How long to get to MCO?

[nicnic]

We are staying at the Beach Club and I am trying to work out the best way to get to the airport on our return journey.

We will use DME on arrival, coming from the uk we will have our bags with us.

On the return we will checkin at DTD on the morning of our departure, leaving us with just our hand luggage and our boarding passes.

I have heard that DME will pickups up 4 hours prior to our departure time, 1830.
When we have been to Disney before we have done a package holiday with Virgin and have had our collection pick up a lot later then this as we do not need to check in, just go straight to security/departures.

So, we were wondering, as we will have a car, we could return the car to the airport and leave later in the day. I was thinking of leaving at 4pm, maybe 3:30. is this cutting a bit fine? How long on average does it take to get to the airport? What will the traffic be like? Where is the Alamo drop off point in relation to security/departures?

Thanks for any input.

 

[RonAnnArbor]

It takes about 30 minutes to drive to the airport. Then another 15 minutes to drop your car. Its all convenient. BUT -- at that time of day, you still need to leave plenty of time to get through security. The reason DME leaves 3 hours early for domestic and 4 hours international is that it can often take an hour or more just to go through security. If you have to checkin on the arrival level first add another 30 minutes. The DME bus might be 30 minutes, or up to an hour if it stops at other resorts on the way...
Its not the drivetime that is that long -- its how long it takes to do everything else. Leave by 3:30 for sure.

 

[nicnic]

It takes about 30 minutes to drive to the airport. Then another 15 minutes to drop your car. Its all convenient. BUT -- at that time of day, you still need to leave plenty of time to get through security. The reason DME leaves 3 hours early for domestic and 4 hours international is that it can often take an hour or more just to go through security. If you have to checkin on the arrival level first add another 30 minutes. The DME bus might be 30 minutes, or up to an hour if it stops at other resorts on the way...
Its not the drivetime that is that long -- its how long it takes to do everything else. Leave by 3:30 for sure.

Thanks. I think 3:30 is better. It's only an hour later than DME but its a 'Disney' hour!!!

 

[RonAnnArbor]

Yes indeed it is! Have fun!