ORLANDO, Fla. – Officials predict 2 million passengers will travel through the Orlando International Airport over the 12-day Thanksgiving holiday travel period — are you one of them?
If so, brace yourself. MCO has made lots of improvements to the airport over the last few years, including building a $3 billion Terminal C on the south end of the airport, but bottlenecks are still occurring at the old Terminals A & B.
If you’re heading to Terminals A & B from the north (South Semoran Road and the Beachline), be warned — there are no new roads and no additional lanes leading up to the terminals. Traffic is bunching up throughout the week day and night and may cost you an extra 5 to 20 minutes just to get up to the terminal.
On the airport’s busiest days — that’s this upcoming weekend after Thanksgiving — you may want to try entering the airport from the south. That’s State Road 417 (the Greenway) and Boggy Creek Road.
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As for parking, MCO said it has all lots open, including the economy lots called “Park Place.” There’s a North Park Place, South Park Place, and MCO has temporarily opened West Park Place. The lots are far from the terminals but you don’t pay as much as parking at the terminals, which is why they’re called economy lots!
As of Tuesday afternoon, North Park Place was full and representatives in yellow vests were directing drivers to West Park Place.
Pro tip: since Terminal C is just a year old and most airlines still use Terminals A and B, you might find available parking spots there!
To deal with the traffic, the parking and the unexpected, MCO Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Community Relations Angela Starke recommended arriving at the airport three hours early.
“With record passenger traffic comes increased roadway traffic. This is one of the reasons we are advising passengers to arrive at their ticket counters three hours in advance, and to access the airport from SR 417 if they are going to the Train Station or connecting to Terminal C,” Starke said. “This added time and diverse roadway access allows for parking and roadway navigation efficiencies.”
Starke also said MCO has installed “digital signage at the start of the entrance road to inform drivers of closed parking garages.”
“This is meant to stop traffic from entering a garage or having to merge into traffic, which causes further backups,” Starke said.
MCO also recommends checking the airport’s website to see which parking lots are full and which still have space before you leave the house.
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Starke says there’s one place you don’t want to arrive early — the airport pickup area.
“MCO also has curb enforcement monitors to help keep drop-off traffic moving,” Starke said. “We have also been stressing the importance of using the cell phone lots to pick up passengers when they arrive at MCO. Using the cell phone lots will cut down on the number of cars circling the airport waiting for their friends and family to arrive. Additionally, we have asked the public not to arrive early to pick up a passenger. Have your party call when they are ready for pickup from the curb, if possible.”
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