How long do you give yourself to get to MCO on departure day?

[pinkxray]

Just curious for those who rent a car and drive back to MCO... how long do you give yourself to get there.

Our flight leaves from MCO at 12:35pm through SW. We will be leaving from the Beach Club. I remember last year giving us way too much time and sitting around for way too long.

I know we need extra time for traffic and security but don't want to sit there for 3 hours either.

Thanks!

 

[dudspizza]

Just curious for those who rent a car and drive back to MCO... how long do you give yourself to get there.

Our flight leaves from MCO at 12:35pm through SW. We will be leaving from the Beach Club. I remember last year giving us way too much time and sitting around for way too long.

I know we need extra time for traffic and security but don't want to sit there for 3 hours either.

Thanks!

We had a 12noon flight a few weeks ago. We said we wanted to get out of the house we rented no later than 9:15. We actually got out just after 9. A gas stop and the drive got us to MCO by 945ish.... after checking luggage, clearing security, and taking the tram to the terminal, we had 1.5 hours until flight. Since we all wanted to eat, we got some BK and ate at the gate..... We probably had 20 minutes before boarding by the time we finished eating......

I wouldn't have wanted to leave any later......

Duds

 

[maxiesmom]

I would leave the resort by 9:30 or 10:00 at the latest. It takes around 40 minutes to get to the airport, IF there are not traffic issues. You have to stop and turn in your car. Security lines are usually pretty horrible, so another 30 minutes to get thru that. If you don't plan on using resort check in you have to also factor in another 30 minutes or so to check in for your flight.

Honestly? I would rather sit at the airport for an hour than be stuck in traffic and frantic that I will miss my flight. You can always grab a meal or do some shopping if you have a lot of time to kill at the airport. Miss your flight and it will probably be a long while before you get on another one.

 

[pinkxray]

Thanks for the replies. 9-9:30 sounds doable. I can't remember what time we left last year, but I hate being late so I probably made us leave at like 8am for a noon flight.

And I definitely don't want to miss my flight

 

[francie57]

We usually have a 6:30 p.m. return flight and we usually get to the rental car return at 4:30. We then go to security since we use the RAC counter for the luggage. One thing we learned is if the security lines are long on the right, we go past the middle column and use the lines on the left since they are usually shorter. You just have to pay attention once through security to make sure to get on the right tram for your gate. We stop and get food for the plane at outback to go (great salads) and end up at the gate with about 20 min. to boarding. This has worked for us for years and we will be doing the same thing on our trip in Aug.

 

[rwdavis2]

Uusally 3 hours. First to return the car and to possibly encounter long lines at security which happens at MCO.

 

[DVC-Don]

I give it 3 hours. By the time you gas up the rental, drive to the airport and turn it in you've used up almost an hour. Then you have the other 2 hours to check bags and get through security. We then get a light meal before the flight.

 

[DebbieB]

You can still check your luggage at the resort even if you are using a rental car. That would save you time, you can go straight to security. I would leave around 10:00 if you don't have to check luggage.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

We usually leave about 2 hours before our flight and have never had any of these horror stories of long lines, etc. We're both experienced travelers though so we have it down to a science. Oh, and we've never missed our flight and always have time before boarding begins.

 

[dudspizza]

We usually have a 6:30 p.m. return flight and we usually get to the rental car return at 4:30. We then go to security since we use the RAC counter for the luggage. One thing we learned is if the security lines are long on the right, we go past the middle column and use the lines on the left since they are usually shorter. You just have to pay attention once through security to make sure to get on the right tram for your gate. We stop and get food for the plane at outback to go (great salads) and end up at the gate with about 20 min. to boarding. This has worked for us for years and we will be doing the same thing on our trip in Aug.

TSA actually pointed us to the left security lines last time at MCO..... go thru rather quickly.... just have to pay attention to which tram you get on...

 

[tj4disney]

We're another family that leaves the resort 2 hours before our flight. Never have had any issues. I suppose we're taking a chance, but after extensive statistical analysis, I've determined the likelihood we'll miss our flight is less than one percent. For those odds, I'll take the extra time at Disney.