Need flight suggestions from Madison WI to MCO please?

[Dancemom03]

Hi All,

I am excited to be meeting some very special friends in WDW this July. They're traveling in from Madison and have only been to WDW once a few years back. They weren't able to see much at all that time so she's really looking forward to going back.

They flew direct into Sanford from Madison but that flight doesn't exist anymore. It was also quite a drive from Sanford in rush hour traffic so they are looking for an easier way and would like to land at MCO for the added magic of Disney's magical express.

It looks like no matter what they do, there will be connections and layovers.
This is a senior lady traveling with grandkids so I was hoping maybe somebody might have some experience with travel from that area of the country to make the flight more bearable, if not magical...
Anybody from Wisconsin out there by chance? If so, What airline/flights do you prefer to MCO?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. TIA

 

[Gabby&Liv's Mommy]

We live in Brookfield (suburb of Milwaukee), WI. We go several times a year and travel with two little kids. We like Midwest Airlines because they have a direct flight and we like their time schedules. We did fly AirTran in September and that was fine too. Midwest flight 692 on the way down there leaves around 9:45am and gets you at MCO around 1:30pm or so. They have an earlier filght at 7:30am, but that requires us to leave the house too early for my taste. =) I like flight 693 on the way home. If you are taking Magical Express they pick you up at around 11am or 11:30am. The flight gets you home around 3:40pm. Plus I really like that they assing your seats when you book.

Happy travels.

 

[robinb]

Hi DanceMom! I live in Madison . You're right, there is no direct flight from Madison. Your friends will have to change planes at least once. My favorite airline is Midwest Express ... big comfy seats and hot baked cookies on the plane. Their hub is in Milwaukee so she would change planes there. My second favorite is Northwest Airlines. They would change planes in Minneapolis or Detroit. An added bonus of NWA is that they can check their bags at the resort for their return trip instead of standing in line at the airport. You can also do that for American, Continental, Delta and United/Ted but I think that all of those airlines run smaller jets out of Madison to the hubs (Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta).

I like to take an early flight out and a late flight back but those later flights are usually filled first.

 

[Dancemom03]

Thanks so much,

She saw the morthwest flights but they came up $100 more pp than several of the other carriers.

Midwest never even surfaced on her searches.

How do you leave madison? I mean, by what airlines/times to get into MKE from madison?

I usually complain about the traffic and high prices, living outside Baltimore/Washington but didn't realize how lucky we are to have multiple airports & choices for reasonable 2 hour non-stop flights to MCO each day until I saw the Madison air choices...

Do either of them have anything like southwest's DING or airtran's email promo notifications by chance?

BTW, I am SO jealous of you lucky guys out there and your proximity to all the good American Girl Doll stuff. If I didn't need to soak up that pixie dust every summer, I'd sure be heading out there to grab some doll stuff and soak up the benefit sale & outlet atmospheres...

 

[clh2]

Madison is only about 1.5 hours out of Milwaukee. Can they drive to Milwaukee? The MKE airport is very easy to get to.

 

[robinb]

I use the following website to check prices:
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/prego
and then I go to the individual airlines to double-check rates and book.

I admit that I have been driving to Chicago the past year to fly on Southwest out of Midway. I flew over Christmas (12/20 - 1/5) for about $150 round-trip. More than 50% less than a flight from Madison. For us, it was worth driving to my family in Chicago and leaving from there. The added bonus was they watched my puppy for free .

If NWA is $100 more per ticket, then skip them. Take American or United, both good airlines. The Turbo Jets out of MSN are small, but I would save the money and gut it out. The flights are usually less than an hour anyway.

As clh2 says, MKE is an easy airport to get to, but you have to add parking into the equation. Plus, the drive may be too long for your friend. I think she should probably just stick with MSN. It's a nice, small airport and very friendly.