Save £££ & Time: Orlando vs Tampa Airport for Disney

✈️ Tampa vs Orlando Airport – which is the best choice for your Disney World holiday?If you’re flying from the UK to Walt Disney World, your choice of airport could save you £££ and valuable time. But should you fly into Orlando International Airport (MCO), or consider Tampa International Airport (TPA) instead?In this live show, we break down: • ✈️ Flight options from the UK to Orlando vs Tampa • 🚗 Transfer times, car hire, and transport options • 💰 Where you can save money on flights and travel • 🏰 Which airport gives you the smoothest start to your Disney holiday • 🇬🇧 Tips specifically for UK Disney travellers booking their next tripWhether you’re planning your first Disney holiday or you’re a seasoned UK Disney guest, this guide will help you make the best decision for your next magical adventure.

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Flying to Disney World from the UK, The airport you choose could
save you hours of travel time and even hundreds of pounds.
But is Orlando really the best choice?
Or should you consider Tampa instead?

(00:42):
Hello, and welcome to this week's Great British Mickey
Waffle. So it's Wednesday night, it's
8:30 here in the UK, and we're so glad you could join us.
I'm Ben with me tonight at John and Claire.
Hi, Ben. Hi, how are you all?
Right, all right, not too bad. I was expecting this week that
everyone's back in the UK off holiday and we'll have like a
full team but it clearly, I think with everything else going

(01:05):
on, clearly it's 3 Musketeers. It's just it.
Yeah. I actually, I show something I
think I said this last week and I think it's, it's one of those
things it's really difficult when you come back from a whole
day that you've enjoyed so much and you really do sort of you
get back into that that routine of home and it's just it's

(01:27):
horrible. It's just not pleasant
whatsoever. So.
We were having discussion earlier when it's been eating on
or not and it's like no. Not yet, we used to come to, I
must admit. Put a jumper on, put a jumper
on. That's what happens when you
down South, John. Exactly.
Exactly. Northern weather.
It's grim up north. How are you, Claire?

(01:52):
I am OK. I've had a busy day.
I've had a busy week and I wasn't here last week because I
had a busy week last week as well, so I apologise for being
here last week. You missed You missed a great
show. I.
Know I. Listened.
You missed John ranting for an hour and a half.
She is. So I did I.
Behaved myself last week. I listened back on Friday when

(02:13):
it dropped as a podcast, so I did manage to listen to it.
But I was, yeah, I was a thing. So I couldn't be here.
Yeah, I'm all good. I'm glad to be here and talking
about something that, as you said, Ben at the beginning, can
save you a load of money or improve your experience,
depending on where you're flyinginto.
So yeah, I. Think it's great, Can I also add

(02:38):
into it as well because actuallywe do know that there are other
airports within Florida that areequally.
We made such on them. Yeah.
And I think that's that's the other one as well.
So yeah, just sort of put it outthere.
It doesn't have, it's not a direct sort of Orlando versus
Tampa debate because actually, yeah, sometimes, sometimes it

(02:59):
could also mean a trip to Miami.Yeah.
Or Melbourne. Or Melbourne.
Right. Melbourne if you.
Booking with Timmy, but I I won't book with Timmy.
So yeah, I'm not going that way.But I think it's one one of
those things that it's and the reason why we chose this topic
was because this year we went for Tampa for the very first

(03:20):
time and it has become Becker and I's favorite airport that
we've ever been into. I'll see 20 years of me telling
you it's the best airport and you go yeah, yeah, yeah, we're
going to we're going to international because it's
closer and then. Yeah, no, I I agree and I have

(03:41):
to admit we should have done it earlier, but I hate to say also
next year the two trip we've gotat least one of the trip we've
got booked for next year is all the MCO.
So it's all do Orlando. So it's it's one of those you
just kind of my surprise and yeah, I'm looking forward to
diving, diving into this. But yeah, it's also welcomes

(04:03):
everyone joining us live on YouTube.
It's great to see you joining the chat.
And so if we've got with us tonight.
So I think first in maybe beforeall of us was Heather.
Yeah, Heather. Thank you for joining us.
Closely followed up by Wendy. Hi, Wendy.
And we've got John from a remoteoffice just outside of Tampa.
Hey. There you go.
That's yeah. He's been to Tampa four times

(04:25):
this week. Hey, there you go.
You see. Also worth also worth mentioning
as well. I messaged John before we went
out in the summer and just the way things actually panned out
while we're out there, we never got a chance to meet up.
So I do apologise to to you, John.
I think you were you were doing one thing.
We were doing all that and the paths never cross.

(04:47):
So definitely do it next time. And also we have Simon chat for
a little while. Here's Neil.
Hi, Neil, hope you're well. Is there no football on tonight?
There is loads of football on, but Man United not playing
because it's a European. It's a European night and Man
United don't. Man United don't do Europe
anymore. It's.
Also Ryder also Ryder Cup Eve just.

(05:08):
Yes, yes, yeah, that's. Right when we talk about Tampa.
I will break it. OK, OK.
I also, yeah, I also think that the Gulf might dominate next
week's show as well. So yeah, be warned.
Yeah. OK, so tonight we're going to

(05:29):
tackle a really useful question for anyone in the UK planning a
Disney World holiday. Should you fly into tried and
tested Orlando International Airport?
Or is Amber actually a smarter choice?
So it's something that could save you both time and money
around because it's breaking down the pros and cons of both
airports. What they talk of of a Flamingo
at some point. Well, oh we dive in.

(05:51):
Let's take a quick look at some of the latest news I'm Disney
this week and news item we have is Nikki is not some scary
Halloween party at least 25 and all sold out.

(06:12):
You can't get tickets. I'm quite.
Impressive about it. But was it 6 weeks to go to
Halloween? Yeah, I think part of that
problem. But this, this might sound a
little flippant. The amount of parties that have
been spoiled by rain has probably meant, it's probably
meant that anyone local has beenbasically been rebooked into a
future date. So that might be another little

(06:33):
bit underneath it. And I've noticed that Disney
have been even not refunding tickets, but I think for the
last night's party that got washed out and they've been like
automatic tickets. So for to be used within 12
months. But Claire, as we spoke before
the show, that's. Great, unless you're an annual
pass holder. Yeah, you're not going to be
able to make use of it. But I, I, I can see it's a good

(06:54):
thing from, I think from Disney's perspective to be able
to do that without having huge queues of people going like I
want my money back for. I've seen that in.
Yeah, if the other parties are sold out, then that's all they
can do really, other than, you know, starting refunding
everyone. So I can see why you would give
a day in any theme park, but as you know, there are a lot of

(07:14):
people who that won't work for who can't come.
Back who've you've missed? Out the time that they're there
and. She wants to is your lifetime?
Well, you're only going this year and you're not going for
another 12. Years, right, This is it.
So I think, you know, as a gesture, it's a sensible one,
but it isn't going to hit the mark, sort of.
It'd be interesting to. See.
Yeah. Yeah.
But interesting that they've allsold out.
I mean, I guess it's it's hit and miss with the the weather

(07:37):
and it seems to be really wet again at the moment.
But you just don't know, do you?And yesterday, I think this
happened during during the partyas well.
At 7:20 there was reports of power grid issues in Walt Disney
World again. Yeah.
So that happened to us while we were there.
I was we were going. To get we were we were leaving

(07:58):
and I remember just driving through that storm and it was
just like we left at the right time but not storm, but it was
like our shoes across the resort.
Yeah, we had been. I can't remember where we'd
been, but then we were going into Epcot in the evening.
We were at Chewy's having dinner, and then we were going
in to watch Luminous. And when we arrived in the park,
everything was still down. There was just nothing working.

