A good reason to fly a day ahead

[mmfox316]

My friend was flying to Tampa today. He wasn't flying for a cruise but for a regular vacation. He was flying from Philly into Tampa and was delayed because of a Space X launch. Luckily it scrubbed so he was only delayed 1 hour. Keep an eye on the future launches to be sure they won't delay your landing in Orlando.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My friend was flying to Tampa today. He wasn't flying for a cruise but for a regular vacation. He was flying from Philly into Tampa and was delayed because of a Space X launch. Luckily it scrubbed so he was only delayed 1 hour. Keep an eye on the future launches to be sure they won't delay your landing in Orlando.

I'm sure there were probably people flying out of Southern CA yesterday, possibly for a Fantasy cruise today, that may have had issues.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

We always fly in at least one day ahead of the cruise. We have had two flights (not for cruise but could easily have been) delayed by several hours. One was an emergency landing because the pilots window was delaminating (cracking) and one for weather.

 

[bbn1122]

This is a good point for new cruisers! Thanks for reminder.

YEs, you will have extra costs, but so much more relaxing waking up in Florida the day of your cruise!

 

[loislane]

We are taking our first cruise this September and were waffling back and forth between trying to catch an early flight the day of or to come in the day before. Luckily, we had credit card reward points building up and had more than enough to use those to book a room at the Hyatt Regency right at the Orlando airport. Now we are so glad that we are coming the day before - relaxed mid-day drive to the airport, afternoon flight, we'll arrive in time to check in and grab dinner and visit some shops at the airport and then get a good night's sleep before grabbing the Disney bus to the port the next day.

 

[The Fox Menagerie]

Coming from California I am always worried about delays, we booked two days ahead, well 1 1/2 really. We are flying out at 11 pm on an overnight to Atlanta on a Friday night and land in Orlando around 10 am on Saturday. We booked one night at the Beach Club for Saturday night and will spend the day at Epcot, Disney Springs or just hanging out by the pool. On Sunday we'll head to the port for the cruise. I do not want to deal with the stress of delayed flight. We figure if our overnight makes it to Atlanta, the worse case is that we'll rent a car one way and make it to Florida by road trip if we have to.

 

[lklgoodman]

Several yrs ago we were flying from Ohio to Vancouver for our Alaska cruise. We left the day before our cruise. We were suppose to leave Ohio really early in the morning and arrive in Vancouver at 11:30 am(Vancouver time). Our flight from Ohio got cancelled, right before boarding was to begin. We had to wait nearly 5 hours to make a flight out and that made us miss our connecting flight. We didn't get to Vancouver until after midnight!! Finally got to the hotel and my dd, 6 yrs old at the time, had a complete meltdown (she'd been up since 3am). Saying she wanted to go home and didn't care about seeing Mickey. It was her first cruise. When we went on our WC cruise last month she said she wasn't going, if flying there was going to be like last time. Thankfully Southwest has a direct 2hr flight to Orlando from Ohio. We will always fly in the day before.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

Several yrs ago we were flying from Ohio to Vancouver for our Alaska cruise. We left the day before our cruise. We were suppose to leave Ohio really early in the morning and arrive in Vancouver at 11:30 am(Vancouver time). Our flight from Ohio got cancelled, right before boarding was to begin. We had to wait nearly 5 hours to make a flight out and that made us miss our connecting flight. We didn't get to Vancouver until after midnight!! Finally got to the hotel and my dd, 6 yrs old at the time, had a complete meltdown (she'd been up since 3am). Saying she wanted to go home and didn't care about seeing Mickey. It was her first cruise. When we went on our WC cruise last month she said she wasn't going, if flying there was going to be like last time. Thankfully Southwest has a direct 2hr flight to Orlando from Ohio. We will always fly in the day before.

I think this post highlights the BEST reason to go the day before. Even if your flights are on time, and everything goes smoothly, you still will have had to get up and 3-5 in the morning to get to the airport in time to make your flight, and loislane pointed out, a relaxing midday flight is so much easier. That way, when your cruise does start, you are rested and ready for it, not up since the early hours of the morning. There are plenty of hotels near the airport that are a good value, and sometimes flying in the day before makes airfare cheaper, so it doesn't have to cost much extra, if you can spare the time.

 

[revdon64]

We're planning on flying in on Wednesday afternoon for a Friday cruise departure. Worst case, we have to spend a whole day and a half in Disney before hopping the bus to Port Canaveral. DS and I will spend a day in pool and Springs, maybe bowl or catch a movie. Haven't done it before, but can't imagine doing it differently.