Helpful Early Morning Flight Tip!

[MaterializedHaunt]

Like many of you, I am my family live 1+ hours from the main airports. We LOVE to get to Disney very early in the morning so we pretty much have an extra day and can do lunch and hop into a park.

Having said this... it is very difficult to get up 3:30am to get everyone up and ready and out the door (your car should be packed night before with your DME already to do!). Then you have to DRIVE! Who wants to drive this early in the morning?! Not I!

So here is the brilliant plan for you all to look into. For us its BDL (Hartford, CT). We checked around the hotels directly near the airport and low and behold came across a hotel that will let us keep out car in their parking lot, let us spend the night then shuttle us to AND FROM! the airport.

So instead of driving the morning of your flight, you drive up the evening or day before and just relax and take it easy and be in all excitement to see palm trees the next day. Then the morning of your flight you get up 1.5hours before flight and get shuttled over to the airport and Boom! Next think you know your having your picture taken with the big cheese himself!

This is such an awesome way to start off a trip and not be tired and miserable from having to wake up a 330am! The prices of there rooms where something like $80-120 if I remember correctly. Hope this helps some of you out who live a good distance from the airport and dont want to pay an arm and a leg to keep your car in airport parking! It pays to do your homework! :thumbsup:

[mook3y]

We are fans of this method! KC is almost 3 hours away and we have used a local hotel for parking. With a 6 am flight, there is no way I would try to drive down in the am. I would be to stressed about flat tires or whatever. Plus, at $105 for 16 nights parking - its cheaper for us to use the hotel for parking.

[faline]

We will often stay at a hotel close to the airport (or on airport) the night before a very early flight. Many airports have hotels that offer park, stay and fly packages.

[Jeri Lynn]

My DH and I did this last year from BDL. It is very convenient.

This year for our girls trip we have an 8am flight, my brother in law barters with a limo company so he always gives us a stretch limo ride to and from the airport. It's a great way to start our day!

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

When you can leave your car, it quite often works out to be cheaper than paying for parking at the airport!

We're pretty close, but have had friends get a room, just for the parking perk!

[RedSoxFan]

We fly out of Syracuse which is an hour away. We have stayed at the hotel the night before for our 7am flight. Makes it so much easier. This year we are leaving Thursday night instead of Friday morning. That way we wake up refreshed and ready to go on Friday!!

[gaffz70]

We did that on 2 previous trips and it didn't work out so well for us. Our kids were younger, and one snored all night and the other fell out of bed twice. Dh and I were up all night!!! We were laughing though b/c every time we would finally start to fall asleep, someone would start snoring etc.

This time we decided to try and get a good night sleep in our own beds, have car packed and leave at 0515. Our kids play ice hockey so we are all used to early morning starts.

[Mfarquar]

Great tip! Never thought of this! :)

[Tigger's Mom]

We've done this for almost all of our trips and love it!! I also consider this the first day of vacation, even if we don't leave for the hotel until late afternoon/early evening!! It's great to wake up and not worry about making beds or doing dishes!!

[SBETigg]

I'm only a short drive from BDL but if a night at the hotel is on par with parking our car at the long term lot (we use Roncari, not the airport) I'm all for it. Which hotel, if you could share?

[mdricks]

I live 30 minutes from STL. We are doing the same thing this year just because its cheaper than parking and you can sleep later.
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