We’re staying at the Boardwalk (1/3/20-1/10/20) and I’m signed up for Magical Express - we’re not renting a car. It’ll be fine for MCO to BW. But it sounds like they require you to leave 3 hrs before your flight home. Just 2 of us and we both have TSA Pre-Check clearance. What’s your best tip for airport return other than Magic Express. I know MinnieVans will, but I’ve heard that’s $150! Yikes! TIA!
MCO increased the security alert level at the beginning of December. You might want to check if it is still in place? I too have TSA precheck and that line was about as long as the regular line about 10 days ago when I returned home. JetBlue warned me that TSA was asking for all travelers to plan to be at the airport 2 hours prior to departure.
Oh wow - good to know! I’ll check to see if the level is still raised. Didn’t even think about that. Thanks!
More relevant day of travel but here’s a link to the current TSA wait times…
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I think Uber or Lyft is the simplest option these days if you want the extra hour. It all comes down to how much that extra bit of time is worth to you. Things are a bit simpler if you are on an airline that offers check-in at the resort. Unlike ME from the airport to the hotel, the two services aren’t liked together the same way. So, you can check your luggage with no intent to take the ME back to the airport. For us, that means we’ve checked our luggage and taken our carryon items to Disney Springs for a last nice lunch or dinner before we uber to the airport.
We left yesterday and took a regular Meers taxi to the airport. It was a bit more expensive than the Lyft I used in 2018. Got there right at the two hour mark and needed almost every minute of it to get through to the gate (had just enough spare time for a restroom stop and to grab food for the plane).
Not sure what your plans are for your last day. We were at MK and cut it fine leaving there so I used a Minnie Van from MK back to AoA to collect our carryon bags.
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Wow - thanks! Surprised it took you 2 hrs. Good to know. Do you think it was heavy holiday traffic or just generally like that? And can I ask how much Mears was? Just trying to weigh budget vs time. We have open plans for the day but our flight isn’t until 7:30 at night, so I just want to make the most of our day.
Thanks so much and have a Merry Christmas!
If you need to be there 2 hours early (at the airport) I would not think an extra 30 minutes would justify the cost of not taking DME?
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I think it was $60 + tip (whereas our Lyft from POR to MCO in 2018 was $31.83). But I also had to pay for the Minnie van from MK to AOA too ($58.08 including tip). All in it cost almost the same as if I’d booked a Minnie van directly from the park to the airport. I just didn’t want to deal with storing our carryon bags at MK. We also met my friend and her sons that day so I was happy to pay a premium to get the additional two hours of park time together. It was not something I would have done otherwise. For future trips I’d prefer to do resort and DS that last day.
There was a bit of a jam up going into Terminal A so we got dropped at Term B and then just had to walk back over through the concourse. When we arrived at TSA the posted wait time was 18-22 mins. I didn’t time it but it was way longer. The frustrating part was there were three staffed luggage scanners that weren’t in use. I don’t know why but it got the entire crowd on edge as time ticked on and we were staring at the TSA team simply sitting/standing there. I’m sure there was a reason for this but nothing was communicated so we were just left wondering and slightly annoyed.
My carryon was also flagged for extra screening (thanks to the lollipops my kids bought). The machine thought they were weapons. Ha. No, just weapons of stickiness. I typically don’t allow my kids to have the oversized lollipops due to the mess but the one time I was nice (and using up snack credits).
Super helpful! Thank you SO much for taking the time to answer. Noted about the lollipops. Lol. My daughter is 19 so probably won’t be an issue - but we’re firm believers in the No Snack Credit left behind! 
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You’re totally right! 30 min isn’t worth it - but 2 hrs is. Hard to know what airport waits will be like. Guess I’ll try to figure out a way to check that on our departure day. Thanks!
My boarding time has always been 30 minutes before my flight. With a 30 minute drive I don’t think I could ever pick up an extra 2 hours. I have rented a car in the past and have easily picked up an extra hour but with security (I have pre check) I have never comfortably picked up more than that.
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