What would you do?

[luvmylittleboy2003]

Please help us decide. We are going down in Oct. 08, its myself, dh, & ds - who will be 5 by the time of travel and our friends who have a 4 and 3 year old.
We can't decide which would work better and would love some feedback...I am leaning w/SW she is leaning w/Delta.

A) Book Delta for $838.50
leave 7:25am get there 9:35am
coming home 4:00pm to 6:10pm
have all day to do whatever but call it a early night (just a fyi - this is on a Monday, Tues. is a sleep in day, swim, etc...since we will be doing the MNSSHP that night)

B) Book SW $649.50 (they haven't opened their flights yet for Oct. but the pattern seems to run same)
leave 1:05 pm get there 3:10 pm
coming home 2:40pm to 4:50pm
have EMH at MK that night (again we will be sleeping in, swimming, etc...the next day until MNSSHP time).

My point - do we really want to wake up the young children soooo early & rush around plus spend $189 dollars more for a day vs. a night there, esp. since we are having a 'resort/relax' day the next day?
Her point - would love the 'whole day/early to bed' plan, loves the fact of leaving later when coming home (can get up, not feel rushed, enjoy the very last bit of Disney, etc...)

Would love feedback

 

[thegrimdwarf]

In general, I try to book earlier flights because the earlier a flight is, the less chance that it'll be delayed. Plus, if you've woken up the kids early, there's a good chance they'll sleep on the plane for you.

If it were me, I'd go with the earlier flights. Even though I hate Delta, lol.

 

[Bethy Lou]

I agree with the PP saying that you should leave earlier. It is definitely a risk to get delayed and the kids probably would be sleeping too. Plus there is nothing better than getting to WDW earlier in the day and being able to relax the rest of the day.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I don't think you mentioned in your post how long you have at Disney. That would definately affect my vote. However, I have found (thru experience) that you definately want to keep day 1 low key. We no longer do parks our first day (not matter what time we arrive) because the day is "exciting" enough with the flight. We typically spend the day at the hotel and may do a character dinner or something. However, we do this so we can get up bright and early on day 2. Since you are planning to hang out at the hotel on day 2, you could do something on the first day but I wouldn't have too much of an expectation. Traveling wears on EVERYONE. Again, if you only have a few days, I would try to get as much time in as possible. But if you have a week or longer...I would plan may a few hours at the parks and then back to the hotel early...no matter which flight you choose.

Do keep in mind, with the 3pm arrival...you won't actually be at your hotel until about 4:30ish. Then, by the time you get to your room it will be 5pm. Even if it takes a 1/2 hour to get settled, depending on where your hotel is...it could take another hour to get to MK. So you are talking 6pm before you are actually in a park. That might affect your plans too

 

[JaimeinWonderland]

If it were me I'd go for the later flight. How many days will you be at WDW? I also have a 4 year old and he could not handle the parks for more then 5-6 hours a day. Good Luck!!

 

[WDWorBUST]

Something to consider if you are using ME. Delta is a partner airline so you can check your luggage at the hotel and not have to see it again until you're at home. You can use the luggage service for both airlines arriving in Orlando, but if you go with SW you will have to handle your luggage to the ME bus and then at the airport to check it.

I would probably go with the early flight and relax that day and hit the parks the 2nd day......but I really dislike Delta and LOVE Southwest so even with that it would be a hard decision for me to go with convenience and more Disney time over the airline I love to fly - AND spend more money for the privilege.

 

[holly7347]

I see you are from KY are you flying out of NKY/Greater Cincy airport or somewhere else? We are in NKY but flying out of Dayton because it was just so much cheaper. We are flying Air Tran and I picked our flight for 2 reasons - it was the cheapest and it did not have any lay overs. I just did not want to do lay overs with 2 little girls one of which may totally freak on the plane and the thought of her freaking out and then having to drag her kicking and screaming on to another plane an hour or so later did not appeal to me at all. So we totally wanted no lay overs but $$ was a very big factor since DH was pushing driving to save the money and I refused to drive that far with 2 small kids plus so much of our short 6 day trip would be spent in the car if we drove.

But your decision is a hard one. One one hand I want to do as cheap as possible. But on the other hand I like getting there early. Our flight leaves at 8am and it is a good hour drive from our house to Dayton's airport so we will be getting up pretty early. I like that we will have sort of an extra full day but that could easily backfire since we are going to have to get the kids up around 5am to leave for the airport. I'm hoping they at least fall back asleep on the drive to the airport or fall asleep in the plane.

