From Central IL, which airport is best?

sbkline

sbkline

Well-Known Member
Although I do enjoy the roadtrip, on one of our next trips, I wouldn't mind flying down for a change, so as to save time on the trip and have more time at WDW. Now by no means is it certain that we will do this, since my wife is pretty set against getting on a plane. But in the unlikely event that I convince her to do it, I wondered which airport would be best to fly out of, in terms of cost, layovers, etc...St Louis or Indianapolis? And for those of you who have flown out from one of those places, how long did it take to get to Orlando?

And are there any other airports that would be viable? I'm not thinking of any other cities that would have an airport that would be a comparable distance, unless I drive up North, which seems pointless. Why drive a couple hours North just to go back south again? Does Paducah, KY have an airport?
 
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lscott933

lscott933

New Member
well i would have to say indy. there are direct flight. i see that we today prices it is only 190 round trip. that is on northwest. with today gas prices that is cheap still. you get there in about two hours from indy. it is nice to fly. the only down fall now is limited number of bags you can take for free now.
 
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sbkline

sbkline

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
lscott933 said:
well i would have to say indy. there are direct flight. i see that we today prices it is only 190 round trip. that is on northwest. with today gas prices that is cheap still. you get there in about two hours from indy. it is nice to fly. the only down fall now is limited number of bags you can take for free now.
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Is it 190 per person round trip?

It would be my wife and I and our son, who turned two on May 2. But since it's not for any trip we currently have planned, it's hard telling how old he would be when we go.
 
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fizzle75

fizzle75

New Member
sbkline said:
Although I do enjoy the roadtrip, on one of our next trips, I wouldn't mind flying down for a change, so as to save time on the trip and have more time at WDW. Now by no means is it certain that we will do this, since my wife is pretty set against getting on a plane. But in the unlikely event that I convince her to do it, I wondered which airport would be best to fly out of, in terms of cost, layovers, etc...St Louis or Indianapolis? And for those of you who have flown out from one of those places, how long did it take to get to Orlando?

And are there any other airports that would be viable? I'm not thinking of any other cities that would have an airport that would be a comparable distance, unless I drive up North, which seems pointless. Why drive a couple hours North just to go back south again? Does Paducah, KY have an airport?
Click to expand...

I just teared up a lil bit when I read that just now. :D
 
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A

alanindy

New Member
I'm biased, but I would say Indianapolis might have slightly cheaper fares than St. Louis, depending on the airline. When I lived in the Chicago area a few years ago, it was much cheaper to drive down to Indy & park my car with my family than to fly out of Chicago. Plus I've hated the St. Louis airport on the 3 occasions I've been through it.

Indy's new airport is scheduled to open in October also - and is supposed to be extremely easy to get around in. They modeled some of the layout from Orlando and Denver in terms of parking, easy terminal access, baggage claim, etc. Plus the taxi time between the runways and the terminal will be extremely short due to the terminal's location between the main runways. Other than the actual airfare - daily parking fees and your mileage from central Illinois to St. Louis or Indy should factor into your math.
 
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Dwarful

Dwarful

Well-Known Member
You can do pretty cheap weekly parking at St.Louis. If you fly out of Southwest Airlines they have their own terminal so you avoid the entire Main Terminal areas. Also they have many non-stop flights from Lambert Field to Orlando. Usually takes 2 hours, although they will usually say 2 hours and 20 minutes at the most. From St.Louis to Orlando we have never lost any luggage. If you are split between Indy and St.Louis then I would look for the best rates on the airlines.
 
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Z

zimaaaaah

New Member
You might check out Allegiant Airlines site. We live in Springfield, MO and they fly out of here directly to Sanford. I know they fly out of some smaller airports up that way. It is a little bit further to WDW from the airport, but the airport is so much less crowded. You get off the plane and it's a really short walk to get your luggage and rental car. We are usually in the rental car on our way in 20 minutes. Works great for us.
 
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Hrudey3032

Hrudey3032

Well-Known Member
Everytime I fly out of Indy to Orlando it is around a 2 hour to 2:20 flight.I have even had it as short as 1 hour 50 minutes.I think since I started buying my own plane tickets the most I have paid was 180(which I bet will be higher this year but just shop around for a deal)The new airport terminal should be great but at the old terminal I never really had many problems getting around except the parking wasnt that fantastic.We usually get a friend to drop/pick up at the airport so we dont pay alot to leave a car.We generally give our friend 10-15 bucks for gas although we may have to pay 20 next time with $4.00 a gallon gas(we live 20 minutes from airport)
 
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maelstrom

maelstrom

Well-Known Member
Hrudey3032 said:
Why do you recommend flying into Tampa or Sanford??
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Orlando is a terrible airport. After having flown into and out of Tampa and Sanford, I'd only use Orlando as a last resort. Flying home is really when there's the most trouble. "Security" at MCO will make you very cranky, very quickly. The lines are horridly long and the TSOs are *very* big on literally barking orders at people. I'm not a big fan of the TSA (read: I hate it), but it is much easier to deal with at Tampa and Sanford. Sanford is also a *much* smaller airport and you will have little to no wait for everything.
 
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yankspy

yankspy

Well-Known Member
maelstrom said:
Orlando is a terrible airport. After having flown into and out of Tampa and Sanford, I'd only use Orlando as a last resort. Flying home is really when there's the most trouble. "Security" at MCO will make you very cranky, very quickly. The lines are horridly long and the TSOs are *very* big on literally barking orders at people. I'm not a big fan of the TSA (read: I hate it), but it is much easier to deal with at Tampa and Sanford. Sanford is also a *much* smaller airport and you will have little to no wait for everything.
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This is true. The last time I was there I was in line for about twenty minutes and when I got up to the checkpoint I jokingly asked if they had a fastpass for this line. Everyone around me thought it was funny but the TSA person was not amused at all. I quickly shut up and walked through.
 
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M

Mick G.

New Member
A question about Paducah! I can answer that. Paducah has a rather small airport [2 gates, hard to get lost], and you can fly directly to Memphis, or Memphis. Northwest is the only airline, and the planes are rather small.

I would recommend a direct flight. Have you checked flying out of Louisville? Very nice airport.
 
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Dwarful

Dwarful

Well-Known Member
There is also the St. Louis Regional Airport which is in Illinois. (yeah we like to mess with peoples heads). They have direct flights to Orlando, Sanford and Tampa. You might be able to get a cheaper Air Tran flight out of SLRA vs. Lambert Field.
 
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DisKid

DisKid

Active Member
We just got back from Disney World and we used the airport in Bloomington, Il. You might check air fares from there. It is a nice little regional airport and it is FREE:) parking!!! So you might take that into consideration also. We had fares of $214 (per person) round trip with a connecting flight in Atlanta. But I don't think you will be able to find that cheap of an air fare now with the price of fuel!
It is so much easier to get through security at a smaller airport also. I never feel rushed going through security at them.
 
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sbkline

sbkline

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks for all the replies so far. So what about a child under the age of 3? Do they fly for free, or for a discounted rate, or full price?
 
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DisneyFan1003

DisneyFan1003

Active Member
We've had great luck flying AirTran out of Bloomington. The airport is nice, free parking and you can often get direct flights to Orlando. We're flying Allegiant out of Peoria to Sanford for the first time in July...we'll see how that goes!
 
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