(08:21):
There was no background music because we actually parked in we
we parked at Universal. It felt like because the the
park was absolutely rammed. We were in the cast parking lot
right across at the very far corner of I've never parked so
far away for Epcot. And we arrived at about 7:00 and

(08:43):
and the the park was heaving of very unhappy people because
nothing was working. There was as we walked in, I, I
deliberately parked there thinking rather than go to a
resort or something, because I wanted to walk in and watch the
beacons of magic on the on the on spaceship earth and you know,
the music and the lights by the fountain and we walked in.

(09:06):
There's no background music. We stood in the middle of well,
celebration and there was silence.
It was one really weird and eerie and a number of things
were not working as well as the music, so it was a very, very,
very strange. What, what?
What's interesting is it doesn'tseem to be just stuck on a

(09:26):
particular part, so it's not like there's one it's.
Like the entire power grid for that whole body pre carrier.
Yesterday include it started in Hollywood studios so had things
that rise for resistance Tower of terror smugglers run down and
Magic Kingdom. You had space and Tron that were
down at court sees me, my boyfriend.
So it's so it's I don't know. It's logical.

(09:46):
It doesn't make any sense. I guess you know somewhere
someone needs to put $0.50 in the meter.
Yes, it's fallen off the wheel. It's one of one of those things
that when you think that we've we've joked quite a lot this
year, John, that and a lot of things that Disney have done, we

(10:07):
can laugh at in like Universal. But actually it's one of those
things you, you, this is your one day, you're in a park and
unfortunately there's a storm that comes in you, you don't
know, you're not sure what to doand.
It's weird because the resilience for storms is good,
you know, we've. Seen this happening just like
twice in a month. This is, I have never known this

(10:27):
before, where there's been a complete power outage that
everything stops working. Yeah.
Same here, Claire. And I think, I think this is
this is this is very possibly a sign of of infrastructure that
isn't actually. Yeah.
Working properly because actually I remember the.
Other time maintenance hasn't happened over the past few.
Years. Yeah, there must be a, there

(10:48):
must be a core reason behind this because actually I think
the day you were talking of Claire, I think we were in the,
we're in the studios and that basically the whole park just
was, was nothing was was open. And you just like, OK, we want
to stay inside, but we've got nothing.

(11:08):
Yeah, basically we just you basically broke up.
Do you know what it, it reminds me of when I first learned to
drive, which was a very long time ago.
And I had an original mini. And anyone who's ever owned a
mini, the, the, the spark plugs and the alternator are right at
the front of the engine behind the grill.

(11:30):
And if I went through a deep puddle, the engine used to cut
out until I worked out that if Ibought a, bought a rubber glove,
cut the tips off the fingers andput the spark plugs through the
rubber glove and then it, the water couldn't penetrate.
So maybe someone needs to find arubber glove and find what it is
that's getting wet and then cover it over because it's
brilliant, bizarre experience. Wendy said she can't imagine

(11:53):
being in it caught without the music playing in the background.
Wendy, it was the weirdest thingbecause like the world
celebration do is my go to if I'm working and I need to
concentrate. And for me and and Morgan
actually too, because that's like his ear worm from last
summer, I will put on world celebration loop and that will
help me to work and to be stood in the middle and like in the

(12:14):
where they're nice seating ears and like the charges and all of
that central area near walls andthey're just to be nothing.
It was so strange, cool, but, you know, not in a good way.
No, it's, it is quite real, isn't it?
It's one of those. Experiences she wants to have
one day. It's like you think of it in
your mind, but then actually not, no.
I know, yeah, in, in our, in ourplanning for future shows that,

(12:36):
you know, we've, we've talked about soundtracks and background
loops and various things. So, you know, I can say that
they're needed. It's weird without them.
I can't imagine walking from country to country in echo and
not getting the different sounds.
Yeah, it's so. Strange.
I talk about Epcot and they've announced the dates and
narrators for The Candlelight Professional.

(12:58):
They have. So.
Bring on the funds. Yeah, I'm missing it by two
days. I'm honestly, I saw the days and
I was like, I think I'm going togo on the 3rd of December.
So I'll get Jennifer Garner, which is OK, you know, but I was
like the funds. I want to see the fox doing the

(13:18):
candlelight. I'm so gutted.
I come home on the 6th, but he'sI think he's on the 7th and the
8th. But I'm just like, oh, I'm going
to try and get a friend to go and film some of it for me.
Yes, it's a good idea. Yeah.
That's it. I think the last bit of news
that I've seen was there has nowbeen a tower crane.
It's around Animal Kingdom for the new Ink Cancer attraction,

(13:39):
which is due to opening 2027. I hope they've made it leopard
print. I think you missed that last
week when we're talking about like all the construction at
Magic Kingdom and like they've seemed to have got rid of go
away green. So I think they're just.
Like run out of paint, to be honest with you.
There's so much of it, these things.

(14:01):
I think as well, Ben, just pick up on that from last week.
I followed someone on Twitter. Is it bio reconstruct or
something? Who who has like drone
photographs? The actual amount of background
work that's now visible within Magic Kingdom has shifted
considerably in the last week. So just turn on them to correct

(14:23):
the record and to just to relay the fact that I did have a rant
about it last week also in the chat.
Thank you, John Self. And he's also made a point about
what we're talking about with Disney and the infrastructure
and the electricity. He actually says it's not, it's
not just a Disney wide problem. It's also.
We we've had at Universal. More often at Universal.

(14:45):
Maybe we need to build a new substation or something?
2016, the first time we went to Universal Studios with the
family, it was like we've got tickets as soon as we got
tickets and walked through the gate, everything's switched off
and with no rides operating and so.
I've genuinely never experiencedit in any trip to.
Not as often I don't. I've not known until this year.

(15:09):
And just Ben can also pick up onone of the better news.
I know it's on your list as well, but the Walt Disney World
Ambassadors were announced. Oh.
Yay now. It was such a lovely thing.
But after the show last week, Mark Sheffield was in the chat
quite considerably last week. But he sent me a document

(15:32):
talking about the the changes that are going to happen at Walt
Disney World over the next 10 years, right.
Superb document. But again, carried the chat on
and he was involved in that ceremony with the ambassadors as
well anyway, and the sense of pride that he had in actually
being part of it and, and actually looking on the social,
some of the the photos as well. And I just thought, do you know,

(15:55):
I've written everything as I waslast week about Disney.
You actually see some of these core things, you know, when we
talked about Grayson and Katie being even their legacy award,
you look at these Walt Disney World ambassadors and how that
brings a little bit more magic within the within the within

(16:16):
that sort of family of people who are looking for a good
story. I just thought it was, it was a
lovely moment. And I just thought I replied to
Mark. I think I could back until
Saturday, which we should, you know, some of my ability to get
on there social media very quickly and up to a tee.
But it was it was it was lovely.And I do appreciate Mark for

(16:39):
doing that. And we're, we are definitely
meeting up the next time I'm outout there because I think we.
Have a Really. Yeah, very much so.
But he also wants to pick mine as well.
And I think that's the other side to it.
I think he quite, he sees where I'm coming from on this sort of
the retaining some of the old magic, but recognizing that

(17:01):
things have to change. And I think that's yeah, that
was that was a conversation we were sharing was the fact that
you have to be aware that changehas to happen.
Because actually, if it doesn't,then you end up you end up just
being like Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
It's. Not a museum.
No, no, exactly. So yeah, but yeah.
I think we could cover that in afuture show and I think that

(17:21):
could go with wider interval Disney World, not just Magic
Kingdom. I think there's quite a few
things there that we that we've spoken past few shows that I
think are going to lead in the next few weeks.
But if you are enjoying the showtoday, don't forget to give us a
thumbs up as it does help YouTube and the algorithm find
more people that are interested in Disney content.
So here's a question for tonight.
And up until our most recent trip when we go to Walt Disney

(17:44):
World, we would always book a flight to MCO.
And I think a lot of that has todo with before we were when we
were staying on site, we had theMagical Express, which were then
you'd arrive at Orlando airport,get on the bus and they will
take you to your resort. But obviously that's now gone.
Yes, it's been replaced by sort of News Connect, but it didn't

(18:06):
have to say magical feeling. So maybe it's something in 2025
is Orlando is still the best choice when you're choosing the
trip to Disney World with Tampa apparently 90 minutes away.
Depends on what route you take and in my experience.
It sometimes depends on which route you take coming out of

(18:28):
Orlando as to how. Quick you can get.
But which one gives you the better starting holiday from
experience and and actually getsyou ready for for that time.
So we want to hear from you in the chat today.
Would you choose Orlando or Tampa and let us know why?
So Claire, as as you mentioned earlier, you've been bugging me
for years saying we should go toTampa.

