Can you make a 9:50am flight?? Need to book today!

[jennypenny]

OK, I need to put the deposit down on my cruise today. But I can't get any reasonable airfare (plus I need 5 tickets which doesn't help). I don't want to have to drive down and then drive back straight through on Sunday so DH can get to work on Monday.

Can we make a 9:50 am flight out of MCO? I'll be using Florida Town Car so I won't be depending on the DCL buses.

We are first time cruisers so we won't know what we're doing. We have the first seating for breakfast if that makes a difference. And I'm not planning on shopping so I don't know if that means I can skip some of the customs part when we disembark.

Help me! I can't spend $2000 on airfare/limo but DH has to be back at work on Monday.

Jenny

 

[WDWLVR]

Im my opinion that would be cutting it way too close. We've been at the airport by 9 am, but you have to consider check-in, security, and any delay at all and you would certainly miss your flight. I wouldn't do it.

 

[jel0511]

My guess is no. The earliest you can diesmbark is 7:30, meaning you wouldn't be on the road until 8AM at the earliest. So, you wouldn't get to MCO until 8:45 or 9AM at the earliest, meaning you'd have 50 minutes to check-in, get through security (at MCO no easy task) and make it to your gate. An flight later would be a much better option. Personally, I wouldn't book a flight prior to 11AM, and I booked my flight home at 1:30PM to be sure.

 

[Jeanne B]

I have no experience with the speed of getting off a Disney ship since we're not cruising with them until October but we've flown out of MCO a number of times and I agree with the other posters about the time in can take to get through check-in and security at MCO. We cruised with Norwegian for the first time in January and there was close to a 1 hr delay getting off the ship (they kept announcing over the loudspeaker for non-US citizens to bring their passports to a certain area and they were listing off names of people and the list slowly became shorter and shorter - in the meantime those of us that were ready to leave were having to patiently wait). I don't know if this is a common occurence to be delayed getting off the ship but even without a delay I agree that you would be cutting it too close and could very possibly miss your flight. We're going to book our flight to leave MCO no earlier than 11:00 and even that may be cutting it a little close.

 

[jennypenny]

Ugh, I thought as much.

This trip is just not working out. My hubby was trying to treat me to a 2 week trip in Disney (we're DVCers) because my mom just passed away. But it seems like everything I've tried to book just doesn't work out. I really wanted to do the cruise, but I'd have to drive, and I can't picture myself driving straight through on Sunday after the cruise. Too hard.

I paid $98 r/t for our airfare last august. I miss those days

Thanks for your help. I think the cruise will have to wait for next summer

Jenny

 

[glindamood]

jennypenny - I have 5 to fly also and totally understand your 'pain' but anything before noon to too risky. I know that others will say they have done it but I would not chance it. Both check-in and security at MCO can be a BEAR. Would it be possible to stay and extra day and fly out Sunday morning?

 

[jennypenny]

We are taking the 3 day so the ship arrives on Sunday. Hubby has to be at work on Monday.

This is sooooo depressing. I really wanted to go. I'm handling my mom's estate (meeting w/realtor today to put her house on the market) and I know by August I'm going to need some serious pampering. I thought if I had something new and special to look forward to that it would get me through the sad details I have to handle this summer.

I still have a DVC trip to look forward to. And we got BCV for 6 nights of the trip which was a shock at 3 months.

Thanks for your help.
Jenny

 

[markey]

I see you are from Pa., so am I but I have no idea where you are located. What about SW out of Baltimore, Pittsburgh or Philly? We always get great rates with SW. I have our August tickets now and paid around $125. I always pay between $100 and $125. Another option is a rental car, you can easily stay below $100 for both ways, the port is very easy to get to from the airport. Stay calm, if you try for tickets too early you will pay a higher price. If you are near any of these airports, or if driving the distance would pay off, sign up for Ding, at SW, and wait for the sprcials. We have been on 5 cruises and I also think a 11 am flight is way too early, you would have stress the whole cruise thinking about the flight home.

