I'm taking the family to Disney in our 180...December trip. I read the previous posts about KISM, but they're almost 5 years old. I'm wondering if anyone here has recent experience with KISM/Disney trips? Any advice you can give will be appreciated!
The FBO to use is Signature (used to be Marathon, I think). They are not the cheapest (certainly not for gas) but probably most conveniently located. Taxi driver's seem to get lost trying to find the other FBO's (different unmarked roads into the airport). They can offer hanger space as well, which is not a bad idea given the severity of summer thunder-boomers all the time, some with hail, all with high winds. Of the three Orlando airports, ISM is the closest to Disney, but still about a 45 min or more, cab ride to the Disney hotels. Figure the cab cost at about $40-45 each way.
If you are staying inside Disney, you might check out the cost of the FBO's at Orlando International (KMCO). You can get the FBO there to drop you off at the commercial side and Disney provides free shuttle service to all its major hotels.
We have done both and it is a trade-off.
As an aside, the ground controllers at ISM are a bit strange. After taxiing out to the hold short, they want you to request a frequency change to go to tower instead of just flipping freqs.
Watch out for the Temporary (permanent) Flight Restrictions (TFR) over the Disney parks if you fly in VFR. Also, occassional shuttle launches put out a large TFR, that reaches almost to the ORL area.
Enjoy your trip, If you want to eat at any of the restaurants in Disney or Epcot, better make a reservation soon for some of the more popular ones.
Going right to MCO was never even a consideration. I frequently fly into Delta and Charlie, but I figured MCO would be too involved...but now you have me thinking! Thanks.
And as for the request to change to tower freq, that is a first for me. Thanks for the heads up, Frank.
Let me know how you make out with MCO. I am also planning a family trip to Disney in December and have the last 2 trips went into Kissimmee although that was 9 years ago.
Frank's thought about going to MCO sounds like a good option as long as the FBO is somewhat reasonable with tie-down, fuel, etc. Signature is known to be very high with fuel being $7.50 in some areas.
Flying into MCO is just about a non-event. In fact, every Bravo I've flown into has been really simple (Miami, Orlando, Tampa). Especially VFR. No holds, no arrivals, no procedures, usually a vector to base or final on the runway closest to the GA FBO(s). Approach and towers have been exceedingly nice. Just make sure you call approach way before you get near the outter ring (if you are not already on flight following - or IFR). The FBO will give you a ride to the commercial side (I usually give the guy a nice tip) and drop you right next to the shuttle pickup.
Now, the only downside is that the Disney shuttle (Which you need to arrange with Disney before you arrive - one phone call) will stop at all the inside hotels that have guests on the shuttle, and that could be more than several. So, unless your hotel is the first one on the list, you may be driven around the joint for 15-20 min. Of course, the kids will think that they are already at Disney, being in the Disney shuttle. Like I said, it is all a tradeoff. I personally hate the neverending taxi ride from ISM.
"As an aside, the ground controllers at ISM are a bit strange. After taxiing out to the hold short, they want you to request a frequency change to go to tower instead of just flipping freqs"
On the other side of this equation, I had a ground controller dress me down once on the radio for calling him directly on the landing rollout with a request for taxi to parking rather than calling the tower with a request for a handoff to ground. It was a very small Class D airport that I often fly out of and have never had any problems with. The funny thing is that the same controller was handling both frequencies. I want to handle my radio calls correctly. What is the proper procedure in these instances? Thanks,
I fly out of a class D airport as well, and I stay with tower while on the active runway. Sometimes the controller (if he is also working ground) will say stay with him meaning stay with the tower freq, and other times he will tell me when to switch to ground (usually when there are two of them in the tower). In either case, I always stay with the tower freq until I am given instructions from the controller. Hope this helps.
Thanks, David. It does help. My "dressing down" happened several years ago, and I've been staying with the tower until handed off ever since without further problems. It really wasn't much of a dressing down, just an instruction really. I just tend to beat myself up over small errors like this on the radio.
Well - change of plans. Decided to do the Disney Cruise instead, so we'll be flying from Dallas to KTIX (Port Canaveral). I did this last year, and, while it is a long trip, it was fine. So unfortunately I'll not be doing the MCO thing...maybe another time!
