PA-Orlando

[Gracie0423]

Hello- maybe I just need a sounding board as I'm so upset right now to find out our flights that were just released have doubled in price overnight making our trip financially impossible.
I have been searching relentlessly online for other options such as flying into Sanford or having a layover but traveling with small children make these options difficult- any advice or words or wisdom? I just booked our Disney hotel/park tickets last week and fear I need to cancel

Thanks for any help!

Grace

 

[vicki_c]

What about driving?

 

[amomma23]

Have you checked multiple airlines/airports? Would driving a couple of hours to an alternate airport save you some $$? If it were me, I wouldn't cancel, yet. You can cancel your package without penalty up until 45 days out. I would check frequently until you get close to that point before making a final decision.

 

[JimboCh]

Try Tampa

 

[rwdavis2]

Hello- maybe I just need a sounding board as I'm so upset right now to find out our flights that were just released have doubled in price overnight making our trip financially impossible.
I have been searching relentlessly online for other options such as flying into Sanford or having a layover but traveling with small children make these options difficult- any advice or words or wisdom? I just booked our Disney hotel/park tickets last week and fear I need to cancel

Thanks for any help!

Grace

PA meaning Pennsylvania? If western PA look at Cleveland.

 

[Gracie0423]

Thanks so much! I am starting to calm down a bit from initial shock of price increase and looked at a layover in DC which is better then twice our budget- we are closer to Harrisburg area actually, I'm learning a lot from these boards, thanks again for taking time to reply!

Grace

 

[mazoo77]

When are you going? Allegiant usually has some good prices although they charge extra for everything. It looks like they fly from Harrisburg. You can also try Allegiant flights from Allentown or Scranton/Wilkes Barre, that is a bit further for you to travel but both are small airports and easy to navigate. Also, you may already know that Allegiant goes into Sanford Airport and not MCO so you would need transportation to Disney, car rental would probably be cheapest.

Frontier goes out of Harrisburg but when I checked earlier this year, their prices were higher then Allegiant.

Good Luck!

 

[ncc1701]

Have you looked into driving to Baltimore, Pittsburgh or Philadelphia airports ? (not sure where you are in PA).Using long term park at those airports or an off -site lot might be a possibility.If you are renting a car when going maybe Jacksonville or Tampa is another option.

 

[tinkerbell60]

How soon are you going? It seems that the flights tend to be the least expensive somewhere around 50 days prior to travel, of course that depends on when you are going. Check daily! I have the best luck with Southwest/Air Tran. If you book through the Southwest site - they show both schedules, but you will not have to pay baggage fees even if it is operated by Air Tran.

 

[pepe of ohio]

Have you thought of Amtrak, regular or if you need your car, Auto Train....

We're from northeast Ohio and take Amtrak to WDW a lot...average cost for us, 2 people round trip 450.00...

Last 4 trips we have driven, about the same cost as the train, way way cheaper than flying ( less hassle too ) and we get there early on arrival day which to us is like a whole disney day !

 

[mischief32]

I just had to wait until the prices dropped and I got some excellent dealsfor August and September. My airtran flight in August just dropped to $59 from $75 which I hopped on thinking it would not go lower. I just called an have a credit now. I also caught a good deal September for $82 each way and I booked them. We fly out of Richmond, VA. Prices had gone up since then but they do have sales every couple and weeks so I keeo checking and I use yapta to track the flights and let me know if I get another credit. I have to admit that in the 3 years we have been flying I have never gotten a $59 flight before. Very happy

 

[winthropf]

Frontier is starting service from Wilmington, DE to Orlando next month. Introductory fares are well below $100 one way. Only 2 days per week though.

 

[richmo]

Guess it all depends upon where you live; those fares out of Richmond seem pretty unusual these days. I just booked some flights from PHL to MCO and they're over double what I paid last year. Part of the problem is we have to travel on Sunday, which usually isn't great, and we couldn't plan this out as far ahead as I'd like.