(18:51):
So and and we finally did it. So it's interesting because we
ended up going into Tampa probably I think the first time
we did that was like 20/16/2017.And it just so happened that
there was a massive saving on that route.
And I think, you know, there areglitches and there are
opportunities to find savings onall flight, you know, routes.

(19:13):
And we found one to Tampa. And I really remember the first
time we arrived at Tampa airportbecause obviously having been
into Orlando international a fewtimes, there's the carpet and
then there's high it's buddy dire on the monorail and all of
that stuff. And it it it really feel and the
smell of Orlando international. I think anyone who's flown into

(19:36):
it and knows, you know, that atmosphere that you get.
And I really remember going intoTampa and feeling it was
different. But if for me at that point it
was a really good different, thenew.
So they haven't refurbished the whole of the main terminal
building at that point to how itlooks now.

(19:57):
But we, I remember getting off aplane and we disembarked and we,
we walked through the exit guidethat we got off that and we
walked through and there was a woman there saying hello to
everyone and giving out to the kids.
And I've still got it somewhere.Pencil with a little rubber,

(20:17):
which was an aeroplane shape on the top that said welcome to
Tampa. And she gave 1 to Millie.
And Millie was over the moon with this pencil and aeroplane
rubber. And actually I was saying my
immediate reaction was, well, you wouldn't get that in
Orlando. I think I said that at the time.
And everyone was smiley and welcome.

(20:37):
And we, we got to immigration and it was a time where there
was the booths and you had to dothe thing and the fingers.
And then you went to, you know, someone got the X on the bit of
paper and you had to go and queue up and, and so we got to
the immigration person and they were nice.
They chatted to us, they smiled,they were pleasant.

(21:00):
There was a really different atmosphere in the immigration
hall where I think my experienceuntil then in in Orlando and
also JK had been really quite apart.
I don't know, I've dropped this,but I think just really busy,

(21:21):
efficient, professional. And let's not say that they
weren't busy, efficient and professional, just they did it
with a smile and that made such a difference when you've been on
a nine hour flight. And then we got through and our
bags were waiting for us. And yes, they have the snicker
dogs that are cute, you know, all lots of stuff that happens.
And there was just something different at Tampa.

(21:41):
And then we got the little monorail to the main terminal
building, and it was bright, it was sunny, it was airy and it
was clean and it didn't feel like you were being funnelled in
with a million other people. So yeah, there was something
about that experience. And then on the return journey
home, we had a really positive experience where we checked in,

(22:05):
got bags. And then I said, oh, knowing
what it's like and all that, I said, how long will security
take us? Thinking this is going to be
like 45 minutes security. And she went two or three
minutes. I was like, what?
And it literally. Was.
However long it took us to walk through a few switchbacks and
then straight through and it wasjust, it was such a lovely

(22:26):
friendly airport that it has since then remained.
And I, you know, I've flown intolots of airports in the US, It
has remained my favorite airportin all of, of mainland America,
definitely. So just to be to be honest.
With you, Claire, I'm actually, I'm going to put this out there
because actually I think it's worth talking about.

(22:47):
But the actual the atmosphere inmost places on that West Coast
or Florida, I don't know, everyone is just chilled
friendly. And if if you were ever thinking
of going to explore him. Yeah.
And, and heading out to that West Coast is the most amazing

(23:08):
place. There's some amazing beaches,
some amazing islands, and you get an absolute welcome no
matter where you go. And I think that really needs to
be made apparent to a lot of people who you kind of get
shrunk into that. I'm going to Orlando.
I stay there and I don't move onanywhere else.
Can you say a quick hello? I know Simon, Simon and Simon

(23:32):
and. Kelly is here as well.
There you go. Kelly's been texting me after
after night, so I had to stop. He's probably he's probably
remembered it's it's Wednesday. It's half eight and he's
probably that's why he hasn't replied.
But Simon has been out in Orlando the past couple of weeks
and actually was very much universal based and I've not

(23:53):
seen him or his daughter to discuss how they got on Epic.
However, they had the nightmare flight home.
Oh. Somebody was poorly on their.
And. They got diverted to Iceland.
Thankfully, the staff, the Virgin, the Virgin staff were

(24:13):
absolutely incredible. And I think the amount of
messages that were actually on Facebook about people
complaining from Manchester Airport that the afternoon
flight was going to be late. And then people are saying,
well, actually somebody, somebody needed, somebody needed
CPR on the flight and they actually landed, emergency
landed. And actually the cabin crew were

(24:35):
very, very close to run out of hours.
And it was, it was touch and go,but they'd managed to get back
to Manchester in time and, and just again, just one of those
persons. OK, don't mean.
But yeah, and, and they were andthey were.
It's also something you don't. Think about happening on a plane
and you're not sure how deal with it until you're in a
situation. I can imagine from a cabin crew

(24:55):
they might prepare for all thesethings to happen, but until
something like that happened. It's I think it's a really
interesting conversation for a future show because we've been
on the plane. We're on our way to New York
actually. And the the infamous is there a
medicine doctor? Dan is a doctor and I, we were
and I looked at him and he went shut up and I was like, and

(25:17):
nothing happened. So he starts like when they
asked again, I said Dan. Yeah, you've got to.
Do that and actually the, the infrastructure that surrounds
medical emergencies in the planeare really fascinating.
So we can talk about that in thefuture.
The patient, the person who wasn't very well on our flight
was actually OK Dan did give some advice.
They, they have connection to a grand crew and a grand doctor

(25:38):
and everything was fine. They, yeah, he had some aspirin
and, you know, things were good.But the crew was so grateful for
our help and actually gave us a couple of boxes of champagne to
take off with us at the end. And yeah, cool.
So it does happen and but hopefully not to the not to the
the extreme of needing CPR that that's really sorry, but whoever
that is in their family. So I'm glad that.

(25:59):
Person I would also say the way that it was dealt with was
absolutely exemplary, not just for the the patient who was.
Everybody else on board as well.Yeah, Worcester Weight Hospital
for everyone on board was kept up to date with exactly what was
happening. And I thought about that is that
is one thing that you'd really do know that some certain

(26:23):
airlines don't when they don't get it right and they just dump
you in the middle of nowhere as has happened with a certain
airline that I've mentioned earlier.
So you won't book with? Yes, I won't book.
With that I won't book with in one flight to Melbourne with
they've had a different example where they'll dump people and
actually the the the treatment of of people is and.

