How long does it take you to get to WDW?

If it's a direct flight, 4.5 hours. If I have to connect at JFK, bout 7 hours. (That includes time spent sitting in airports.)

Hi,

Direct flights from Philly International Airport take about 2 1/2 hours gate to gate.

Jim

My last trip...

16.00 (UK time) leave home.
18.00 arrive at guest house near airport.
06.00 (next day) leave guest house for airport.
10.00 flight departs. 10 hour flight with 5 hour time shift.
15.00 (USA time) arrive Sandford airport.
16.00 clear immigration & customs.
17.00 arrive hotel.

Door to door, 31 hours. Bet no one beats that.

Admitedly I could have missed the night local to the airport, but that would have meant getting up at 02.00 to drive to the airport.

For us it depends on whether we take people with us or not. If it's just me & scrappy:
8am - leave home in PA. on Saturday usually with stops for lunch & dinner
9pm - drive all day, get a Hampton Inn somewhere in Georgia.
7am - back on the road with a stops for breakfast and lunch
12pm show up in WDW at what ever resort we are staying at.
Door to door - 28 hours give or take an hour or two depending on traffic.

If we take our fiends with us, we stop more often so it adds about 4 hours. 32 hours.

Tony, do most flights from the UK fly into Sanford?

Most 'charter' flights for the smaller airlines owned by package tour operators (Thomson, Thomas Cook) go to Sandford while 'schedule' flights (Virgin Atlantic, British Airways) go to OIA. There are, as always, some exceptions to that though.

We tend to book flight and accomodation packages via a travel agent (most brits do when coming to the US) as these usually work out cheaper than booking flights and hotel separately and it's a lot less hassle. The travel agents will charter a plane at the best price they can, usually from their own airline.

Cool! So you basically travel on a giant plane full of other Disney fans?!

The vast majority will be planning on visiting Disney and the other Orlando parks at some point during their stay, yes. It's interesting to see who has been where from ther apparell they wear for the return flight, I usually wear a 'Grumpy' fleece.

That's great. I imagine the mood on the way out is a lot different from the mood on the way back

From my driveway to the parking lot at Pop Century about 2 hours.
Joe

What would I give to be that close

Oh man, that's the greatest! You'd have to tie me to my house to keep me from sneaking out every chance I got!

I've just seen a job advertised for something that I have 22 years experience doing, at a place less than 30 minutes from WDW. If only it wasn't so difficult to get a work visa

If I lived that close tying me to home wouldn't be enough, it would take a padlock and a very heavy chain.

Wow, Tony. That's amazing! Have you guys thought about moving over here? I wonder if the company you'd be working for could help out with the visa...

They wouldn't just have to help out with the visa, they'd have to petition for it on my behalf and pay for it. It would have to be a 2 year temporary work permit, or a direct to green card employment based visa which requires proof that no one already authorised to work in the USA is able to do the job.

Unfortunately for me, most companies just don't want the hassle and expense of going through the visa process and there are lots of people in Houston who do what I do that don't currently have jobs and wouldn't require a lengthy and expensive legal process prior to hiring.

So, yes, I guess you could say we'd looked into it a bit.

edit: sorry, I seem to have dragged this thread a bit off topic.

Unfortnately I fly CAD terminals (oil & gas industry) rather than space shuttles.

I was spoiled when we lived in Hunter's Creek, about 15 minutes door to door.

Now we're in NC and it's about a 10-12 hr drive depending on traffic on I-95...still trying to find a good alternate route...I-75 is not much better.

Some might say less exciting, but I disagree!

That's a pretty long drive. Do you usually go for long trips?