Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Going to and from Ft. Lauderdale
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Old 08-31-2015, 03:52 PM
Carla B Carla B is offline
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As for a local car rental, you could go on Hertz or Enterprise sites to plug in your dates and time and select car to see how much they would charge . Then you'd have to add toll charges, probably around $30, more or less roundtrip. On top of that they usually charge a fee of $2.95 approx. per day to turn on their toll transponder, whether you use it that day or not. If you already have a movable Sun Pass transponder you would avoid that fee. Finally you'd pay for gas.

Renting from MCO: You can check various websites for the best deal. You'll still have tolls from MCO to Ft. Lauderdale and the expense of getting to and from MCO (shuttle?). On top of that airport taxes and fees apply to cars rented at an airport but you can find that on the website. I like to check Budget's rates. They are owned by Avis but generally cheaper.

Finally, you can take Amtrak from Wildwood to Ft L. For schedule and rates, go to Amtrak.com. It takes longer than driving, about 6 hours vs. 4-1/2 driving. They have a dedicated bus from Wildwood to Lakeland where you board the train. It's comfortable if you're not in a hurry and don't mind possibly being late. On the website, select WWD to FTL. Depending on how far out you reserve, it costs around $100 round trip.