FLL-Kennedy-Disney-Key West/Miami? Advice please.
 

Girl friend and I are in late 20s, flying tonight from PHX to FLL. Arriving 9:45AM.
Day 1 (Thursday): We are planning to rent the car and drive quick to Kennedy Space Center (Booked). Hopefully we get at least 4 hrs there. Spend rest of the day in Orlando (Any places?). Booked Airbnb near Disney
Day 2 (Friday): Epcot whole day. Anything else to do that day?
Day 3 (Saturday): Start early and drive to Miami / Key West. Undecided! Is Key West worth the drive, especially on weekend? We like driving, but not sure about this. Please advice!!! If possible we would love to do snorkeling and chill in the beach. But, we have Airbnb booked in Miami beach for that night. Want to go to a club 1 night.
Day 4 (Sunday): Roam around in Miami Beach and explore food and culture. I know 1 or 2 day is not enough for that :(
Our return flight from FLL is at 8:20PM that night.

I am not an expert but driving from Orlando to Key West will take something like 6-7 hours. And then you will have to drive back to Miami for the night? Doesn't make any sense.

My 2 cents - skip Key West and stay in Miami Saturday night and explore South Beach/Miami Sat and Sunday.

Key West is not a day-trip, but the Upper Keys could certainly be a day-trip ... and certainly not from Orlando. I think in general you're going to be wasting too much of your time driving from one place to the other and not enough doing stuff. For example, you're not going to have a "rest of the day" on Thursday to spend in Orlando; you'll have the night at best, so go to Disney Springs, where there's a lot going on if your AirBnB is nearby. So I'd limit myself to Kennedy Space Center, Epcot (this is a full day ... you won't need to do anything else because you'll want to stay for the fireworks ... otherwise go to Disney Springs if you don't go on Thursday night), and Miami. That's quite enough for one week.

But you could go diving in Biscayne National Park and probably leave right from Homestead, which would be so much easier. The reason to go the Keys would be for the drive itself.

Make sure you have a tollpass for the non-cash tolls. You'll probably need it for the full week. It's an annoying expense but a necessary one because otherwise you may be charged a lot for the tolls.

Skip Key West. By the time you get there, you'll have to turn around to get back to Miami.

<<We are planning to rent the car and drive quick to Kennedy Space Center (Booked). Hopefully we get at least 4 hrs there. Spend rest of the day in Orlando (Any places?).>>

You land at 9:45. That means you get to KSC at 12:30ish. And if you're going to toddle around there for four hours, which means you'll leave KSC around 5. Not much time for Orlando-specific activities . . .

No way that KW is worth a 6.5 hour drive. Geez.

You are greatly underestimating drive times.

Allow a good 4 hours to get from Ft. Lauderdale airport to the Kennedy Space Center, after you get your car.

Disney is in the Orlando area, but not in Orlando per se. Depending on where your lodgings area, allow 1-2 hours to get there, keeping in mind that you are now driving in rush hour traffic. (I commute 28 miles a day into the Orlando area, and it takes a full hour. Except Friday afternoon, that's 1-1/2 hours. And I am not traveling in one of the more congested routes.)

Just forget about Key West this time, stick with Miami.

Great advice everyone. Thanks a lot!
@Doug /Others - Where do I get this Toll pass for all the drive?

You do NOT need a SunPass to get from Fort Lauderdale to any of the destinations you are considering IF you avoid using Florida's Turnpike AND any of the Express Lanes on I-95 between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. You would also need to avoid any of the various "expressways" in the Orlando area.

The Turnpike would provide the fastest route south from Disney back toward Miami but you can easily cut over to I-95 and drive all the way to Miami without paying any tolls at all.

You need to consult that SunPass map at the link provided above.

Sorry, I stand corrected. Re the Orlando expressways, you would only need a SunPass IF you are on one which collects tolls electronically.

Wow! Had no clue about the toll pass. Was gonna get ripped by my rental (rentalmax) who charges $10 a day for four days. Just gonna get the $5 mini transponder and recharge it for $30. Will make sure to call sun pass to start and stop service after pick up and drop off respectively and throw away the transponder. Hope that works.

I'd actually use the transponder and the toll roads to save time. In your case (especially with such limited time), it's worth the cost of the tolls. Also, if you don't know the area and which roads to avoid, it's not always going to be easy to avoid the tolls unless you program Googlemaps or whatever navigation app you're using to map a route for you that avoids them.