Traffic from Disney to Port of Tampa

[Gypsywych]

We'll be in Orlando for a few days before our cruise out of Tampa in November.  We'd like to just leave the morning of the cruise and drive straight down to the Port.  How is traffic usually on a weekday morning?   If we want to arrive at the port by 10am, how much time should we allow? 

[BNBR]

Give yourself about 90 min, max.

Edited July 8, 2019 by BNBR

[Capt_BJ]

I-4 between Orlando and Tampa is high on our list of LEAST favorite drives in Florida . . . 

 

give the morning traffic time to taper off unless you enjoy heavy traffic 

 

I'd not leave until 10 . . . and this assumes you'll be staring SOUTH of the city and more the WDW area. If you will be north of downtown it is worse with the "I-4 Ultimate" construction 

 

p.s. we drive this route TOO frequently ....

 

check this site a few times at your planned drive times and see what I mean.

https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/traffic

Edited July 8, 2019 by Capt_BJ

[bouhunter]

Weekday morning in two large urban area's?  Don't expect light traffic.

[BNBR]

This isn't complicated.  Google has the drive at 60 - 75 minutes if you want to arrive at 10AM - they use obscene amounts of real time data to provide that.  So I would expect 90 minutes to be more than enough time.

 

It's not a bad drive.  You are going against traffic.  The traffic is IN to Orlando in the morning, you are heading OUT.  Which means you'll have a plenty easy drive with minimal traffic disruption.  Disney is well outside of Orlando and already in the direction you want to go.  Leave at 8:30AM and you'll probably get there early.

 

Don't even concern yourself with the traffic.  It's a nothing burger.  We drive that route in to Disney plenty and even during rush hour, it's just not that big of a deal - as in, maybe an extra 20+ minutes due to heavy traffic.

Edited July 8, 2019 by BNBR

[Gypsywych]

Thanks.  We've done the Kissimmee to Universal and back traffic during the week, in all of that construction.  Whew!
Glad to have some perspective on heading on into Tampa from there.  I appreciate it. 

[skrufy]

It’s a Wild West shootout on I-4 during rush hour. Drove I-4 for 12 years, morning drive is a zoo, sat in many backups due to accidents. I’d leave very early and have a leisurely breakfast in a Tampa.

[lab_love123]

To arrive at 10am, you will be travelling in some pretty heavy traffic, but 90 minutes is a pretty generous travel time. Yes, if there's an accident, that could screw you up time-wise, but it shouldn't make you miss your cruise. I always recommend mapping your route in advance and identifying possible alternatives in case there is anything serious.

[emory2001]

Orlando to Tampa always has some degree of traffic backup, but leaving in the morning you'll make the ship. If you want to be there as soon as they will board you (I've boarded in Tampa at 10:30 even with an 11:00 boarding time), then give yourself 2 hours. If you get there early, grab a coffee or breakfast somewhere.

[BNBR]

Can any of you provide a reference for all this supposed traffic? Google has billions of data points from actual trips and shows no traffic on this route in the morning along with an estimate based on millions of ACTUAL trips on this exact route and time.  My personal experience is similar as we generally leave Disney in the morning and go I4 west.  I seriously have no idea what all this traffic hysteria is about.  Even when we have left in the middle of rush hour, it's added 20 min or so of stop and go.  But that's not in the morning heading west. 

[lab_love123]

14 minutes ago, BNBR said:

Can any of you provide a reference for all this supposed traffic? Google has billions of data points from actual trips and shows no traffic on this route in the morning along with an estimate based on millions of ACTUAL trips on this exact route and time.  My personal experience is similar as we generally leave Disney in the morning and go I4 west.  I seriously have no idea what all this traffic hysteria is about.  Even when we have left in the middle of rush hour, it's added 20 min or so of stop and go.  But that's not in the morning heading west. 

 

Gee I don't know...past experience maybe? I’ve done it several times. I encountered heavy traffic each time when I drove that direction at that general time of day. Maybe our definitions of heavy traffic are different. Your experiences and impression of those experiences doesn’t invalidate my experiences or my impression of my experiences. It’s not really that important of an issue to get upset about. 

[Gypsywych]

Hey!   Thank you all very much.  Our hotel is less than 70 miles from the Port of Tampa.  We're going to check Waze and the traffic site shown above ( Thank you Capt BJ) around 8am.  If it's backing up, we'll leave then. If traffic is lighter, we'll hang out and have another cup of coffee.  It's all good.