(26:46):
Just leave them for themselves. Yeah, yeah.
It's wrong. So.
Anyway, I never, I never digress, but I actually felt it
was, it's worth talking about because it goes alongside one of
the key things that you're looking for and it's like which
airlines actually fly. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. And when you fly into Tampa and
one thing that we've also flown like you said, Claire, around

(27:08):
the US quite a bit over the pastfew years, we've been to Los
Angeles and York. There's a few places where we've
gone through to get to Orlando, get to the States, but it's only
45 minutes longer in the flight time.
Actually, we found that that almost sometimes we care to go
to Tampa than it is to go into Orlando because you're not

(27:28):
circling and waiting so that you've.
Noticed most of most of the times that they will, but listed
we landed just about an hour anda quarter earlier than the
scheduled. Time, that's exactly what I
found with Tampa because it's not you know there aren't tons
of international flights. There's certainly not loads of
flights coming from Europe. Actually, the, the landing

(27:48):
process is much more efficient because they aren't trying to
juggle thousands of flights every hour.
So I've, I've certainly experienced that there It's
actually been quicker to fly to Tampa.
And also the fact that where it is in all in, in Florida, they
are less likely to be affected by the late afternoon storms

(28:08):
because they're on the coast. So actually you, you fly past
that and then you land rather than trying to find a window
where you can get through the storm to land in Orlando.
So, but there are, you know, benefits to flying into Tampa.
And I think, you know, apart from the, the human element of
finding a really friendly airport, which is nice to
experience, I think sometimes the because people don't think

(28:31):
about it, there is often a cost saving.
And we've apart from next summerwhere I've been looking at it
and it I think people are because we people are US like us
are talking about it. The prices aren't that
different. And I found this when we booked
last year and because we booked using miles, so there was a bit
of an availability issue we had last year and then Virgin were

(28:54):
changing how I mean miles you need it to get.
But as we booked before all of that, but what we noticed was
that Orlando was about 20,000 miles more expensive than Tampa
because most people, if you're going to book, especially a mile
as a flight, you're going to go for the closest where you want
to be. So if you're going to want to be
at Disney, people are going to look for Orlando 1st.

(29:15):
And then we just looked at Tampaand the cost that we spent for,
we managed to get upgrade to premium.
The same cost would have been ifwe stuck with Orlando for
economy. So I think I think it's really
important that somebody in the chat said, Heather said, is
there transportation from Tampa to Walt Disney Club?
So, so Heather, the short answerto that is no, there is no Miss
Connect bus. There is no public transport

(29:37):
that you can book. Yes, you can get an Uber if
you're brave and you're going tosit and wait for someone to take
you back to Orlando. I don't know how frequently
people do that. I think if you're going to fly
from from us, if you're planningto go up to to Orlando then and
you're flying into Tampa, reallyhaving a car is the the
solution. The the drive is about an hour,
hour and 10 minutes. I've done it in just over an

(30:00):
hour. I've also done it in an hour and
45 depending on the traffic through Tampa and what time you
land. But effectively to Walt Disney
World, it's about an hour and 10minute drive.
But based on the fact if you were to take an average time
allowance, so by the you know, if you were to fly into Orlando
International land at the A or Bgate, stand in the queue to go

(30:20):
through immigration, which for us is an issue might not be if
you're from like mainland US or you're doing it and you're doing
an indirect flight and you've done immigration somewhere else,
it might not be so much of a problem.
But if your flights. Are waiting for your bags at a
certain point in a certain. Terminal and they might be wet
when they get there but you knowit can take an hour to an hour
and a half to get through Orlando International whereas in

(30:42):
Tampa, by the time you so if youwere to go to then the Meers
connect bus and wait for your bus you're then going to wait
there and for someone else to you know to wait for the bus and
then everyone else gets get on it and get to your your resort.
My experiences in all in Tampa, you land, you get off the
flight, you go through immigration in about 15 minutes.

(31:03):
Even without, without the MPC app, your bags are usually
waiting for you by the time you got up, got out.
They're not wet because it hasn't been storming.
You can get to your rent, car, rental car in about 10 to 15
minutes. So within about 45 minutes of
getting off the flight, disembarking the plane, you and
your car on your way. We were in the car in 45 minutes

(31:26):
from the plane we we had. And then it's an hour drive,
hour, 15 minute drive. It's actually sometimes works
out quicker to fly to Tampa to get to your resort than it does
to fly into Orlando, which makesno sense at all.
When we went through like four or five different storms,
unfortunately that that evening when we landed, but.
You landed quite late, didn't you?
We. Did well, actually only half 6.

(31:49):
So were you driving the storms as you were driving into
Orlando? Yeah, there were storms going,
yeah, there was as. So once we go into Tampa, it was
it was dry. But in the distance, you could
see the storms that moved through Tampa and we'll head on
to Orlando. That bit of Rd.
It's not the most interesting piece of road to drive along.
No, no. But it's functional.

(32:11):
I'm just glad I found cruise control on the car and I was
like good. And The thing is it is literally
just a straight Rd. I've got a map here.
You can't go wrong. So it is literally if you can
see that on on your. Phone, you really can't go
wrong. No.
Unless you go the wrong way out the airport.
There are two signs. There are two signs that say 275

(32:32):
and it was like no without any sat NAV North and South got them
confused, but it was quite pretty with the sun setting and
it it was good yeah yeah I'm butin comparison to like Orlando it
says 19 minutes I've. Never done it in 19.
Like this must be Google in the middle of the night but.

(32:53):
Yeah. It also depends on where you're
getting to, because what is yours?
Quite large. And also it's when we go the
north or the South exit out of MCO.
So I've done a what? Terminal you're going into as
well. So I've done terminal CS exit to
Coronado in 23 minutes, but that's the, that's the quickest

(33:16):
I've ever done it. And that, you know, that was
going down the Expressway, whichis apparently unironically
named. What I also liked going Tampa.
We didn't have to pay any tolls.No, there's no.
Tolls at Orlando we had to pay tolls so that's another thing to
think about. You just don't don't have to
think it's just when you use my phone as you sat NAV just put

(33:37):
avoid tolls and whatever route it takes you just.
Don't worry about the tolls, I deal with it after I get back.
Because Dan pays for it. It just it just gets charged to
a card about a month later, by which point I've forgotten about
it and it happened. So that's just can't.
Help it. Yeah, this is it's one of those
things to warrior. It's like John's completely
disagreeing. No, John's like get my visitor

(34:00):
toll pass for $10, hang it on mywindscreen.
Did he get my money? That's only in Orlando that
can't do that, that's. Because there aren't any in
Tampa. There we go Mark Sheffield's now
in the chat. There you go.
Hi Mark. You'll need, you'll need to go
back and see what I said I did. I did speak highly of you
earlier in the show. You're all right.
And I'm going to try and balancethis out a little bit because

(34:22):
actually, from experience, we went through a long time of
finding direct simply because itwas mad.
It was so much cheaper back in the day.
And actually I can't, I can't complain about it.
I can't grumble about it. That was our choice.
It was a money saving thing. However, having experienced

(34:46):
going direct, I think, I think the first time we had flights
paid for because we, we've got bumped off a flight in Atlanta
with Virgin and we, we went direct there for loan gear,
which was very pleasant. But last year we went actually
direct into Orlando for I think possibly only the second time.
And to be honest with you, it was a game changer.

(35:08):
It complete you actually land mid afternoon.
It changes your whole day. You actually you get an extra
half a day there. If you get the late flight out,
you get an extra whole day at the end of the whole day.
And I wouldn't go any other way.And actually I think the Orlando
experience, I'd love Orlando airport.

(35:29):
I just think it's the most it's one one of those iconic places.
I think one year we actually stayed at the airport hotel and
I remember, I remember going swimming as after we'd arrived
and some obviously the thinking was we could save on a day's car
hire because if we've gone the beach the following date, we
could also enjoy the, we can also enjoy a few drinks on the

(35:52):
on the, the plane. And so you go for a swim and
you've got that smell of airlinefuel in the air.
And it was just like, it was themost lovely thing.
Yeah, but you just, you just landed off a flight and you're
swimming about half an hour later and you're just like this
is this is absolutely superb. You just get a MO and B fill and
you know you're on holiday. Yeah, landed.

