About how much time does it take from MCO to our Hotel

[courtky]

We arrive at MCO around 9am and we're taking the Magical Express to Pop Century. I really want to eat a lunch at Sanaa and then head over to Disney Springs. About how long does it take to get from MCO to the resorts? And from Pop Century to AKL,.. about how long does that take if I use Disney transportation?

My current plan:
Take DME to Pop, drop carry on bags off at bell services, explore hotel grounds a bit
Head to Sanaa for a 1:00pm reservation, possibly use an uber/lyft?
Then head to Disney Springs

Does this time frame sound doable? Just not sure if I'm leaving myself a big open window from arriving at the resort to the 1pm lunch time. Sure, we'll look around the resort to kill time, but I'd rather get over to Disney Springs quicker as there are some stores I really wanna see!

Grateful for any and all input

 

[maxiesmom]

As long as you don't run into any delay, you should be fine.

 

[aokeefe]

Pending no delays- it's usually 90 minutes to 2 hours from the time you land.

 

[kylenne]

We arrive at MCO around 9am and we're taking the Magical Express to Pop Century. I really want to eat a lunch at Sanaa and then head over to Disney Springs. About how long does it take to get from MCO to the resorts? And from Pop Century to AKL,.. about how long does that take if I use Disney transportation?

My current plan:
Take DME to Pop, drop carry on bags off at bell services, explore hotel grounds a bit
Head to Sanaa for a 1:00pm reservation, possibly use an uber/lyft?
Then head to Disney Springs

Does this time frame sound doable? Just not sure if I'm leaving myself a big open window from arriving at the resort to the 1pm lunch time. Sure, we'll look around the resort to kill time, but I'd rather get over to Disney Springs quicker as there are some stores I really wanna see!

Grateful for any and all input

This is a bad idea. I would strongly suggest not scheduling ADRs on an arrival day any earlier than dinner. Expect 90 minutes from MCO landing to DME to resort, and that’s assuming there’s no delays with your flight and you get a bus ASAP that leaves ASAP. None of which is guaranteed. Then you have to factor in getting from Pop to AKL. Even if everything goes off flawlessly, it’s cutting it insanely close and adding a ridiculous amount of stress on a travel day. Not the best way to kick off a vacation.

If you have your heart set on Sanaa lunch, do it another day.

 

[sam_gordon]

This is a bad idea. I would strongly suggest not scheduling ADRs on an arrival day any earlier than dinner. Expect 90 minutes from MCO landing to DME to resort, and that’s assuming there’s no delays with your flight and you get a bus ASAP that leaves ASAP. None of which is guaranteed. Then you have to factor in getting from Pop to AKL. Even if everything goes off flawlessly, it’s cutting it insanely close and adding a ridiculous amount of stress on a travel day. Not the best way to kick off a vacation.

If you have your heart set on Sanaa lunch, do it another day.

I think as long as the flight arrives on time (9am), you should be able to make a 1pm lunch pretty much anywhere on property. And no, things don't have to be "flawless" (except for flight arrival). It's generally 90 - 120 minutes from when you get off the plane until you're at your resort. So taking the worst case, OP would be at Pop ~11:30a. Getting a uber/lyft/minivan would be my suggestion (about 20-30 minutes), or hop on the first bus to any park, then get on the bus to AKL. Disney recommends an hour using their transportation, you'd have 90 minutes.

Now, I would not book a reservation that I'd have a financial penalty that close, but that's more because of airline delays (and I've had 90 minutes mechanical delays which caused us to miss our connecting flight).

 

[kaytieeldr]

or hop on the first bus to any park

Nope. Not Magic Kingdom. Too far from Pop, then to AKL.

 

[tjmw2727]

I think your ok - personally I don't book anything with a cancelation penalty on arrival day but others have no issues! I guess it also depends on the size of your party, 2 people ($20) vs a family of 5 or 6...as well as how stressed you will be worrying about the timing.

90 minutes is the average time for DME if our using the luggage delivery feature, if your getting your own bags it could be longer. I would agree with your plan of a rideshare from Pop to AKL.

Of course this could all go wrong if your flight has issues … depending on time of year and where you are flying from.

 

[kylenne]

I think as long as the flight arrives on time (9am), you should be able to make a 1pm lunch pretty much anywhere on property. And no, things don't have to be "flawless" (except for flight arrival). It's generally 90 - 120 minutes from when you get off the plane until you're at your resort. So taking the worst case, OP would be at Pop ~11:30a. Getting a uber/lyft/minivan would be my suggestion (about 20-30 minutes), or hop on the first bus to any park, then get on the bus to AKL. Disney recommends an hour using their transportation, you'd have 90 minutes.

