How early to you leave for MCO from your hotel?

[stnet]

I was wondering how much time you allow for leaving the hotel and getting through security at MCO. We will be leaving on a Saturday and can't decide if we want to take ME back to the airport since they pick you up approx. 3 hours before your flight.

 

[MrsMud]

We try to get to the airport about 2 hours ahead of our flight time. Depending on which hotel you're in I would leave at least 1/2 hour prior to that (so, around 2 1/2 hours total).

 

[SB in KY]

Traffic going back to the airport can be pretty pokey...even on a Sat. If you are the kind of people that like to get to the gate before they begin boarding and not feel rushed I would leave the hotel 2.5 hours ahead of flight time...if you don't mind being the one that jumps on the plane as they close the gate then 1 hr 45 minutes MIGHT get you there....but sometimes there are long delays at security (never predictable though) and traffic is iffy (unless your flight leaves at 6AM or something)....most town car companies require a 2 to 2.5 hr pickup before departure time...so the 3 hrs for ME really isn't so bad. You may get to the gate and have an hour to kill before boarding, but then again maybe not....we waited almost 50 minutes to get thru security at MCO a couple of trips ago....I would have been going nuts if we were cutting it close that time.

 

[madge]

Traffic going back to the airport can be pretty pokey...even on a Sat. If you are the kind of people that like to get to the gate before they begin boarding and not feel rushed I would leave the hotel 2.5 hours ahead of flight time...if you don't mind being the one that jumps on the plane as they close the gate then 1 hr 45 minutes MIGHT get you there....but sometimes there are long delays at security (never predictable though) and traffic is iffy (unless your flight leaves at 6AM or something)....most town car companies require a 2 to 2.5 hr pickup before departure time...so the 3 hrs for ME really isn't so bad. You may get to the gate and have an hour to kill before boarding, but then again maybe not....we waited almost 50 minutes to get thru security at MCO a couple of trips ago....I would have been going nuts if we were cutting it close that time.

I'll add to this, get there early, even if you have a flight that leaves MCO at 6:45 in the morning. The return lane at National was crazy busy, as was the security lines, flgith check-ins, etc. We got there in plenty of time, but we were really surprised at how crowded the airport was at that time of the day! (5:30am)

 

[mpbs]

We went according to the ME and by the time we arrived and got to our gate, we only waited about 45 minutes til we boarded our plane. I would rather waite an extra 30-60 min then feel rushed and miss a plane.

 

[CleveRocks]

Our DME ride was scheduled for 2 hours 45 minutes before our flight time. The bus arrived empty, left 3/4 full, and made no stops before MCO. We had a 6:45 p.m. flight on a Saturday. We waited in a sizable line at the airline counter, a HUGE line at security, and then another big set of lines at the food court (due to timing, it was our only opportunity to feed our kids). When we got to our gate, they had just begun boarding.

We needed every second of that 2 hours 45 minutes.

-- Eric