Considering flying into Tampa w/a toddler- transportation questions

[jbethel77]

Southwest Flights into Tampa vs MCO are substantially cheaper for the dates we need (October). We’ve always gone directly to MCO & used magical express, but The savings is so much that I’m seriously considering.

We’re not comfortable using Uber or Lyft

Looking at car rentals online (pickup in Tampa, drop off at Disney or mco) they are quoting me over $100... just for a few hours! Does that sound right?
Do most car rental companies offer car seats? We have a one year old with us.

Am I missing any of the other options?
Or Any other advice/tips we should know? Is it even worth the hassle?

Thanks!

 

[WDW_Diane]

Southwest Flights into Tampa vs MCO are substantially cheaper for the dates we need (October). We’ve always gone directly to MCO & used magical express, but The savings is so much that I’m seriously considering.

We’re not comfortable using Uber or Lyft

Looking at car rentals online (pickup in Tampa, drop off at Disney or mco) they are quoting me over $100... just for a few hours! Does that sound right?
Do most car rental companies offer car seats? We have a one year old with us.

Am I missing any of the other options?
Or Any other advice/tips we should know? Is it even worth the hassle?

Thanks!

One day, one way car rentals are expensive. I think car seats cost extra. Tampa is not extremely close, but doable.
We have used town car services before but they’re quite expensive all the way from Tampa.
If you can rent a one day one way car and drop it off at a Disney location for under $200 that’s probably your best option if you are saving hundreds more on top of that.

 

[foodiddiedoo]

Yes, car companies will offer car seats. Usually about 10-15 dollars per day with a cap at like 80ish dollars for a week. Does your company offer any sort of corporate negotiated rates? Mine offers codes that let us get the discount that the company gets for mass bookings and can really bring the price down.

 

[SteveH]

One day, one way rates are expensive. I am flying into TPA for a conference then renting the day and dropping off the following day at Disney. Rate through Costco was $146, my TA found nearly the same rates. She's put one on hold and we'll watch the rates to see if they drop.

 

[Anthony1971]

Done it multiple times.... You will need to rent a car it is about one hour drive very straight forward no tolls... Bring your own car seat otherwise you will need to pay to rent one... Check the rates but for one day depending upon the car you can expect to pay between 70-100. Alamo, National, Avis, Budget among others have return centers at the Hotel Plaza Blvd Hotels. Alamo and National also have return locations near the Magic Kingdom and Swan and Dolphin they will also have a shuttle to take you back to the hotel but you would likely need to call the place you will return directly to schedule this. The rest do not you will need to walk to DS and take a bus... some are very close some like Budget are further. You will also need to stop for gas... Worth it is for you to decide.... if you are driving both ways it sometimes only a few dollars more to rent for the week but if you are not DVC you will than pay for parking at the resort... Make sure to bring a portable GPS or a Phone with a GPS and a good App you can understand for directions.... We are DVC and it not only helps with Airfare sometimes -- recently not the case but also opens up the Dining options and going to the parks and DS.

 

[sponica]

Why not fly with your car seat? You should be able to check it, even if you're lap riding.

I'd do the math, are you flying RT to/from Tampa OR is it one ways?

If you're flying RT and need to rent a car both ways, is it less than the fare to/from MCO?

 

[foodiddiedoo]

Why not fly with your car seat? You should be able to check it, even if you're lap riding.

I'd do the math, are you flying RT to/from Tampa OR is it one ways?

If you're flying RT and need to rent a car both ways, is it less than the fare to/from MCO?

Flying with a car seat is a lot of work....the bigger seats for small children are heavy and bulky to carry with you and would not be worth the hassle of paying 10 bucks to avoid it IMO. We brought our own car seat down the last time we went to MCO and checked it. I also was a bit worried about it getting damaged in transport.

 

[Eeyore daily]

Don't forget that with driving out of TPA you head straight into Downtown Tampa which can add to your drive time to be 2 hours just to get to Disney. Traffic is pretty miserable in my opinion on I-4.

 

[JimMIA]

One thing missing from your OP is info on your flights back home. If they are also via Tpa, then you are looking at two one-day car rentals, and the rates might be better or worse going in the other direction.

Uber/Lyft quotes range from about $100 to $130, so there is no savings there even if you wanted to use them.

If it's not too much trouble, you could bring your own car seat for the little one.

The drive itself is not bad. It's almost all I-4 and Google Maps estimates about 90 minutes (depending on where you are going, of course).

 

[JimMIA]

Don't forget that with driving out of TPA you head straight into Downtown Tampa which can add to your drive time to be 2 hours just to get to Disney. Traffic is pretty miserable in my opinion on I-4.

You don't actually go into downtown. TPA is located NW of downtown. You come out of the airport onto I-275 and take that east, passing north of the actual downtown area to I-4.

There was construction on I-275 last time I was there (a couple of years ago) and that slowed traffic down somewhat. But other than that, I didn't think the TPA-WDW drive was particularly bad.

Of course, traffic is in the eye of the beholder and depends greatly on where you normally drive. If you normally drive in a REALLY bad place like DC or Atlanta, I-4 will be a walk in the park. If you live in a rural area, you may find it awful.

