Hi Karen,

Sanford is not the only airport in Orlando, there is another much more major airport Orlando International or MCO for short. In my numerous trips to Florida I have never flown into Sanford so I am unable to offer specific advice. I think the general rule is to allow 45mins-1 hour from Sanford, but I have no actual experience of this, and I am just going from what I have read on forums such as this one. On the other hand, MCO to International Drive takes about 15-20mins depending on traffic and is far easier, but Thomson and the like don't fly into MCO...might be worth a look at Virgin Holidays just to compare prices?

I would always opt for a car in Florida. Apart from an initial panic when driving on the opposite side of the road, automatic gears and trying to suss directions etc, it really is a breeze, especially to get around Orlando and WDW. It will enable you to plan your days a lot easier, and not having to stick to a rigid timetable with shuttles etc. In saying that, there are plenty of people who don't drive in Orlando and they seem to get around ok. On many forums you will often see quite heated debates about the fors and againsts for driving in Florida, so it is a very common question which only you can probably decide on. I find having a car in the evenings help. You can get away from theme parks when you want, and more importantly you can use the car to get to restaurants also. Very useful. Although International Drive does have pavements, and a trolley bus that runs up and down all day, car really is king, as it is for so much of the USA.

I hope this helps for starters. When I have some more time, I will come back and add some bits and pieces as I am sure others will also. Best of luck, happy planning.

Yes it does help immensely, thank you so much . . . I did check out virgin, but the holidays I cant get under £2k so that really counts that out as budget isnt that high....

Only thing, are all cars automatic? have been trying to find manual. . .cheapest price Ive been quoted is £262 from Thomsons themselves and guess thats auto. My booking includes car hire but I read a thread on here which said they charge a lot for insurance etc when you do pick it up ~ would Thomsons be able to tell me how much these charges are?

but, Im wondering whether it is worth hiring one if I need one over there and if so, what sort of rates I would be getting them at . . . .

I was planning on being in Lykia World in turkey...rather than looking at Florida, so cant quite get my head around it LOL

Karen is the hotel you stopping at offering transport to the parks.....if not you best need a car.....

Just had a friend come back from I Drive they had a car,but didnt use it the car park prices now to park at disney and other parks are getting higher and they used the free transport.you can get to seaworld quite easy on the I Drive trolly,and universal studios is a short hop in a taxi.....so you only have to worry about getting to disney from I Drive...If you are in any doubt about driving i would take the free transport option from the hotel..and pay for the transfers.

hi Karen
It takes a good hour to drive from Sanford to I-Drive and its quite a straightforward drive there. An automatic car is so easy to drive- just forget you have a left foot and it makes driving so much easier over there. There's different types of Insurance cover and you can opt to prepay everything so that when you arrive you pay nothing extra. Aslo if you do choose to hire a car try and get one that is on site at Sanford and not one you need to get a shuttle bus to. You might also want to consider hiring a Sat Nav which you will find helpful. I've only ever hired a car there and never used the buses/taxis etc so can't comment on that except to say having the car is so so convenient and gives you so much freedom to come and go whenever you choose.

If you were concerned about driving then you could always choose the transfers and decide once you are over there if you feel you could cope with the driving and it would be simple enough to arrange the car hire when you are there. July is a very busy time in Orlando and it's also one of the most humid/rainiest times there, not sure if you are aware of that.

Hi

We booked everything through first choice, holiday and car hire, 2 cars all inc £508 for 14 days..... and dont forget to take the car back empty.. from the airport to i drive is straight forward, there are some tolls, but we found this the easiest, having done both given directions, most car hire companies offer you maps and directions, and yes the car parking in disney has gone up, i think it is $10-$13 dollars per park. which can stack up, Car is essentail if you want to go shopping....

Why would you want a manual car when you can get automatic? They are hard to find here.
You just put the car into DRIVE and go forward, or R for reverse. Don't worry about the other gears, they are for hills and there aren't any in Florida.... couldn't be any simpler.

One thing no-one mentions re driving from Sandford is the tolls!! We were caught out as we had no coins and we had no idea how much each one was.

We managed fine the first couple of times to Orlando without a car. We used the Grayline busses to get to Disney, etc. After that we always hired a car, but it was probably more expensive when there were just two of us.

luci

thanks everyone for your help . . .

I am considering it all really carefully before booking .. .

Why would you want a manual car when you can get automatic?

Because personally, I do not like to drive automatic cars at all. Manual transmission isn't just for hills, but I find it far more preferable to drive a manual than an automatic... its just a personal preference....

Maybe I didn't explain that well...
An automatic car has four settings, but in Florida (no hills) you will never use anything other than DRIVE or R.

I am afraid you will not find any manual cars to rent in Florida - it is automatic or nothing unfortunately!

thanks for the feedback everyone it is sincerely appreciated