Not sure if this is the right board to ask but....

[DisneyGuess]

I would like to know if anyone has flown into the Orlando/Sanford airport & what your experience was or what you think of the airport? Is it much further away than MCO? How long did it take you to get from there to the Disney resort?
TIA!!

 

[webstah]

We did this for a couple of years when we had a small airline going from near our house to Sanford Orlando.
It was about a 45 minute to an hour ride.
You do have to be careful though. There are 2 ways to go. One of the ways is the Florida trunpike, and can be quite expensive from what I'm told.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Moved this from Resorts to Transportation.. where it is a much better fit..



K

 

[DisneyGuess]

Moved this from Resorts to Transportation.. where it is a much better fit..



K

Thank you! Dummy me didn't even realize there was a transportation board, hehe.

 

[DisneyGuess]

We did this for a couple of years when we had a small airline going from near our house to Sanford Orlando.
It was about a 45 minute to an hour ride.
You do have to be careful though. There are 2 ways to go. One of the ways is the Florida trunpike, and can be quite expensive from what I'm told.

Wow! I didn't realize it would be that far. So, anyone know how long the trip from MCO is? May be worth gas money, minivan rental, etc to just fly into there on one of the bigger airlines...if I can find a decent deal.

 

[goofy4tink]

The time from MCO to WDW is about 30 mins. The time from Sanford is about 50 mins. The only reason I don't fly into Sanford very much is that I hate renting cars. And a car service will run almost double what it costs to and from MCO.
But..if you fly into MCO, you can then book DME to get you to your resort and then back to the airport. That's a huge money saver. I wish Disney would do some kind of shuttle to Sanford but that's probably never going to happen. Even if Mears themselves did one...better than nothing.

 

[RalphMouth]

Wow! I didn't realize it would be that far. So, anyone know how long the trip from MCO is? May be worth gas money, minivan rental, etc to just fly into there on one of the bigger airlines...if I can find a decent deal.

MCO to Disney is about 25 min -

 

[Disnydad]

Last summer my brother in law vacationed at WDW with us. He got a bargan rate flight to Sanford, but later when he figured the additional cost of transportation and the 1 1/4 hour drive (one way) to the AKL it was not such a great deal. Then there was the deal where the airline he used only flew 3 days per week so he had to go a couple of days ahead of us and pay for an offsite room too.

 

[DisMN]

I wish Disney would do some kind of shuttle to Sanford but that's probably never going to happen. Even if Mears themselves did one...better than nothing.

This.

We'd fly in and out of Sanford if something like this were available. Sadly, it isn't. You'd think they would consider having a van type shuttle available at the Sanford airport.

 

[DisneyGuess]

Last summer my brother in law vacationed at WDW with us. He got a bargan rate flight to Sanford, but later when he figured the additional cost of transportation and the 1 1/4 hour drive (one way) to the AKL it was not such a great deal. Then there was the deal where the airline he used only flew 3 days per week so he had to go a couple of days ahead of us and pay for an offsite room too.

Yea, the airline we would use there only flys out of our area 2xs a week. Not a huge deal to us but that drive, with gas, van rental, etc may make a difference. Less than $1100 flight doesn't mean too much when we have to pay for gas for the trip to WDW, rental on van & travel that far.....hhmmm...maybe I'll rethink our flight plans, hehe. Even if a flight on Delta into MCO was $1500-$1600 for us, it would equal out when we factor in no gas & no rental.

 

[DisneyGuess]

This.

We'd fly in and out of Sanford if something like this were available. Sadly, it isn't. You'd think they would consider having a van type shuttle available at the Sanford airport.

^^^ This. I would do it in a heartbeat but I'd hate to have to drive & get lost or something on the way to the resort.

 

[dansyr2514]

We flew into Sanford last yr and loved it. It is a small airport and you can get through it really quickly. We got a great rate on a rental car....which we were going to do anyway.....dbf hates the busses. We just brought our GPS with us and had no problem. I think we made it in about 45 min to CSR. We actually kinda hoped to fly into Sanford this yr...but Allegiant has switched to MCO from our area. If you get a good deal on flights...I would do it.

