tampa to orlando drive times

[2forMe]

Trying to get a handle on drive times to orlando from tampa. Our flight arrives at 1pm and we thought of having lunch and afternoon at the beach. Should we plan to stay later, say until 6pm or so or later?, to avoid rush hour traffic?

 

[nacho113]

TPA to WDW is a 90 minute drive if the traffic is co-operating, add an extra 30-40 minutes if you are planning to do it during rush hour as there is still lots of construction along I-275.
If you plan on going to the beaches (Clearwater, St Pete's etc.), they are about a 30-40 minute drive west of the airport (opposite direction to WDW) so you will need to back-track for the return ride to Disney (2-2.5 hours from Clearwater Beach or St Pete's Beach to WDW)

 

[keishashadow]

nacho any idea when the construction is supposed to wind up on I-275?

 

[the4fishes]

What are the rush hour times? For me, I'm not so worried about our arrival day (a Saturday - could this be an issue?) I'm more worried about our 9am flight on a Friday out of Tampa. Scared to death we are going to get hung up in traffic from Orlando to Tampa.

 

[nacho113]

nacho any idea when the construction is supposed to wind up on I-275?

They say Fall 2016 but that has been pushed back several times (originally was summer 2015). The first time we ran into it was Spring 2012 and it's still going on. They are definitely making progress, but they are basically widening I-275 all the way through the city.

 

[nacho113]

What are the rush hour times? For me, I'm not so worried about our arrival day (a Saturday - could this be an issue?) I'm more worried about our 9am flight on a Friday out of Tampa. Scared to death we are going to get hung up in traffic from Orlando to Tampa.

Rush hour is about the same as most places 7am-9am so I would add and extra 30-60 minutes to your drive time just to be safe.
Just another thought would be to stay the Thursday night in Tampa, there's several nice hotels withing 5-10 minutes of the airport. You could even get a hotel over on Clearwater beach and watch the sunset over the ocean on Thursday evening (it is spectacular) and you are only 30 minutes from the airport on Friday morning.

 

[the4fishes]

Rush hour is about the same as most places 7am-9am so I would add and extra 30-60 minutes to your drive time just to be safe.
Just another thought would be to stay the Thursday night in Tampa, there's several nice hotels withing 5-10 minutes of the airport. You could even get a hotel over on Clearwater beach and watch the sunset over the ocean on Thursday evening (it is spectacular) and you are only 30 minutes from the airport on Friday morning.

I live in Maine, we don't have rush hour, lol! But thank you for your answer....staying overnight sounds like a fabulous idea!

 

[kandb]

We are flying out of TPA in Sept after our trip to Disney. Our flight leaves at around 10am, so we would have to be to the airport at 8am. I don't want to deal with the traveling that morning,
so I got a Hampton inn for around $100, that has a shuttle to the airport and it is 2 miles from TPA. We will have their free breakfast before we head to the airport at around 8. Much easier.

 

[kristenrice]

We are flying in to TPA on a Thursday morning and our flight is scheduled to land at 9:05am. We will be renting a car and driving to AKV with a stop for groceries and a fast-food lunch along the way. Then we'll drop off the luggage and groceries at AKV, check in and drive the car to the Car Care Center to return it. I scheduled a return time of 1pm. Does this sound reasonable? We plan to have the CCC shuttle take us to either the TTC or Epcot, whichever is easier for them, and our first FP+ is for 1:10-2:10. I assume that the fee that I paid for the car is a 24-hour rate so returning it early should not incur anything extra, right? I have no desire to keep it any longer than necessary because returning it would just be one more thing on the "to-do" list.

 

[nacho113]

We are flying in to TPA on a Thursday morning and our flight is scheduled to land at 9:05am. We will be renting a car and driving to AKV with a stop for groceries and a fast-food lunch along the way. Then we'll drop off the luggage and groceries at AKV, check in and drive the car to the Car Care Center to return it. I scheduled a return time of 1pm. Does this sound reasonable? We plan to have the CCC shuttle take us to either the TTC or Epcot, whichever is easier for them, and our first FP+ is for 1:10-2:10. I assume that the fee that I paid for the car is a 24-hour rate so returning it early should not incur anything extra, right? I have no desire to keep it any longer than necessary because returning it would just be one more thing on the "to-do" list.

Sounds about right.
My other thought would be to keep the car until the following morning and then drop it off on your way to the park on Friday morning.
Cost would be the same and you have your own transportation back to AKV at the end of your first park day ... instead of waiting in the lineups for the buses and the multiple stops at the other resorts on a crowded bus filled with tired cranky kids (and adults) on your way back to your resort.

We gave up on Disney buses a few years ago and always rent a car for the duration of our stay now. We like that we can come and go as we please.
Also it just seems SO QUIET when you get out of the park and get into your car. We usually have a cooler with drinks in the trunk and some snacks in the car so sometimes we just sit and enjoy the quiet and relax for a few minutes before heading back to our resort. We really used to hate lining up to ride on a crowded bus at the end of a long day, especially when the kids were smaller.
Having a car for the duration of our stay allows us to go visit the other Orlando attractions and pop out to Daytona Beach or Cocoa Beach for a day trip.
And I can replenish any of the necessary adult bevies and snacks.