How much time to allow to airport from park?

[ckralich]

Our flight is at 6pm on a Tues. Anyone know how much time we should allow to leave the main gate of AK to make our flight? We have a rental car to return.

 

[ccgirl]

Our flight is at 6pm on a Tues. Anyone know how much time we should allow to leave the main gate of AK to make our flight? We have a rental car to return.

I will tell you that getting thru security at MCO is a nightmare. Our flight was at 8:50am on Dec 12th. We left at 6:00am and ended up running to our gate, we just made last boarding call. It took us over an hour to get thru security. This may have been a fluke but I would leave at least 1 hour to get thru security. That being said, personally, I would leave AK at 2:00 in order to leave plenty of time. I would rather be at the airport waiting that running to the gate hoping we don't miss our flight.

 

[seashoreCM]

I was going to say, be walking through the turnstiles at 3 (3 hours before your flight) but ifthe experience above is common then maybe you need to leave sooner. Leaving sooner, such as 2 or 2:30 could be a godsend if you ran into problems such as a dispute over gas in the tank at the car return station.

One thing that may get you a bit more park time is to skip lunch (no counter or sit down service) and just have some noontime snacks. Then at the airport, after security, get something more substantial to eat at the little food court at the tram station.

 

[vicki_c]

I usually plan on leaving for the airport 3 hours before the flight, with a rental car. It usually seems extreme and we end up sitting around, but I'd rather have that than missing our flight.

When we used a car service, it was 2 hours before our flight.

But I have seen monster lines at security at MCO as well. Last summer, they hardly had any lines open the day we were there and it was a total zoo - never saw anything like it before there.

 

[goofy4tink]

I usually plan on leaving for the airport 3 hours before the flight, with a rental car. It usually seems extreme and we end up sitting around, but I'd rather have that than missing our flight.

When we used a car service, it was 2 hours before our flight.

But I have seen monster lines at security at MCO as well. Last summer, they hardly had any lines open the day we were there and it was a total zoo - never saw anything like it before there.

That's what I would do as well. Leave AK no less than 3 hrs before flight departure. I'm assuming that you'll be driving right from AK to MCO, and not going back to your resort.
I have been seeing longer and longer security lines. For the first time ever, it took me almost half an hour to get through security on 12/13...at 9 in the morning. It was simply crazy.

 

[Brian Noble]

Add me to the chorus. We always plan to be *in our car, starting to drive* about 3 hours prior. That gives you a little slack if you are running a tad behind, but better safe than sorry.

 

[DebbieB]

Do you have to check your luggage? You can still use RAC if your airline is participating, even if you don't ride the bus back. I would leave by 2:30 if you have to check luggage, 3:00-3:15 if not.