Will this work??

[Letsbgoofy]

A little background:

I have an 8 am flight on Wednesday 12/11. I'm not flying with any checked luggage, and it's just me - an adult very familiar with the Orlando airport. I'm staying at Pop.

I know DME picks you up 3 hours before your flight and I don't want to be at the bus stop at 5 am and then sit killing lots of time at the airport. I think last year I had 2 hours of waiting before my flight even boarded. I considered renting a car for one day so that I could leave Pop closer to 6:15 am. The cheapest I could find was almost $60. I even though about spending the last night at the airport Hyatt, but it's over $100/night more than my room at Pop (I got a 30% discount pin).

Can I give DME flight information for a flight that leaves around 9 am rather than 8 am? Is there another place I can get my boarding pass printed, obviously I won't want to do it at the RAC desk. 6 am at the bus stop is so much more manageable than 5 am and hopefully I will only have an hour or so before my plane boards.

 

[goofy4tink]

Sure you can.....since you won't be printing your boarding pass or checking bags at RAC. You might be able to print your boarding passes at the front counter...maybe even the night before. I've done that with SW in the past when at Pop.
BUT...be careful. If you get on a DME bus at 6am, for an 8am flight??? Best case scenario gets you to MCO at 6:30. But, there can be issues. The bus may make other stops after Pop, there could be traffic issues, security could very well take 20+ mins to get through. It always seems to be that when I have all the time in the world to get to my gate, every single thing works perfectly...bus goes right to MCO, the security line is almost non-existent and takes about 8 mins to get through, the tram is right there as I walk up and my gate is the first one I come to. BUT..let me have less time on my hands??? The bus stops at two other resorts, having us get on 'the road' about 20 mins after I got on the bus. Then, there's an accident on the highway or massive commuter traffic. And of course, that's when every single person in Orlando seems to be heading away..so the security line is 25 mins long..and the people in front of me never seem to understand what can, and what can't, go in a carryon bag. Oh? And take off your shoes??? Yeah, they never heard of that!!! And then, the tram is late arriving back and then my gate is the last one in the row.
Now, obviously that doesn't happen all the time. But, I have usually had some combination of those things on one trip. Up to you....just be careful what time you actually depart from Pop.

Oh...and it looks like we're there at the same time. Have a great trip. Let's hope for warmish weather!!!

 

[Letsbgoofy]

Thanks for the information Goofy4tink. We actually had some issues with DME last year. First the bus was late, then it took the driver forever to load someone in a wheelchair. I don't think he had any idea what he was doing! (and I was a little scared for the poor woman in the wheelchair). I still ended up with 2 hours to blow before boarding my flight. I was actually hoping security would take a while, but even though the line looked long I was through in less than 10 minutes.

On a Wednesday in early/mid December early morning...I think I will probably chance taking a later bus. If I miss my flight I won't have anyone to blame but myself right?

3 years ago the weather was perfect, 2 years ago we froze, and last year was cool mornings and evenings but okay during the day. I'm hoping it will at least be warm enough to do Splash Mountain and not freeze afterwards! Enjoy your trip and thanks again.

 

[goofy4tink]

Thanks for the information Goofy4tink. We actually had some issues with DME last year. First the bus was late, then it took the driver forever to load someone in a wheelchair. I don't think he had any idea what he was doing! (and I was a little scared for the poor woman in the wheelchair). I still ended up with 2 hours to blow before boarding my flight. I was actually hoping security would take a while, but even though the line looked long I was through in less than 10 minutes.

On a Wednesday in early/mid December early morning...I think I will probably chance taking a later bus. If I miss my flight I won't have anyone to blame but myself right?

3 years ago the weather was perfect, 2 years ago we froze, and last year was cool mornings and evenings but okay during the day. I'm hoping it will at least be warm enough to do Splash Mountain and not freeze afterwards! Enjoy your trip and thanks again.

2 years ago was indeed brutal....have never felt that cold in Florida...well, maybe once, back in '99.