Tips for Cheap Flights to Disney World
Airfare can be the most expensive part of a Walt Disney World vacation. In this post, we offer money-saving tips for finding cheap flights to Orlando, along with what you need to know about flying to Walt Disney World. We have a lot of experience in this regard, having flown dozens of flights to Florida in the last few years, and spending a lot of effort ‘hacking’ airfare wherever we go in order to save money.
Finding the ‘best’ flights to Walt Disney World has become more and more difficult in the last several years. Not only do you have rising airfare costs, but also airlines engaged in a race to the bottom, trying to find new revenue streams that amount to nickel and dime customers as they charge extra for everything from checked bags to in-flight refreshments. (Coming in 2021: pay-to-use toilets on Frontier! 😉 )
When planning flights for your Walt Disney World vacation, the first thing you need to figure out is which airport to fly into: Orlando International Airport (MCO) or Orlando Sanford International (SFB). One ‘flight hack’ we’ve seen others share is to check Sanford for cheaper flights. To us, this is a complete and utter waste of time…
We’ve researched flights to Orlando hundreds of times and for the first several years we did this, I always searched for SFB in addition to MCO. Quite literally, I never once found a cheaper flight to SFB. Sanford airport is only serviced by a handful of airlines, and I’m pretty sure only one of those is even real. (And that one that is real, Allegiant, I wouldn’t even consider flying, because it’s total garbage.)
If you’re into misery, perhaps a flight on Allegiant will be your thing. If so, keep in mind that Disney’s Magical Express does not service Sanford, so you’re on your own in finding transportation from the airport to Walt Disney World. Additionally, since it’s a smaller airport, you’re more likely to find higher rental car costs at SFB than you would at MCO.
Our advice? Forget Sanford even exists. Instead, looking exclusively at Orlando International Airport (MCO) when doing your planning. For practical purposes, that’s the only airport in Orlando that matters. Located about 20 miles from Walt Disney World, MCO’s design features a central terminal with 4 satellite buildings that are serviced via a tram, which is like a precursor to the Walt Disney World monorail when you arrive.
Relative to other airports of its size and popularity, arrivals at MCO are pretty smooth. It’s easy to get from your gate to baggage claim to the Disney’s Magical Express area, which is located on Side B of the main terminal on the first floor. There are signs all over the place, so you cannot miss it. (If you want to know more, read our Disney’s Magical Express Info & Tips post.)
Alternatively, you might want to rent a car rather than use Disney’s Magical Express. This is especially true if you’re visiting other destinations outside of Walt Disney World. Check out our Tips for Renting a Car at Walt Disney World post for pros & cons, money-saving tips, and more info on rental cars at Orlando International Airport.
When you return to MCO after your Walt Disney World vacation, it’s a totally different story. Of all airports we’ve visited in the world, Orlando International is consistently the worst when it comes to the departing guest experience.
This is a confluence of several factors: TSA at the airport is understaffed, uneven daily flight distribution, airline checked baggage fees, and the fact that this is only the second flight many families have ever flown (the first being the one to Walt Disney World). Consequently, lines for security can be long and move slowly.
For this reason, you want to allow yourself ample time when arriving to MCO for a flight, unless you have TSA Pre-check or Global Entry. We normally get to an airport an hour and a half before our flight. With MCO, ~2 hours (slightly more if you need to check bags) is the safer route to go.
Alright, now that you know a bit about MCO, it’s time to look into the flight-booking process, and how you can save money on airfare. The starting point we always recommend is ITA Software by Google. Basically, this is like a more robust and cleaner version of Kayak and other airfare search engines, run by Google.
For our international trips, we routinely use its more complex features (that’s how we do our 3 Disney Destinations on 1 Airfare “trick”), but for a simple trip to Walt Disney World, all you need is ITA’s basic functionality.
If your dates are flexible, we’d highly recommend using the +/- days feature on ITA, or using the calendar view. When you do that, also enter a range of stay for your trip (e.g., 7-9 days if you’re thinking of a 8-day vacation) as you never know how airfare prices might vary. It could end up being cheaper for you to take an 8-day vacation instead of a 7-day one (even factoring in the hotel and meal cost) if airfare prices fluctuate enough.
Note that you cannot book flights with ITA Software, it’s strictly a research tool. Once you find the best/cheapest flight for your party, you either book directly with the airline–which is what we usually do–or via another third party site. Our favorite for booking is Expedia. Their “Best Price Guarantee” is nice to have, but in practice it almost never ends up saving any money.
