Miami to orlando - drive

[Deangtv]

Looking to take the kids to Disney in the 6 weeks holiday. Pricing flights up last night and each flight to Orlando is £1k each.
Now flights to Miami and half this price around £550 a pop.
We'd hire a car anyway for the two weeks as we want to do a bit of traveling around.

I just wanted to know what the drive would be like from Miami to Orlando and whether it was worth the £2k saving.

Google maps reckons a travel time of around 2:30hrs

[Challo]

We did it a couple of years ago. Very easy route to follow, and plenty of service stations to break-up the journey for the kids.

[GreenDog]

Based on my own experience I'd allow 4 hours of driving time plus 'comfort breaks'. It's an easy drive though.

[GreenDog]

Based on my own experience I'd allow 4 hours of driving time plus 'comfort breaks'. It's an easy drive though.

[captain_cynic]

GreenDog said:

Based on my own experience I'd allow 4 hours of driving time plus 'comfort breaks'. It's an easy drive though.

This. A car will be £2-300 a week for a decent one and driving that distance is preferable to flying it in the US.

In America, Miami to Orlando is a short drive, IIRC Google Maps takes you down a toll road so pay up front rather than getting slugged by a "convenience fee" by the hire car company.

[mikal83]

Either take the turnpike and pay a few bucks or I 95 then west on 192. Pleasant drive don't bother to stop it isn't that far

[Chris4410]

Pretty boring drive but worth it if you are saving almost £500 per flight, only bad thing is I have heard Miami airport is awful. If you are planning any time in Miami we were pretty underwhelmed by the place.

[interstellar]

Have you priced up going into Tampa on skyscanner?

We did that last April, saved about £1500 and it was only an extra 40 miles to our house in Kissimmee.

[CaptainSlow]

We did this exact thing for the same reason a couple of years ago...saved £2k for a family of 4.

Also took the opportunity to stay on South Beach Miami for a night sampling the Art Deco and buzzing nightlife before suffering the plastic Disney.

[bakerstreet]

We did Orlando to the Keys several year ago. Drive was fairly easy.

I'd allow for rest stops and also what ages are the kids? That would be the deal breaker for me. If they are older and don't mind being sat in the back of a car for a potential 3-4hrs, then that is fine. Mine are currently 3yrs old and 5 weeks, so that long in a car would be a no no for me!

The other issue is you wll be faced with a very long drive when you have already by travelling for over 15 hours and I'm not sure I would want to do that.

[Sheepshanks]

bakerstreet said:

The other issue is you wll be faced with a very long drive when you have already by travelling for over 15 hours and I'm not sure I would want to do that.

Nor me. I've done that drive mid-holiday for a few days in Ft. Lauderdale / Miami and, yes, it's an easy drive but it's very boring. Others may be OK with it, but I'd fall asleep.

Don't exceed the 70MPH speed limit - we saw car after car stopped by State Troopers.

If you could fly to Tampa that's a lot shorter drive.

Deangtv said:

Google maps reckons a travel time of around 2:30hrs

It's more than that - I'd have said 4hrs, depending a bit on where you're staying.

I just looked at MIA to Orlando and Google maps is saying 3hrs 38mins, so don't know how you're seeing 2hrs 30?

[hoegaardenruls]

bakerstreet said:

The other issue is you wll be faced with a very long drive when you have already by travelling for over 15 hours and I'm not sure I would want to do that.

I'd agree with this.

It's a straight-forward, fairly monotonous drive (allowing for a four hour drive) that I've done a few times, but usually after a one or two night stay somewhere just north of Miami.

[uuf361]

As has been said, it's an easy drive (I've done it half a dozen times or so) but allow about an hour to stop and grab food/stretch legs etc...

