MCO Airport and flights w/kids - things to watch out for?

[dropd]

I'm trying to decide right now between a lengthy road trip (from southeastern PA), or a quick flight (from PHL) in a few weeks, with an 8 year old and 5 year old.

Has anyone flown recently (say, since January) to Orlando with small kids? Any notes or experiences that would be helpful?

For reference, we're a very cautious family who always use high-quality masks and are very conscious when others around us are being less than careful. You might say we are the nervous type.

Also, both parents are fully vaccinated.

Thanks!

 

[BethanyMouse]

Hi There-
Sorry, I have not traveled by plane recently but we were in the same boat as you. We are both very cautious and will be fully vaccinated by our trip. We are traveling with 2 little ones. A few of our friends have traveled recently and were not happy with the Orlando airport. I am sure some others here have specific examples. Our friends noted crowded spaces, people not respecting social distancing, and masks not being worn correctly.

They did say that their flights out of Trenton and AC were smooth.

We opted to drive (it will be our first time). We are a bit nervous but are trying to look at it as an adventure!

Best of luck!

 

[easyas123]

No little kids anymore, but we were thru the Orlando airport last month. It was dead, empty. Obviously, things have shifted a bit in the last several weeks and things have picked up even more down there, so your experience may be different.

Flew out of BWI, it was busy - I'd say normal-times busy. We've flown a few times in the past year and it's been the most stress free easiest time we've ever spent on planes or airports

 

[dropd]

They did say that their flights out of Trenton and AC were smooth.

We opted to drive (it will be our first time). We are a bit nervous but are trying to look at it as an adventure!

Best of luck!

Sounds like you are also starting out in the NJ/mid-Atlantic area? Out of curiosity how many days are you planning to take for the drive?

 

[BethanyMouse]

Sounds like you are also starting out in the NJ/mid-Atlantic area? Out of curiosity how many days are you planning to take for the drive?

We are starting out in NJ- we are hoping to leave at 1am and drive to Savannah (at the recommendation of many on these boards). Hopefully that gets us to Savannah right before dinner time. We have the next day as a day in Orlando, outside of the Disney bubble. Then we start our vacation the day after.

I have a 2 year old (almost 3 at time of trip, and a 7 year old). It will be our first road trip and YES I AM WORRIED! LOL

 

[sparkle78]

Road trip - visit your local teacher store or dollar store and get the fun mazes, abc books, etc where you fill the pen with water and they write on the page. Look into Wikki Sticks or magnets and a cookie sheet. Have them write letters or words on it. lots of silly song music.

 

[flippinyourfins]

We just got home three weeks ago from our trip and flew through MCO. I was surprised how many kids were on the ground/dragging toys along the ground and every surface in the airport. We spent a week at the parks and didn't notice much of that, but the airport was full of it! People absolutely still cram on the tram to the terminal and don't try to space in the seating in the terminals. We tried to wait in an empty gate for our flight vs our crammed gate.

I did see the wildest thing I've ever seen in an airport, a woman tried to bring a Costco sized jelly jar(glass, half full) through the TSA PreCheck line and was flabbergasted when they told her it wasn't allowed!

 

[Shellyred8]

We were in MCO in mid-Feb. It was busier at that time than it had been in our 2 other post-covid trips to WDW. But there were still plenty of gates around ours that weren't being used and it was easy to sit in one of those if our gate was feeling cramped. I'm guessing it will be a little busier during your trip though, as it sounds like you will hit some of the spring break crowd.

Something to think about when evaluating your options: how many times will you have to stop somewhere on the drive vs how much airport time you will have if you fly. The airports and planes have extra cleaning protocol in place right now, so I felt pretty safe when flying.

Have a great trip!

 

[Callsdodisney]

My perspective from flying in and out of Florida last week: most of the people traveling via plane fall on the "less concerned about COVID for whatever reason" spectrum. Trams weren't 100% packed, but if you held back to give space to those who had already boarded, others would join them anyway. If you left 6 feet between you and the person in front of you in the restroom, someone would probably cut you in line, not realizing you were IN line. Lots of eating and drinking to get around mask rules.

The airline was pretty good about enforcement once you got on the plane, but the airports (3 of them- home, Orlando and Tampa) were free-for-alls.

 

[dropd]

We're back from our trip. we ended up taking the Amtrak auto train southbound, and drove back from Disney to Philly northbound. Some observations:

* Travelers on the auto train also seemed pretty lax about covid precaution compliance, but we booked 2 adjoining bedrooms (Amtrak was having a sale) so we were able to stay fully distanced for the whole trip anyway, given the bedrooms have their own private restroom/shower.

* Disney world itself was a mixed bag. I saw a LOT of noses out of masks, adults and children alike eating and drinking while walking, or just in general keeping their mask anywhere but over their mouth and nose. I would estimate that 5% or more of people were behaving this way.

* We did the northbound drive in 2 days, the second of which was miserable rain for most of the trip. Mask compliance was pretty terrible at the highly-rated hotel we stayed at in Florence, SC (affiliated with Hilton), despite lots of signage saying that masks and distancing were required in the hotel. One of the two on-premises restaurant hostesses simply didn't have a mask at all; the restaurant itself was having some sort of large event; the night manager at the front desk was also maskless. That stuff was pretty disappointing. The drive back otherwise was fairly pleasant/easy.