 

[Darcy03231]

My only concern with Delta is right now they're changing all their flights around. DH is flying Delta to Nashville the end of May and so far his flight there has changed twice in the last week and his flight back once. While they ended up better times for us (we didn't book those flight originally due to cost) that's not always the case. With the merger Delta is going through a lot of changes right now.

 

[luvmylittleboy2003]

Thanks everyone....
We will be there 5 days/4 nights (Mon-Fri)
We are flying out of Louisville SDF
I also love SW and can't stand Delta (plus I worry with all the stuff Delta is going through now and to book a flight based on times - when Delta is notorious for changing their times is scary)
True.... Delta participates both ways with DME and SW only participates going down so thats something to think about as well....
I really hate these type of decisions , please keep the feedback coming!!

 

[Sheaboys]

I have been flying to Florida from CT and RI, for the past 10 yrs or so. They have never been delayed, in fact, most times they are early. Delta on the other hand, has changed flights and seating without notification at all.

Take the later flight if that is the only available time.

 

[nifferdo]

I fly SW from Manchester NH to Florida all of the time and there are always several options for direct flights to and from Florida. Are those they only options you have for flights?

If so, I would take the earlier flight. I would hate to waste and entire day sitting around waiting for my flight to Disney. We are way to excited to get there! We are taking an early flight plus live over an hour from the airport...we will be getting up between 4 - 430 am to get to the airport! My kids are 3 and 5. Im assuming they will sleep on the plane ride there and if not, we plan to get to the hotel (check in hopefully by 1100ish if our room is available), hang out and not head to Magic Kingdom until our 5:30 ADR. So if we can get our room early, we will chill out, hopefully the kids will nap a little and feel revived by 4:30! We will then go to dinner, and stay for Spectromagic. We plan to let the kids sleep in the morning and head to the parks whenever they wake up.

 

[PEANUT1]

We always go to disney super early....and take a flight that leaves orlando at like 7pm. We enjoy having all of the extra time. I would do this especially since you are taking a short trip.

 

[luvmylittleboy2003]

I fly SW from Manchester NH to Florida all of the time and there are always several options for direct flights to and from Florida. Are those they only options you have for flights?

If so, I would take the earlier flight. I would hate to waste and entire day sitting around waiting for my flight to Disney. We are way to excited to get there! We are taking an early flight plus live over an hour from the airport...we will be getting up between 4 - 430 am to get to the airport! My kids are 3 and 5. Im assuming they will sleep on the plane ride there and if not, we plan to get to the hotel (check in hopefully by 1100ish if our room is available), hang out and not head to Magic Kingdom until our 5:30 ADR. So if we can get our room early, we will chill out, hopefully the kids will nap a little and feel revived by 4:30! We will then go to dinner, and stay for Spectromagic. We plan to let the kids sleep in the morning and head to the parks whenever they wake up.

Yes...those are the only Non-stop flights. I'm so torn on what to do, the idea of getting there early does sound great after reading your comment, but, I'm soooo afraid of Deltas mess and really afraid they will mess with our flight times before we leave, although, SW (after hearing our Local fox 41 news say SW is cutting flights from SDF to MCO - not sure if all or some) isn't to promising either. Good Grief...can't things just be simple

 

[Darcy03231]

One thing I have done before is to take a mid/late afternoon flight and book a cheap hotel near the airport for one night that has a shuttle service (Hotwire is good for this - last time we stayed at the Hilton for $60/night). We let the kids swim in the pool, have dinner, swim some more and then have an early night. Take the shuttle back to the airport in the morning and pick up ME to WDW so you're there first thing in the morning. I make sure to pack swimsuits, pajamas and our clothes for the next day in our carry-ons so that we don't have to open up and rummage through the bigger suitcases. This has worked well for us in the past.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

I say take the earlier flight - the more time you have the better! The only other thing I have to say is hurry up and make up your mind!!! I booked my flight for December a few days ago, and then went on the website again today, just to see if the flight was still available, and its not!!! I'm SOOO happy I booked when I did, or else we would have a 3.30pm flight down missing the entire day rather than our nice and early 7.30am flight.