We flew Allegiant Air into Sanford and rented a car. The car rental in on-site and the cars are right across from the terminal. It was cheaper than flying into orlando since we got a great deal on the flight. The airport was nice and small, unlike MCO. MCO is nice, but it is so crowded and security can sometimes take awhile.
If we were flying out of MCO, we would have had to leave earlier for the airport to get through security than we needed to leave to travel to Sanford, return the car and get checked in for our flight.
I think we drove about 40 minutes to get to the hotel. I think it was raining and that took us a little longer, although it was around 8pm, so traffic was not an issue.