20050514..May 14, 2005...Official Check in Disney's 1st 14 Day thru Panama Canal

[cotomom]

Hi all!

Well, since being a so. CA girl, I thought I would throw in my .02.

SNA (John Wayne - Orange County) is the closest to Disneyland. It will also probably be your most money. They only fly from 7am-10 or 11pm due to noise requirements. Very easy to manuever. Here's a good website about it... http://www.ocair.com/

Ontario (ONT) is also a good airport, maybe a little more money than LAX, but worth it if you don't like a BIG airport to deal with. http://www.lawa.org/ont/ontframe.html

Another really good option for the cruise is Long Beach Airport (LGB I think). It's much much much closer to the port than Ontario and should be comparably priced. Smaller than LAX, and you can sometimes find some good deals into/out of it. http://www.longbeach.gov/airport/

It all depends on where you end up. If you disembark from the cruise directly, you'd probably want Long beach, Orange County, or LAX (in that order if you ask me...)

If you end up going to DL or CA, you can throw Ontario into the mix.

Super Shuttle and Primetime are the shuttles I see often around here. I only have limited experience with Super Shuttle and it's been fine.

I can't help with hotels as I'm about 30 minutes from DL and CA!

Hope this helps....

 

[SandraLee]

cotomom . . .

Ok, I'm trying to get it together with my tickets. Are you saying if I am leaving directly after the cruise, that Orange County would be the better choice? The times for the flights for me are EXACTLY the same.

And, what time do you think would be safe? I'm looking at a 12:00 noon departure.

Thanks. I am working on booking Delta award tickets and it is tough! The return from CA seem pretty available, but there is NOTHING into Orlando on the day I want.

 

[cotomom]

sandralee-

OC vs. what other airport?

Long Beach is the closest to the port. If the price is the same with Long Beach, I'd go there.

Second choice would be OC.

Last would be LAX.

Noon you should be able to make it safely, if you disembark early in the morning... but you'll possibly miss some of the fanfare??? Not that we "know" what will happen once we arrive in port....

Traffic shouldn't be that big of a deal because of it being a Sat.

 

[SandraLee]

Long Beach is not an option for me. I'm flying Delta to Atlanta.

My choices are:

1. LAX at 11:45 or 1:00 pm. or
2. SNA (Orange County) at 11:54 am

Which one? Sounds like I should be choosing SNA? And, how long to the airport from the port?

 

[Scott H]

SandraLee, You might try Melbourne or Tampa, depending on your ground arrangements before the cruise.

 

[cotomom]

Ok, I just did a mapquest because I don't want to give out false info...

Total Est. Time: 42 minutes Total Est. Distance: 35.37 miles is from the Port to JOHN WAYNE

Total Est. Time: 26 minutes Total Est. Distance: 20.67 miles is from the port to LAX

Depending on the ease... I would choose Orange County even though it's further.

If it's a matter of $$$, I'd pick LAX. LAX is not "that" scary, especially if you have someone knowledgeable dropping you off (i.e. shuttle, etc.) The hard part is the checking in and security line. They can get long at times...

And if all was the same, I would pick the later SNA flight just for peace of mind.

Hope this helps a little!

Kendra

 

[JenKatt]

Definitly try Tampa for flying into Florida. We've never had trouble booking FF flights out of Tampa, not always the best times, but a good availability. Plus Tampa is absolutly the easiest airport to navigate!

 

[seaulater]

Jenn-how far from Tampa to Orlando and/or Tampa to the Port?

Linda

 

[JenKatt]

Originally posted by seaulater
Jenn-how far from Tampa to Orlando and/or Tampa to the Port?

Linda

From Tampa airport to Disney depends on traffic. I-4 can be a mess. Without undue traffic it'll be about an hour or so. That's moving along at 70mph or so. From the airport to the port Jeff says is about 2+hours, about 2:20 he says, I would say a little less, especially early in the morning. There's a direct connection between I-4 before Disney and the Greenway/ BeeLine. The airport is right off of I275, so getting lost isn't usually an option. Can you tell I Like Tampa airport? It really is a breeze to get through and is just so convienent.

