Sat Nav helpful for Flodida ?

savy.lass

Off to Florida for the first time in May. Thinking about hiring sat nav as we are staying in a villa in Haines City, 20 mins drive south of Disney. Do we need this or is it fairly easy to navigate the old fashioned way? Grateful for any information.

lynsiloo

i am just back from florida afer running the disney half marathon last week. I have been before, but have never had a sat nav. I dont think they are too expensive to hire, but a good map is more than sufficient. We dove from orlando to miami, had never done it before and found it very easy. The roads are all so long that sometimes you hardly ever turn off them!!! I think it is the I-4 which heads down to disney and everything is really well signposted for us tourists!! You will love it!!

savy.lass

map it is then. Cheers. We cant wait !

kisk

I've driven New York, Washington dc no problems but something about Orlando freaked me when driving. If I went back I would definitely take sat nav. It’s maybe just me but one night coming back from nice meal with kids, better half navigating and we end up at toll gate for Miami Turnpike. Can I just turn round? No, 12 miles down the road pull into gas station get them to stamp toll ticket with “U Turn” stamp and back to Orlando. Frosty night with better half, get the sat nav.

Kisk

Mike_J

Just got back from Florida without Sat Nav. As long as you know the general direction you are going its a doddle. Pick up a couple of local guides and the maps in them are good enough (we got a good one in the car we had from Dollar). Mate took Sat Nav with him (with US download) and he said he only used it a couple of times merely to reinforce his "sign-following" approach

Only thing to watch with maps is that on the main roads (eg I4) the exits can be on either side of the road so look at the map before. Also the exit numbers dont appear to run in sequence. Those on I4 from Tamps to Orlando appear to refer to the mile distance from Tamps (so exit 65 might be the one after exit 60, just they are 5 miles apart).

Mike J

Mike J

skr80

If you have a pda with Satnav, I would take it and use it. I have always found it useful, especially when I have seen something advertised that I wanted to go to when out there (or even finding a specific shop when looking throught their yellow pages). If you dont plan to travel anywhere other than villa > Disney then maybe not worth it.

Not sure you can get maps for Flodida tho

Dumyat

we've never had any problems with roads in Florida. attractions are well sign posted. you will get the hang of it very easily.

OrlandoMan

If you are downloading the Maps for orlando you may need more than one as some of the maps only cover Orlando city and don't go asfar south as kissimmee.
Just make sure you check the coverage of the map you are buying.

nearlyrich

We have driven all over the states and never had a problem with finding our way around, everything is well sign posted...Have a good trip.

savy.lass

Thanks for all the info folks. Much appreciated!

Me_Myself_2

Just back from Disney. We ttok the sat nav with us it was great. You need to be very familiar with using it to get the best from it. On ours, I could type in an atttraction or a hotel name. Invaluable.

PS We've been several times and have managed without, but it was helpful.