MCO is a mess!

[Peko]

A few weeks ago there were only 2 baggage carousels in operation and it was somewhat chaotic with 4 or 5 flights arriving around the same time.

We were relatively fortunate, being quick off the aircraft meant immigration wasn't too bad, despite giving up my GE privileges to accompany the family through, and our bags were some of the first off our flight (short wait for the TC flight bags to finish coming out). Customs also seems a bit quicker now.

[Greyfriars]

We arrived last Tuesday on VS 75. We were in the car in 45 minutes!
It just goes to show you that it's unpredictable. 😎

[Jan]

Originally Posted by Kraken

The building work / renovations the OP refers to that delayed the immigration & bag-claim process are totally separate to the construction of the new South terminal.

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My apologies!

[wdw1991]

I was hoping all this would be over by now. We went May last year and were held on the plane for an hour because the hall was full! Not looking forward to a long wait in a couple of weeks...I can’t stand for long periods either as I’m pregnant!

[flossycandy]

Thanks for the warning. We fly out on Tuesday so at least I can prepare for the worst.

[ianc]

As Kraken says, the construction of the new completely separate South terminal, which will have 16 gates and due to open in Fall 2020, has got nothing to do with the work at Airside 4 in the current North terminal. The work is described on the MCO web site. The Airside 4 work is to increase the capacity to handle immigration/customs/baggage for international flights by 25%, and also on the baggage handling system, and due for completion in summer 2018. They haven't announced which flights will transfer to the new terminal - but given the work on Airside 4, my guess is that the UK flights might stay there.

I recorded my own experience of arriving on Sunday 15 April on VS15 in another thread about 10 days ago. We were held on the plane, not because the hall was full, but because all the gates were occupied by other aircraft and we had to wait for one to leave. I got off the aircraft at 17.30 and reached the transit at 18.00 - 30 minutes for kiosks/officers/carousel. That is no worse than queues at the theme parks. I am not sure you can really expect anything better at a busy airport.

The kiosk queue still had passengers from the previous flight (about 4 rows of the zigzag), but it moved relatively quickly and there were only 2 people ahead of me for the officers. I think there more people in the X's queue over to the left. The bags were starting to come out when I reached the carousel.

The baggage carousel area is rather chaotic, with people milling around and generally faffing about, as that is where the construction work is currently (last year it was behind the scenes). The two carousels I remember from prev≈ious visits are numbered 3 and 4. Where 2 should be was walled off, and 1 is off to the right, hidden from sight by the walls around 2, so it looked like a separate small room, and has an unfinished floor. It is not helped by the fact there are currently no signs telling you which one to go to (or that 1 even exits!). Our bags came on 1. It is obviously a work in progress, but will change soon when they finish.

As others have said, the serious delays occur when planes arrive bunched together, instead of spread out through the afternoon.

[Dendycat]

Does this affect all flights or some more than others depending on a or b sides of the airport?

[Eggnboby]

Had a nightmare in there August last year. Held on the plane for 1 hour with air con limited. Then 2hrs through immigration, 1hr waiting for cases and someone tool one of our cases by mistake. We worked out that we arrived at Disney an hour earlier flying indirect the previous year! Hope its better by September.

[nquart]

Originally Posted by ianc

The Airside 4 work is to increase the capacity to handle immigration/customs/baggage for international flights by 25%, and also on the baggage handling system, and due for completion in summer 2018.

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Does anyone know if there is a confirmed date for this to be completed, please?

We were lucky last year, we were sat in the bubble so in the first wave off the plane and in the car within an hour of touching down. We couldn't get the bubble this year but we are as close to the front of economy as we could get so hopefully won't be too far behind where we were last year.

It took us about 2 hours to get through immigration at Sanford 2 years ago which put us off so MCO is still our preferred option unfortunately.

[orlandoN21]

Originally Posted by gavvy

I habe global entry so was through immigration in 2 min but waited an hour for my cases.
Half the immigration desks are closed as well.

Expect delays over next few weeks as the rebuild continues.

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How do you get Global entry?