individual airline’s Web site. Airline sites also offer schedules, flight
booking, and information on late-breaking bargains.
Driving to Orlando
Driving to Orlando is sometimes a less expensive and potentially more
scenic option, unless the distance is so great that making the road trip
eats up too much of your vacation (and, thanks to rising gas prices, your
budget as well).
Table 5-1 lists how far several cities are from Orlando.
Table 5-1
Driving to Orlando
City
Distance from Orlando
Atlanta
436 miles
Boston
1,312 miles
Chicago
1,120 miles
Cleveland
1,009 miles
Dallas
1,170 miles
Detroit
1,114 miles
New York
1,088 miles
Toronto
1,282 miles
Need directions? No problem.
From Atlanta, take I-75 South to the Florida Turnpike to I-4 West.
From Boston and New York, take I-95 South to I-4 West.
From Chicago, take I-65 South to Nashville, and then I-24 South to
I-75 South to the Florida Turnpike to I-4 West.
From Cleveland, take I-77 South to Columbia, South Carolina, and
then I-26 East to I-95 South to I-4 West.
From Dallas, take I-20 East to I-49 South, to I-10 East, to I-75 South,
to the Florida Turnpike, to I-4 West.
From Detroit, take I-75 South to the Florida Turnpike to I-4 West.
From Toronto, take Canadian Route 401 South to Queen Elizabeth
Way South to I-90 (New York State Thruway) East to I-87 (New York
State Thruway) South to I-95 over the George Washington Bridge,
and continue south on I-95 to I-4 West.
49Chapter 5: Getting to Orlando
AAA (% 800-222-1134; www.aaa.com) and some other automobile clubs
offer free maps and optimum driving directions to their members (among
several other worthwhile travel perks). In addition, several comprehen-
sive Web sites offer door-to-door driving directions with personalized map
routing, including MapQuest, www.mapquest.com; MapBlast!, www.map
blast.com; and Yahoo! Maps, http://maps.yahoo.com.
Arriving by Train
Amtrak (% 800-872-7245; www.amtrak.com) trains pull into two central
stations: 1400 Sligh Blvd. in downtown Orlando (about 23 miles from
Walt Disney World) and 111 Dakin Ave. in Kissimmee (about 15 miles
from Walt Disney World).
Amtrak’s Auto Train allows you to bring your car to Florida without
having to drive it all the way. The service begins in Lorton, Virginia —
about a four-hour drive from New York, two hours from Philadelphia —
and ends at Sanford, Florida, about 23 miles northeast of Orlando.
Reserve early for the lowest prices. Fares begin at $530 ($1,100 with a
berth) for two passengers and one auto. Call Amtrak for more details.
As with airfares, you can sometimes get discounts if you book train rides
far in advance. But you may find some restrictions on travel dates for
discounted train fares, mostly around the very busy holiday periods. If
you’re willing to travel off season, however, and spend four or more of
your vacation days in transit, you can score rare deals like an offer listed
a while back for a Los Angeles–Orlando round-trip for $50. Amtrak also
offers money-saving packages, including accommodations (some at
WDW resorts), car rentals, tours, and so on. For vacation package infor-
mation, call % 877-YES-RAIL.
Choosing a Package Tour
For popular destinations, such as Walt Disney World, package tours can
be a smart way to go. In many cases, a package tour that includes air-
fare, hotel, and transportation to and from the airport costs less than
the hotel alone on a tour you book yourself. That’s because packages are
sold in bulk to tour operators, who then resell them to the public. It’s
kind of like buying your vacation at a buy-in-bulk store — except the
tour operator is the one who buys the 1,000-count box of candy bars and
resells them 10 at a time at a cost that undercuts the local supermarket.
Package tours can vary as much as those candy bars, too. Some offer
a better class of hotels than others; others provide the same hotels
for lower prices. Some book flights on scheduled airlines; others sell
charters. Some packages limit your choice of accommodations and
travel days.
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