Anyway, since I'm also in PA, a few things I noticed doing my research. Its a couple hours away from Harrisburg, but you might want to check out fares for Frontier out of both Trenton (TTN) and Wilmington DE (ILG). They're already going out of Trenton and I think ILG starts early July. Especially from ILG, the fares were quite good, but didn't work out for us because of some day-of-week issues. Another plus to both of these locations is free parking.

I assume you were looking at Allegiant out of Harrisburg. Also look at Allegiant fares from Allentown (ABE). Also check Southwest out of BWI.

Amtrak is an option as mentioned, however, AutoTrain is very expensive unless you're planning on staying down there at least a couple of weeks.

Good luck...hope you can go!

 

[rgf207]

What about Baltimore. Harrisburg to BWI is about 2.5 hours . Southwest has non-stop flights from BWI to MCO daily for very reasonable rates

 

[Gracie0423]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I've never thought of Amtrack I will look into that!
BWI options were not matching up with our travel dates which are end of Nov-

I found Jet Blue out of Newark which is close to family so that is our other option.

I feel like it's a gamble- just book what we can afford at a further airport or wait for a good deal out of Harrisburg-10 minutes away, and throw in free dining while I'm wishing!!

 

[pepe of ohio]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I've never thought of Amtrack I will look into that!
BWI options were not matching up with our travel dates which are end of Nov-

I found Jet Blue out of Newark which is close to family so that is our other option.

I feel like it's a gamble- just book what we can afford at a further airport or wait for a good deal out of Harrisburg-10 minutes away, and throw in free dining while I'm wishing!!

Auto Train runs from Lorton Virginia to Sanford Florida, no stops... But you have to have a car and pay for it.... To me that's dumb because you can take regular Amtrak to Kissimmee... and rent a car there then haul yours and pay for it,cheaper!

 

[taychase1015]

Frontier did have very good rates. I don't know how long you are willing to wait, but I found they do drop their fares after a couple of weeks. I know I booked my August trip on the day the fares were released and watched them climb up the next day. They the flight down dropped within three weeks. The fare back from MCO just dropped to $79 two weeks ago. (I was trying to find a ticket for my brother. I paid $59 but his was as high as $289 one way. Luckily it dropped to the $79.

 

[richmo]

Another thought...and I don't mean to start up an onsite/offsite argument, but if the airfares are bad enough to perhaps cause you to cancel a trip for financial reasons, perhaps you could save some $ by staying offsite or all or part of your trip. The area is loaded with decent places to stay. Perhaps you'll lose some of the magic staying offsite, but its way better than losing all the magic when you kill the trip entirely. I also don't know your family size, number of days, etc., but you could also look into renting a condo/villa somewhere. The price can be way below WDW accommodations and you can save additional $ by not eating every meal out (especially breakfast). Windsor Hills is a really nice place and its close to WDW property. (Of course, you'd also need to rent a car) Just a thought...I hope something works out for you.

 

[snuggly duckling]

Frontier out of ILM saved my day yesterday! We were planning on driving because flights out of Philly at Christmas were $425 per person. I couldn't bear to pay almost 2 grand just to get there.

But with the new Frontier service out of Wilmington we are paying less than $1000 to get all 4 of there and back AT CHRISTMAS. Talk about pixie dust!

Now if I could just get that free dining PIN that's out there...

 

[Syndrome]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I've never thought of Amtrack I will look into that!
BWI options were not matching up with our travel dates which are end of Nov-

I found Jet Blue out of Newark which is close to family so that is our other option.

I feel like it's a gamble- just book what we can afford at a further airport or wait for a good deal out of Harrisburg-10 minutes away, and throw in free dining while I'm wishing!!

I feel your pain with affordable air from PA . We are at least 1 hour to smaller airports (Harrisburg), and 3 hours to the big airports. We would love to fly out of Harrisburg, but can never find flights that work to Orlando on our schedule, and they are usually $$$. We have flown out of Philly to save some $$$, but really dont prefer to . Baltimore is usually where we fly out of, and Southwest has a LOT of flights out of BWI, and they are usually pretty reasonable. Plus, the ride for us to Baltimore, is way better than dealing with the Philly perpetual traffic jam .

Try BWI for flights........may work out.

Syndrome