Flight out of MCO after the cruise..

[Leeba]

Is a 1:30pm flight out of MCO too early after the cruise? There's also a 4:30 flight, but I don't necessarily want to be sitting around all day either.

I will say that I don't want to rush like crazy, but for the only other Disney cruise I did (which was on the Magic docked in San Juan), we got to our hotel pretty early that morning.

This is the Fantasy this time, and it will be on Saturday April 7th, which is the end of Spring break for many.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

1:30 should be fine. Disney say 11 is fine.

 

[phinz]

Doing a search, there are at least nine other threads asking the same basic question since July. You'll get all sorts of answers in those threads, but most will say anything after 11 is perfectly fine, with some saying earlier can even be done if the planets align correctly.

 

[Leeba]

LOL thanks for the reminder about the search function. I did, actually, and I saw Disney's recommendation generally, but since 1) I'm coming off a bigger ship than I had previously been on, and 2) traveling home the Saturday of Spring break, I thought getting some opinions might be helpful.

 

[bobbiwoz]

1:30 should be fine!

 

[Minnie - Not the Mouse]

If it's international you need it earlier but my TA said noon for domestic. I'm Canadian and flying into Buffalo for this reason, otherwise I am stuck waiting until 6:30 pm.

 

[xQuizx]

Our flight left at 12:20 last month and we were fine. We had first breakfast and there was a hold up in customs, but we still made it to the airport with plenty of time.

We had TSA Precheck so we were able to zoom through security.

 

[lklgoodman]

We cruised on the Fantasy last January. We had a flight that left MCO at 2pm. We got off the ship around 8:30. We had plenty of time to eat lunch at the airport and then walked around and still had plenty of time to wait for our flight. MCO has very long lines to get through security. I would think the 1:30 flight would be fine and there's no reason to take the $4:30. Our next cruise is this coming March and our flight leaving is at 3:30, I wish it was a little earlier.

 

[Shanti]

Is a 1:30pm flight out of MCO too early after the cruise? There's also a 4:30 flight, but I don't necessarily want to be sitting around all day either.

I will say that I don't want to rush like crazy, but for the only other Disney cruise I did (which was on the Magic docked in San Juan), we got to our hotel pretty early that morning.

This is the Fantasy this time, and it will be on Saturday April 7th, which is the end of Spring break for many.

No, that is actually ideal timing. No need to rush. You can eat breakfast in the MDR (even late-seating breakfast) if you like, and still get to the airport with time to spare.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Our flight was at 12:20, and I was worried that we would be late on disembark day since they tell you that you have to get off the ship early to make any flight before 12:30. We rushed right off the ship - caught the first bus to MCO and were there by like 8:30 where we waiting around the airport for hours.

You will be just fine.

 

[dclpluto]

With a 1:30 flight you want to take your time getting off the ship. Since you will have plently of time. What I will do if I was you. Go to cabanas and eat around 7:15. Go back to your stateroom and brush your teeth, etc. you have to be out of your stateroom at 8. Go back up to and wait in some nice chairs. I will leave the ship around 9. Check out security line at mco airport. Knowing mco probably at least a half hour. Check out some stores. Than go through Security. When you head through security at mco there isn’t much in stores and restaurants.

 

[tvguy]

1:30 pm is perfect. We had a 12:35pm flight after our cruise and barely made it to the gate on time because security was very slow that morning. We arrived at the airport by 930 pm.
After our WDW trip this year we had a 6 pm flight. MCO seems a whole lot less busy in the afternoon than it did in the morning.

 

[apathetic]

Does't matter the size of the ship, DCL will get you off very quickly in Canaveral. 1:30 is an easy flight to make. Even 11 is an easy flight. Take your time and don't rush it in the morning, 1:30 is a very safe time.

 

[phinz]

Customs has gotten even faster now, too. They don't even put the Customs form in your room anymore, or at least they didn't back in early November. They said there's no reason unless you bought past your allocation for liquor because they're not even checking it. They don't even ask if you have any alcohol or tobacco anymore. We got a form from Concierge and filled it out anyway because we had .5 liters more than allowable. The Customs officer didn't even look at the back of the form.

 

[Leeba]

HUGE help everyone, thank you!! I can imagine now how annoying it would have been to get to the airport 6 hours ahead of the 4:30pm flight.

 

[daedelus]

You should be fine. Keep in mind that transportation is the key. If you're doing transfers by Disney, you're golden. If you're renting a car or something else, you might want to get early disembark just to be safe.