Landing late at MCO
 

Hi, looking at booking an indirect flight from London at 13.30 landing at MCO at 23.30 (4.30am UK time)
I don’t tend to feel great when I feel tired.
Has anyone ever landed this late and is it hard or does the excitement make you forget the time?
Does it still take forever to get through immigration at this time of night?

We've never landed anywhere near that late but when your body clock is saying 4.30 am I certainly wouldn't want to face driving anywhere. Why not check in for the night at Hyatt?

Incidentally if you're flying direct via somewhere in the USA you will have already gone through immigration there and arrive at MCO as a domestic passenger.

Mick

If it’s indirect you will have already done immigration (assuming your stop is in the USA).

We arrived very late a few years ago but we had a few days in NYC in between.

The airport was very quiet and we were out in no time but we didn’t have to do customs or immigration.

We got the magic express so No driving issues. We could just get them relax on the bus.

Thank you. Yes are connecting flight is in the USA. I wasn’t sure if we could just walk through MCO or not, so that bit is good news.
I’m just really not sure on the late landing...

We landed at MCO at 11.30pm a few weeks ago and then I had a 45 minute drive to the villa. Unfortunately the Avis Preferred desk wasn’t open so it was nearly 2am before we left the airport, I could have cried!

I was very conscious that I needed to drive on unfamiliar roads, in an unfamiliar car, in the dark on very little sleep. To help this we stayed at an airport hotel the night before so I could get a good nights sleep, I didn’t touch a drop of alcohol on the flights, I stuck to water and tried to get as much sleep as possible. I actually slept the whole flight from Philadelphia to Orlando (approx 3 hours) so I felt fine on landing.

This was a ‘bonus’ week so sticking to budget was important, the late flight was by far the cheapest available. I wouldn’t have an issue doing it again but have emailed BA holidays and Avis about my disappointment with the car hire delay, we should have been able to drive straight out.

ETA - I never think about what time it is at home or count the amount of hours I’ve been awake. I think this helps combat the time difference and avoid jet lag.

Last year, we arrived into Miami at about 9pm. To be honest, I didn’t like it. We were all tired and not in the mood for a long wait at immigration. Tempers were frayed😱. Then when we did get to our hotel (about 11 pm) I found it difficult to get to sleep because I just felt a bit past it if you know what I mean. And then, I awoke at about 5am the next morning because of my body clock!
However, that’s just me. If you are the type that can sleep easily and adjust to time zones easily then you cope much better than me. I am a bit hopeless 😂

Thank you, that’s given me a little confidence in the late flight, the upside of it is that we would be getting the magical express so wouldn’t need to drive.

The bonus is that as it is so late your body clock should adjust quickly. 7 hours from about 1am takes you to 8am the first morning

I'd joke about with the driver letting him/her know you've come from the UK and might need waking up at your hotel... Not asking for a service, but kind of setting him/her up in case they have to do it.

Knowing Disney, they will look out for you !