Holiday to Orlando in 2017 - Universal or Disney

DJT75

Ours are on Delta.

Got a question though. I assume we'll go through Customs & Border Control at New York, but does anyone know if that also means we have to collect luggage & check it back in for the Orlando flight?

nabby

In my experience of doing the same thing at New York (on to Orlando), Miami (on to Orlando) and Atlanta (on to New Orleans), you will almost definitely have to do it if the airline is different. If it's the same airline all the way through from (such as American Airlines or United or Delta) you may be lucky enough to have your luggage checked through. But I wouldn't count on it.

How long do you have to wait at New York for the Orlando flight?

nabby

I wouldn't want to be cooking or planning for 14 people

Do you have a link to the villa you're getting?

DJT75

We've got 1hr 46mins - it was going to be a bit longer but Delta have changed the flight times twice, in fact we were supposed to be going to Boston originally but they changed the route too.
KLM to Amsterdam, but Amsterdam to NY and NY to Orlando are both on Delta.

TheBlueBrazil

You will 100% have to collect your luggage at your point of entry in the USA, then clear customs/immigration and then drop off you luggage and then find your way to the gate.

If there is no queue it is doable - if there is a queue you may be struggling but don't worry about it as there are lots of flights and don't be surprised if the flight times change again as well.

DJT75

Piece of cake. No one's cooking unless it's a day off, and that will just be BBQ stuff. Takeaways or restaurants on the way home from parks on other nights.
We planned our entire itinerary months ago using various sources to pick parks on the less busy days. We've got 21 days Disney passes and 14 day Universal passes. Weeks 1 is mostly Disney, week 2 mostly Universal and nonDisney. And we've booked 4 rounds of golf for the mornings on rest days. Week 3 is completely free at the moment to pick out bits we may have missed out on.
We're currently booking 3 rides per day for fast passes as we're within 30 days of travelling now. Epcot was sorted on Monday, Animal Kingdom we've just done today (the day in between is a golf/rest day). Also staying one night at Universal to get 2 days of express passes for free in week 2.

We're actually staying in 2 villas, 3 people (grandparents) are leaving after 2 weeks, so week 3 was to be in a smaller villa just around the corner (because the 1st villa couldn't do the whole 3 weeks), but after a booking cock up we've got another large villa just across the way instead.

These are the two villas
Formosa Gardens - Luxury 7 Bed 6 Bath Villa with Games Room
7 bedroom, 4.5 bathroom villa in the Emerald Island Resort community. Owned by Caroline Taylor. Ref: 1888.

DJT75

That worries me a tad. There is another flight 2.5 hrs later but really don't want to be hanging around. Bloody stupid having to collect luggage though.
Assume we'll have to pick up luggage after Border/Passport control though? So the long wait bit will be out the way.

nabby

It'll be because you clear customs and immigration in New York.

US Immigration with hand luggage, then collect check-in bags, then go through customs, then go to drop-off point with scanners and hand over check-in bags.

At least at Orlando you'll not have to go through the hassle of the inter-terminal bag drop off farce as you'll be a domestic flight passenger by then.

TheBlueBrazil

Yes, you literally pick up your bag - go through customs with your declaration - hope they dont' want to inspect you bags and then drop it off at a carousel and then you go to your domestic flight gate.

At any of the bigger airports you could wait 2 hours or be through in 5 minutes, it really depends on what flights have landed before you (you don't want 3 x A380).

Try and choose a seat near the door you would disembark from to get close to the front of that queue as well.

DJT75

Yeah I remember that last time at Orlando, it would like they invented it just to get tips for blokes with trolleys. And glad immigration is NY, I think. Orlando was hell 8 years ago to get through.

Thanks. We've got 7 rows of 2 seats book, all in a row, so can't change anything really, but I can leave the wife with kids and leg it .

Quite looking forward to the trip over there despite the multiple changes, it's just the trip home that's going to be horrible. Flying to Amsterdam when I want to be in the UK will be horrible that time in the morning, not to mention arriving in Birmingham and facing a 2 hours drive home.
Still, lunchtime flight from orlando so get on the beers all the way to NY and sleep home