What to do in Orlando before flight?

[Spork24]

Don’t forget about sea world, it’s still a really fun park for kids and is usually MUCH less crowded. It’s also much cheaper than a day at Disney and you can probably knock out all the stuff your kids would be interested in.

 

[bumbershoot]

our luggage will not be with us - we'll have checked it through (the magic system where you put it outside your door the last night and don't see it again until your home airport)

I was wondering if that was why you were adamant. It’s nice to be able to use that system, but it’s not THAT nice to totally change your plans or backtrack weirdly (going to airport then back to Kennedy)

IMO, make the plans you want to make, then figure out if paying the big bucks so that you can use the baggage system is truly worth it.

And we certainly wont' get back to the airport 2.5 hours early unless we are out of stuff to do.

If you’re renting a car you need to be pulling into that rental car return area 2.5 hours prior.

I have precheck too, and it was my plan if I’d kept my rental car.

Every aspect of that day takes time. Reverse engineer it and really think about how much you want to be rushing when you have kids in tow. I messed up once with an LAX departure when my son was about 4 and I still think he hasn’t quite forgiven me for running through the airport worriedly. And he’s approaching 14.

I’m happy to not rush at the airport. I’m happy to go through security and have a decent dinner and not have to run or be nervous about crowds on the “monorail” there.

I took dme to mco last month. Early morning flight, precheck. And I was perfectly fine getting on dme early. I was early for my bus and got on the earlier one. And we were the last stop and headed straight to the airport. And I was still glad to be there that early.

I thought Airlines are not as helpful if you miss a flight like they were pre 9/11.

They help get you on the next flight available. If you’ve missed the last one out that night you’re on your own with hotel, etc, but they still help with the flight itself.

Doesn’t feel good to miss a flight though.

 

[Snowwhyt]

They help get you on the next flight available. If you’ve missed the last one out that night you’re on your own with hotel, etc, but they still help with the flight itself.

Doesn’t feel good to miss a flight though.

That’s so true. Though I would stress less if I missed a morning flight.
I don’t travel that often but so far I’ve gotten stuck on a flight 1 hour north of my what would have been a 3 hour south destination(overnight too)

Another time after a half hour connecting flight through NJ, my daughter and I ended up there overnight. (Funny story - daughter cried really hard because she didn’t want to sleep in the same city as Snookie)

 

[Chemist]

They help get you on the next flight available. If you’ve missed the last one out that night you’re on your own with hotel, etc, but they still help with the flight itself.

Yeah, but the next flight available might not be for a few days.
You would be flying stand-bye, so if everything is booked your only option is to pay a fortune for a last minute seat.

BTDT, ended up driving from Omaha to Denver (8 hours) instead of our 45 minute flight.
(Airlines were sold out, next available seat was 2 days later.)

 

[hnthomps]

Thanks everyone for all the helpful suggestions! The Crayola Experience was a really good option for us, given the age of our kids and our time and $ budget. Not sure it's somewhere we'd ever go again, but it really did the trick and I never would have found it without this thread.

FWIW, even without rushing, we were at the airport (via DME) by 8:25am, bags (for free) en route without our interference. Not sure why someone thought that was an expensive service? Had our rental car and were out of there by 845.

Anyway, we went to the Crayola Experience and it did the trick! We got to the Florida Mall well before it opened at 10, so the kids played in the play area and looked at photos from the trip and all that. We left Crayola for lunch, wandered around, came back, and successfully killed time until 3pm. Were at the airport by 3:20 and at our gate well before 4 (our flight was actually at 5pm. I know I said 7 originally, that's when we landed. Whoops).

I know people don't like to rush, and neither do we, but I've never missed a flight. We are lucky, and have pre check, and with Hertz Gold (free to join) you just park the car and walk to the terminal. So it really takes no time on either end.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions!!

 

[FigmentSpark]

Sounds like a perfect way to end a vacation.

 

[Catvondita]

We ended up having a few hours to kill before our flight also so we took the shuttle to the airport and took an uber to Universal's City Walk. If we had longer to kill we would have considered the park but it was like 4 hours. We shopped around and got lunch and some drinks. It was only about $25 for the uber and city walk has a place for you to store your bags.

 

[phinz]

I was going to suggest the Crayola Experience as well. It's only 20 minutes away. I'm glad it worked out so well!

 

[Capt_BJ]

Thanks everyone for all the helpful suggestions! The Crayola Experience was a really good option for us, given the age of our kids and our time and $ budget. Not sure it's somewhere we'd ever go again, but it really did the trick and I never would have found it without this thread.

FWIW, even without rushing, we were at the airport (via DME) by 8:25am, bags (for free) en route without our interference. Not sure why someone thought that was an expensive service? Had our rental car and were out of there by 845.

Anyway, we went to the Crayola Experience and it did the trick! We got to the Florida Mall well before it opened at 10, so the kids played in the play area and looked at photos from the trip and all that. We left Crayola for lunch, wandered around, came back, and successfully killed time until 3pm. Were at the airport by 3:20 and at our gate well before 4 (our flight was actually at 5pm. I know I said 7 originally, that's when we landed. Whoops).

I know people don't like to rush, and neither do we, but I've never missed a flight. We are lucky, and have pre check, and with Hertz Gold (free to join) you just park the car and walk to the terminal. So it really takes no time on either end.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions!!

thanks for the follow up

this REALLY helps the next person ......