How Long would you give to get from landing to Disney Hotel?

[tinkandonaldfans]

If the flight lands on time how long would it take for you to go through security, get bags and use the the disney transport to get to a disney hotel (i'm staying at AKL)?

i have a dinner booked at akl and wondering whether we will get there in time or if it would be too rushed

 

[anthony2k7]

difficult question to answer!

i assume MCO if using disney transport? but immigration will be the big hold up which varies depending which class you fly and whether other planes have come in at nearly the same time.

 

[Twilight Terror]

Personally, we opt to do nothing on our first night, and it's never seen us wrong so far. Too many things can go against you lol I don't think we've ever made it to our hotel on time; it's usually later!

Depending on what time you get up for your flight, you could be doing up to an 18-hour before you even make it to the hotel on the other side, and then have to adjust to the time difference. Although every person is difference, traveling is enough to tire anyone out.

You are going in September, right? Just bare in mind the hurricanes are active and can directly or indirectly affect your outbound flight. In 2007, our flight was delayed going out because it was coming from Jamaica and all flights there had been grounded due to the hurricane passing over. That night, we didn't make it to Pop until midnight, and by the time we get checked in and to our room, the food court was closed, and we had to order in Dominios Pizza - not so great for me since I can't eat pizza!

If the flight goes to plan and you arrive on time, then you have to get through Immigration. The lines don't move particularly fast, and if other flights have just landed you could be in for a long wait. Alternatively, you could be one of the few first off the plane, first in the queue and straight through with almost no wait - it's hard to say.

We were put on a ME bus in 2007 when our flight was delayed, and while it went to our hotel, it wasn't going to just our hotel. It went to Pop and all the All Star resorts. Fine for us as Pop was the first stop, but no so good if your hotel is the last stop. I don't know if there's a system you could find out as to which hotels are stopped at first, or whether it depends entirely on who is on the bus and going where.

There are quite a lot of variables that you have no control over, so while you could arrive at the hotel with several hours to spare before midnight, you might also find yourself arriving just on midnight. So, it's entirely up to you, but personally, I would not opt for a booked table meal on that first night.

 

[maleficent_man]

It really is a tricky one - personally we're going to hit Downtown Disney to check out some shops and grab a bite to eat.

I always allow some time for delay either with the flight, through customs or getting car.

 

[Red-Snapper]

There are quite a lot of variables that you have no control over, so while you could arrive at the hotel with several hours to spare before midnight, you might also find yourself arriving just on midnight. QUOTE]

Midnight !!

Not sure which airline you normally take Twilight (or if you mean UK time) but generally (if flying Virgin or BA) the flight should arrive betwen 3 and 5pm Florida time - so you would normally get to the hotel at the latest by 7.30 - 8pm

Delays would obviously mean later - but in 18yrs of flying to Florida we have never been later than 10.00pm checking in (probably cursed myself now )

 

[Danauk]

On previous trips we have taken we have landed at Orlando just after 4pm and we have been checked into WDW (at the BCV) by 6:00/6:30pm (and one of those trips we were driving from the airport and took a wrong turn a few times!!) Even if we have been delayed a little in the UK we have usually made up time during the flight and not been that late landing. This trip we are due to land at 2:20pm and I have booked an ADR for Boma for 7pm which I think will be OK. We are also staying at AKL.

 

[CustardTart]

In all my trips to WDW, I have rarely arrived at the resort before 8pm - and three times I have arrived after 10pm including one at around 2am!!! For example, last time we landed on time but there was a torrential rainstorm so the baggage couldn't be collected from the plane and we were delayed by an hour or so...

Also be aware that AKL is the last drop off so when we took the Magical Express in March, it took ages to get there. We sat waiting for the coach to fill for at least 30 minutes outside MCO and it must have been at least another hour before we were checking in at AKV!!! We decided we would pre-book a cab next time...

 

[fairytale]

Like a previous poster has said, a lot depends on which class flight you travel in.

Last October we were in PE, and was out of customs in Baggage reclaim in no matter than 20 minutes or so.