Another tip for finding cheaper flights if you’re still in the preliminary stages of planning is to fly on weekdays. Flights Monday through Thursday are almost always cheaper than weekend flights.
As for how far in advance to book a flight, the sweet spot is between three months and six weeks in advance. Beyond this range, there’s no specific date (“exactly 74 days before a flight at 3:47 p.m.”) that is best for booking; we’ve seen the myth perpetuated on Pinterest and other ‘viral’ websites that Tuesday afternoons X weeks in advance are best.
Waiting so long to book flights might seem scary to some hardcore planners who want to book everything the moment booking windows open, but if you book flights too early, you’re likely going to overpay.
Airline seats are perishable inventory (meaning that if a flight departs with empty seats, it’s worthless), and as airlines begin to more actively manage their inventory, they will begin pricing tickets more aggressively to incentivize flight bookings so flights have as few unsold seats as possible.
The flipside to this is that if early bookings are higher than expected, prices will go up. This is the risk you take when it comes to booking flights. With that said, it’s a risk we always take, as experience has demonstrated to us that we are better off risking an increase and waiting, because prices will usually go down–not up. The only time when booking early makes sense is around major travel holidays, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.
If you have some flexibility as to travel dates or your trip is far in the future, you should also use fare alerts on Airfarewatchdog.com. You can set some parameters for the alerts here (although not as many as I’d like) and receive email updates when flight prices drop.
Just a word of warning: this can be dangerous (for your wallet). You’ll find yourself receiving deal alerts for airfare that’s “too good to pass up.” This leads to long weekend trips, which leads to buying an Annual Pass, which leads to starting your own Disney blog because you find yourself visiting the place so often. Not that this is what happened with us or anything. In any case, don’t say you haven’t been warned! 😉
If you want totally free airfare, there are a couple of ways to accomplish that. The easiest, quickest way to free airfare is credit card sign-up bonuses. We cover our favorite options in this regard in our Best Credit Cards for Disney Travel post. Over the last several years, we’ve leveraged sign-up bonuses with Southwest, United, Delta, and Chase credit cards to secure ~20 free flights. In the case of Southwest, we were able to earn a companion pass for over a year thanks to their credit card from Chase!
Along the way, we have not paid a single cent in interest (we always pay the credit cards off in full before the balance is due) and have earned a variety of other perks. Suffice to say, credit cards can be excellent tools you can leverage for free flights (or hotel stays, cashback, etc.) We know many people are credit card averse, so this option isn’t for everyone.
Your other option is to remain loyal to one airline and earn frequent flier miles with them. If you fly infrequently (fewer than 4 times per year), we don’t recommend worrying about this. You should still open frequent flier accounts with each airline you fly (because who knows what the future holds!), but predicating flight decisions on airline loyalty does not make sense unless you fly regularly.
Instead, look for the best flight prices, most favorable flight times, or the airlines you like flying the most. We strongly would recommend favoring direct flights, particularly if you’re traveling in the winter or another time when weather could be an issue. Even if you don’t live in a snowy state does not mean your flights couldn’t be impacted, as outbound flights canceled or delayed at other airports has a ripple effect. The fewer legs of your flight that could be canceled, the better.
As for particular airlines, the one we recommend most often is Southwest. You’ll find a lot of travel blogs that are not nearly as favorable towards Southwest, and this is because the airline has a negative reputation among travel snobs for past practices (like its infamous “cattle call”).
However, with legacy carriers (like Delta, American, and United) engaged in a race to the bottom, Southwest has maintained its edge by offering superior customer service and family-friendly features. Of course, there’s also the “Bags Fly Free” moniker that they use, but this is really just one of many reasons to fly Southwest.
Even though its our favorite domestic carrier, we rarely fly Southwest ourselves these days. (When we lived in Indianapolis, we almost always used them for the IND-MCO route.) We fly often between Florida and California, and there’s a direct Delta route from LAX to MCO that we favor. Another reason we tend to fly Delta now is because they fly international routes to Europe and Asia, meaning we can earn miles on flights to Orlando that can be redeemed for non-US destinations. Your mileage may vary on all of that.
By and large, we’d recommend choosing Southwest if its price is competitive with other airlines (be sure to factor in baggage fees when doing the math!). There are a few airlines we would flat out recommend avoiding at all costs, most notably Spirit and Frontier. It doesn’t matter if the airfare is half the price as the closest competitor: do not fly Spirit or Frontier. (It won’t end up being half the cost in the end, anyway; they aggressively nickel and dime you.)
