Heading to Orlando is two hours enough for a stop over

B

bruce wayne

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Hi,

we're heading to Orlando in October and I'm sourcing flights. One of the best deals I can get will involve a stop over in Newark, for 2 hrs on the way and 2.5 hrs on the way back.

My question is is the 2 hours on the way, enough time to make the transfer ?

thanks
B
 
Should be ok.
You must pick up your bags on arrival in Newark from Ireland and then bring them to a drop-off point.
Make sure you have your customs form filled in properly in advance so no delay.
Its a good walk to get connections so don't be delaying with toilets etc until you get through security and to your gate.
 
Who are you flying with?
Is it the same airline all the way?
If so there will be no problem if you miss connection.
 
Are you travelling with Delta?

We had a similar stopover when we were in Orlando last year and quickly realised that there simply was not enough time to get our bags, make it from one gate to another etc. I know that the last thing you want to do is spend ages hanging around an airport but if your first flight is even 30 mins late then you will be under serious pressure.

In the end we decided to change our flights on the way home and went for a 4 hour stopover instead. Just as well, there were 3 couples on the flight after with the 2 hour stopover, their flight was running 1 hour late due to bad weather. They literally sprinted from one gate to another, made it but they lost their bags as there wasn't enough time to have them transferred.

Have you considered flying directly to Orlando Sanford instead?
 
Or Orlando International with Aer Lingus? Might be worth paying a bit extra to avoid the stress of connections.
 
I am flying to las vegas and have a 1hr 55min stop over in chicago. I rang the airline, American Airlines, because I was worried it wasn't enough, but they told me there would be plenty time and went through all the proceedures and where to go etc. so cutting a long story short ring the airline and they might be able to help.
 
As far as I remember, Chicago with AA involves a terminal change. You should make it in 1h55, but you will have a long walk from the plane through the terminal to immigration (which you can skip since you did it in Ireland first), then you have to wait for your bags - I have waited 15-20 minutes for this before, pass through Customs and the Department of Food or whatever check which *could* take a long time if there are other planes in at the same time. Then you have to drop the bags again (not a long process - you literally drop them) and find and get the train to the other terminal. *Then* you have to queue to get through security again along with 'the public' and as with any airport queue this could also be a significant time. As above you should make it and since you are booked on a through ticket, even if you miss it you should be accommodated on a later flight, but don't under-estimate the time it takes to get through the process.

At least in Newark you don't have to change terminal but you still have all the rest of the delays. I understand that there is a plan to move customs processing to Dublin (or it might have been Shannon) so this would mean you get off the plane in the US, stay airside, and go to your next gate, skipping the customs queue, the baggage pickup and drop off queue and the security screening queue. This will make a major dent in the time taken between planes.

z
 
We did Continental DUB-EWR-MCO on April 26 with the same layover, so I guessing the same flights. Unless you have a delay going out you won't have any problem. It took us about 40 min gate to gate in Newark. Have the exit sussed out before you get your bags (assuming you come in to the same baggage hall as us the exit is over in the far left corner). You get to pass on the bags and don't waste time looking at shops etc on the way to the next gate.

I had the gate numbers printed off from the Newark website so that I had the layout in my head and kinda knew where to go even though I hadn't been there before. The only queue we had was clearing security getting into the gate for the domestic flight. Lots of people had drinks, cosmetics etc which had to be confiscated & delayed things a little, but the staff are very efficient.

I had also been keeping an eye on the landing times on the Continental website over the week or 2 beforehand, and they always seemed to be OK. Consistently landed a few minutes early in Newark if anything.
 
Orlando again

Guys,

thanks for your imput earlier re the stop over times in the US for flights to Orlando. We've decided to go through Gatwick with Virgin in the end.

However we are now thinking about staying in a Disney hotel, has anyone had any experiences with the disney hotels? Also has anyone taken the option of the Disney Dining Plan (basically prepaying vouchers for food and drink in the Disney resorts/Hotels) ?

thanks again
B
 
Re: Orlando again

bruce wayne said:
Guys,

thanks for your imput earlier re the stop over times in the US for flights to Orlando. We've decided to go through Gatwick with Virgin in the end.

However we are now thinking about staying in a Disney hotel, has anyone had any experiences with the disney hotels? Also has anyone taken the option of the Disney Dining Plan (basically prepaying vouchers for food and drink in the Disney resorts/Hotels) ?

thanks again
B
Click to expand...

Hi,
our family were in Disney in Jan, hubby and I stayed in Lake Buena Vista but our son and family stayed in Disney Animal Kingdom. They have children aged 4 years and 16 months so we went over quiet a few times.

I found the hotel very noisy with lots of children running round, the room was much smaller than the Sheraton (where we stayed) this was after them getting upgraded. The main dining room was a large open plan type with self service again very noisy. The hotel is very unusual set in a safari style and it has lots of animals that can be seen walking round. I loved the outside fire with the rocking chairs round it.
My son said they would not pay the extra to stay in a disney hotel again as you will see everything on going to the parks anyway and it is nice to have a quieter place to stay at end of day. They did not get food vouchers.
They travelled from UK with Virgin outward trip ok but home trip delayed by 24 hours and cases were already checked in and not available. Trip was booked through Virgin holidays.

We travelled from Ireland with Delta (1 hour late leaving) missed our connecting flight in JFK as we only had 2 hours. It was not a problem as next flight was also with Delta but not till 6 hours later so not a great start.
Hope some of this is helpful.
 
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