7:45 Departure Flight- what time to leave MK?

[richmo]

... I told him that we had driven that much in two days of our 10 day stay!!! ...
They took the charge off!!! You really do have to watch the car rental people...sadly.

One time I managed to have a car rental at Disney that worked out to about -350 miles. Ever since then, I've made a habit of driving the car forward instead of backward.

 

[Zeppelin]

Since the OP said they're picking up after a cruise. By the time they drive to Disney, then back to MCO, I think they'll hit 75 miles.

we're picking the car up after the cruise, staying in Cocoa Beach for the night then driving to WDW...once I park the car in the lot at the CR it literally is never moved until we leave for the airport....

I will have to calculate the distance from cocoa beach to WDW then WDW to the airport and add a few miles...

edit- Cocoa Beach to WDW is 69 miles....

 

[Huggups]

or i could tear my achillies tendon on the escalator and Lord knows how long that would take!!!

good advice on the fill up the night before- thanks.....

I'd be shocked if we are pressed for time to make a 7:45 flight leaving the CR at 5:15....soon some will say "leave at 12 noon....just in case!!"

What?

 

[Zeppelin]

okay folks...here's how it went...

1) walked out of the MK around 5:03 just as the Flag Retreat Ceremony ended...

2) got to our car at CR by 5:12PM....

3) off Disney property by 5:26PM (held up by Disney bus)...

4) on Rt 417 by 5:33....

5) torrential downpour for ten minutes which made visibility tough- i mean a lot of water on the road...

6) pulled into MCO around 5:50PM....

7) made a mistake getting the rental car back and getting to terminal but arrived at security by 6:05PM...

8) loooonnnngggg wait getting through security- a slow 30 minutes..

9) got at my gate at 6:40 (despite the fact the trams on terminal A to gates 1-29 only allowed passengers in the first car....

honestly I would've easily made it on time had I left 5:15....

thanks for all the advice- the check-in procedure at the Contemporary and gas fill up the night before were priceless and saved me a ton of time...

 

[sam_gordon]

okay folks...here's how it went...

1) walked out of the MK around 5:03 just as the Flag Retreat Ceremony ended...

2) got to our car at CR by 5:12PM....

3) off Disney property by 5:26PM (held up by Disney bus)...

4) on Rt 417 by 5:33....

5) torrential downpour for ten minutes which made visibility tough- i mean a lot of water on the road...

6) pulled into MCO around 5:50PM....

7) made a mistake getting the rental car back and getting to terminal but arrived at security by 6:05PM...

8) loooonnnngggg wait getting through security- a slow 30 minutes..

9) got at my gate at 6:40 (despite the fact the trams on terminal A to gates 1-29 only allowed passengers in the first car....

honestly I would've easily made it on time had I left 5:15....

thanks for all the advice- the check-in procedure at the Contemporary and gas fill up the night before were priceless and saved me a ton of time...

I'm glad things worked out for you. Do you remember your original plan (as posted in the OP) was to leave MK at 6? If you did that, you would have been waving to your plane from the terminal.

 

[goofy4tink]

okay folks...here's how it went...

1) walked out of the MK around 5:03 just as the Flag Retreat Ceremony ended...

2) got to our car at CR by 5:12PM....

3) off Disney property by 5:26PM (held up by Disney bus)...

4) on Rt 417 by 5:33....

5) torrential downpour for ten minutes which made visibility tough- i mean a lot of water on the road...

6) pulled into MCO around 5:50PM....

7) made a mistake getting the rental car back and getting to terminal but arrived at security by 6:05PM...

8) loooonnnngggg wait getting through security- a slow 30 minutes..

9) got at my gate at 6:40 (despite the fact the trams on terminal A to gates 1-29 only allowed passengers in the first car....

honestly I would've easily made it on time had I left 5:15....

thanks for all the advice- the check-in procedure at the Contemporary and gas fill up the night before were priceless and saved me a ton of time...

Awwww, come on now. You aren't really going to quibble over a measly 15 mins are you????

I'm glad things worked out for you. Do you remember your original plan (as posted in the OP) was to leave MK at 6? If you did that, you would have been waving to your plane from the terminal.

And there you go!!!! Have to agree!!

 

[Zeppelin]

I'm glad things worked out for you. Do you remember your original plan (as posted in the OP) was to leave MK at 6? If you did that, you would have been waving to your plane from the terminal.

well, that's why i asked!! then again, glad I didn't leave at 4PM or 4:30 as some said was necessary...and we had two hold-ups (downpour and security) and a few foolish mistakes on my part (missing Dollar return)...

 

[sam_gordon]

well, that's why i asked!! then again, glad I didn't leave at 4PM or 4:30 as some said was necessary...and we had two hold-ups (downpour and security) and a few foolish mistakes on my part (missing Dollar return)...

