WWYD? Tampa or Jacksonville

[gn2wdw]

What would you do? We are set to fly home on January 2nd. The airfare from MCO has been high since the day it was released and has not come down. I have started looking at alternative airports for cheaper flights. I have given up hope that there will be any sales for Jan. 2. I am getting nervous that our flight home is not booked. I have never waited this long, but I have never had to pay such high prices from MCO.

Tampa and Jacksonville are the only two that have a flight that does not leave super early in the morning and also get us home before it is too late. Flight from Jacksonville is Airtran and flight from Tampa is USAir.

Obviously, the drive to Jacksonville is about an hour and a half longer than the drive to Tampa. But, for my family of 4 it would be $200 cheaper to fly out of Jacksonville instead of Tampa. My parents will drive us to the airport, so we don't need to worry about returning a rental car.

Is it worth saving $200 to drive to Jacksonville? Is the drive to one airport more stressful than the other? Ahyone have any hope that there will be a sale soon?

I am thinking that I would like to pay the extra $200, go to Tampa, not need to leave the World as early and have less of a drive.

Anyone agree or have a different opinion?

 

[OhMari]

If you are at WDW, Tampa is very easy to get to, and only takes about 90 minutes. But if it is rush morning traffic, plan accordingly. We flew out of Tampa over Spring Break one year, and we had a rental, and we felt it didn't take any longer than driving over to MCO and returning the rental.

Jacksonville is probably a good 2 hour ride, if not slightly more. Very nice airport. One security line for all terminals. I actually like Jacksonville, and we are thinking of using this airport for Spring break.

 

[JoeCathyAngelina]

Since you don't have to worry about rental cars, keep the $200 and fly out of Jacksonville.
We've flown out of both airports, you won't notice the drive time difference.
Good luck all,
Joe

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

For $200 savings I'd do JAX too. But keep in mind that if you're at Disney, you have to contend with both downtown Orlando and downtown Jacksonville trafic. So if rush hour is included in your travel plans, allow sufficient extra time.

BobK/Orlando