Make sure you use the immigration desk closest to the US Residents entrance, as they immediately open that up to all visitors once all US citizens have been through

We hired our car through Dollar, and a tip I learnt on these boards was to enrol prior to the trip with Dollar Express, no wait

I cannot remember exactly how long it took us to get the car from leaving the plane, but from landing at 2.30 we were all checked in at the FWC for around 4.30pm give or take half an hour. Which we thought was fantastic.

 

[Danauk]

One point to make about using Magical Express is that is does not have a set route. The route the driver takes depends on which resorts the bus needs to go to, so on one route where AKL was the last stop it might not be the last stop the next time the bus goes there. I guess my point is that you can't guess how long ME will take!

 

[Twilight Terror]

Midnight !!

Not sure which airline you normally take Twilight (or if you mean UK time) but generally (if flying Virgin or BA) the flight should arrive betwen 3 and 5pm Florida time - so you would normally get to the hotel at the latest by 7.30 - 8pm

Midnight is correct. We catch the same flight every year - VS015. The above mentioned flight was with Virgin Atlantic back in 2007 - our first onsite stay. I did mention that our plane was coming from Jamaica to take us to Orlando, and was late leaving Jamaica due to a hurricane passing over there.

The point was to illustrate that despite our so call 13:00 departure, we didn't leave Gatwick until about 16:30/17:00 that day, and therefore did not arrive at the hotel until midnight. Of course it's not the norm, just an example how things were out of our control, and despite planning to arrive at the hotel for 8pm so we could explore our first Disney resort, we didn't, and just wanted to collapse in bed instead!

 

[fuse04]

We went in May and fly VA. Plane landed early, about 2:50 but we had to wait as another plane was occupying the stand (or whatever it is called!). I think we departeed the plane at 3:15, and was through customs and collected our luggage, took it on the monorail and was bookin ginto DME about 3:55. DME left about 4:20 and went via Grand Floridian forst before going to ours (VWL).

I think we got to WL about 5 ish, and where out to MK by 7pm; went to Harbour house for food as we had a heraty breakfast at Gatwick Hilton and had the VA offerings on the plane.

 

[tinkandonaldfans]

well i stupidly thought our flight was the 11am flight which is the flight we normally get but this year its at 1pm so we would be arriving at MCO until 5pm. 7:30 does feel like a massive push so will try and make it and hour or so later so its not a massive rush to get there. if there is a major delay then we will try again later in the holiday!

just thought that since its a buffet it would be fairly relaxed way to settle into the hotel! I would have preferred arriving earlier but hey what can you do?

maybe we will have some fairy dust sprinkled on us that lets us land early, sail through customs, pick up our bags first and be the last on the bus thats heading straight for AKL with no traffic!

 

[cliveywolves]

well i stupidly thought our flight was the 11am flight which is the flight we normally get but this year its at 1pm so we would be arriving at MCO until 5pm. 7:30 does feel like a massive push so will try and make it and hour or so later so its not a massive rush to get there. if there is a major delay then we will try again later in the holiday!

just thought that since its a buffet it would be fairly relaxed way to settle into the hotel! I would have preferred arriving earlier but hey what can you do?

maybe we will have some fairy dust sprinkled on us that lets us land early, sail through customs, pick up our bags first and be the last on the bus thats heading straight for AKL with no traffic!

Hiya we just got back the other day from Florida, Imigration was a nightmare for us and for our inlaws who came the week after us..We landed about 3.15pm and got to our Disney Hotel POP Century at about 6pm if i remember correct, We didnt use the 2nd baggage drop we carried them all up the escalator and onto the monorail ourselves so that saved us a bit of time also..


Our inlaws landed about 5.15pm and by the time they had done it all and collected there hire car it was 7.45pm !!

ps, We used DME which was very good, bus took about 15 mins to turn up for POP we were 2nd on the bus only about 10 on bus in total took about 30mins to transfer to DW !!!