Now, I would not book a reservation that I'd have a financial penalty that close, but that's more because of airline delays (and I've had 90 minutes mechanical delays which caused us to miss our connecting flight).

With due respect, I’ve been twice this year, on early AM flights, and both times DME took about that long. On Nov. 8th I flew in on the first flight from JFK, landed at 8:31, and was at the Epcot IG tapstiles at 10:30 ish. Keep in mind that I was just walking from BC, not needing to involve another form of transportation to get to where I wanted. And there wasn’t a line at Bell Services when I dropped off my stuff.

People severely underestimate the wildly differing times that bus can take to get on property. Bearing in mind my timing above, I had to silently chuckle at the dad behind me who was certain his family could get to Epcot in time to rope drop Soarin. Routes can change depending on guests, especially that early in the AM. Mears does a good job of accommodating guests efficiently, but there’s a lot of variables to consider. I knew we would likely stop at BWI and YC, but I did not expect us to stop at CBR before them. Then there’s traffic. Florida drivers being Florida drivers could tack on an unexpected delay.

More importantly, air travel days can be stressful enough without adding this kind of unnecessary stress. Sure you could in theory make it. I’ve had good luck with DME so far myself. But why hang making a must do ADR on getting a bus right away, not hitting traffic or making a whole bunch of stops, etc? Unless OP absolutely has only got one opportunity to make this ADR on the entire trip, it’s bad advice.

 

[sam_gordon]

With due respect, I’ve been twice this year, on early AM flights, and both times DME took about that long. On Nov. 8th I flew in on the first flight from JFK, landed at 8:31, and was at the Epcot IG tapstiles at 10:30 ish. Keep in mind that I was just walking from BC, not needing to involve another form of transportation to get to where I wanted. And there wasn’t a line at Bell Services when I dropped off my stuff.

But that proves the point. You were presumably at BC by 10:15, which would be between 90 and 120 minutes from when you landed.

More importantly, air travel days can be stressful enough without adding this kind of unnecessary stress. Sure you could in theory make it. I’ve had good luck with DME so far myself. But why hang making a must do ADR on getting a bus right away, not hitting traffic or making a whole bunch of stops, etc? Unless OP absolutely has only got one opportunity to make this ADR on the entire trip, it’s bad advice.

I believe I even said I wouldn't book a non-refundable ADR in my post. *IF* the plane arrives on time (the biggest "if" of the entire thing IMO), there's no reason why OP couldn't be anywhere in the park four hours later. OK, maybe a major traffic jam, but the odds are against it. If the OP is fine with the stress, and the possibility of losing the deposit because of issues outside of their and Disney's control, go for it.

Now, if they said they landed at 11:30a with a 1pm reservation, I'd be first in line saying "cancel".

 

[courtky]

I really appreciate everyone's input and past experiences!

I can push back the ADR to 4 or 5pm as there are openings - I just wanted to get the Sanaa visit out of the way ASAP as I would really like to visit Disney Springs. I didn't wanna book it for, say 5pm, and be done with exploring Pop at 12pm and have a huge 5 hour window before I can hit up Disney Springs.

It is just me and my BF, and he really wants to try Sanaa and see the animals while we eat. We're okay taking the penalty if something were to happen with flight delays and I try not to get too stressed out about it because things happen.

I'll probably move it a few hours ahead then based off what was posted here. Thank you guys so much.

 

[Mich123]

Sanaa is frequently available, so you might be able to move up your reservation if the timing works out.

 

[AngiTN]

This is a bad idea. I would strongly suggest not scheduling ADRs on an arrival day any earlier than dinner. Expect 90 minutes from MCO landing to DME to resort, and that’s assuming there’s no delays with your flight and you get a bus ASAP that leaves ASAP. None of which is guaranteed. Then you have to factor in getting from Pop to AKL. Even if everything goes off flawlessly, it’s cutting it insanely close and adding a ridiculous amount of stress on a travel day. Not the best way to kick off a vacation.

If you have your heart set on Sanaa lunch, do it another day.

Not a bad idea. It's too easy to just move your ADR if you realize you won't make it. With one at 1:00, you have plenty of time to do this. We always book ADR on arrival day but we book ours once we have a better handle on our arrival time most trips. Christmas Eve we aren't though, liable to be too busy. We have an ADR 5 hours after our flight is due to land. I'm not worried.