Is the MCO Security Line Usually That Bad?

DisneyPrincess5

DisneyPrincess5

Well-Known Member
Our experiences with security at MCO have varied, likely due to the fact that we've traveled out on different days of the week at different times of the day at different times of the year.

Generally speaking, we have found that Friday-Sunday has been busiest. Morning or early evening has been busiest.

The longest we waited was on a Friday (not during or leading up to a holiday or otherwise high traffic travel time) at around 4pm and it was about 30 minutes.
The quickest we've gone through security was with no line on a Tuesday a few weeks ago at 11:30am.
 
disney4life2008

disney4life2008

Well-Known Member
The fastest from curb to gate (check in, luggage, security) for me is 15 minutes or less. Of course this is Champaign, IL aiport that only has AA regional :)
 
Jahona

Jahona

Well-Known Member
So I read an article recently that MCO had approved a 1.8 billion expansion and renovation proposal. To be completed by 2025. I wonder how much will go into improved traffic flow.
 
Weather_Lady

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
SyracuseDisneyFan said:
The last few times I've flown back to Syracuse from Orlando, I feel that the lines haven't been too bad.
Click to expand...

We fly to MCO from SYR as well, and we generally haven't had an issue. I think part of the reason might be that the direct return flight is usually fairly late in the day, so we're not trying to get through airport security during "rush hour." Even when the lines were so long that they ran through the entire course of switchbacks, we still got through in 10 minutes.

Of course, after the well-managed and super-efficient security lines we've always experienced in Syracuse, every security line at every airport seems unreasonably long! (My basis for comparison consists mainly of BOS, JFK, ROC, and BWI).
 
YozhikRoth

YozhikRoth

Active Member
Original Poster
I've grown to accept that the LGA, JFK and EWR have 30-45 waits through security, which is why I try to fly as early as possible. Last summer when I went to Salt Lake City, I went from curb to gate in 15 minutes.
 
draybook

draybook

Well-Known Member
I don't care for the attitudes of the TSA agents at MCO. Not to mention what happened with them and my daughter on the last flight.
 
MrDee

MrDee

Active Member
I have flown in and out of MCO too many times to count, and have never had a chaotic TSA experience. In fact, I'm generally surprised how fast I get through, even when I have the whole family in tow. However, I will say that I have never seen more attitude from TSA than I have there. They seem to be a genuinely sad/disgruntled/power-hungry group of cray cray....
 
L

lemon meringue

Well-Known Member
Magical Express gives an airport return time three hours before the flight. We've had two times in the past year where we almost didn't make it to the gate in time. It's a stressful way to end a vacation.
 
Second Star to the Right

Second Star to the Right

Well-Known Member
YozhikRoth said:
Came back from WDW President's week, and really the only negative was the utter disaster at the MCO security line Friday evening. DME dropped me and the kids off at 3:30 for a 6pm flight, luggage already checked and boarding passes in hand. From there it was 30 minutes just to get to the ID check, then utter chaos of an amoeba like line to the TSA scanners. There was no order to the line, plenty of business travelers annoyed that a family may want to stay together on line, no cooperation from the TSA. All in all, we arrived at the gate just as the flight was boarding at 5:30. I usually judge all airports against the sheer torture of Laguardia, but MCO, it took talent to out-crap Laguardia.
Click to expand...

Basically, yes. That was my home airport for 4 years, and I travel to Orlando at least twice a year since then. Whenever I am planning my flight out of Orlando, I give myself at least 2 hours within the airport, that doesn't include parking, walking in to the airport, etc. This also does not include checking luggage as I rarely need to. When you add that in, it can be outrageous. The nice part is, if you get to the airport incredibly early, and you see the security lines are not that long (I've experienced this twice in my life) there are some great shops for you to kill time. Once you get past security, your dining options are not phenomenal, so it's good to keep that in mind.
 
ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
Monty said:
Best investment I ever made was a NEXUS card. Primarily intended to bypass Customs lines traveling between Canada and the US, it also gets me TSA PreCheck and the equivalent at Canadian airports. Security is never a long process any more.
Click to expand...

Same here, Not to mention NEXUS also gets you Global Entry so you can simply stop at one of the Kiosks and clear customs fast

If you fly through MCO a lot I'd also recommend getting CLEAR which collects biometrics and clears you through to either the front of the regular or PreCheck lines which at MCO can also get pretty long.
 
ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
SyracuseDisneyFan said:
I always try and make sure I'm ready. Once in 2012, I was flying back to Syracuse and my watch set off the metal detector. Oops. Now I make sure to take it off before heading into the security lines.
Click to expand...

Even though i'm PreCheck I usually put all my wallet, personal metal stuff and belt into a pouch which is in my carry on and only put it on after I've cleared security just makes the airport experience less stressful
 
rob0519

rob0519

Well-Known Member
YozhikRoth said:
Came back from WDW President's week, and really the only negative was the utter disaster at the MCO security line Friday evening. DME dropped me and the kids off at 3:30 for a 6pm flight, luggage already checked and boarding passes in hand. From there it was 30 minutes just to get to the ID check, then utter chaos of an amoeba like line to the TSA scanners. There was no order to the line, plenty of business travelers annoyed that a family may want to stay together on line, no cooperation from the TSA. All in all, we arrived at the gate just as the flight was boarding at 5:30. I usually judge all airports against the sheer torture of Laguardia, but MCO, it took talent to out-crap Laguardia.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, MCO has been a cluster every time we've used it. However, that is usually on a Saturday evening or Monday evening when most people may be going home from vacation. I can understand crowds, but what I don't understand about MCO is there doesn't seem to be any lines. It just sort of a keep pushing forward and hope you're actually in a line.

We've remedied this by renting a car when we fly into MCO and then drive to Tampa and fly out of TPA. I know the drive is the same amount of time we would spend in the TSA line, but honestly for us, it's just less stressful.
 
YozhikRoth

YozhikRoth

Active Member
Original Poster
As a post-script, I was in Disney for a conference two weeks ago, with a 3:30 Wednesday flight out of MCO. This time, I was from the DME to the gate in about 30 minutes. The TSA lines were still a mess, but there was far less traffic.
 
ninjaprincesst

ninjaprincesst

Well-Known Member
For the past 15 years MCO TSA lines have been horrible, most of the time the lines at DFW are twice as long but yet four to five times faster. MCO has morons, one time there was a couple of drops of water in the bottom of one of our rapid fill mugs where I had rinsed it out this females TSA agent just goes absolutely insane over it while the guy next to her turns it upside down goes there and puts it back in my bag while she is still having meltdown and I swear there was only tiny drops not even enough for anything to come out when he turned it upside down.
 
V

Variable

Well-Known Member
We've never had any unusual delays or problems with TSA at MCO

However we've been captured, more than once, by travelers with 3,4,5+ pieces of carry on? luggage, struggling to drag it all along behind them. Little kids dragging roller bags while mom hollers at them to move. Then there are the people who can't break down their huge strollers. Then there are the people who ignore various rules and play dumb, and argue, and fume and gripe. Then someone beeps who thinks beeping is beneath them, and they usually go through a door on the side and we never see them again.

But, with TSA, no, no issues.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom