What time to leave to make flight

[harrowgirl]

We have a 2pm flight on our final day (which is a Monday). It is a domestic flight. We will have a rental car, so we can get to the airport directly, but will need to stop to return the rental car before boarding.

I plan to obtain boarding passes/check in the night before.

What time do we need to leave in order to make the flight? Just debating whether we stick around the pool, or possibly hit up a park for a couple hours. We will be at Beach Club (so Stormalong Bay might be a fine option )

I'm thinking 11? or do I have more time than that? I know ME usually picks up 3 hours early.

 

[Alesia]

I would leave by 11:00. 11:15 at the very latest.

I should point out that I'm talking about actually driving out of the parking lot, not just heading to the car at that time.

 

[Minnesota!]

1115 at the latest, for sure.

 

[jsebsirois]

Living in Canada, we're used to being at the airport at least 3 hours before our flight, and this was before travelling with kids. All I can say is the earlier you get there, the less stress you have!

 

[jen7233]

3 hours before flight sounds good, 2.5 is not bad either.

 

[harrowgirl]

Living in Canada, we're used to being at the airport at least 3 hours before our flight, and this was before travelling with kids. All I can say is the earlier you get there, the less stress you have!

I'm in canada too . I'd normally agree, but my son has autism, so time trapped at the airport waiting is super stressful.

 

[maciec]

We always give it 2 hours at MCO

 

[crisi]

We've been stuck in a security line for over an hour at MCO. When the big cruise ships start unloading their buses, the security lines can get really long.

 

[Chief Powhatan]

Most years I have hit the parks on departure days. My plan was always to be in my car leaving 3 hrs before my flight.

 

[Accident]

If it would be considered a work commute rush hour, add an hour for traffic. We almost missed a flight one year with heavy traffic but we left for the airport at the end of the work day.

 

[Belle612]

I actually have always left Disney property in the rental car 2 hours prior to my flight, and still ended up with 30 minutes where I am sitting waiting by the gate. However, I always book a late evening flight, around 7 or 8pm, so typically the security lines are not very long at that time. I don't know if they are longer earlier in the day.

 

[scrapquitler]

We would plan to arrive at the airport somewhere between 2- 2 1/2 hours prior to the flight departure. Sometimes it can take a long time to pass the TSA checkpoint, and I'd rather be early than worrying about arriving at the last minute.

It depends on where you have to return the rental car, too. If your rental car return is at the airport terminal it will be a lot faster than if you rent the car from somewhere away from the terminal, because that involves a shuttle ride. Once I made the mistake of renting from an off-terminal car rental place, and on the way back to the airport, we ended up cutting it pretty close because we were stuck waiting for the shuttle to the terminal for like 45 minutes. (and I learned my lesson....off-airport car rental NOT worth the stress).