(36:13):
But I've never. Thought of staying it's.
A brilliant place to stay it is.One we have thought about.
Staying there, going on like thecruise the following morning.
Then we looked at the price of staying there more recently and
it's like, actually it's cheap to go stay off, say somewhere
like, isn't it? Yeah, It was cheap to say like

(36:36):
Century or Coronado and it was to stay at the airport and then
so but John, I agree, I do love MCA with an airport and I just
but I think that's through just the experience over the years
that that's what my Florida holiday is.
So like you said earlier, Claire, about like Buddy Dyer,
it's one of the it's just something that just it's one of

(36:57):
those, it's one of those parts, but.
Actually, anytime we go to another airport and we get out
of modern air, even at Gatwick, and they're like, where's buddy?
It's not the same. No, it's not the other one as
well, which is really stupid, right And this is this is this
is one of the daft things about Orlando airport is that when you

(37:19):
land your first thought is when you get some you get the carpet
photo carpet put it on Instagramand it's like we've arrived.
I was just like it is the most. Yes.
Easily identifiable bit of carpet known to mankind.
But not if you fly into terminalC.

(37:41):
See. They've spoiled it, you see.
There is no. Car, they didn't have anything.
They've run out. It's out of production.
Yeah, I won't be going to Terminal C with British Airways
then I'll be. I didn't, I, I, I've been into
MCOA lot of times and actually I'm flying into there in
December. I'm flying into there in May
next year and I'm going on my own.

(38:02):
So actually I probably have, I think I have got a car at
Christmas, but I may not get a car next time.
And actually because I fly BA when they've now opened Terminal
C, it is a really different experience for me.
I used to get really frustrated by particularly going home, the
security line at terminals, A&B when you know you've got Global

(38:26):
Entry and even that's rammed andit's saying projected wait time
at security is like 90 minutes. I'm just like, are you actually
having a laugh? Because there isn't that much to
do when you go through security and it's really weird.
It's the opposite to Auk airport.
So for our American friends, when you, when you fly in the
UK, there's nothing before security.

(38:47):
You go through security and thenyou've got everything.
There's lots of restaurants, there's lots of, you know,
there's bars, there's shopping, there's like seating, there's
loads to do. And it's the opposite way around
in the US. So you go through security and
it's like this barren wasteland and you're like, what am I meant
to do now? Well, there's a.
Start up three hours out backstage.
That's it, Yeah. So, and I think terminal C for

(39:10):
me is it's really clean, it's very efficient.
I don't know who decided that you have to walk through the car
park to get to the other term. That's insane.
But it it's not particularly logically laid out, but it's
functional. And I like the fact that it is
separate and it is quite quick. I've found that the immigrant,

(39:32):
you know, the whole purch your bag first before you go through
immigration. It means that there is this so
people haven't who haven't flowninto Terminal C still do that
like route March and it is a good 10 to 12 minute walk from
the plane to the bags. And people, you see them
particularly from business class, from a premium like

(39:54):
proper jogging through the airport to try and get their
guys like got to get to the front of the immigration
community, you know, during the Disney run.
It makes 0 difference because actually everyone's going to
wait for the bags anyway. So you see all these people that
have gone running because their.Bags not be your first because.
But they're not going to be because you're going to wait 15
minutes before they get anywherenear the baggage belt anyway.

(40:15):
So everyone from the back end ofthe plane has joined the line as
well. So it makes no.
So actually when we flew in the summer, Milly and I sat in the
back of premium and it was like,this is great to say.
We can reply all the way and B, it makes no difference
whatsoever to our bags because we're going to have to wait for
them anyway. And the other thing I love about
the bag, this is so sad. It's the schadenfreude of this I

(40:38):
love. So the baggage carousel, that
tends to be 66 or 67 for Auk flight where the bags come out,
the carousel goes clockwise. So it travels, the bags come out
and they go clockwise, which is the opposite to most places in
the UK. They tend to go anticlockwise

(41:01):
and there's like a barrier wherethey come out so they don't fall
off and hit people. And then they travel to the left
and you watch all these people get off the plane from the UK
standing on the right hand side of the barrier because they're
expecting they're going to be right on the front.
I have a whole thing about men waiting for bags and standing
there with their hands in their pockets and their arms folded
and like, jostling each other out of my.

(41:21):
It's like testosterone sitting. Enjoy.
It's been mad, but especially atthat point, and they've all
queued on the right hand side, not just sort of pass and stand
on the left to be like, OK, yeah, you carry on again.
The bell starts like this mass swarm of people moving.
It's hysterical. I love that moment.
That makes me smile. Say in Tampa, we the experience

(41:41):
we had when we got through the MPC app and it was pretty much
was like and briefly show us your passport and like in where
we go. And it was like a huge queue of
sort of people write as soon as the and it was like, oh, there's
a just from, as we're walking towards, we just saw one after
the other, our four cases come out.

(42:02):
And it was like, there we go andoff we go.
Yeah. So I think, you know, the
benefit of of Orlando is it's a large hub, There's lots of
flights going in and out there. There's lots of options if you
want to book in direct with lotsof different airlines.
You can fly into Atlanta. You can, you know, I think the.
Transport options as well. If you're doing like a few days

(42:24):
in New York and then head down to Orlando, that's more likely.
To happen or you're going to thecruise terminal, you know, like
you said, Ben, you know if you're going off to that floor.
Fort Lauderdale for the desk Dizzy desk well.
You're going up to Daytona or over to Vero.
Actually, Orlando International is going to be better based for
you. But equally, if you're going to

(42:44):
go to Clearwater, Saint Pete's or even down to Naples, you know
Tampa might be a better plan. Undoubtedly, I think that's
that's the joy of this because actually this goes back to
something I think we've spoken about for years and it's it's
that bit of one evidence of his cost driven certainly in my

(43:09):
household. Yeah, yeah.
And if you can save a few quid if you know, we've been to Miami
a couple of times and travel from Miami and driven up on the
same day purely because we actually saved some money was
one year we went indirect I think via Washington and then
into Fort Lauderdale because they they and I have no idea why

(43:30):
we end up going to Fort Lauderdale.
I don't even think that Delta are even.
I have this vision of John and his family getting off a plane
in Washington and like canoeing down to.
Oh, it's just. Because it's cheaper.
Yeah, yeah, I've done all kinds of Claire and actually.
But actually that makes your holiday though as well.
Not only do you save money, but it's a different way of doing

(43:52):
your holiday. And it isn't just you're doing
the same thing, going to Orlando, doing the same thing.
And actually, why does he not having the magical express, it
made us look at like, oh, well, we can get a different way to
how do we get to the resorts? So we've Uber now.
We use a car all the time because it's better, which is
also something else that Claire and John are tubby for the last

(44:13):
six years that we need to. Go eventually he.
Listened so. Yeah, we'll be talking about the
other week about staying. In a villa.
All right. There you go, Chloe does he does
listen to us eventually. You know, I think one of the
other things and I think this is, this is also pertinent to,

(44:36):
to actually conversation becauseactually I've talked about going
in direct. We were paying basically a less
than half of what a direct flight was.
That was the saving that was to be had and that was that was
before 2019. The savings are no longer there.
And that's the bit that's reallyfrustrating because actually if

(44:58):
you were only paying £400 for a family of four for an indirect
flight, I would, I would do thatevery day of the week as opposed
to paying 900 a 1000 lbs to go direct.
I would always do it because actually it made sense.
I would still do it now even without the kids because
actually I think the saving would then pay for your Disney