That about covers it in terms of the basics of choosing the best flights to Walt Disney World, and finding the cheapest prices on those flights. As with all travel hacks, not everything here is a hard-and-fast rule, but if you follow the general advice here, you should be able to save on one of the most expensive aspects of your Walt Disney World vacation!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Do you have any additional tips & tricks for scoring deals on airfare to Walt Disney World? Do you have a favorite airline? Any specific airline you dislike? Thoughts on the different airfare search engines or booking sites? What about sites (like Airfarewatchdog) to follow for hot deals on flights? Any questions about what we covered? Hearing from you is half the fun, so please share in the comments below!
What do you pay on average for round trip LAX to MCO? I am thinking of taking a trip to Disneyland in the near future!
Average we pay is around $200 RT, but we’re flexible with when we can travel, so that helps.
If you’re thinking of heading to Disneyland and don’t plan on renting a car, I’d highly recommend flying into SNA. The flight might be a bit more expensive, but it’s much more convenient.
We’re planning a late August trip to Disneyland. It will be a first trip for our family. Flying into LAX is 6,000 points cheaper per person compared to flying into SNA. We have two 10 year-olds and one 7 year old. Is the big advantage to SNA, a smaller airport, as well as a shorter shuttle to Anaheim. We have two SW companion passes, so we’re just talking 18,000 points, but that’s also two flights on a cheap day to MCO for us.
We fly Spirit a couple of times a year as a family of 4, including to MCO. We usually can fit in 1-2 bags so that reduces our costs. It is true Spirit will nickel and dime you if you don’t know how they work. We bring our own snacks, buy drinks prior to boarding in airport, use backpacks as carry ons (no charge if they are able to fit under seat), and due to having kids under 9 we don’t pay for seat options as they always put us together or at worst no one sits alone. We always are able to put our backpacks in overhead bins of we want once people who paid for carry ons place theirs first. The other knock with Spirit is they seem to cancel flights alot more than others. In the 15+ times we have flown with them this has only happened to us once . They then placed us on a flight with a different airline a couple of hours later for free. With that said we can’t beat the prices. We flew to MCO last Sept for $40 each way. Even after paying for check-in bag like almost every other airline, we still saved a ton in comparison to all other carriers. You just have to know how to play the game ;). Thanks for posting this info Brickers!
I agree with your assessment of Spirit Rob. We are a family of four and flew roundtrip to Disney on spirit for a total of $230.00. Our youngest is only a year and half and thus was able to sit on a lap for free. We signed up for their annual $9 dollar fare deals for $60.00. We checked 1 large bag for $20.00. We loaded up 3 backpacks. Which were free because we stuck them under the seats. They are lenient on how much you can bring in your backpack. The flights were $24.90 each way for the three of us. As I have children a year and a half and five years old, they sat our entire family together at no extra charge. We brought snacks and drinks on to the flight and off we flew. We were able to check our stroller at the gate. You can also check a car seat for free at the ticket counter.
If we’re talking *those* kind of prices, I’d absolutely fly Spirit (or any of the mentioned airlines that I dislike) and just tolerate the nickel and diming, and potentially poor customer service. Most of the flights I see Spirit or Frontier pop up, they are only ~$20-40 cheaper than Delta or United. For me, that’s not worth it (especially since I have free checked bags with both Delta and United).
The last Frontier flight I flew was a direct redeye from LAX to MCO. Perhaps the long, overnight flight on those uncomfortable seats left me a bit jaded about them…
I fly Allegiant almost every year into SFB and have no complaints at all. It’s basically a one hour flight from Asheville, NC and we usually pay a little over $125 per person including baggage. We get a Supershuttle car service for about $200 round trip and all 4 in my group can fly for less than 2 of us could by using any of the airlines close to us that go to MCO. Allegiant is definitely a budget airline, but for as short as the trip is, I don’t mind one single bit.
I fly Allegiant almost every year into SFB and have no complaints at all. It’s basically a one hour flight from Asheville, NC and we usually pay a little over $125 per person including baggage. We get a Supershuttle car service for about $200 round trip and all 4 in my group can fly for less than 2 of us could by using any of the airlines close to us that go to MCO. Allegiant is definitely a budget airline, but for as short as the trip is, I don’t mind one single bit.
We go to Disney 2-3 times a year and I travel for work as well.
My advice, find the best flight via ita or Expedia and then book directly via airline website. It always is the lowest fare (in the past no, but when airlines started fighting Expedia in 2007+, they went to lowest). If you have an issue, need refund, etc, always way easier to get it via the airline then via a third party booking site
Take JetBlue…we got credits directly to our account for flight issues, but they told everyone else through bookers, to call a number and maybe get a credit.
