Flying from Birmingham

[themeparksandy]

We thinking ahead for our next trip as Birmingham within 5 miles of our house and having 2 children by our next trip.
Do you think it be best to fly direct with Tui to Sanford and get a coach transfer to Disney(only if the free dinning plan is still available) or fly Birmingham to Dublin to Orlando then fly back Sanford to Birmingham?
It’s hard to know which journey would be the quickest and cheapest for the last 2 weeks in August.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by themeparksandy

We thinking ahead for our next trip as Birmingham within 5 miles of our house and having 2 children by our next trip.
Do you think it be best to fly direct with Tui to Sanford and get a coach transfer to Disney(only if the free dinning plan is still available) or fly Birmingham to Dublin to Orlando then fly back Sanford to Birmingham?
It’s hard to know which journey would be the quickest and cheapest for the last 2 weeks in August.

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If you are opting for a long transfer on a bus (why would anyone willingly do that? ) Why not just opt for a similar drive in the UK instead and go from a larger airport like Manchester or Heathrow?

[sparkles18]

If you can get a decent price then I would go indirect via Dublin so you can clear immigration there and have no wait at MCO. I think booking two separate flights may work out quite expensive.
Birmingham is our nearest airport but always end up flying from London or Manchester to get the cheaper prices. We are going indirect to Miami on Monday for £368pp but have to fly from Manchester.

[GezzasGem]

I would also look at East Mids as they tend to be cheaper than BHX - never done the Dublin route but depends on how you think the kids will be with the extra travel time (cheapest fares will also have longest layover)
Birmingham is our nearest airport too but we have only used them once for Orlando - East Mids, Manchester and Gatwick all tried and Gatwick was with a 4 year old, just stayed night before to extend holiday mode!

[nquart]

Personally I'd always prefer to spend longer in our own car than a bus with a load of random and potentially loads of stops particularly when you land & all you want is to be in your hotel.

We live in Nottingham but fly with Virgin from Manchester because that drive is preferable to a longer drive from Sanford.

When we did fly East Mids to Sanford it took nearly 2 hours through immigration so we didn't benefit at all. On the flip side (and maybe we were just lucky) both times into MCO we were in our hire car within an hour of landing.

[Silvercat]

I'm with nquart - we live very close to Birmingham but opt to fly from Manchester when we can, as we can be there in an hour and a half with a prevailing wind and no blooming roadworks!

Having said that, this year we are going from Gatwick as the flight prices were considerably cheaper than going from Manchester - no idea why.

[barbie5]

We also live in Birmingham 20 mins from the airport but the better price are either from London or Manchester and when there is 5 of you its a big saving. We always take the train to the airport as we dont like to drive after a long flight, and always go down the night before (usually get the Premier inn for around £35 per room so our holiday starts a bit earlier.
We don't mind indirect either as it breaks the journey and we can stretch our legs.
If flying from Birmingham i think i would go for which ever was the cheapest either direct or indirect.



Christine

[ElsasGloves]

I’m in the opposite camp to most people who have responded. I would always choose a local airport given the chance. I wouldn’t drive an extra two hours in the car to get to London to then have a slightly shorter journey out of mco, because when I land back in the uk after the trip I would prefer to know I don’t have a two hour car journey home.
If the cost was really prohibitive then I might change my mind, but so far I’ve only ever travelled to Sanford from Birmingham and will probably continue to choose that route given that I prefer the Dreamliner also.

[JanetteP]

I'm with the opposite camp too - we live in Nottingham and I've flown from Birmingham in May, and I'm flying shortly from East Midlands. I cannot abide the drive home from Manchester after a long flight, and would much prefer to drive for an hour maximum when I get to Sanford. We must have been lucky too, because it's never taken more than an hour to get through customs - and it's very relaxed on the journey home - nothing like the madness of MCO. Tui and the Dreamliner are by far superior to TC and Virgin, but I don't rule them out if the price is really good. I also found the car parking at Birmingham with Maple Manor was really fantastic, and a great price. I think if you take into consideration the extra cost of a night in a hotel plus parking, a local airport works out better, even if it is slightly more expensive. I don't think I could cope with indirect flights either, especially with young ones, but that's me.

[simker]

We too live near Birmingham and would fly direct if we could. However, our upcoming trip was cheaper to fly from Manchester and get a taxi there and back with plenty left over rather than going from Birmingham.