[alangla]

Dead easy drive. Also consider going to Fort Lauderdale instead of Miami International - you'll be on the right side of Miami for the direction you're going.
I wouldn't suggest doing it directly off a flight though - it's a pretty dull motorway and the risk of falling asleep will be pretty high. Last time I was there I got a couple of nights in the Westin Fort Lauderdale for a reasonable price, it's a nice enough place for a night or two's stop.

[The Moose]

Sheepshanks said:

Don't exceed the 70MPH speed limit - we saw car after car stopped by State Troopers.

80-85 is pretty safe on the Interstates in S Florida. The best rule of thumb is to not stand out.

If you stick at 70, you’ll likely be constantly overtaken, even by semis.

[Sheepshanks]

The Moose said:

Sheepshanks said:

Don't exceed the 70MPH speed limit - we saw car after car stopped by State Troopers.

80-85 is pretty safe on the Interstates in S Florida. The best rule of thumb is to not stand out.

If you stick at 70, you’ll likely be constantly overtaken, even by semis.

I drove with cruise set at 70 (this was a few years ago, but the speedo in the car I had last year was spot on GPS speed so don't rely on it over-reading like the UK) and cars would go past at only slightly higher speed (almost elephant racing) and then further on we'd see them stopped. Compared to the UK, the number of Police on the road was astonishing.

[The Moose]

Sheepshanks said:

The Moose said:

Sheepshanks said:

Don't exceed the 70MPH speed limit - we saw car after car stopped by State Troopers.

80-85 is pretty safe on the Interstates in S Florida. The best rule of thumb is to not stand out.

If you stick at 70, you’ll likely be constantly overtaken, even by semis.

I drove with cruise set at 70 (this was a few years ago, but the speedo in the car I had last year was spot on GPS speed so don't rely on it over-reading like the UK) and cars would go past at only slightly higher speed (almost elephant racing) and then further on we'd see them stopped. Compared to the UK, the number of Police on the road was astonishing.

The number of cops on the road is high (which is something I approve of). At 70mph, the cops blow past. To be honest, at 80mph the cops often pass swiftly by!

[Sheepshanks]

The Moose said:

The number of cops on the road is high (which is something I approve of). At 70mph, the cops blow past. To be honest, at 80mph the cops often pass swiftly by!

Well, it was different when I did it. Indeed one very old looking cop sat next to us for ages, which was a bit un-nerving.

But the point is Brits shouldn't think they can drive it at 85-90 - even though it's very tempting - like would be normal on UK motorways.

[The Moose]

Sheepshanks said:

The Moose said:

The number of cops on the road is high (which is something I approve of). At 70mph, the cops blow past. To be honest, at 80mph the cops often pass swiftly by!

Well, it was different when I did it. Indeed one very old looking cop sat next to us for ages, which was a bit un-nerving.

But the point is Brits shouldn't think they can drive it at 85-90 - even though it's very tempting - like would be normal on UK motorways.

Obviously I can't comment on your particular journey, but I travel the Interstates in Southern Florida probably 3 - 5 times a week for various different things. Admittedly I try to avoid Orlando like the plague

Amusingly, I wouldn't be comfortable regularly driving the UK motorways at 85-90 before moving out here!

To come back to the OP's question, I would say that it depends on what time your flight gets in. If it's the later one that I would suggest getting a hotel in Miami for the night and driving up the following day. If I was on the earlier flight, I'd knock it out that evening.

[shakotan]

Sheepshanks said:

The Moose said:

The number of cops on the road is high (which is something I approve of). At 70mph, the cops blow past. To be honest, at 80mph the cops often pass swiftly by!

Well, it was different when I did it. Indeed one very old looking cop sat next to us for ages, which was a bit un-nerving.

But the point is Brits shouldn't think they can drive it at 85-90 - even though it's very tempting - like would be normal on UK motorways.

Number of cops is high because EVERY police officer has their own patrol car. So if 3 cops turn up to deal with something, there will be 3 cars, and police will always deploy in numbers unless it's something very routine.

Not like in the UK when two bobbies turn up in an Astra.