Best airport?

[Doug McCoy]

I would like to know what the best airport is to fly into. when looking at flights I usually see Orlando international airport (mco) and Orlando Sanford (sfo) we also rent a car so driving is not a problem. Anyway I would like to know what airport is cheapest

 

[AmberK24]

That will vary quite a bit on where you are coming from & what airlines are available to you. Sanford is considerably smaller, so there are fewer flights in/out and fewer airlines that are serviced in Sanford. Smaller can also mean a less stressful travel! Look into Allegiant.com as well as Kayak.com to see what options may be available for you.

 

[Ciandella915]

MCO is hyped as the third-cheapest airport in the country to fly into (or so the Orlando Convention Bureau tells event planners to try to get us to use them). Disney's Magical Express also operates from there, so that's a consideration as well as a cost-factor if you want to ditch the rental.

 

[Barbydoll8]

Try Tampa airport too. It's about an hour drive to WDW but I've heard of some people doing better coming into Tampa. Depending on your flight, airline and timing.
Not too hard to navigate but traffic is a bit heavy until you are out of Tampa area. It's pretty much a straight shot on 2 highways from Tampa to WDW. (I live near it so I drive it all the time).

 

[Pooh2]

We typically fly into Orlando for the convenience (our son lives 10 minutes away from the airport) but have flown into Tampa as well. I have to say, TSA at the Tampa airport is a completely different experience than Orlando! Much more pleasant!

 

[Sara_H]

We have flown to both MCO and TPA it all just depends on cost. However if spending your time completely on Disney property and don't want to rent a car, I would go MCO. That is the only airport where the Magical Express operates.

 

[katyjeka]

My parents live in Pinellas County so we have always used Tampa. It's a great airport and an easy drive to Orlando. If using Magical Express go with MCO.

 

[richmo]

It varies, but when I've compared, I've found car rentals to be less expensive at MCO.

Since I also could fly into SFB on Allegiant, overriding factors for me are: much larger choice of flights into and out of MCO and Allegiant could possibly be the worst airline in the country now: ridiculous fees (even $5 to print out a boarding pass at the airport), limited schedule, lousy service and likely the oldest fleet in the US.

I also agree with the post before mine. Check out Tampa. Its not much farther timewise than SFB, usually more flights, car rentals can be less expensive, etc. Also checkout a split...fly into TPA and out of MCO or the reverse. Generally no car drop off charges in Florida.

 

[MrKnight]

Orlando (MCO) is the primary and largest airport in the region, this is the airport serviced by the most airlines (which can sometimes equate to competitive fares) and it is also the only airport serviced by Disney's Magical Express (DME) which provides complimentary transportation and luggage transfer service directly to your WDW resort, this obviously equates to incredible convenience and significant cost savings if you are staying on-site at WDW..

Sanford (SFB) is a secondary airport located in the northern outskirts of the metro area (about an hour drive from WDW) and is a much smaller airport, the amount of airlines that service this airport is very limited and mostly fly to other small cities, as stated by pp, Allegiant Air is the main operator out of this airport which is a lesser known airline and only travels between small cities..

IMHO, Orlando (MCO) is the best choice for most scenarios, the distance and inconvenience of getting from Sanford to WDW outweighs any cost savings of flying into that airport..