(45:20):
ticket and then you would do that.
But the airlines have kind of got a little bit wise and
they've probably got a little bit a little bit more sort of
secure in their own ticketing arrangement because they realise
that people actually want to still go to the same place.
We'll just charge them the same price.
I can see why, but. It's it's interesting because a

(45:43):
lot of people now are looking atbookings for next summer.
I was talking to a kind of shoe and Adam from Devonshire it is
yesterday and he's got price family of four with British
Airways next year 6500 lbs into the owe yeah and it's like that
because we're. Looking at.
Yeah, but that's that's probablyBen because it's only this week

(46:04):
I think that most of the August have only just come out and this
is this is the bit where. I've already haven't released
those yet so. It's that.
Yeah. And just and just, yeah, just be
a little bit calm and you just don't pay any more than you
really. Feel comfortable.
Refresh, refresh, refresh. There was another thing that
come from it as well. He looked at Norse to fly

(46:26):
because with Norse it's you get a basic ticket and then you add
on the luggage, you add on the extra bits that you want.
And it came out as 4200 for the same day.
So it's interesting. And I have we flew with Norse
and 2022 I think it was and I would like they are the same as
virgin. So interestingly, we we had a
conversation last night because we looked at the call the flight

(46:49):
with North and I was like, look,this is there is a saving there
and I'm the sort of person that's prepared to be a bit
cheeky. So I feel the intend to get a
competitive price with North andthen ring up BA and say, look,
I'm Ava gold card member. Are you really going to let me
go and fly with another airline or are you going to price match
for me? That's what I'm going to do and
see what happens. They can only say no.

(47:12):
Who knows? Who knows what might happen?
And this is the thing, there aredifferent ways of booking
flights. So it isn't just about using
that. I've mentioned about using
miles. We've we've booked our our trip
in January. We've got it as a package.
So with this one it was actuallycheaper to book with Virgin
Holidays and we booked it with. Because with the with the fly

(47:34):
drive package. And now we, we just booked it
directly, the whole package, thehotel, everything.
And so the whole week including hotel.
So 1400 LB. So we've had that before where
it ended up being cheaper to book a package with a hotel that
we. Found and it was with the
flights. Than it was just for the
flights. Yeah.
So I think it's Wendy has asked that is Tampa a bit smaller than

(47:55):
MCO? Yes, Wendy, Tampa is a bit
smaller. Is smaller and easy to get
around. And I think so when you look at
the facilities at Tampa, like the car rental building is
really efficient. It's a separate building, a bit
like Miami actually, where they've got their separate car

(48:15):
rental facilities, which is different to see Orlando, it's
intends to be in the the ground floor of or.
Ground floor and then you've gotthe garage outside.
Yeah, but in in Tampa, you get on a little monorail to get to
the car rental building. That's a great, fun ride.
Yes, make sure you hold on. Hold on to your bags because now

(48:37):
the other ends of the monorail. It's really funny because it
goes slowly, then it goes aroundthe corner, then it just.
Goes. So fast and you're like, oh
brilliant. But the car rental building is
really efficient. It's got all the normal car
rental things and the garage is usually pretty well stocked.
I've not had a problem with the car availability there at all.

(48:58):
And I think that the restaurantsthat are available at Tampa is 1
terminal at Tampa. And there's a on the, you know,
in the terminal building, there's APF Chang's, there's a
Hard Rock Cafe, there's a Wendy,there's all sorts of things.
And as I mentioned earlier, being Ryder Cup E, there is also
a really, really good PGA Tour shop for anyone who likes golf.

(49:21):
And I remember. That's that's, that's, that's,
that's, that's, that's. Sold it completely that's
amazingly well stocked. And I'll be honest with you,
John, at this time of year, probably lots of red shirts.
They do have a few Navy ones in there because I remember buying
my dad the, the European Tour. Yeah, the, the Europe and that
when we were there one summer. It's a really great store

(49:43):
actually, and they've got a few different stores in the in the
terminal building. And I really like it because
it's there's not a huge, I say it's not a huge amount of
security, but that's the same anyway.
So, but then I quite like Terminal C.
There's a really good summer house restaurant.
There's a couple of good shops. There's what's it, Wolfgang Puck

(50:07):
Bar. I know it's wine bar George in
the middle and then the lounge at the premium lounge at
Terminal C. It's not the best lounge.
It's not going to be like your Virgin Clubhouse or anything
like that. But the food in the lounge, if
you order food, hot food from the bar, it's infinitely better
than what you would get down in the concourse and it's so much

(50:28):
cheaper. And if Will's behind the bar,
then say hello from me, because he is.
Awesome. There's just something about Tan
Bar that we've been flying to Tamil Sea a couple of times
because N goes into Tamil Sea and wants.
And it was interesting, our experience.
We had issues with bags when we're leaving Terminal C, but

(50:49):
coming back it was perfect. It was the queue.
Security was nowhere near the queue that you got.
No queue at all this year when we came home from Terminal C.
We've missed the trick here tonight.
Now we should. What we should have done right
is we should have got. Tweeted Tampa Air Court.
We should have tweeted them because actually.
We should. We will do.

(51:10):
Social media is so brilliant, right?
Because actually, we've been thebest advert for Tampa.
But I think right to. A British audience I think
they've ever had. And the the best thing, the best
thing for their social media is they have a Flamingo.
Phoebe Flamingo. Phoebe.
Yeah. The Phoebe wasn't there the

(51:31):
first time I flew into Tampa, but he obviously appeared a few
years ago and she's such a greatphoto opportunity.
She's amazing and she is enormous.
Yeah, it's huge. I'll I'll balance that with the
traveller Orlando because I as apiece of art, I absolutely love

(51:53):
that. And it's it's our go home
picture. It's one of them things as we're
going home. There's a lid.
There's a lid shop right next toit, so we always got lids.
Any leftover beers that we have,we bring.
We bring a beer to our before weget through security and we'll
sit and have our last American beer.

(52:14):
With the trappers, yeah. It's just, it's it.
And that's what it is this is all about.
What CT? Yeah, and but it doesn't matter
what airport you're in, you might build up your own ritual,
and it's your own. Experience and the only things
that make you go back to airportand I think that's the things,
the more I think about it, the more I enjoyed the experience of

(52:36):
Tampa. What?
Is it about Tampa that you liked?
I it's the efficiency it that, the amount of time that it took
like because I thought I'll, it's going to be dark by the
time we get out because I know it was a later flight than what
we would normally fly into Orlando.
And I know we've got to go and get the car.
We've got to get the bags. We've got to sort all of that
out and then then drive to boardwalk.

(52:56):
So we were thinking originally we weren't going to get us like
10:00. Actually we landed early.
We it was so efficient get within 40 minutes.
We were at the, we were just sorting out the car hire.
We had to go to the desk becausewe were there so early that my
dad wasn't working the car. The car was there but they were

(53:17):
just wanting to do the upgrade so and you couldn't.
With six, it only opens 30 minutes before.
On OK. So when you land 30 minutes
before, you can then go straightto the garage.
But that delayed us a little bitand then we got lost because sat
NAV wasn't working. But other than that it was like.
The user error rather than the. Airport and the drop off back to

(53:42):
six and the car rental places, it was incredible and it was
just so easy, so efficient. Do.
You know, something bad, all thetimes that I've been to Orlando
and gone, like is we always prepare at least an extra half
an hour to an hour on top of that time that it'd taken us
some time because. And sometimes we just get to a

(54:03):
point once we've viewed off immigration, gone through and
then got the bags and then got the monorail across, we're both
just like exhausted by that point.
Yeah. Where with this it felt so much
quicker. That was like, actually, no,
it's been a good flight being a good experience in the end, or I

(54:23):
just, I'm happy. I'm actually happy on the
holiday where last few sons havebeen to Orlando is like, yeah,
I'm here, but I'm just tired because of the animal.
Yeah, I've just made a little note.
I think we need to revisit a little bit of car hire at some
point in the future because I know you mentioned about 6th,

(54:44):
who I think this year have been very competitive price wise and
things like that. Hertz and then 6th for January
and to be honest, for a week at the minute it's either £150 or
200. OK.
Either one that makes sense. I I just put I did a car for
with Avis. In.

