Milwaukee area to O'Hare - Help me pick option, please

[digiMom]

Hello, everyone. I would appreciate personal opinions on which to do.

Background:

• Flying UA/Ted out of O'Hare. Traveling with DH and DD8 and DS5 in early January.
  
• Leaving 6:00am Thurs. (So assuming we'd need to get there by 4:00am and, if driving, leave home by 2:00am)
  
• Arriving 10:30pm Fri. (9 days)
  
• Of course, above is assumming flights are on time.
  
• Own a minivan.
  
• We're willing to spend a moderate amount of money. ($100-$150) If we spend too much, negates savings we got on tickets.

Options:

1. Have friend/family member drop off and pick up.
   
2. Have friend/family member drop off. Stay overnight night we arrive; have friend/family member pick us up next day(Sat).
   
3. Drive ourselves and self park somewhere.
   
4. Drive ourselves and do a park and fly package (staying night before, night after, or both.)
   
5. Some other option we haven't thought of.

Your opinions and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Hello, everyone. I would appreciate personal opinions on which to do.

Background:

• Flying UA/Ted out of O'Hare. Traveling with DH and DD8 and DS5 in early January.
  
• Leaving 6:00am Thurs. (So assuming we'd need to get there by 4:00am and, if driving, leave home by 2:00am)
  
• Arriving 10:30pm Fri. (9 days)
  
• Of course, above is assumming flights are on time.
  
• Own a minivan.
  
• We're willing to spend a moderate amount of money. ($100-$150) If we spend too much, negates savings we got on tickets.

Options:

1. Have friend/family member drop off and pick up.
   
2. Have friend/family member drop off. Stay overnight night we arrive; have friend/family member pick us up next day(Sat).
   
3. Drive ourselves and self park somewhere.
   
4. Drive ourselves and do a park and fly package (staying night before, night after, or both.)
   
5. Some other option we haven't thought of.

Your opinions and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

I would do a park and fly package. Drive down the night before and stay at one of the hotels near O'Hare that provide parking and shuttle to/from O'Hare. The 6 am departure means an early start in any case, but at least you won't need to leave home at 2 am to get to the airport. Personally, I'd pick up the car and drive on home on the night of your return.

Here's a link to hotels near O'Hare with park-sleep-fly packages.

Be sure to pack a small suitcase with everything all of you will need for the hotel night prior to your departure flight, so you don't have to even open your other bags.

Ralph

 

[Kimmielee]

I titally agree with Ralph. My son and I fly out in the very early a.m. each time we go to WDW. I figure since we have paid for a whole day, why not get there as early as possible?

We do the Park and Fly option with the Hilton near Detroit Metro and it saves me from getting up at 3:00, leaving at 4:00 to get to the airport, park and then shuttle to the terminal by 5:30 a.m.

This way, we get up at 4:45 (saves almost 2 hours of sleep) and take the shuttle over at 5:30 a.m., eat breakfast at the airport and our day is started.

Most park and fly options are almost the same or sometimes cheaper than if you JUST paid to park your car!

This is also a great way to start the vacation a "night" earlier. My DS (6) looks forward to staying in the Hilton since he knows that's the official "start" of our trip!

Good luck with your decision!

 

[digiMom]

I was thinking about opting for the above suggestion.

I am concerned, however, about our flight time. (I know, I picked it ).

I noticed some hotels offer shuttles only at certain times or only on the hour. I'm going to start doing some calling and internet reseach. If anyone could point me in the direction of a place with a nice 24 hour or on-demand shuttle, though, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[JDietz40]

I don't know if you have had much experience with O'Hare but in my experience it will take a fair amount of time to clear security and also they have one of the worst on time ratings of any US airport. We typically try to avoid O'Hare and have actually driven to Milwaukee and flown out of Mitchell Field to avoid it.

Good Luck and have a great trip,




John

 

[disney4me4ever]

What about Amtrack? I thought I read that they went to O'Hare. Just a thought.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

What about Amtrack? I thought I read that they went to O'Hare. Just a thought.

There is no Amtrak service directly to O'Hare. The rail service is the Blue Line of the CTA (the "El"). You can connect via the Blue Line to the Chicago Loop, but it would be rather inconvenient to take Amtrak into the Loop and then use the Blue Line to get out to O'Hare.

There is also a light rail service at O'Hare itself, but this only provides terminal-to-terminal and terminal-to-parking service.

Ralph

 

[meghan74]

Just another vote for the park-sleep-fly option. Parking at O'Hare has become so expensive that it is often cheaper to stay at a hotel the night before! My family lives less than 45 min from O'Hare and still uses the park-sleep-fly option in order to save money on parking. (They have always found their packages through the link that was posted earlier.)

 

[cruiseonmagic]

Another option if you were going to drive the same morning is to check car rental prices, and do a one way rental, and drop the car at ORD. Budget usually does not charge drop off fees when the cities are so close. I did a quick check and found that you can rent in West Allis and drop at ORD for under 35.00 for a full size.

You won't need to be at the airport at 4am for a 6 am flight. United's counter doesn't even open until 445am. The tsa says their maximum wait time for terminal 1 that early is 8 minutes.