Toll roads

[restful urchin]

HI we're coming the end of May and renting a car. I was wondering what the toll was from MCO to the Swan. I plan on taking the Beeline (Beachline?).
Also we will be getting American money out of the cash machines at the airport, therefore will have $20.00 bills. Will I need exact change? I think I recall that there are people in the toll- booths but it has been over a decade since I've been there.
thanks in advance,
Liz

 

[Edd]

The toll booths are manned 24 hours.

 

[cherylp3]

The lines for making change may be long, it might be worth a few minutes to stop at a store and get change so you can use the exact coins lines.

Cheryl

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

Be sure to use the airport's NORTH exit road to get to TOLL 528, the Beachline Expressway. There are two toll plazas on your route over to I-4 and each will cost you $.75 and as Edd stated, there are manned lanes. If you can check with your friends and relatives at home you can probably scrape together 6 American quarters and use the exact change lanes and save a bit of time.

Have fun!

BobK/Orlando

 

[seashoreCM]

Leaving via the airport north exit, go left at the first light which takes you about two miles on a side road skipping one of the two toll booths on 528 (Beach line fka Bee line). Then you take two quick lefts to get on 528.

Returning via I-4 east to 528 east, get off at 528's exit 9 Tradeport. Left and cross under, get into middle lane, require right onto that side road.

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[CPT Tripss]

Please allow me to be the first to suggest that you reconsider. There is a newer toll road that avoids I-4 . . . take the south exit from MCO and use 417 aka The Greenway.
You will need exact change for the final toll booth.

 

[NotUrsula]

I agree, take the Greenway (Florida 417), not the Beachline. Go all the way to Osceola Parkway and you will not only skip the traffic on I-4, but also the traffic in the Downtown Disney area. Once you enter WDW property, follow the signage to the Epcot Resort Area.

Buy yourself a newspaper and a Coke before you leave the airport to break a $20, then you can also ask your rental car counter for another couple of dollars in change for the tolls. It is no problem in the US to give a store clerk $20 for a 35 cent newspaper purchase; they won't be upset.

 

[U2_rocks!]

We're driving from the airport to the Lake Buena Vista area (Cypress Pointe, near Apopka Vineland) on Friday between about 3.45 and 4.30 p.m., when the traffic is starting to get heavy. Is 417 better in that case, to avoid I-4? I'm just wondering what the best almost rush hour plan would be.

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

If you plan to be on I-4 between 3:45pm and 4:30pm the traffic in the Lake Buena Vista area should not be that bad. People on these boards make such a big deal about I-4 being congested coming from the airport. But the Lake Buena Vista exit (SR 535) is the very next exit west from where you enter I-4 from the Beachline Expressway (TOLL 528), a distance of only 5 miles. Turn right onto SR 535 and that will lead to your hotel.

But it is true that using the Greeneway (TOLL 417) is basically never congested. You'd get off the 417 at the SR 536 exit and proceed straight ahead, turning right at the second traffic light on SR 535. Pass under I-4 (the exit described above) and on to your hotel.

Both routes work; tolls on the 528 would total $1.50 and tolls on the 417 would total $2.00.

BobK/Orlando

 

[NotUrsula]

People on these boards make such a big deal about I-4 being congested coming from the airport.

Well, the commuter rush periods *are* bad on I-4, but IMO the real hazard of that highway is the likelihood getting caught behind a wreck or breakdown, which happens all too often as tourists rubberneck when they should be paying attention to what they are doing. It happened to us last Xmas morning on the way to the airport, and if I hadn't made an illegal u-turn in the median to be able to exit and take an alternate route, we would have spent 6 hours at a total standstill on that 5 mile stretch. The interesting thing was that traffic jams of that magnitude had also happened on Dec. 23rd and on December 26th; it made the news.

The volume of vehicles on I-4 means that it is usually packed to the gunwales any time there is a wreck or a breakdown, and the lanes run right to the guardrails so that the accident can't be moved out of the traffic lanes, so you can't usually go around the problem. This isn't nearly as likely to happen on 417. IMO it is definitely worth that extra dollar to avoid I-4 altogether.