Anyone ever fly into Tampa?

[Beckybalz]

If we fly into Tampa instead of Orlando it will save us about $400. Has anyone ever flown into Tampa for a Disney vacation? How was it? How's the drive? Wondering if I should book the good Tampa fares or wait to see if the Orlando fares come down. We are flying in August. Thanks!

[princessgirls]

Pros/Cons here:

Pro= airline fares are cheaper and I think it's about an hour and a half drive...I don't think it's more than 2 hours tops.

Con= Were you planning on renting a car? If you fly into Orlando and are staying at a WDW resort, you can use the Magic Express and WDW transportation while in WDW and save on the car rental. Just a thought...

Julie

[ThanxForNoticin]

I agree with Princessgirls assessment. We usually figure about 30 minutes to get from the Orlando Airport to Disney.... 90 minutes to get there from the Tampa Airport. It's a nice airport. If you are renting a car, it's really not a big deal. Most of the trip is on interstate highways with 65/70 mph speed limits. I believe you have the added small bonus of having no tolls to pay on your way to Disney from the west! Have a nice trip....

[MissTink]

Wow - I just read this and checked airfare for the 5 of us for November - flying into Tampa would save us $750

[Ramblingman]

I grew up in Tampa. It's about 1.5 hours by car, depending on rush hour traffic.

Have you considered the cost of the rental car into your equation? Don't forget to add for gas too. That might make the two options closer in cost and it could affect the decision.

Other than that, TPA is a great airport and driving from Tampa to Orlando is not hard at all, it's Interstate all the way.

If you do decide to fly into Tampa, you may consider doing a day at Busch Gardens. It's pretty nice too.

[lettripp]

We have done it and actually, prefer it sometimes. If you are just renting the car for the drive, and have a lot of passengers, it is more than worth the money and the drive isn't that long... Also, be wary of toll roads. We lucked out with a rental that included the Sunpass on our last trip.

Yes, you miss out on DME... but in reality, if you are doing the trip on a budget, it is absolutely worth considering...

[kakn7294]

We've considered it but never actually done it, mostly due to the fact that it wouldn't have actually saved us money. By the time we factored in the ground transportation costs, it always would have cost us much more, especially when you consider that we don't normally rent a car. Even when we drive ourselves, we park at the resort and let Disney drive us around for the week. But if it works for you, I think it's a great option.

[TikiGoddess]

We usually fly into Tampa to visit relatives before Disney. This year, the flights are cheaper going into Orlando for us (from BDL in July). I've been watching Southwest like a hawk, waiting for their prices to Tampa to drop. They are usually about the same price, and we can borrow a car from my relatives.

Tampa airport is great, and it's a straight drive over to Disney. Not bad at all.

Kathy

[MarkC]

We've done Tampa twice and had good luck with it. Nice airport and good shops if you're into that.

Only word of caution is to have your rental car full a few miles from the airport. When you return it the airport sneaks up on you and there didn't seem to be any gas stations close to fill it up. Don't return your rental empty or it will double the cost of your car.

[DonLefNY]

We've done Tampa a few times, but only when we are visiting family in the Clearwater area along with a WDW trip. Nice airport and about 1 1/2 hour to WDW (if there is not a backup due to an accident on I-4).