 

[jbethel77]

We are also DVC & AP holders so I have considered keeping the rental car the whole time, but we technically only need it for the drive from the airport since we don’t mind Disney transportation.

Right now I have a few options..
MEM to TPA (arrive)
MCO to MEM (depart)
Total airfare $766 (plus $130 ish for car rental/car seat= $896)

It’s about the same price going round trip through Tampa, so I prob wouldn’t do that. We’d only need to rent a car on arrival day.

MEM to MCO round trip is $1,361

Going the Tampa route saves quite a bit, I’m appreciating all the comments of personal experiences since we’ve never gone that route.

I’ve considered checking her car seat, but it is huge & we’d be stuck with it all week in our room taking up space.

The worst part is with any of the options we have drive 5 hours to Memphis! Ugh! Airfare is super expensive in our area.. I’d be looking at over $2k!

Thanks again

 

[JimMIA]

We are also DVC & AP holders so I have considered keeping the rental car the whole time, but we technically only need it for the drive from the airport since we don’t mind Disney transportation.

Right now I have a few options..
MEM to TPA (arrive)
MCO to MEM (depart)
Total airfare $766 (plus $130 ish for car rental/car seat= $896)

It’s about the same price going round trip through Tampa, so I prob wouldn’t do that. We’d only need to rent a car on arrival day.

MEM to MCO round trip is $1,361

Going the Tampa route saves quite a bit, I’m appreciating all the comments of personal experiences since we’ve never gone that route.

I’ve considered checking her car seat, but it is huge & we’d be stuck with it all week in our room taking up space.

The worst part is with any of the options we have drive 5 hours to Memphis! Ugh! Airfare is super expensive in our area.. I’d be looking at over $2k!

Thanks again

Honestly, given your DVC ownership and AP I would really consider keeping the car for your whole stay. You don't have to pay parking and you're saving $600 on airfare -- and here is what you would gain by driving:

• Most important, incredible ease of returning to the resort mid-day for pool/nap time. The infant is not going to be a park commando, so they're going to need breaks and having a car will make breaks SO much easier. It's also much easier to just throw the stroller in the trunk, rather than taking it on a crowded bus. When we stayed onsite, we always drove to parks for these very reasons.
• Also, do a bit of exploring offsite. Offsite you will find some good outlet malls, and also a very wide variety of dining options which have better food, more real variety, and better prices.
• Groceries. If you're in a 1BR or bigger, you'll have a full kitchen. You're not going to cook dinner every night (although you could), but it sure is nice to have a good breakfast each morning, some snacks, etc. Having easy access to nearby grocery stores will be a nice plus.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Check your rates as your trip gets closer the rated tend to drop. We have done nearly 60 trips to WDW and I never book my car until the week before our trip because the prices are lower

 

[Bjkandma]

My daughter lives right outside of Tampa. She drives her own car and meets us (Magical Express). She leaves on a Monday \Tuesday in morning after rush hour. Her travel time is close to 90 minutes. Leaving Disney if work day, she stays out in Disney till after 6 (if our Magical Express pick up is after 12), otherwise she sits in traffic. Not sure, if timing would play a part, but in addition to extra cost of ren ting a car both directions, traveling with a one year old. Not sure I would. Guess question is, convenience with 1 year old and money savings. If you rent a car and drop off at MCO or Disney, you still need to get to resort, more time spent)

 

[Bjkandma]

Another thing if you drop car off at MCO or disney, you still need to get to resort. More time spent before getting to destination!

 

[daisy2013]

Dropping off at Disney is relatively painless. The car care center will drive you back to the hotel.
If you opt to rent a car seat from the rental company you may have issues. I’ve had more than one friend get there and the car seats were the wrong type (bucket seat for a toddler) or dirty or expired. I would take it on the plane (have you child sit in it on the plane) and store it in the room. They don’t take up that much room. My daughter use to use hers as a seat.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Another thing if you drop car off at MCO or disney, you still need to get to resort. More time spent before getting to destination!

Dropping off at Disney is easy. THey have a free shuttle that will take you anywhere on Disney property. So if you drop off your luggage at the resort before returning the car, you can take the shuttle directly to a park or anywhere else. Is it not that bad of a thing.
If you feel the car seat takes up too much room in the room have bell services store it for you. Our neighbor just got back from Disney and is going back in a few days. Bell services is holding her luggage instead of lugging it back and forth.

 

[mullii5]

Definitely check the rates. We did this for our trip in June and it cost $54.00, I believe....it was no where near $100.00. We picked up the car, ate lunch, stopped at a store for groceries and went to the hotel. All of that took about 4.5 hours. We returned the car to the return spot at Swan/Dolphin and it was done!

Depending on the day of the week and time of day, the drive was very easy.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Looking at car rentals online (pickup in Tampa, drop off at Disney or mco) they are

Most car rental companies rent by the day, not by the hour. If this $100 (each way?) is substantially less than the airfare difference, why would you not?

 

[kandb]

I would definitely fly into TPA to save over $500. We have flown into there numerous times. Very nice airport and not as congested.