 

[DisneyGuess]

We flew into Sanford last yr and loved it. It is a small airport and you can get through it really quickly. We got a great rate on a rental car....which we were going to do anyway.....dbf hates the busses. We just brought our GPS with us and had no problem. I think we made it in about 45 min to CSR. We actually kinda hoped to fly into Sanford this yr...but Allegiant has switched to MCO from our area. If you get a good deal on flights...I would do it.

Quick question for you, I noticed the deals you can get thru Allegiant on rentals thru Alamo. But, the price they give says it doesn't include taxes, fees, etc. Did you get your rental thru Allegiant & what was the cost you had to pay when you picked up your rental? It is a great deal, a minivan for $258 for the week. Just curious anout the remainder of the charges for it.
Really trying to the math & see where my best savings or deals would be.

 

[marius97]

If you were planning on renting a car no matter where you flew into...MCO or Sanford...then you'd be better off flying into Sanford. Sanford is such a small airport (though it is bigger than most of the airports that send flights there) that you can get in and out very quickly. The extra 20 minutes of the drive are more than made up for in the ease and speed of arrival and departure. If you are renting a car or calling a car service just to get to the park, then MCO would be a better bet.

 

[dansyr2514]

Sorry I can't help you on that one. We booked our flights and rental car separately. We actually just booked our rental car for this year's trip through BJ's. We got Alamo mid sized for $171 for the week.

When checking allegiant's site...did you try to go right through til before you enter credit card info? I know with the flights...that's where all the fees show up.

 

[lindsey]

We used Allegiant into Sanford four times. We did get rental cars each time. I checked between Allegiant's site rental car prices, and other rental agencies - and have used four different agencies depending on the cost. Make sure you select pickup at Sanford Airport. The drive on the toll road is not that bad - just take about $5. We enjoyed having a car, and when returning to Sanford, we could pick the time instead of a shuttle service. We will probably use Allegiant in September and they now fly into Orlando International, but we're staying off-site - I can't win!!

 

[DisneyGuess]

Sorry I can't help you on that one. We booked our flights and rental car separately. We actually just booked our rental car for this year's trip through BJ's. We got Alamo mid sized for $171 for the week.

When checking allegiant's site...did you try to go right through til before you enter credit card info? I know with the flights...that's where all the fees show up.

I did, but it still said that the fees & taxes for the car rental would be paid at time of rental & gave no info on the price. Wonder if I could call Allegiant or even Alamo....

 

[DisneyGuess]

We used Allegiant into Sanford four times. We did get rental cars each time. I checked between Allegiant's site rental car prices, and other rental agencies - and have used four different agencies depending on the cost. Make sure you select pickup at Sanford Airport. The drive on the toll road is not that bad - just take about $5. We enjoyed having a car, and when returning to Sanford, we could pick the time instead of a shuttle service. We will probably use Allegiant in September and they now fly into Orlando International, but we're staying off-site - I can't win!!

I wish they would switch to MCO for us but haven't seen anything about that yet. That would solve all my issues, I just hating renting cars.
Have a great trip anyway!

 

[stitchlovestink]

Last summer my brother in law vacationed at WDW with us. He got a bargan rate flight to Sanford, but later when he figured the additional cost of transportation and the 1 1/4 hour drive (one way) to the AKL it was not such a great deal. Then there was the deal where the airline he used only flew 3 days per week so he had to go a couple of days ahead of us and pay for an offsite room too.

WOW! 75 min drive from Sanford to WDW??!! We drove right by Sanford AP on our way from WDW to Port Canaveral and it was just under an hour's drive from WDW to PC.
And as far as the tolls... going from WDW to PC was less than $5 in tolls. which isn't bad IMO...as around here, it costs $5 just to get over the I95 bridge from harford to cecil co (heading towards DE or PA) but that's just MHO.
Good luck with your decision....