I actually don't think your holdups really delayed you much. 40 minutes from CR to MCO sounds about normal (maybe 5 minutes slow), and 30 minutes through security sounds about right.

Everyone has their personal preference, and as I said earlier, I'd rather be sitting at the gate for an hour+ than to be 5 minutes late.

 

[goofy4tink]

I actually don't think your holdups really delayed you much. 40 minutes from CR to MCO sounds about normal (maybe 5 minutes slow), and 30 minutes through security sounds about right.

Everyone has their personal preference, and as I said earlier, I'd rather be sitting at the gate for an hour+ than to be 5 minutes late.

And again, have to agree. There are so many people that say that it's only 30 mins to MCO from WDW ad that security isn't more than 20 mins. Both can happen, but often don't. Better safe than sorry. Come on people....your WDW vacation is over...give it up. Get to the airport early....

 

[Minnesota!]

We had a hellacious wait at security last Monday - around 1045 in the morning. A good hour wait. We were about 30 minutes in and a kind security person took pity on us and sent us to a faster lane. They had 2 machines going, with 4 lanes feeding in. It was ridiculous. We were 30 minutes in and my younger son starting doing the potty dance. I think that's why the security guy threw us in another line. No messes on his watch

 

[tjmw2727]

Really glad it worked out for you - but for those planning .....
security line on 8/14 at 2ish was over 45 minutes long -

FWIW we took a town car and left the boardwalk resort 2 1/2 hours prior to flight departure so we had a bit of time to spare. We travel out of MCO at least 4/6 times a year and I have never had an MCO Security line under 30 minutes and had lines ranging from that to over an hour.

okay folks...here's how it went...

1) walked out of the MK around 5:03 just as the Flag Retreat Ceremony ended...

2) got to our car at CR by 5:12PM....

3) off Disney property by 5:26PM (held up by Disney bus)...

4) on Rt 417 by 5:33....

5) torrential downpour for ten minutes which made visibility tough- i mean a lot of water on the road...

6) pulled into MCO around 5:50PM....

7) made a mistake getting the rental car back and getting to terminal but arrived at security by 6:05PM...

8) loooonnnngggg wait getting through security- a slow 30 minutes..

9) got at my gate at 6:40 (despite the fact the trams on terminal A to gates 1-29 only allowed passengers in the first car....

honestly I would've easily made it on time had I left 5:15....

thanks for all the advice- the check-in procedure at the Contemporary and gas fill up the night before were priceless and saved me a ton of time...

 

[Alesia]

okay folks...here's how it went...


8) loooonnnngggg wait getting through security- a slow 30 minutes..

30 minutes to get through security at MCO is not slow. You got really lucky!

 

[seashoreCM]

You really should allow hours more then was suggested. The escalator at MCO could have a breakdown while you're on it. It might take an hour to get everyone off.

Would you rather be paranoic or anxious?

Through the years I have read (just on The DIS) too many trip reports of people taking Magical Express normally and having to run for their planes.

Through the years I have read (on other sites) too many trip reports of people running into such unexpected problems as an overzealous car return agent pointing out hard to see damage you swear you didn't do, necessitating filling out extra paperwork. (Also a trip report just above of a long wait to turn in the car.)

Through the years I have read (both on The DIS and elsewhere) too many reports of long long waits at airport security. (Why, oh, why hasn't Fastpass been implemented at MCO? Disney was consulted about this way back, late in 2001 and/or early in 2002)

Here's a near perfect solution. Plan your last meal (only meal in the six hours before plane departure) at the airport. Adjust your times* accordingly. How many of you would still feel anxious running late if the only problem is not having enough time to eat when you get to MCO? For the OP this would mean car leaving the parking space by 4:30. It should be possible to leave the Magic Kingdom turnstiles at 4 sharp and walk to your car if everything was loaded and you don't need to stop inside (the Contemporary) at Bell Services.

* Magical Express always allows you to reserve (although not just hop on) an earlier bus.

 

[White_Sox_Fan]

We had a hellacious wait at security last Monday - around 1045 in the morning. A good hour wait. We were about 30 minutes in and a kind security person took pity on us and sent us to a faster lane. They had 2 machines going, with 4 lanes feeding in. It was ridiculous. We were 30 minutes in and my younger son starting doing the potty dance. I think that's why the security guy threw us in another line. No messes on his watch

Last week it took us 50 minutes to get through security for our 6:45PM flight. They have a "15 min from this point " sign located just behind the agents that check the boarding passes. It took 25 minutes to get to the sign and another 25 to get through security. By the time we got to the gate they were boarding.

The wait was exacerbated by the TSA agents continually running bags back through the scanner. Also there were some real morons that would put everything on the rollers leading to the machine then walk away to get in line. I guess they figured there bag and such would just transport themselves to the scanner. Finally a TSA agent started shoving the stuff into the scanner.