I Thought This Would Be the BEST Time of Day to Fly Out of Orlando Airport, But It’s Actually the WORST

Here at AllEars, we talk a lot about how stressful travel can be. But sometimes, it’s hard to remember how intense it *really* is until I travel again.

Emma and I in World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland

From cross-country Disney park challenges to flying to Hong Kong Disneyland to experience World of Frozen, I’ve traveled a lot for AllEars adventures. I was headed to MCO Airport early — I mean middle-of-the-night-early — to embark on my next adventure, thinking it’d be the perfect time to fly out, but it was a nightmare.

Just before 4AM, I walked into MCO to make sure I was through security in plenty of time before my flight. Imagine my surprise when I walk in and see this MASSIVE security line.

Uh oh

The security line was showing a 24-28 minute wait when I arrived, but I ended up waiting 50 minutes to get to a TSA agent. After talking with some other members of the team, I found out this is a pretty common sight early in the morning at MCO Airport. We don’t exactly know why, but my best guess is that MCO doesn’t have enough TSA agents to staff security enough to accommodate the amount of flights leaving so early.

This wasn’t fun

After making it to the TSA agent, I was at my gate in 10 minutes, BUT that’s because I was an adult flying alone, with no kids, and I know this airport really well because I travel a lot, so I count that as a best case scenario. This is why it’s SO important to get to the airport no less than 2 hours before your flight, and we’d recommend 2.5-3 hours ahead if you’re checking bags or are checking in at the airport.