKW Lover! IIRC, the I-75 route was about 50 miles longer, but the time estimate was nearly identical to FL-31/US-17, so I assumed the former route had less stoppage and quicker speed limits. Anything that gets us on property with less stress will be aces. =)

 

[cruisingkat]

Although we don't live in Florida, we usually stop at Disney on our way down from Chicago and back when we visit our grandkids in Ft Myers several times a year. After a few years of taking I75 & I4 route between Disney & Ft Myers, we switched to the back roads. We found that there is less traffic and it was actually faster. Our son who lives in Ft Myers and goes to Disney 3 to 5 times a year also likes taking the back roads. I4 can be quite congested and eat up a lot of time. Most of the backroads have speed limits of 60 mph and except for the very few towns we go thru, we usually only see about 20-40 cars. We actually found the back roads quicker than when we did the I75/I4 route. Our GPS which we programmed to give us the fastest route, takes us between Disney & Ft Myers using the backroads.

 

[Sirenn]

Cheers, cruisingkat! When you mention the back roads, do you mean the FL-31 to US-17 route that passes through Arcadia?

I'm happy to learn that tolls won't be an issue between Ft. Myers and WDW; the next consideration will be getting us to our hotel efficiently and with as little stress as possible. (We'll be flying in from Arizona, so it will be a looooong flight and having an easy drive would definitely be welcome!)

 

[cruisingkat]

Cheers, cruisingkat! When you mention the back roads, do you mean the FL-31 to US-17 route that passes through Arcadia? I'm happy to learn that tolls won't be an issue between Ft. Myers and WDW; the next consideration will be getting us to our hotel efficiently and with as little stress as possible. (We'll be flying in from Arizona, so it will be a looooong flight and having an easy drive would definitely be welcome!)

Yes I do mean the 31 to 17 to I4 route. We take I75 from Ft Myers to Palm Beach Boulevard to 31. I'll have to check our Nuvi for our exact route. We have done that route so many times, our car is on automatic.

 

[Sirenn]

Wonderful, thanks for the info, cruisingkat!

 

[TinyTim2]

I also live in the Ft Myers area and I always take the I 75 to I 4 route. I find it a better route then the back roads. I have been up and down 17 31 and 27 many times for work at all hours of the day and night and have been stuck due to a wreck for a couple of hours on them. At least with I 75 if its shut down you can use 41 or other local roads. I can make it from Cape Coral to WDW in 3 and a half hours on 75 and 4 just about 99 percent of the time.

 

[Eeyore's the Best]

Hi, we are going to be flying into Fort Myers to stay with our parents for a few days and then we need to get to Disney. Does anyone have any recommendations, is there a shuttle service we could hire, or would renting a car be better? Could we rent a car in Fort Myers and then return it at Disney?

 

[katallo]

Hi, we are going to be flying into Fort Myers to stay with our parents for a few days and then we need to get to Disney. Does anyone have any recommendations, is there a shuttle service we could hire, or would renting a car be better? Could we rent a car in Fort Myers and then return it at Disney?

I would say rent a car, but we are checking into the same thing. I had no idea dropping off at a different location was so expensive. So, I would explore all of your options.

 

[monorailsilver]

Don't take the back road!!!

My sister lives in ft. Myers.

In 2013 we drove from CT and on our way back we tried the back road. Never again!!

Stop and go plus we were worried that we would get a ticket for going a mile over the speed limit and some areas were sketchy looking to stop in.

This past April we just did the I-75 both ways. Much easier!

 

[Sirenn]

Thanks for the votes of confidence on the I-75/I-4 route, TinyTim2 and monorailsilver! We're actually now seriously considering moving to Orlando (quite an upgrade from planning a 10 day trip, hey?) and getting familiar with the major routes from the get go will probably be more beneficial. Can't wait!

@Eeyore's the Best - In my preliminary searching, I found that the rental rates at RSW were considerably cheaper than renting from MCO. Hotwire was offering deals as low as $5.95/day (pre-tax and fees) for a compact from a company located within the terminal, something the Orlando area companies wasn't even close to matching. So definitely consider renting a car if it works within your plan/budget!