 

[Jeanne B]

Jenny - Have you checked Southwest? I see you're not far from Philly and they have half a dozen non-stop flights from MCO. It sounds like you really could use a vacation right now and I hate to see you miss it because of flights!! We use Southwest all the time and they generally have really good rates.

 

[Jeanne B]

markey - Thanks for the tip on the 11:00 flight. I thought that might be cutting it a little close.

 

[cgannon]

we made the 10:05 flight out of MCO a few weeks ago. My husband brought the rest of us breakfast in the room the last morning and we all headed down to the lobby around 7:15am. We disembarked around 7:40 - had FLTours waiting for us and were at the airport by 8:45. At first the security lines seemed endless, but they went by very fast. No trouble at all!!

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Jenny, first of all, so sorry for the loss of you're mother. We can relate, as we just lost DH's father, and are settling his estate as well.

I know it's way into the future planning, but is there a way you could book a DCL trip next summer? I read that you're first time cruisers, and just wanted to encourage you and your family, as this will probably be your best vacation yet.

I know the frustration about the flight times, it's amazing how a few hours can make or break a vacation decision. It's happened to us as well.

 

[jordgubben]

FYI - They didn't make the announcement that it was ok to disembark from the April 23rd Western until around 8:15ish.

When we were walking to breakfast at 8:00 there were tons or people lined up in the atrium waiting to get off the ship. They had also been paging certain passengers throughout the morning which makes me think maybe some of the non-U.S. citizens didn't show up for their portion of the customs drill or something.

 

[tvguy]

Disney recommends no flights before 12:30, probably based on their average experience.
We BARELY made a 12:35 flight. Took 45 minutes to get off the ship, even still we were at the airport by 10:15, plenty of time right? WRONG the big hangup was a 90 minute wait to clear security at Orlando Airport.
We literally walked straight from security to our gate and right on our flight, which was already boarding.

 

[CM_Mom]

I don't want to bring up bad thoughts but August is Hurricane season and last year I know the Magic didn't get into port until 7:00 one morning. That could happen to the Wonder also.

It's a really long drive for you but is there any chance you could send DH on the plane and rent a car for the rest of you to take a two day trip back home? Kind of extend the vacation a little and see the scenery on the way home.

 

[gn2wdw]

I agree with CM_Mom. We sent DH home on the plane once, while the rest of us had a leisurely drive home. We decided that we would always do that. So much nicer than trying to rush back home so he could get back to work!

 

[krdisneybound]

If you like excitement and being in a hurry, then go for it and try it. Otherwise I would not do it. Cutting it too close for my preference. If you have the time, make a later flight and don't rush that much. You always have to allow for crazy things to happen

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Don't book a fight before 11:00am, and Noon is better.
2) People with early flights can get preferred disembarkation.
3) They can usually leave the gangway by 8:00am.
4) With Customs, transport, airport securty, and check-in, it will be tight.

 

[aprilgail2]

Jenny - Have you checked Southwest? I see you're not far from Philly and they have half a dozen non-stop flights from MCO. It sounds like you really could use a vacation right now and I hate to see you miss it because of flights!! We use Southwest all the time and they generally have really good rates.

We were at the airport this morning by 9am, but it took 15 minutes to get through security. There was a HUGH line that wrapped around a corner of the airport and I thought that was the security line but it was the line to get boarding for southwest! It was insane!! I ALMOST booked southwest but decided to stay with Jetblue, you get therem you sit down, you have your seat number and then get on the plane...I can't imagine having to stand in line like those people were doing just to get a boarding pass...it was nuts! Is that typical of southwest or were they just having a bad day today??

 

[Jeanne B]

When we flew home last May from MCO the Southwest line was VERY long but they said it was because of some computer issue or something and I didn't think much of it because we've flown with them a number of times previously and the lines at MCO have been long but nothing like this trip...maybe these very long lines are the new trend with SW? I must say that we flew JetBlue in January just by chance and I thought they were terrific but I don't think they fly out of PA.