Driving from Miami to Orlando... advice pls?

[alibabaxx]

On another thought we land on Sunday afternoon. Maybe the roads would be quieter then than Monday morning?

[PerksP]

We booked the whole flight as one with American so, when they were delayed, they were also responsible for putting us onto the next flight available. We flew home from Orlando with BA so no need to worry about the return flight.

I would always allow 2 hours between flights as you do have to clear immigration, pick up your luggage, go through customs and drop your luggage back onto a carousel. Going through the non-residents queue can take a while and I know others have experienced quite long queues at Miami.

Straight past the baggage drop was the transit for AA so it was really pretty easy.

TBH I don't know about the traffic on a Sunday night - I know that here the roads aren't always clearer as everyone is heading home after a weekend. Regardless of whether the roads were busy or quiet I wouldn't have liked to make the drive after that flight.

[archibald]

Why don't you just wait and see? Motels are plentiful in Miami and Orlando for an all or nothing approach, or just drive a bit further say to West Palm Beach and spend the night there instead.

[Reunion]

Given you want to get to Universal... why not try and drive about half way - as others have said, you'll find somewhere to stay, and drive the rest very early on Monday morning. The traffic in Miami on a Sunday can be really busy - we've been stuck there and almost missed our flight home because there was a big ball game! Monday morning is like Monday morning round London sadly.

[7SeasSailor]

Each to their own. We landed early and were through immigration in an hour so I went for it. I agree that the drive was boring but I've done it before. I've also turned off at Yeehaw Junction and gone across to hwy27 just to do something different. Just because you have had a long day does not mean that you are incapable of driving safely.

[Guest]

We did it too and it was fine, I think we got to orlando at about 9pm after landing at 3pmish, we were shattered but we thought it was worth it and didn't want to waste a day but if you have a delay or immigration is a nightmare it may be a different story!

[WDocW]

We did the drive, but that was back when the VS flight to MIA arrived at 13.50, even with a delay to the flight we were at the rental car place at 5.00ish, and driving up US27 took 3 hours (would have been less but there was a nasty T-storm for the first half hour or so, resulted in somewhat reduced speed for that bit of the journey!

The 27 is a much more relaxed drive than the Turnpike, you can just set the cruise control to 70-75mph and waft along (be careful in the towns though - cops sit around the edges of town nabbing those who speed up a bit early or slow down a bit late!). Traffic on the turnpike runs much faster but there are LOADS of cops so we found it a lot more stressful.

[Guest]

On our honeymoon we drove from Orlando to Miami. It was easy straight all the way open roads, no traffic, stopped on the way for food. It took us 4 hours

[alibabaxx]

Originally Posted by archibald

Why don't you just wait and see? Motels are plentiful in Miami and Orlando for an all or nothing approach, or just drive a bit further say to West Palm Beach and spend the night there instead.

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You think it would be easy to get a room in the middle of August without a booking?

[alibabaxx]

Originally Posted by WDocW

We did the drive, but that was back when the VS flight to MIA arrived at 13.50, even with a delay to the flight we were at the rental car place at 5.00ish, and driving up US27 took 3 hours (would have been less but there was a nasty T-storm for the first half hour or so, resulted in somewhat reduced speed for that bit of the journey!

The 27 is a much more relaxed drive than the Turnpike, you can just set the cruise control to 70-75mph and waft along (be careful in the towns though - cops sit around the edges of town nabbing those who speed up a bit early or slow down a bit late!). Traffic on the turnpike runs much faster but there are LOADS of cops so we found it a lot more stressful.

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Is it quite safe to drive up the US27 then? Worried will drive through unknown or unsafe territory...