Also, get the airline credit card if you fly it allot, easily pays for bag fees in many case.
Southwest is great for leisure, sux for business, and allegiant is not worth it. You know most airlines may try to book you on another carrier if something happens, but not allegiant as they have no agreements on that
I love your blog! Great stuff! Anyway, I think you should update the best Disney Parks post and maybe an article comparing DAK with Disney Sea. They have or had so much stuff in common.
I’m sorry I saved a ton using Spirit I paid $280 for 6 round trip tickets last year as long as you don’t need 8 bags you will save a ton on your flight for my family of 8 that’s huge for me
I’m with Kevin on “you can’t miss” Magical Express signs. We’d even used it before, but because Terminal A and B are so similar, and one’s natural inclination seems to be to head for A, unless you realize there are two sides, and the potential for confusion, well . . .
Anyway, we love Alaska Airline’s red-eye out of Seattle. It arrives pretty early in the morning, but after taking DME to our hotel (usually Pop Century), stowing our bags in their bell services room (to be magically delivered to our room later), and grabbing breakfast in the hotel food court, we’re ready to catch a bus for whichever park has early morning hours. After a mid-day return to the hotel for a quick nap, we can usually make it until closing at the park with evening magical hours (especially since midnight in Florida is still 9:00 pm on our West Coast body clocks). We’ve saved a night of hotel costs, gotten an early start on our first park day, and begun the adjustment to East Coast hours. Last year, we used Alaska’s annual companion fare from two separate credit cards to take three WDW trips–totally justifying annual passes!
After thinking back on that, I started to wonder whether there actually are signs all over the place, or if we’ve just become so familiar with MCO that we assume there’s more than enough signage. Now you’re making me question which is right…
Totally agree on the red-eye from the West Coast. We do the same thing, arriving in MCO around 6 a.m. The last two times we’ve done this, our hotel room has been ready before 8 a.m. Doesn’t always work out that way, but pretty nice when it does! If you don’t fly a red-eye and you’re coming in from the West Coast, your first whole day is basically lost to transit and the time change.
I agree on the signs, it’s not obvious where DME is. I believe there is a sign on the jetway, and I think the next time I can positively recall DME signs are when you’re there already. Everywhere else you follow signs for ground transportation. But you have to know which side it’s on, and have a little faith that the endless level 1 walkway leads you somewhere.
Excellent info. I love the Google ITA. Small note about “direct” vs. “non-stop.” I thought they were interchangeable until I booked a flight with a TA. I said I wanted a direct flight. I got a flight that stopped, but I didn’t have to get off the plane. I called my TA to complain, and my TA said “direct” means I don’t have to get off the plane. “Non-stop” is the only thing that means that I will take off from one location and land at my destination.
These are excellent tips unless you live in Rapid City, SD. We only have the big 3 terrible airlines, they all require a connecting flight and are never less than $450 person. It takes a day just to get to Orlando. But fortunately we’ve been able to save enough a few times to enjoy Disney World.
I really like Google Flights for booking. It uses ITA behind the scenes (I used to use ITA), so it’s really the same thing, but it has a couple extra features:
1) You can select specific flights and track the prices. I have not found the ‘notify me of a price change on these flights’ feature to be reliable, but it’s nice to be able to just keep an eye on something without having to search it again every time.
2) After you put in your initial dates, you can click on the calendar and the drop-down shows you matrix fares around your preferred dates, or you can see the traditional matrix style by clicking ‘flexible dates’.
3) If you find flights you like, you can click ‘book these’ and you’re bumped out directly to the airline site with your flight details already filled in. You just need to supply names etc.
I have to correct one part of this article that is factually incorrect: “There are signs all over the place, so you cannot miss it.” On our second trip to WDW with our daughter, we found ourselves wandering Side A looking for DME… so you can indeed miss is! Perhaps better phrasing would be: “…so you cannot miss it (unless you are a moron).” 🙂
I’ve never flown Allegiant, but some friends of ours took it to Florida once and had good things to say about it. It’s a direct flight from Columbus, but flies out of Rickenbacker airport, which is tiny and easier to deal with than even CMH.
I wish we could petition Southwest to include their fares in ITA and the other search engines.
