Sanford Airport Orlando

[LTGRAMPS]

We are heading to VWL in Oct. and the only reasonable airline fares were into Sanford Airport. Anybody have any experience with this airport? Are there any shuttles to Disney or is the only option a rental car? Thanks

 

[StephenKay]

Hi there,

We have used Sanford a few times now and there is a shuttle to Orlando and WDW Area it costs about 22 dollars per adult to Orlando, If you arrive and go to the first floor area of the airport the coach stance is there, The company is Trans America I think.

PS There is also Dollar car rental on site too.

Stevie Kay
Inverness
Scotland

 

[jcodespoti]

where is sanford? How far from Orlando International?

Joe in Ct

 

[Werner Weiss]

Orlando Sanford Airport has its official Web site at http://www.osi-airport.com/

Click on "Check In" to get to the real content.

In addition to scheduled service from a relatively new airline that uses the venerable old name PanAm, there is a bunch of charter airline traffic into Orlando Sanford Airport -- especially from the United Kingdom.

Here's a quotation form and interesting May 1 press release:

As a top ten Florida airport, Orlando Sanford came in ninth with 1,119,632 passengers for 2000. The airport ranks 85th in the nation and is the 320th busiest airport in the world (out of nearly 700 airports) for the same category. Passenger activity for the airport increased more than 19% over the previous year, the highest growth rate for any airport in Florida and the third highest growth rate for the top 106 airports in the United States.

I've looked into PamAm service to Orlando Sanford Airport as an option for our DVC vacations. Although PanAm had decent prices, the inconvenience of the departure city (Gary, Indiana, instead of Chicago Midway or Chicago O'Hare) and the fact that Sanford is twice as far from WDW caused me to rule it out.

 

[Werner Weiss]

There seems to be another official Web site for Orlando Sanford Airport at http://www.orlandosanfordairport.com/

This one has a better map showing the location. (And it really is less convenient to WDW than Orlando International.)

 

[tlcraw4d]

We flew PanAm to Sanford Airport for the first time in May 2001 and stayed at the Wilderness Lodge. Just like you, we looked for info/experience with the shuttle services from Sanford. We weren't able to find good info.

There are two shuttle services that we saw at Sanford. There is GET Transportation and Coach USA. Both have websites accessible from the Sanford Airport info page that were included in previous responses.

I chose to use GET Transportation and were very happy with the service. As it turned out, my wife and I were the only people who reserved the shuttle so we got the equivalent of taxi service at shuttle rates!!!

I decided against using Coach USA because they never returned the two e-mails I sent them. I'm glad I didn't use them because on our drive to the Wilderness Lodge, we saw the Coach USA van and they were packed.

We also had no problem on the return trip to the airport. Again we were the only people in the van and were very comfortable. I will definitely be using them again.

Today is a good day for us. We just called to buy 150 point at WLV and FedEx is now on the way to our house!!! Our first DVC purchase.

Todd

 

[LTGRAMPS]

Thanks for the replies and links to the web sites. We can get the Pan Am flights out of Worcester, MA, which is only about 20 minutes from our house. And to tlcraw4d, WELCOME HOME, you won't regret your decision. We've been members since Feb 1994 and look forward to a "Disney" vacation yearly.

 

[Peter Johnson]

We have used Pan Am from Portsmouth NH to Sanford the last two trips, Dec 2000 and May 2001. We enjoy Pan Am's service and legroom. If you're renting a car, Dollar and Alamo are onsite.

The drive from Sanford to OKW takes about 50 minutes on the GreeneWay, and is very easy. It's a trade-off for us... either drive 1 hour to Manchester and 20 minutes from Orlando, or drive 20 minutes to Portsmouth and 1 hour from Sanford. We prefer the long drive on the Florida end, especially in December! An extra bonus is the free parking in Portsmouth, versus $6/day for the park-n-fly at Manchester.

Both Portsmouth and Sanford are very small and not at all busy, so there's no hassle or stress.

 

[BobH]

Have you had any good luck with Worcester airport? I have a friend who has had nothing but horor stories such as diversions to Albany and then a bus ride back to Worcester to get her car. I live in the area and have avoided Worcest for this reason. I also notice better prices to Florida out of Providence and Boston - although I would avoid Logan if at all possible.

 

[Bildmouse]

DH and I used PanAM last May for our adults only trip and plan to use it again next March for a family trip. We use the Gary airport which is much more convenient for us than Chicago. The drive from Sanford is longer than MCO. We found that Tiffany also services Sanford Airport and used then last trip and plan to use them again next spring. The cost is more than from Orlando but was the most reasonable of the limo services I could find from Sanford.

 

[LTGRAMPS]

To BobH: We used to fly out of Worcester years ago when the original panam flew to Batimore and then Orlando. We never had a problem except once on Usair. They left us out on the runway in Worcester for over an hour waiting for fog to lift in Pittsburg. We started using Providence when the jets left Worcester and all they had were turboprops. We are flying in this time on Columbus Day weekend and everything in Boston and Providence were a lot higher or totally booked. Travel agent reccommended we give Worcester a try and with all the improvements, I don't foresee a problem.

 

[BobH]

Thanks for the info, maybe I'll try Worcester next trip.

Bob