Overall in non-pandemic times I would definitely still prefer to fly, but it was nice having our own car down there with us.

 

[Dakota731]

We just got home three weeks ago from our trip and flew through MCO. I was surprised how many kids were on the ground/dragging toys along the ground and every surface in the airport.

The CDC reported today that the chances of getting infected with covid by touching a contaminated surface is less than 1 in 10,000.

We flew cross country before being vaccinated with a one year old and a five year old and had no issues. It’s everyone’s personal comfort level. I do think that people who work in health care and have been out in the world this entire year aren’t as nervous about it as those who’ve stayed home the whole time.

 

[easyas123]

We flew cross country before being vaccinated with a one year old and a five year old and had no issues. It’s everyone’s personal comfort level. I do think that people who work in health care and have been out in the world this entire year aren’t as nervous about it as those who’ve stayed home the whole time.

Agreed- I’m not in health care, but I am about to take my 4th r/t flight in a year. No issues.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We fly a lot at least a twice a month.
I have had no issues and the flights are super strict on mask
I would feel better flying then having to stop to use bathrooms etc along the way.

 

[WNYDisneyDad]

My family of 6 (kids are 12 thru 5 y/o) flew through MCO in February of this year. Everyone is different but a few observations:

- We felt EXTREMELY safe flying. We flew Frontier, which I believe is one of the only, if not the only, US airline that checks temperatures. Even without that, I would have felt just as save, though. As others have said, the airlines are very strict with mask wearing.
- I've heard horror stories from others but we witnessed the nicest fellow passengers on our flights down and back than on any trip we've ever taken. I can't really pinpoint it but it was almost a "we are all in this together mentality" and everyone was very patient with others. On the other hand, I've heard some stories of people that have encountered some nasty people.
- One item of disappointment for us was that many of the food locations were shut down at MCO. This made finding a meal for our family difficult.
- As others have said, they aren't using every gate at airports anymore (or in the very least, every gate doesn't have an active departure), so we found plenty of areas away from others to sit down and remove a mask while eating or drinking.

 

[lspahr]

We just returned 4/2 and flew down to MCO and back during "one of the busiest spring break weeks." We flew through Atlanta, and the airport was busy. However, we did not see anyone without a mask, either time. Lots of kids and families were traveling. We flew Delta, and the gates had seats marked off for social distancing. Atlanta had plenty of food options, but Orlando did not. I think Burger King and Starbucks were the only things open for a 9 a.m. flight and both were extremely busy.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

My family just flew out of MCO on Easter Sunday and it was absolutely packed in the Frontier part of the terminal. Security lines weren’t terrible but there was definitely not a lot of social distancing happening on the trams or in the terminal. And as others have said, food options were limited, which made the ones that were open super busy. If you’re nervous about Covid you’ll probably be better off driving.

 

[Daisy7425]

We flew last week and were in airports in Key West, Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta. I also am a nervous type too, OP. Yet, I felt safe at all times in the airports and on the plane (I'm also vaccinated). Mask compliance was about 99%. The airlines have great ways of dealing with covid - board from the back to the front, when unloading plane you must stay seated until two rows ahead of you are gone. So, so, so much hand sanitizer and cleaning.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

We flew last week and were in airports in Key West, Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta. I also am a nervous type too, OP. Yet, I felt safe at all times in the airports and on the plane (I'm also vaccinated). Mask compliance was about 99%. The airlines have great ways of dealing with covid - board from the back to the front, when unloading plane you must stay seated until two rows ahead of you are gone. So, so, so much hand sanitizer and cleaning.

I think this highly depends on the airline. We flew Frontier and experienced none of this. Plane loaded front to back and everyone got up and started exiting as soon as we were at the gate. Mask wearing was decent overall and they did take temperatures of each passenger. I think the policies are different for every airline.

 

[Daisy7425]

I think this highly depends on the airline. We flew Frontier and experienced none of this. Plane loaded front to back and everyone got up and started exiting as soon as we were at the gate. Mask wearing was decent overall and they did take temperatures of each passenger. I think the policies are different for every airline.

You're right; I'm sure it's airline dependent. We flew United down there and Delta back but both of those airlines did a great job.

 

[brockash]

I'm trying to decide right now between a lengthy road trip (from southeastern PA), or a quick flight (from PHL) in a few weeks, with an 8 year old and 5 year old.

Has anyone flown recently (say, since January) to Orlando with small kids? Any notes or experiences that would be helpful?

For reference, we're a very cautious family who always use high-quality masks and are very conscious when others around us are being less than careful. You might say we are the nervous type.

Also, both parents are fully vaccinated.

Thanks!

We flew to Disney this past March and flew in Jan. somewhere else. We had no isdues either time. My youngest is 6. If it were us, we'd definitely fly. The only bummer was having to get our own luggage and haul it back to magical express. Everyone on the plane and in the airport was masked.