How long when you land till getting out of airport?

[wendy_uk]

Just 4 weeks to go!!!

Has anyone just got back and can give me an idea of how long it takes, from when you land in Orlando to getting out of the airport, with all the extra security checks and things.
My DH just hates waiting around in long queues, but I guess thats what we are going to have to expect.

 

[juliebro]

It will depend on whether you have had a direct flight or have already gone through customs and immigration at another airport en route. We tend to fly US Airways via Philadelphia and clear immigration and customs there, meaning that we arrive on an internal flight at MCO (Orlando International), so we probably get out of MCO quicker than a direct flight.

We last flew there in April - so I guess someone else will have more idea of the current timings for getting through.

Julie

ps The above assumes you are flying into MCO, if you are flying into Sanford, it may be different. Hopefully you'll get more useful responses from someone else!

 

[wendy_uk]

We are going directly from London Gatwick to Orland International flying with Virgin.

 

[signtalker]

we flew london-gatwick with Virgin.From landing to clearing customs, and getting baggage two and a half hours!!!!!

Luckily enough the car system with Virgin is a doddle, 5 minutes spent here!.

Jules

 

[MsPennieLane]

Last time we flew with Virgin which was last March just before the war started, it took us 3 hours from when we landed to get to our hotel on International Drive. You have to reclaim your baggage twice at Orlando Airport so that takes the time. Going thru immigration took no time at all but what really annoyed me is that we were waiting to put our luggage thru the scanners and all the Virgin air cabin crew pushed in front of us so we had to wait for them to pass first, I thought that was damn rude So be prepared to spend at least an hour and a half at the airport. Once you finally pick up your luggage and go thru to where you pick up your car, then it takes no time at all.

Anz

 

[Red-Snapper]

Last time it took us 1 hour and 15 mins but we were flying Virgin PE and somehow ended up first in the customs queue, then our bags were the fourth lot off the plane, we didnt get our bags looked at in the random customs search either.

The biggest wait was at the top of the escalators where the metal detector/imaging stations are. I think the BA flight was in before us and there was a queue that started right at the top of the escalators. Must have lost about 15 mins there.

Interestingly once through this we were away very quickly, our bags were waiting at the 2nd carrousel when we got there (another first for us) and there was noone waiting at the Dollar desk. For me - the extra paid for PE seats was worth it just to beat the queue.

We pulled out of the airport 1hour 15 mins after touchdown and were in the hotel in under 2 hours. Cant see that we will be that lucky again.

 

[Scotfan]

Hi Wendy, last year with virgin we were in the pool at vistana within 1.5 hrs of landing ( a record for us). At immigration we had to go through a seperate line as we live on a farm and there was no one else there so that could have had something to do with it, however DM+ DD went through the normal line and were only 10 mins behind us.
If you collect your hire car before your bags it saves loads of time as we discovered as well (we used dollar)

 

[keswick1uk]

Scotfan. Collecting a car before baggage. How does that work?

I appreciate this must be something to do with the double baggage reclaim there.

Also is it quicker if we have the pre-purchased insurances for the car?

 

[amf]

The car hire desks at MCO are at the level immediately below the final luggage pick up. Most people pick up their luggage (often waiting), then proceeding to the car hire desks which by that time can be busy with others who have done the same thing. Veterans, meanwhile, are productively doing the car hire paperwork first, whilst there are minimal queues, and then go upstairs to retrieve their checked luggage.

An even better version of this little timesaver can be done if you have any adult non drivers in the party. Any additional drivers require to initial the car rental agreement, but the non driver can collect the luggage whilst the drivers attend to the car paperwork.

Pre purchase of car insurance only slightly speeds things up....it is of no great consequence.

 

[Miffy2003]

In August 2002, it took us 50 minutes from landing at MCO to pulling off in the car (I think we were lucky though!!!!)

Cheers

Karen

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi,
We just got back from Orlando and the good news is it took exactly an hour from leaving the plane to getting in the car.The bad news was we had to sit on the plane for an hour at Gatwick while they loaded the luggage and then on the return journey it took two hours to get from the plane and out of the airport.I guess they must have some problem with the Gatwick baggage handlers.It was also a painless process leaving the US just the usual security checks but no queues.

Mick.

 

[Bekki]

When we landed in November it took us 3 hours from landing to getting our Limo Service.

 

[Muppet]

45 minutes. From landing to driving off.