I took the 888 shuttle to the airport for $40. It was a 25 minute wait for a shuttle. Four of us were in a van. It took right around 40 minutes to make it to the Orlando Airport (MCO).

The shuttle dropped us off at our terminals. It’s a good thing I’m six hours early.

I was in the very back of this line which goes to the big zig zag you see in the above picture. Then it goes to another zig zag line on the far right. It is an extremely long line.

Right after I got in that line, they opened up a new line on the right and waved me in. I went from about 500th in line to 2nd.

I get up to the front of the line and the agent informs me they can’t take bags more than four hours before a flight. She tells me to come back in two hours. She did say I could come directly to her. I don’t have to wait in line again. I really didn’t wait in line the first time but I don’t think she knew that. That would’ve been horrible to sit in that really long line only to be told you’re too early.

The good news is there’s this huge area. It’s much better than the terminal area. It’s like a mall with a ton of stores, a food court, hotel, and even a pub. This is the hotel up ahead.

“I’m the man in the box!”

This looks like my kind of place.

That’s the only seat open and it’s not going to be enough space for me and my bags. I still have my suitcase for a couple more hours.

I see an opening

But it didn’t last long enough for me to get to it.

At this point I can drop my bag in 20 minutes so I’m just going to hang here and finish charging my phone until then. I am in a nice comfortable seating area with a table and outlets. The line went way down. But I was able to skip the line as promised.

Here they have just one security line you can get in but it has a ton of lanes. It says a 20-25 minute wait. We’ll see how accurate that is. You can see the Chili’s upstairs. That’s one of several restaurants they have on this side of security along with the huge food court. They’re trying to sell fast passes like it’s Disney. That is former NBA player Aaron Gray. He’s huge. I bet it’s difficult for him to get good leg room.

Hopefully he isn’t on my plane. Next to me. That big center area would be like just a regular size arm rest to him.

That was the worst. Had I gotten in line 8 instead of 7 it probably would’ve been 20-25 minutes. As it is, it took 40 minutes. The absolute worst. I am so glad this isn’t my home airport. Even more reason to hopefully not come back. I am on the train over to the terminals now.

My flight is on time.

I was just thinking this terminal is nicer than the one I was in when I was here for Mardi Gras. Then I remembered I flew American that time. I wasn’t in this terminal.

These are the food court options inside the terminal.

On the Border sounds good to me.

The bar is all full. Stretch from the security line got the last spot. They have some nice views from the restaurant.

It’s a 40 minute wait for a table. The bar is first come first serve but a handful of people are already standing back waiting for spots to open up. There’s an Urban Crave restaurant and bar down by gates 1-10 but it’s full. There’s one more wing I can try. I guess I overlooked this spot down by my gate.

This will work.

A guy comes up to the bar and orders a whiskey sour. He requests the cheapest brand of whiskey and says no sour. The bartender thinks he said light on the sour. He brings the drink. The guy says “Is that sour?” Yeah. “I said I didn’t want any sour.” So you just want a whiskey on the rocks? “Yeah.” Why didn’t you order that? “I did.”

A little later the same guy has a run in with a different bartender. I didn’t hear the start of the conversation but it sounds like he’s still ordering whiskey sours. The bartender brings in one of those silver things the bartenders use to measure shots. She points to a spot on it and says “I put this much sour in it.” Now she’s making him another one with the sour but adding honey. It sounds like he’s happy with that one.

Then the guy starts to walk out of the bar with it. The bartender says “you can’t take that out of here or I will get in trouble.” When she looked away he walked out. She went looking for him. My boarding is supposed to start in 10 minutes. I don’t want people stealing my overhead compartment space this time so I need to be there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Lego vending machine.

I’m zone 1. They asked to start a line for pre-boarding. Everyone gets in line. It’s supposed to be people who need assistance, women with small children, and active/retired military. There’s like 50 people in line. They’re going to take my overhead space. There’s no way we’re leaving on time.

I got my bag in but not by much. I don’t know why people further back want their stuff in the front. I always want it as close to me as possible.

Comfy seats.

Why do they do the seatbelt demonstration after we’ve all buckled? It would be like doing muster drill in the life boat after a sinking.

Thanks for the update…at 5:34 that my flight leaves at 5:35 instead of 5:20.

A lap baby in the row behind me cried almost the entire flight. I had an audio book on but could still hear it.

I ended up leaving my hat on the plane. What happened there is the girl in the aisle seat got out and got her bag from the overhead. While she did that, I thought that was a good time for me to do the same. But while I was grabbing my bag she got back in the row and stood in front of her seat which blocked me from getting back to my seat.  I said “If you slide over a second I’ll get back in.” She ignored me. The flight attendant opened the door and said go. I forgot about the hat being on my seat and went.  

It wasn’t a big deal. I went back and got the hat from a flight attendant. Our luggage still hasn’t come out so I didn’t lose any time.

I got my suitcase and I’m heading down to the…ah my shuttle!

I made it. That would have cost me up to 15 minutes had I missed it.

I’m definitely not a fan of cruising out of Port Canaveral or the Orlando airport. The newer areas of the airport are definitely nice. I never liked having to take a train to pickup your luggage. The check-in and security lines today were some of the worst I’ve ever seen. There’s not enough seating in the terminal area. Many people who bought their food in the food court were sitting on the ground or in the windows eating it.

What’s up next? Stay tuned to find out.

 

• Port Canaveral