Flying Sunday After Thanksgiving/ What To Expect?

[Mouseaholic!!!]

We often will travel on Thanksgiving Sunday to begin our holiday Pilgrimage to WDW.

Some of our rules.......

* Take an early flight
* Pack extra PATIENCE
* Arrive very early at the airport - This gives us plenty of time if the lines are truly horrible. If we pass through security early- we have time to grab a bite and relax.

Did I say pack extra patience?


Honestly, each time we have traveled on that day, we take the first flight of the day and the lines are no longer than any other time we fly....but I don't want to get your hopes up too much!

This time....we are flying to DL and leaving on Saturday.

good luck

 

[Belle1962]

Could you stay one night onsite (just looked it up and the All Stars is available for $94 plus tax) and then be eligible for ME? Plus it would give everyone the treat of last night onsite. Heck--you would be eligible for EMH on Saturday! Just check into the hotel before heading to the parks.

 

[danielle782001]

Could you stay one night onsite (just looked it up and the All Stars is available for $94 plus tax) and then be eligible for ME? Plus it would give everyone the treat of last night onsite. Heck--you would be eligible for EMH on Saturday! Just check into the hotel before heading to the parks.

We are staying onsite...We choose not use ME because our airline does not do the resort bag check-in and the buses are so crowded and can take so long.

 

[danielle782001]

So we made it back without a single problem...Thank goodness

We left WDW at 10:30 for our 2:00 flight...There was no traffic on the way to airport, one person in on line to check bags in front of us, there was no line at all to go through security...Amazing!

We had over three hours in the airport with two small kids and nothing to do but it was worth the peace of mind...So thanks to all of you for your advice!!!!

Now, we heard that there were long lines out the doors and around the bends in the early morning and they were planning for long lines in the late afternoon...We just hit a slow period....My friend went for a 4:45 flight...Said it was crowded but not too bad but her flight was very delayed due to air traffic...

Thanks again!

 

[ironz]

And thank YOU for getting back to us and telling us how it turned out! (we often don't hear the reality of things after a nice discussion such as this one)

sorry you had to kill extra time in the airport, but I guess you never know. Might have been much more stressful if you didn't hit that slower time. Welcome home!

(for the record, I was AMAZED that the security lines at Houston Hobby were only 5 minutes long on Wed evening before Thanksgiving)

 

[tjmw2727]

We also flew home yesterday, used DME without RAC (flew southwest) and it was a breeze. DME arrived promptly at 7:55 and we were at the airport at just a bit before 9. Very small line to check bags and the security line was the shortest I have ever seen at MCO - maybe 10 minutes tops to clear!

Side note, DME was great on arrival as well, lots of folks in line but the buses were filling continiously. For us it was just over an hour from touchdown to check in at the Boardwalk. Went to Epcot until about 7ish and returned to find our bags waiting in the room.

The only odd thing we encounterd was arriving at MCO, the driver left the bus, closed the doors and proceeded to unload the bags. It was annoying for the folks who had no bags under the bus. Then he returned, opened the door and stood at the exit, presumably to collect tips from everyone rather than just the folks who had stored bags.

 

[ironz]

The only odd thing we encounterd was arriving at MCO, the driver left the bus, closed the doors and proceeded to unload the bags. It was annoying for the folks who had no bags under the bus. Then he returned, opened the door and stood at the exit, presumably to collect tips from everyone rather than just the folks who had stored bags.

The tip thing may be part of the reason, but I have also heard some ME drivers indicate that they do that so they can be by the door to make sure everyone gets out safely, as opposed to having someone miss a step and fall out of the bus while the driver is by the luggage bays.

 

[tjmw2727]

The tip thing may be part of the reason, but I have also heard some ME drivers indicate that they do that so they can be by the door to make sure everyone gets out safely, as opposed to having someone miss a step and fall out of the bus while the driver is by the luggage bays.

That does make sense - the stairs decending the bus are a bit steep.

It didn't matter to us but I can tell you that the folks in the bus with nothing stored would have prefered he get everyone off and then grab the bags!

 

[AllyBri]

Same thing on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, the other busiest day of the year. The airport was a breeze. (MCO)

 

[danielle782001]

Same thing on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, the other busiest day of the year. The airport was a breeze. (MCO)

Thinking that they were well prepared/staffed to handle the day or did the economy keep many away to begin with

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

This is how navigating to or from a destination should be. Always, always, always allow yourself extra time whenever possible. The one time you don't... well, let me call Murphy so he can post about it...

So we made it back without a single problem...Thank goodness

We left WDW at 10:30 for our 2:00 flight...There was no traffic on the way to airport, one person in on line to check bags in front of us, there was no line at all to go through security...Amazing!

We had over three hours in the airport with two small kids and nothing to do but it was worth the peace of mind...So thanks to all of you for your advice!!!!

Now, we heard that there were long lines out the doors and around the bends in the early morning and they were planning for long lines in the late afternoon...We just hit a slow period....My friend went for a 4:45 flight...Said it was crowded but not too bad but her flight was very delayed due to air traffic...

Thanks again!