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

One thing, apart from the usual tips, is not to use the car hire companies that the big boys use, so that there are not 300-600 people in front of you at the car hire desks depending how many flights have deposited their loads

We personally use Hertz and after collecting the luggage, out to the Hertz bus with the other five or six people and we are in our car and away within 10-20 mins normally

 

[BoingBoingBaggie]

Does anyone know which car company that Virgin Holidays use on arrival as we have booked one with them as part of our package. Just wondering about possible delays and has anyone else used the car deal from Virgin and what are their experiences with it?

After reading this thread I am starting to wonder whether I have allowed enough time to get to our first ADR of the holiday - Planet Hollywood in DTD at 7:30pm. I still have to ring on Thursday to book the last ADR's of the holidays and I may change this to around 8:30pm if possible. That should be 6 hours after scheduled landing and hopefully enough.

Just to let you know that after calmly sorting out ADR's and the fairly relaxed intinery - this thread has launched me into a blind panic!

 

[disneybarbie]

Does anyone know which car company that Virgin Holidays use on arrival as we have booked one with them as part of our package. Just wondering about possible delays and has anyone else used the car deal from Virgin and what are their experiences with it?

After reading this thread I am starting to wonder whether I have allowed enough time to get to our first ADR of the holiday - Planet Hollywood in DTD at 7:30pm. I still have to ring on Thursday to book the last ADR's of the holidays and I may change this to around 8:30pm if possible. That should be 6 hours after scheduled landing and hopefully enough.

Just to let you know that after calmly sorting out ADR's and the fairly relaxed intinery - this thread has launched me into a blind panic!

Virgin Holidays uses Dollar Car Rental.. they have desks at both Terminals at MCO... so you'll probably go to the Dollar on Level 1 Terminal A.
This July will be my first holiday to WDW with Virgin, but I believe they have a desk at Dollar specifically for VH... but apparently queues can be long; so allow time there too!

Happy planning

Barbie

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Virgin Holidays uses Dollar Car Rental.. they have desks at both Terminals at MCO... so you'll probably go to the Dollar on Level 1 Terminal A.
This July will be my first holiday to WDW with Virgin, but I believe they have a desk at Dollar specifically for VH... but apparently queues can be long; so allow time there too!

Happy planning

Barbie

if you go to the dollar website, you can join their dollar express membership for free and then can use the dollar express check in line. We used this last May and had no one in front of us in the queue - it was great!!

 

[disneybarbie]

if you go to the dollar website, you can join their dollar express membership for free and then can use the dollar express check in line. We used this last May and had no one in front of us in the queue - it was great!!

That's good to know.. we had signed up for this recently, but then I'd read conflicting advice on the boards, saying that VH customers couldn't use this?!
So i'm really happy to hear it worked for you! .. should enable us to get to the Magic even faster!

Barbie

 

[team harris]

There are quite a lot of variables that you have no control over, so while you could arrive at the hotel with several hours to spare before midnight, you might also find yourself arriving just on midnight. QUOTE]

Midnight !!

Not sure which airline you normally take Twilight (or if you mean UK time) but generally (if flying Virgin or BA) the flight should arrive betwen 3 and 5pm Florida time - so you would normally get to the hotel at the latest by 7.30 - 8pm

Delays would obviously mean later - but in 18yrs of flying to Florida we have never been later than 10.00pm checking in (probably cursed myself now )

Happened to us in 2007.
We had a 6 hours delay at Gatwick and we checked in to Pop at midnight.
We too missed the food court, but as been on the go for 24 hrs, just fell unconcious into bed!

 

[Twilight Terror]

Happened to us in 2007.
We had a 6 hours delay at Gatwick and we checked in to Pop at midnight.
We too missed the food court, but as been on the go for 24 hrs, just fell unconcious into bed!

Know that feeling - we hadn't even slept the night before, well only a couple of hours. I remember staying up to 3am packing, and then we had to get up again at 5:30am in order to catch the first bus and tube into London, only to get to Victoria and read the departure boards at the Gatwick express to find our flight was delayed until 4pm! haha I think I ended up falling asleep in my lunch at the airport while we were waiting!