Tampa

[vbroadwa]

Due to Southwest being booked for our date of Nov. 28th to fly into Orlando, we are going to fly into Tampa. Just wondering how many have done this and how long a trip it will be to WDW.

 

[BillM]

I picked up some of my family at Tampa last year. I think it was about 1 hour and 15 minutes to WDW.

 

[Disneynut53]

I live just north of Tampa and it takes me 45 minutes to drive to DVC. You will have to deal with traffic from the airport till you get to I-4 (after I-275) then you shouldn't have any problem. It really depends what time of day it is.

 

[MikeScott8]

Well it depends on what time you go through Tampa and how much rush hour traffic you hit. But the airport is pretty close to one of the interstates. I know back in Jan my fiance and I made the trip from OKW to Clearwater (through tampa, past the aiport and across the bay) in an hour and half or so (don't remember exactly). We also ended up hitting Tampa around 8am on a weekday, but the traffic although heavy moved rather well.

Mike

 

[bigsis1970]

Hi , I flew to and from Tampa last dec and it was great.. easy to find car rental nice airport only took about an hour to get to hotel HIFS.. I would do it again if I could find the great rate i got ( 95.00 per person RT MHT to TPA ) michelle

 

[dvcChrisVWL]

If you drive 75-80 mph or less, it will take you 1 hr to 1 hr 15 minutes to go from the airport to WDW parking booth. That is if you hit no traffice backups - depends on the time of day. You can get there faster if you speed even more. The speed limit from Tampa I-75 to Lakeland (half way point) is 70 mph. Many folks do 80-85 between Lakeland and Orlando, but beware of FHP. They sometimes hide in the median (lots of 30+ ft trees!). It really would be a shame to start off a vacation with a $100+ speeding ticket! Plan for 1 hr and 15 min and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Note: You can get directions to WDW MK parking by putting in Car Care Dr as the address and Lake Buena Vista, FL as the city/state on your destination. This literally puts you at the parking booths (ka-ching! $6, please). From TIA, your trip to MK is 79.5 miles. Through Tampa is 50 mph, Tampa to I-75 is 55 mph, I-75 to Lakeland is 70 mph, Lakeland to Orlando is 60 or 65 mph. Disney is 35 (but most folks keep it up to 55 or 60). Yahoo says 1 hr and 57 minutes.

OH - saw 2 sherriffs clocking people last weekend at the entrance to MK - next to the split for MGM. One had someone pulled over. They hide behind the big Tower of Terror display in the median!

Have fun!