TUI Melbourne Transfers

[clyde106]

Hi everyone,

Thinking of booking our 2022 holiday with TUI, as they’re cheaper than VA and we don’t fancy the BA change in LHR (we fly from Manchester).

What’s worrying me is the transfer from Melbourne to Orlando. We’d probably be staying onsite at Universal and the travel time is over an hour. There’s a free coach transfer with TUI but does anyone know how long this might take? Do they drop off at loads of hotels before you or is the route just pot-luck?

If the coach takes a long time then we’d be tempted to pay for private transfers/go with Uber but then it becomes more expensive than VA.

Any advice would be really helpful Thanks!

[muppster]

All an unknown as TUI are not flying to Melbourne yet, its a new route in 2022 replacing the current Sanford route of 2021 so it would be difficult to try and guess what will happen and what arrangements will be made at this stage.

[steviet78]

As muppster said it is an unknown, however it will not put me off but we tend to hire a car. One way to think about it is how you would like to spend you first couple of hours in FL? Potentially in a queue at MCO or sat on a coach?

I'm not sure how TUI allocate coaches but I once saw a vlog from the despicable three who got a coach transfer from Sanford to Endless summer and it was just a mini bus so it might not be as bad as you think but unfortunately you would not know until you arrived.

[Moorlandman]

I would look elsewhere unless the price of flying to Melbourne is significantly cheaper than MCO or TPA.

There are no guarantees that passport control will be any faster than MCO, significantly less facilities plus there will be a 90 minute plus drive to WDW.

TUI must be saving a fortune flying to Melbourne which no other major airline flys to from Europe

[DonnaD]

Tampa is just as far as Melbourne from Orlando. With the traffic on I4 now the transfer certainly wouldn't be quicker. Melbourne has had alot of recent upgrades that should make it quite pleasant.

[duchy]

Originally Posted by Moorlandman

I would look elsewhere unless the price of flying to Melbourne is significantly cheaper than MCO or TPA.

There are no guarantees that passport control will be any faster than MCO, significantly less facilities plus there will be a 90 minute plus drive to WDW.

TUI must be saving a fortune flying to Melbourne which no other major airline flys to from Europe

See more...

I’d fly in a heartbeat from Melbourne , much nicer than aSanford.

[WDocW]

If they make as much effort as they say they're going to it will be a good experience to fly there.

We're seasoned MCO flyers with VS but as we now have 3 small children the practicalities of only having to drive 40min to NCL at the beginning and end of the holiday rather than 2.5hrs to MAN or 5hrs to LHR start to look appealing especially when our holiday with the same accommodation, car and park tickets comes in at over £2000 less than with VS from MAN for the same dates.

We figured it was worth trying. Yes there's a longer drive on arrival in the US but it's mostly on a quiet toll road and although immigration facilities won't be as extensive as MCO there's no risk of arriving behind two full VS flights and 2 or 3 other full international flights and no faffing around with lugging cases up to the terminal shuttle to avoid the second bag drop.

Will be interesting to see what the experience is like but for us the saving definitely tips the balance in favour of flying with TUI.

[Guest]

I'm really looking forward to trying BRS - MLB. We're definitely London airport people usually but I decided to try a TUI hol for June next year. We're anticipating a longer transfer but saving time with the airport side of things. Also considering just hiring a car since we'll be staying on IDrive with a free parking hotel and UOAPs so free parking at the parks. As we usually stay in champions gate the transfer from MCO is normally at least 40 mins with the traffic on I4 so an hour won't be too bad and the flight gets in mid afternoon so i would anticipate being at our hotel by late afternoon ready for dinner time!

[Moorlandman]

81 miles + toll charges to WDW. Currently, google estimating 1hr 30 mins ( 8am US time)

[Guest]

i'm willing to try it, just once you never know what'll happen on the day. It's taken me longer than that to get from tampa to orlando on numerous occasions so for a one off new experience i'll give it a go...especially to only have a 40 minute drive home on return instead of 2 hours!