Tampa Airport review and also a bit about avoiding traffic.

[bearandbuzz]

Just thought I’d write about our recent experience travelling to and from Tampa.
We’ve always flown to Orlando international, but when a good fly drive deal came up for LGW to Tampa last year I decided to give it a go.
Firstly, I contacted them before we travelled to see if they operated a lanyard system (like Gatwick do) for Autism, for ds2. I received a reply almost immediately offering guided support for all 8 of us off the plane to the car hire. I declined this, as ds2 is not terribly affected, he just misreads social situations at times and I just wanted the staff who dealt with him to be aware that he is not being rude or defiant, just that they have to be precise when talking to him.
Even so, we were met off the plane by assistance, who walked us through to special assistance in customs, I kept saying there was no need - but they insisted! I had a quick look at the normal customs line, where it seemed that it was only the passengers of the BA flight so it went down quickly -I’d say a wait or less than 1/2 hour for those at the back.
Baggage was slow as three of our eight bags were last off the plane, meaning we had to hang around for a while for these. During this time I chatted to the woman from guest services who’d been sent to guide us, she told me about a special programme they have for kids where they can get a proper tour of the airport - I believe it’s on a Thursday and Monday, but not entirely sure. She asked if ds2 would like to go on it but unfortunately our schedule this time wouldn’t fit in with it - maybe next time though!
Once we had our bags we were taken (via 2 monorails) to the Avis desk, where our guide left us. I tried to tip, as she’d been amazing, but she had none of it so I assume she’s not allowed to take money. Unfortunately our time at Avis was not so great, as epthere was a muck up with our booking and (after a lot of stress) we ended up having to pay again for our car - all of which has been sorted by BA now.

On our trip home, I did not contact them in advance as we all felt a little uncomfortable with the guided service. I felt that the airport was quiet enough and more relaxed for ds2 so we did it alone. Every step of the way was clearly sign posted and numerous members of staff were around guiding people to the right monorail and In the right direction. We made it to the BA desk easily, checked in and then upstairs to security. Three of our extra got were chosen for extra checks, which actually had a shorter line than the normal security one. As we joined our allocated queues I was asked how old ds1 & ds2 was, when I said (13 & 11), I was told that ds2 was allowed to join one of the adults who had to go through extra security, as it was a shorter queue! Very thoughtful and without knowing it they’d solved a potential stressful situation for ds! It took a while for the rest of us to get through security, probably about 1/2 hour in all. The queue didn’t seem that long but they only had two scanners so it took a while. I’d take it over the manic MCO security we’d experienced last time though!
We had allowed plenty of time before our flight so set up camp for the next two hours by the departure gate. The kids were pleased to see they could charge their electronics as there were USB ports by the chairs. The BA planes were the unfurnished ones and don’t have charging facilities in economy.

Overall, Tampa is our favourite airiport. The drive from the airport was initially showing as 1 1/2 hours, due to the fact it would have been rush hour, however what with the muck up at Avis we didn’t leave until later so it actually took a little over an hour, we were staying In Davenport.

Oh and just a quick mention about driving over their. Dh pretty much did all the driving, he drives a fair distance to and from work and always uses the ‘Waze’ app as it has live traffic and redirects him if there are any hold ups. He used it all the time over there and I can honestly say we didn’t nice hit any traffic. I’d read on here beforehand about certain roads being a nightmare due to roadworks, but we must have been rerouted around them when they were busy. Admittedly, we took some weird routes into the parks at times - the most memorable was Animal Kingdom whe we were sure we’d gone wrong until the car park just appeared on our right hand side! My advice is to use an app which has live traffic, preferably one you have used in the Uk and are used to - some of them can be rather sudden with their instructions to turn left, so you need to be aware of how much warning you get!

If anyone has any question about Tampa, I’ll gladly answer them, hopefully it helps those who were a little wary of travelling to a different airport.

[wed2ared]

Thanks that's really useful, especially from ASD perspective ;-)

[Persnicketty]

Originally Posted by bearandbuzz

If anyone has any question about Tampa, I’ll gladly answer them, hopefully it helps those who were a little wary of travelling to a different airport.

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Great review. You know what struck us at Tampa in June? The Border Security/Passport Control team were amazingly helpful and friendly. They made us feel very welcome on arrival.

And as for the airport generally, everything you say is spot on. A breeze compared to MCO or even most UK airports.

[bearandbuzz]

Originally Posted by Persnicketty

Great review. You know what struck us at Tampa in June? The Border Security/Passport Control team were amazingly helpful and friendly. They made us feel very welcome on arrival.

And as for the airport generally, everything you say is spot on. A breeze compared to MCO or even most UK airports.

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Most definitely, they all seem to smile and chat, just generally making the whole experience a pleasure rather than a chore. While talking to the guests relations woman, she told me that there may be potential at some point in the future for a link between Tampa and MCO, not sure how it would work, but it may be on the cards.

[wensleydale6]

We can vouch for Tampa too, just generally more relaxing, compare that to the nightmare that is Heathrow on our return!

[JellyEllieBean]

I’m not sure if it was you who posted about Waze on another thread, but we tried it today, so will be trying out from Tampa next year. We love Tampa airport, glad you had a good time

[bearandbuzz]

Originally Posted by JellyEllieBean

I’m not sure if it was you who posted about Waze on another thread, but we tried it today, so will be trying out from Tampa next year. We love Tampa airport, glad you had a good time

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It was me! I promise I’m not sponsored by them 🤣

[Moorlandman]

The traffic on the I-4 is a big downer for me. MCO to the villa areas is 30 minutes whilst Tampa to villa areas is generally 90 minutes.

Any savings at passport control are soon gone by the time you have found the car hire ( not on site) and driven up the i-4. However, I would consider it for a good price

[wensleydale6]

Originally Posted by Moorlandman

The traffic on the I-4 is a big downer for me. MCO to the villa areas is 30 minutes whilst Tampa to villa areas is generally 90 minutes.

Any savings at passport control are soon gone by the time you have found the car hire ( not on site) and driven up the i-4. However, I would consider it for a good price

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I think like any journey in Florida, it depends on traffic, Friday morning at 7.30am it took us 1hr 5 mins from AOA at Disney to dropping our car off, no traffic at all and I’d thought it would be rush hour, i’d allowed 2 hours! When we arrived it did take 1hr 45 but that was driving through a monsoon!

[Guest]

By the end of our holiday we has serious hatred for the traffic on I4 travelling back to Davenport/ Haines City. These Mickey Mouse ears were the red rag to a bull in the end. It was pretty much bumper to bumper all day, every day no matter what time you were heading back.