I wouldn’t totally rule out Frontier if you don’t have much to carry. I flew on Frontier during this past January with my 2 kids, between the 3 of us we spent 10 bucks (or was it 15) to get seats next to each other and another 30 or so for one carry-on. At the time we booked, the base cost of the 3 flights and the up charges still beat the other carriers by a lot. Our flight was about 2.5 hours long, so we did not have to sit in their uncomfortable seats all that long and I was still able to sleep on the plane. They didn’t offer free beverages which can be looked on as an advantage if you have to get up to use the rest room and the cart won’t let you. Anyway, after we booked on Frontier, Delta came out with a base price that was a little higher but would have cost the same as Frontier because Delta doesn’t charge for a carry-on per person. I didn’t find the treatment of passengers from the Frontier flight crew any worse than on the other carriers but then I haven’t flown on Southwest. All in all, our flights on Frontier went ok and if they worked out to be cheaper, even after the nickle and diming, I would still choose them. I have been able avoid Spirit mostly because I heard their customer service is horrid and Frontier had the same base ticket price. But if they were much cheaper after factoring in extra bag and seat fees, I might consider them.
Some airlines are preferred partners with Disney and you can check your bags at the hotel and get your boarding pass. Getting off of the Magical Express bus and heading straight to TSA is worth a slightly higher ticket price.
Thanks Tom for the tips, I always enjoy reading your blogs!
I totally disagree with your view toward Sanford. We’ve flown in thru Allegiant multiple times and always had a good experience. And the departures are a breeze. Sure, we don’t get DME, but a town car is $100 to WDW. It works well for us.
For UK readers, we also have some good airmile programmes and really good sign up bonuses. One cards’ bonus can get two returns to Orlando from London aside from the taxes…
I appreciate the tip about the security lines being slow at MCO. Interestingly, the TSA pre-check was already closed at 8:30 pm the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year, and all departing passengers were directed to a single security line. I’m not sure if this is a fluke or a common occurrence at MCO at certain times of day, though.
MCO’s security is all over the place to the point that I don’t think anything can be described as “normal.” One recent trip, we waited in line 5 minutes for security. The following visit (less than a month later) we were in line for 45 minutes.
I truly never know what to expect with that airport. I hate flying out of there.
For us it has become Southwest or nothing. Way too many issues with canceled flights and zero-refund flexibility. With SW if you cancel your flight at least 60 seconds (yes one minute) prior to the departure time, you can use the dollar amount spent to buy another seat(s) on any other SW flight as long as you fly within 12 months of the original purchase date.
We had to canceled a flight with United a while back when a member of our party broke their hip and the trip was called off. Their policy allowed us to re-book a flight to the same destination within 3 months with a transfer fee that accounted for about 70% of the original ticket.
Spirit was another “experience”… Not our flight, but my brother and his wife. Got to the airport, through security, to the gate for final check-in; and were told their flight was canceled. “Come back in 48 hours and see if there is stand-by available.” There were no other flights available. At all. They run that flight every-other day at the same time.
Good points about SWA’s cancellation policy; I didn’t think to mention that, but certainly a nice selling point!
Not that you’ll ever encounter another experience like that, but should anyone else reading this have an issue like the one with Spirit canceling, stay at the counter and (politely) make them deal with the issue. If it’s an infrequent flight, request (and escalate that to a demand, if necessary) that they book you on another airline.
I will pass that info on. They still use the cheep seat flights when they fly, just as a budget necessity. Thanks!
You are totally right about how low airfare can be a catalyst to purchase Annual Passes! My father, husband, and I were planning a trip last October, but then I had a few days off of work in early July so I thought I would look up flight prices to see if a quick trip would be possible….and it was! This not only lead us to make that trip, but a total of 5 more before our passes will expire in July…oops!
I do have to disagree with you about Frontier though, as it has become the airline we fly almost exclusively to MCO. I know that we are in the minority on this though since we don’t have children, and are light packers who can share one carry on suitcase for each trip. While the seats do feel as though you are sitting on a very thinly padded cardboard box, and they do not recline, our flight time is under 2 hours so I can handle it. I do not see myself flying long distances on this airline, but for what we use it for we can’t justify spending nearly double on Delta flights.
The one main downside of Frontier for me, is that out of my airport they only have 1 flight per day to MCO, and only one option on the way home. Since we’re flexible travelers this works out most of the time, but if you have to work around multiple school/ work schedules this could easily be an issue (especially since Delta for us has 15-20 flights per day to MCO).
What you have to say about Frontier seems like the opposite of selling points for them…at least to me. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose! 😉
I don’t think Michelle was saying those were selling points, but that they were things that were not a deciding factor. For many, the bottom line (cost) is the deciding factor. For those many that don’t make much money from their poorly paying jobs, the only way to go to Disney is to cut corners where and when they can. Sometimes going with Frontier is the cheapest, and so Frontier has its place.