Has anybody from Ottawa flown form U.S.?

[Subrbnmommy]

Has anybody from Ottawa driven to a U.S. airport to fly to Orlando? If so, which airport? How much does parking cost? How long does it take you to drive to the airport?
We're trying to figure out whether we're going to drive or fly in November. I'd rather fly but, my DH would rather spend as little as possible.

Thanks

 

[highland3]

We're just outside Ottawa and I have flown from Syracuse twice. It's a great little airport! Easy to get to (2.5 hours from Smiths Falls) and easy to get around in. If I remember correctly, we paid about $60 for a week of parking, but you are in a multi-level garage directly attached to the terminal.

You can definitely get cheaper flights than out of Ottawa, but there are very few direct flights. Not really a big issue.

We drove down the night before and slept at an inexpensive motel near the airport.

 

[jojo14]

We flew to Orlando from Rochester on Air Tran. Super cheap, which it had to be for the almost 4 hour drive. We have also flown out of Syracuse, but mainly to Vegas. Parking was on "special" and was $6/day, so very worthwhile!

For this year, we would only save $200 in total, so I didn't feel it was worth the 3 hour drive.

Good luck!

 

[disneykid4ever]

We have flown out of Syracuse and are doing it again in October. It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Ottawa. We usually drive down, stay one night at a Park and Fly hotel (Candlewood Suites), and then fly to Orlando on the first flight out in the a.m. Candlewood Suites allows you to park at their hotel for up to 7 days for free as long as you spend one night with them. They charge about $110.00USD for one night in a Queen Studio with Kitchenette and free parking for 7 days. If you will be gone more than 7 days then they charge you an additional $10 for each day. It was recently renovated so the rooms are really nice, there are restaurants right across the street, and there is free shuttle service to/from the airport. We really like it and it's really easy.

 

[2forMe]

No yet but we are flying out of Albany.. so we figure a 5 hour drive and a overnight the noght before we leave. The seats were soo much cheaper and a direct flight too... I could not get a direct flight from Syracuse that was really cheap so we opted to drive a bit more. Total cost for 4 seats was $678 while from Ottawa they wanted about $2000.. no brainer there.. plus you do not have to do customs at the airport.. the lines at MCO can be long!!

 

[Subrbnmommy]

Thanks for the info! I'll definitely look into it!! Thanks!

 

[binky1]

We'll be flying out of Syracuse as well. Even with a drive from Ottawa/one night in hotel/ and parking, we are still saving way more money than if flying from home.

 

[pta-mom]

Well, we too are from Ottawa & last year we flew out of Rochester...about 5 hours away. We stayed at a cheap hotel right across from the airport that allowed us to park our van there for the two weeks we were away for only $30. However, when we got back from Florida, we discovered that someone had broad-sided our van & left without leaving any contact info & of course the hotel took no responsibility for it!!

Anyway, the flights we got were not direct but not too bad & for the family of four, it cost us less than $750.

However, this year, totally different story! The flights I could find were not much different than Ottawa. Syracuse/Rochester were around $1200 for the four of us & I got Ottawa for $1600. I know $400 seems like a lot but factor in driving up to 10 hours (round trip), staying in hotel, parking vehicle, eating additional meals on day of travel & taking an additional day off work or school to travel...not worth it for us this time! We live 20 minutes from the Ottawa airport; car will stay in driveway & friends will pick up & drop off.

 

[debbiet1]

We should start a thread.. Ottawa and area people going to Disney! lol

 

[cey]

DH and I have been flying out of SYR for the last 10 years plus. It is definitely the way to go. We live in Kingston and it is 2 hrs exactly from our door to the airport! Much closer for us than TO or Ottawa! Last year we tried the Comfort Inn and Suites as the Best Western Airport Inn has really gone down hill. We booked the parking deal, now most hotels offer it as a package which included a terrific hot breakfast buffet, bagels, waffles, eggs, fruit etc. We are confirmed Jet Blue flyers, love that direct flight to MCO! Jet Blue is also adding other direct flights to other locations in FL, I believe starting in November. Hancock airport has an excellent safety record and is super easy to navigate in! Try it!..... you will appreciate the ease of zipping through Customs at the border. The benefits of a small airport ( and great ticket prices) will absolutely convince you that flying from the States is the way to go!

___________________________________

Sign me as a VERY happy SYR/Jet Blue flyer!

Cheryl

 

[beachwarmer]

We flew to WDW in Feb out of Syracuse on Jet Blue. We spent the night at the Best Western at the airport.

I will not use the word sleep. The doors between the connecting rooms are hollow wood. Our neighbours were a family group that arrived around 11:30 pm and were quite excited to be heading out on a group trip. They had two rooms that were a distance from each other. They moved back and forth discussing sleeping arrangement for about an hour. Every time their door opened the connecting door rattled quite loudly. They discussed how it had been years since they had shared a room, the female discomforts that occur when you reach a certain age, etc. I could hear it so clearly that they could have been in the same room with my family.

They had a wake up call and an alarm set for 4:20 a.m. We heard both to the point that my husband woke up and tried to turn our alarm off. They must have really wanted to make sure they were up since a phone call came in about 10 minutes later. I then had a privelage to learn more about their family and medical conditions as they showered and got ready to head out. I became so interested that I actually got out of bed to see what they looked like when they finally were headed out to the airport.

We did get to the airport on time, but were really tired. Lesson learned...find a newer hotel near the Syracuse Airport....and now I have some very uncomfortable medical conditions to look forward to apparently when I reach a certain age!!

The Jet Blue flights were great, on time and we even got all our luggage...which Air Canada has never been able to deliver to Orlando for us.

 

[Subrbnmommy]

Thanks for the info. I just checked flight info for Jet Blue in Syracuse. I got $200 cheaper per seat for my November trip!! Plus the time of the flight are great. I don't even need to book a hotel.

We figure that driving costs us around $1000.00. But with Jet Blue, the trip including car rental will be $1300.00 and we save two days!!

Thanks Again!!!

 

[debbiet1]

ok.. I have to ask.. how does it cost you 1000.00 to drive down to Disney? we were there in April.. and hotels for 2 nights, 1 there and back.. and gas cost us less than 600.00

 

[Subrbnmommy]

Yes, I also thought it was high but these are the numbers my husband calculated.

Gas 550 (we have an SUV)
Hotel 250 (we stay Hampton Inn or Fairfield)
Car/Oil 150 (oil change... )
Food 100 (I don't think that that should be there, food on trip, food on vacation, same thing)

so $900 - $1000

Just want to add that these numbers are from our July trip