 

[seaulater]

Thanks for the info. It will be worth checking out to compare fares and all.

Linda

 

[JenKatt]

Right now one way tickets are running cheaper flying into Tampa versus MCO. We booked a flight into TPA from LAX a red eye for $130, into MCO was $147. We also booked our hotel, we're staying at the Best Western Raffles Inn. It's new, close to DL and it was $80 a night for a King Bed. So now it's off to book a shuttle.

 

[moocow35]

I'm still waiting on Jet Blue, and will be staying with friends in California. She even said she would pick us up at the Port Can't get any better than that!

Robin

 

[Cap]

Originally posted by SandraLee
Anyone flying back on May 28? I don't think we are going to extend in CA.

What time will be a good time to book return departures?

I called DCL last week and asked that question. After lots of checking (as though no one had ever asked about safe air departure times), DCL advised that flights departing after 12:30 PM would be ok, as their transfer buses would be at the airport to support a 12:30 departure.

Its a moot point for me, as we're taking the redeye back.

 

[Hygiene99]

If the Ship is Scheduled to arrive at the Port In
CA. at 7am why are they sayying 12:30 departure
and everyone of the ship By 9...

lol Something Silly going on .....


OK so my times are off here is what they say on there webssite

Sat
Arrive at Los Angeles at 6 a.m., debark the ship at 8:30 a.m.








Peter

 

[JenKatt]

I would have liked to have waited for jet blue, but song, from what I'm told is about the same, and since their frequent flier miles count towards Delta, it just adds to our first class Hawaii tickets in 2 years.

 

[moocow35]

Jen,

I've flown Song and love it! But Song does not fly from California to New York. I've never been on Jet Blue, but have been told that Song and Jet Blue are the same. Most likely I am flying Jet Blue in 2 weeks to go to California for my Mom's funeral. So then I can make my decision. They seem to be somewhat cheaper than Song/Delta.

Robin

 

[Cap]

Originally posted by Hygiene99
If the Ship is Scheduled to arrive at the Port In
CA. at 7am why are they sayying 12:30 departure
and everyone of the ship By 9...

Peter

I don't know, but assume that they are factoring in loading the bus, travel to airport, dropping at various terminals (I don't know anything about LAX), baggage check, security lines, etc. If everybody is off by 9, on the bus by 9:15, assume 45 minutes to LAX, then that only leaves 2 1/2 hours for checkin and security. That's not unreasonable in terms of some airport lines I've seen, particularly since it is a holiday weekend.

 

[Tigfanjeff]

http://www.tiggerfan.net/canal/ is updated with all the new people. WOO HOO. 305 days to go.

We're booked on the song redeye out of LAX. Takes off at 9:30pm on the 31st. I figure Saturday/Sunday/Monday and Tuesday should be enough for disneyworld, plus the price was right. $135 for a direct LAX to Tampa flight (Not a very common route, and to get a redeye at the right price was great).

Right now I've got the magnet design all finished, so I'm going to grab some magnetic paper and start printing them out for testing.

I'd like to consider this, my gift to the cruisers since it isn't THAT expensive. Last cruise (Cruistoberfest II) everyone brought small gifts to the sailaway (and the wait in line) party and it was a lot of fun. Bubbles, Magnets, lanyards and other small disney trinkets were the order of the day, and I think it made for a great experience (and the kids LOVED the bubbles - so did Jen!)

 

[Tigfanjeff]

for those that don't feel like digging, this is the magnet design

http://www.tiggerfan.net/canal/door2.html

We'll replace the disboard name with your's obviously. I'm hesitant to put first names of kids on the door for safety reasons, so I'd rather put just the name up and possibly the hometown underneath it. We'll figure it all out as we get closer, but every family will have one for their door.

 

[Cap]

Jeff,

The magnet design looks great. Thanks for the design work.