(55:05):
December so 6 days and it was 100 and I think it was 160 but
then I used avos to pay for it so.
Yeah, that's what I'm going to say, because you normally if
you're going with BA, you will, You will.
Get Avis. Yeah, yeah.
Get your car through Avis as well.
So again, I put it on me. I put it on me list for the.
Few on your post it note. There's nothing better than a

(55:25):
little bit of car hired. Discussion and and also did.
You see us through the winter, isn't it like.
I do have a few discount codes depend on what card it's.
Oh. I think, I think when I think
about the difference between Orlando and Tampa, apart from
the distance and actually that doesn't really make a lot of
difference. There is something about the

(55:46):
brightness and airiness of Tampaairport which is similar to
Terminal C at Orlando. I think compared to yes, you've
got the massive concourse in Orlando.
When you go in and it's AB and you've got the hotel and you've
got the Starbucks and you've gotthe carpet and everything, you
know, it's really got everyone can picture in their mind.
There's something about Tampa which is just this.

(56:07):
It feels, I don't know whether it is, it feels super clean
because the floor is white and is a little bit sparkly and the
whole lot of, you know, brightness and lighting that
they have just makes it feel a really warm and welcoming
environment that's super clean. And the people I found the P and

(56:27):
this isn't to say that the people who work for Orlando
International are, but I think I've said before I have an issue
with if I'm queuing to go through security and yes, you
know, you get your passport checked and then you go in that
other line and you're going through and you there are always

(56:48):
Muppets who don't read the signs.
Or listen to what I've been told.
Right, but I'm a grown adult. Please do not shout at me.
I do not need you screaming in my face to remove my shoe or to
you just don't need to do it. Whereas that has been my
experience at Orlando, unfortunately, far too many

(57:10):
times, not necessarily at me directly, but in general, that I
don't understand why they do it.It's their job.
They're trying to get people through quickly.
And there are always people who do not listen.
So that's the option. My experience at Tampa is that
people there are so much more like, like we said at the
beginning, a bit more laid back,a bit more relaxed.
The atmosphere is like, come on,through security.

(57:32):
Yeah. Oh yes.
They're still doing the same job, but it's just a nicer
experience. It was incredible because in
Tampa they've only just had the new scanners put in, so you
leave everything in your bag. Yeah, that's the same term
you'll. See.
Everything is amazing. It's brilliant.
I I love it and. And I just, there is something
where people a smile, it sounds so, so childish, isn't it?

(57:55):
A smile goes a really long way when you're tired, stressed,
anxious, whatever it is. If someone's pleasant smiles at
you, you feel reassured or you feel welcome.
And my experience at Tampa is that that is the normal, whereas
that you, I'm surprised when it happens to me at you will I do
international? You know, it's OK.

(58:17):
Is it wind or is that really a smile?
Are they laughing at me? Whereas in Tampa I feel like
they're glad that people are coming through the airport.
Whether that's true or not, I don't know.
It might just be my idyllic yearof the world.
Simon's comment Actually this isinteresting because there are
not many places from the UK thatyou can fly to Tampa, so you

(58:39):
can't go from Manchester, you have to go from.
OK, I suppose then. That's the.
Difference, isn't it? I'm looking at this very
conveniently in the southeast. Down in the southeast.
Yeah, we can go from Gatwick or Heathrow and the options are
available. So it's it's one of one of those
ones. But if the price is that much
different, so you've incorporatethat into your holiday the way

(59:00):
you do it, like we mentioned about indirect flights, he goes
by Paris or by London or actually do you go to London?
I think Salmon's got a really good point now.
And I think that's, that's, that's something that like
we've, we've, we've done different trips to use
Manchester as a, as a northern hub because to get see, to get

(59:23):
to Heathrow or to Gatwick is a. Yeah, yeah.
Although, although getting to get into London on Friday, when
we went down for Joe's gigs, it took us 10 hours to drive to
London because they shot the M1.Now, if you're going for a
flight that really that was set your anxiety level to such a

(59:47):
level that you just wouldn't be comfortable.
We want to go to Manchester to get cheap flights for their
lingers and I have to admit thatwas for driving up the day
before Christmas Eve. Yeah, see, I'm looking to do the
Flying Air Lingus via Dublin. Definitely, yes.
I mean, we did the old boomerangfloor one, which saved tons of
money. Can't do that anymore, sadly.

(01:00:10):
Yeah, yeah. It's a, it's an interesting 1
and I think it's, it takes a bitof planning which do you just
sacrifice your experience you get from the UK airport to
experience that And then actually I.
Think there's? There's loads of stuff in it.
There's loads of stuff in this and and again, does it come back

(01:00:31):
to price? That's that's my other.
Question. It does.
I think that's the bottom line, John.
And the core of what we're talking about is the fact that
there are lots of different options.
So rather than going, I can onlyfly to Orlando, actually you can
fly to Miami, you can fly to Tampa, you can fly, but you
might need to change your, your exit airport, you know your your
departure airport to be able to take advantage of any deal.

(01:00:53):
And what does that cost financially and time mean at
either end? You know, I heard I wasn't
listening to you. I was just to a podcast earlier
this week where someone chooses to fly with TUI from Newcastle
to Melbourne rather than drive to Manchester to get a VA, a
virgin bike because of the fact that when they get home, they
want a 20 minute drive home to their house rather than a.

(01:01:16):
And so I think it's whatever works for you as a family.
So for me personally, if I'm notgoing on my own, the nearest
airport to us, as Datwick said, BA makes sense.
Plus my, you know, status of BAIwouldn't be adverse.
I wouldn't be adverse to drivingto Heathrow and flying with
Virgin if I got a good deal. And this is where we are at most
because we're looking at flightsfor next summer.

(01:01:36):
So we are investigating can we fly BA from Heathrow to Miami?
Can we fly Virgin Heathrow to toOrlando?
Actually, we're probably going 2separate trips.
You know, three of us will be going for one period of time and
two for another period of time. And what's the mix and that.
So we are actually looking at exactly this drama at the moment
of where's our best deal going to be?
We looked indirect and where arewe?

(01:01:59):
Going to have a car as a fire drive because sometimes that
makes right and. Actually, how can I guess, how
can I possibly second guess how much a car hire is going to be
in 12 months time? I can't.
So do you take a punt and then put a deposit down on the flight
and the car hire because it's a then goes as a package And yeah,
you have to pay a deposit and then see how things pan out,
which is tends to be my approach, you know, just secure

(01:02:20):
the price that we think is reasonable and then we can
review it in the future and cancel it if we need to.
But this is this is exactly where I am at the moment.
So this conversation tonight about there are so many
different variables and options.Welcome to my world.
That's the funny part of it, youknow, And that's.
A deal? Yeah.

(01:02:41):
And actually it's worth putting out there.
Again, going back to what Simon said earlier is the fact that
even you're going from Manchester, you can actually go
with Lufthansa and fly into Frankfurt on a connection that
will take you into MCO it. Might be cheaper to go the wrong
way. Yeah, and backing.
It and in the past we've actually, we've actually done

(01:03:02):
that one time in the past. I think we travelled, I think we
went out with United into, into an American airport, but on the
way back we came back via Miami on an Air France into Paris and
then Paris into Manchester and it yeah.

