Which airport to fly into? August 2020

[Ant family kent]

Hi, seriously looking to go August 2020 for 2wks, flying out around the 14th. Went on a TC package in 2016 but looking at your tips it seems better to book separately. Was wondering if it’s much cheaper to fly into other airports in Florida rather than MCO and how long would the drive times into Orlando be? Any help appreciated...

[beezer]

We’ve done Tampa,Sanford & Miami ,all ok . What you may consider is indirect , it can save you a lot of money and is easy to do if you book it with one airline . You go through immigration at your first airport and then just baggage collect at MCO. If you fly into Miami or even Tampa I would recommend an overnight Hotel , driving up to Orlando fresh the next morning.

[HappyM]

Tampa - about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours
Fort Lauderdale 3 1/2- 4hrs
Miami 4 - 4 1/2 hrs.
The savings can be significant so worth a drive in my opinion.

[Sew109]

We fly to. Miami and drive up same day, don’t want to waste a days holiday in airport hotel but we do stay in airport hotel in uk night before

[dreamcatcher]

This could have been me writing this except we are looking perhaps to stay in Miami for a night or 2 then drive on and want to do Clearwater for a few days also before hitting the Disney/universal areas xx

[Sew109]

Originally Posted by dreamcatcher

This could have been me writing this except we are looking perhaps to stay in Miami for a night or 2 then drive on and want to do Clearwater for a few days also before hitting the Disney/universal areas xx

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We put our beach stay in the end for two reasons
1. We are knackered from the parks
2. We are jet lagged at the start and a 4 am rise is used to our advantage with Walmart and rope drops

[Disney Jo]

We flew into Tampa last year and would 100% do it again, it was quieter and smaller. Also was cheaper then flying into MCO.

[NewtoOrlando]

We have flown into Miami a few times, each time saving us about £1500. The savings are worth the drive. We always book a BA fly drive from Heathrow (our nearest airport 20 mins away) and book a hotel in Miami on arrival night. We could drive up the save day but we always fly out the day before the actual holiday (Disney/Universal) is supposed to start so we don’t waste a days holiday, and if we have a delayed departure we don’t risk arriving really late with a long tired drive up. This year we are flying Gatwick into Tampa as it was actually cheaper than into Miami but flying home from Miami into Heathrow so we don’t have to tackle the M25 coming home. We’ve never flown into Orlando airport so don’t ever have to compare.

[cornishfrogboy]

We have used Tampa, Pensacola, MCO, Sanford and Miami for arriving.

We have used Daytona, Tampa, Sanford, MCO and Miami for departing.

We tend to use Google flights anyway for research and that enables you to easily cover both departure from the UK and arrival in the US (or vice versa) options.

We then, having selected the best priced flights, plan our holiday around the option that we took.

It is always worth considering the indirect (providing the layover going out is 3 hrs or more for immigration at point of arrival) and less than a couple coming home). You can save plenty in this way. What you lose in time by taking two flights, you largely get back having cleared immigration and customs on your layover..

It was awesome arriving on an internal from Cincinatti into MCO a couple of days back. From aircraft door to taxi took 15 minutes! (Hand luggage only).

P.S All of those I listed are within an hour and a bit of Disney, other than 2.
If you go for Miami it is 4 and a bit and when we do this one, we tie it in with a couple of days coming up the Gulf Coast to get our beaches fix.. or KSC on the way in after going up the East Coast.

Pensacola is more ‘specialist’ and you must want to go there (awesome place). Although still in Florida, it is 500 miles plus to Orlando. Probably wouldn’t fit in with your stated plans.

[Hodders]

We flew to Miami and saved loads, the flights were actually £1 plus taxes, in Aug 2017. I am hopeful for similar next year but I doubt it will happen.

I would prefer to fly to Miami than do indirect, but that is just preference.