(01:03:25):
And, and actually when you startlooking at journey time, that's
another thing to consider. Because it's.
Like how I. I.
Yeah. There's like nothing to like
race across the world. Yeah, that would be an amazing
episode. We should totally do that as a
virtual episode. Race to Orlando.

(01:03:47):
Oh yeah, I like that. That's a podcast.
I think that's on, it's on, it'son the poster.
I would that would be cool because actually and again, when
when the savings was such, it was it was one of those things
that you could actually you would spend hours just crunching

(01:04:07):
through different websites. Yeah.
And, and and this is basically before Google fights and
Skyscanner. We're actually able to do it for
you quite quickly. And but you start looking and
actually trying to plot different routes and the reason
that there is not the differential in price at the
moment. And I think if you come back to

(01:04:28):
those days, that that moment, that moment of sitting there for
an entire evening, yeah. And just conjuring up some
absolutely ludicrous. Really.
And it's actually. It's playing the game of though,
because that'll announce a sale and then I remember a couple of
years ago, prices. Go up in the.

(01:04:49):
Sale. Yeah, we got one, but we got one
way with them. It was before we got Black
Friday deal and then Robin was going to, I'm looking for a
similar amount of similar time of year.
So but she waits till Christmas.It actually gone up like £100 at
Christmas compared to what we paid on Black Friday deal even
though it's their Christmas salewhich and.
That that's the issue. It's as soon as you now to say
more people look. So anyone who does a dummy

(01:05:12):
booking in order to book, the price goes up because it takes
the flights out of the availability price.
And then you go, you know, the upgrade costs and, and one of
the the game with the upgrade costs is when you ring.
And because I tend to book, as we said before, tend to put
flight and car hire together. So you can't do an upgrade
online. You have to ring up.

(01:05:33):
And so I'll ring up and say I'm interested in what the upgrade
prices would be for premium to club or whatever it is or
economy to premium. And they say, OK, let me check.
And I my to go to is can you check the day to the price today
and also the upgrade price on the day that I booked?
Because they can offer both prices.

(01:05:54):
So if I booked on September the 29th and I'm ringing up on June
the 3rd, they can check the upgrade prices on both dates.
So it can end up as particularlyif you then get in the upgrade
prices from the sale in September or you know, if you
ring up for an upgrade price during the sale is sometimes you

(01:06:16):
get a different, different price.
So, and it is worth remembering when the sales are and checking
the prices and, and we've had ridiculous, we've had it.
So it's cheaper to upgrade and they've given us money back
because they've done the upgrades of the days that I
booked rather than the day that I phoned.
OK. Yeah.
That's the prices I felt was. Quite.

(01:06:37):
To share that I've got some prices for next February half.
Term. Here we go.
To compare actually what was different between Orlando and
Tampa, you're going to cost me this is.
Going to cost me. There was only £80 per person in
it. I wasn't going in February half
term but I might be that that's why I.
Started sitting in. The same.
Clerk, This price does not include luggage.
This was just standard flight. That's all right.

(01:07:00):
I can do. I can do bag only.
And that's the is that. BAI get luggage I get.
Luggage. I get luggage.
Yeah, that's true. I'm a director of B AM S urgent
that's. Insane rice, but that's that's
marathon weekend, isn't it? Probably so yeah, you don't want
to be there then. That's why I.
Didn't stay weekend I think so it's yeah.

(01:07:21):
Anyway, you got your annual passcloud of.
Course she got 2 trips before this.
Summer only two. Only two currently, Yeah, Yeah,
I know you. Know what tonight it's been a
really good show and I just, it's made me want to book that
next trip. I know it's grey and miserable
outside at the minute. It's going to be raining.
How many times have you got booked then?

(01:07:44):
Well, you know, you've. Got 2 bins currently.
Have you only got? One book, we've got one booked.
Well, we've got a cruise booked,but we haven't got the flight
sorted yet. So you've got two books.
In our heads, we've also got 2027 I.
Know, I'm not even thinking about that.
I've got another 2020 sixty book.
I've got a summer 2020 sixty book and then Christmas.
Yeah, I've got a few more to yeah before then.

(01:08:05):
Yeah, we're thinking Christmas at some point, but that's going
to be 2027 before we get that. So this is by having we see a
vacation club. We know our use here, which is
like starts in March. So we just plan like how many
points? Well, that's why we have.
We're using all our points in them I.
Mean, I think I think we should talk in a future show, maybe on

(01:08:26):
a wedding state about renting DVC points as well, because
obviously I got a cracking deal for Old Key West next summer or
next spring, May. Yeah, I think we could look at
actually, actually how much is the rent point versus actually
booking direct to the hotel. It is difficultly cheaper.
We did, we did it last year for the cruise the night before and
two nights before. I was like, oh, we'll, we'll

(01:08:46):
stay at pot. It was like, I don't know, £300.
It was cost us 260 LB for two nights at Old Key West in
August. So that's exactly what happened
to me. I went to because I was trying
to work out where to stay next May because I was going to put
POP and it was 1200 lbs for fivenights at POP, which is what I'm
paying in December because it's just after Thanksgiving.

(01:09:07):
And I was like, no, there's no discount.
So I and then I went on to DBC rental, DBC rental stores and
I've got a studio Preferred Studio of Key West for 800 and
$800. Yeah.
Compared to 12150 lbs. OK.

(01:09:27):
Yeah. So it's like it's on the list.
I definitely. I definitely.
Will add it to a conversation. For the team, definitely,
definitely. So just a quick reminder for
everyone watching, if you haven't yet subscribed, hit that
subscribe button and ring the bell so you never miss our live
shows, which every Wednesday night at 8:30 you can.
Listen to You can listen to moreof this scintillating content

(01:09:50):
context about car hire prices atairports.
Yeah, but the thing. People are interested in that.
Maybe they are. Maybe.
It's always will always save someone a few quid somewhere.
But to think of anyone of us to tune in for the first time
genuinely, we don't only talk about these things.

(01:10:11):
We do talk about parks and exciting things.
But you know, there's elements to get in a bargain that sits
with all of us. But in the first trip to Disney
World, it is a minefield. And The thing is a lot of the
things like you'd realize how much is this costing?
And I know we'll cover at some point.
There's been a lot of chatting recently of like dining plan and
whether all of that's worth it. We've we've done shows

(01:10:33):
previously and it's quite interesting how I feel the value
of it isn't very. That would be an interesting one
to do and and our friend of the show Sean, who's been on before,
actually messaged me the other day to say would you, and this
is a great conversation actually, would you move the
date of your holiday back by oneday in order to get, they would

(01:10:55):
cost you £300 more, but you would get the free quick Service
plan for the entirety of your holiday.
I replied to him and said yes. And I said.
No, Yeah, that's interesting. So that would be a great
conversation to have. Oh yeah.
So, yeah, so don't forget if youprefer listening on the go and
the show will also be available on Friday on the podcast.

(01:11:17):
So just search for the great British Mickey Waffle wherever
you get your podcasts. So and that bring this end of
tonight's debate of Tampa or Orlando so.
I thought it was an advert for Tampa.
It will be when we tweet or willbe on Twitter in a little while
it will be. Who knows, maybe there'll be
another pencil coming our. Way.

(01:11:37):
Hey, there we go. Yeah.
Maybe a little club. Maybe we should have done the
opposite because I then would have got some socks from MCO.
Yeah, let's, well, let's, let's tweet them and tell them we're
flagging up MCO as well. Yeah, if you've enjoyed the show
as much as I have, please give us a like, subscribe and don't
forget to share the show out. We'll be back next Wednesday

(01:11:59):
with another live show. In the meantime, you can catch
this episode. I've just repeated exactly what
I've said, so thank you for watching.
Thank you. Thank you for watching, see you
soon. I might, might have stopped
coughing by next week as well. Yeah, we'll see you real soon.