If you’re planning a Walt Disney World trip this holiday season, you should be aware that arrivals and departures at Orlando International Airport (MCO) are subject to significant delay and cancellation. This post covers what’s already happening, what to expect going forward, and more.
Air traffic controller absences delayed or temporarily halted operations at several major airports around the United States on Thursday. John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City entered a ground stop because of insufficient air traffic staffing, ending a turbulent day of delays. At Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, there were likewise lengthy delays through the afternoon and evening due to staffing shortages.
These are just two major examples of a problem that’s only expected to become more pronounced in November. The administration warned of worsening disruptions while workers go without pay as a result of the government shutdown. On Thursday, the worst of the staffing interruptions was at Orlando International Airport.
Flights into and out of MCO were delayed last night because there were no available air traffic controllers, according to U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) advisories. One indicated that MCO was under a ground delay program from 10 p.m. through 3 a.m. Friday due to staffing issues.
Federal Aviation Administration warned in an advisory Thursday evening that for a period of time, “no arrivals will be able to land as there will be no certified traffic controllers available.” By Thursday night, the airport was reporting average delays of about 2 hours and 40 minutes, with some flights delayed for nearly 12 hours, and several cancelled completely.
As of Friday morning, the FAA’s National Airspace System Status page no longer lists MCO among its closures or delays. At the time of publication, tracking resource Flightaware has reported 32 delayed flights and 18 cancellations out of Orlando. Among arriving flights, another 7 were canceled and 12 were delayed. In the last 24 hours, there have been 99 impacted flights at MCO.
The federal government entered a shutdown at midnight on October 1st when lawmakers failed to pass new funding bills. It’s unclear how long the stalemate will last, but lawmakers do not appear to be any closer to coming to an agreement that could reopen the government.
The federal government shutdown means air traffic controllers, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, and other federal airport employees are working without pay. In turn, this increases the likelihood of employees calling in sick and leaving MCO and other airports understaffed.
These issues at MCO followed a warning that Vice President JD Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had issued on Thursday of impending “disaster” if the government shutdown continued into November.
They argued that the increased holiday season travel volume and worsening winter weather would increase the demands on air traffic controllers just as working without pay could become untenable. They explained that many federal employees can withstand missing one paycheck, but none of them can get through two missing paychecks.
Air traffic controllers were already overburdened before the shutdown, with widely-reported issues at major East Coast airports due to staffing shortages and antiquated systems. There are reportedly 3,000 vacant jobs in a 14,000-position workforce, which had created a staffing crunch and mandatory overtime for many. That meant that many air traffic facilities did not have enough staffing to accommodate absences, regardless of the cause.
Air traffic controllers told NBC WESH 2 in Orlando that, between the stress of unpaid work and staffing shortages, when safety is at risk, there’s no choice but to slow things down at the airport.
“That means delays, that means ground stops, that means cancellations. Nobody goes to work wanting to delay a flight. Nobody. But nobody also wants to go to work and not get paid,” Dan McCabe with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association told WESH.
Back when the shutdown started, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) issued the following statement:
The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority does not anticipate that operations at MCO will be affected; however, we have developed contingency plans should there be a dramatic decrease in the number of TSA agents processing passengers. We are in conversations with local TSA, CBP, and FAA agencies and hope there will be a resolution soon.
Air travel is an essential part of the tourism sector, which helps to fuel our region; and we remain committed to the best in traveler safety and security.
MCO also advised that federal partners have contingency plans in place to avoid disruptions. Of course, that was 30 days ago and the GOAA likely didn’t anticipate the shutdown dragging on this long. Especially given that their statement doesn’t even contemplate air traffic controller staffing shortages, only TSA agents.
To learn more about those plans from our federal partners, visit the following:
During the government shutdown, MCO is encouraging passengers to use the FlyMCO website or Orlando MCO app to stay current about airport operations. We would second this recommendation, and advise utilizing these resources during any busier dates, storm season, school breaks, or any time the weather forecast suggests there might be delays–so in other words, pretty much always!
Orlando International Airport will have its first true test of holiday season travel spiking soon, as the arrival of Jersey Week, Veterans Day, and the start of the holiday season are right around the corner. This confluence of circumstances cause the coming week to make our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2025. (On the “worst” side, obviously.)
At the risk of stating the obvious, guests fly into MCO before their first park days, so that airport stress test will occur prior to the parks seeing increased crowd levels. We’ll be heading to Orlando very soon (hopefully?), and will report back on our experience at the airport.
As we’ve repeatedly reported, MCO has broken passenger volume records over the course of the last couple of years and almost all of its busiest days, weeks, and months ever have occurred since 2022. The airport is only just starting to slow down and not see year-over-year growth.
The current rolling 12-month total is 56,737,251 passengers, which is still close to record levels and well above the 2019 baseline. This is largely due to a decrease in domestic travelers, as the international volume continues to show robust growth and set new records.
Regardless, these numbers are really extraordinary and reflective of the airport more or less hitting a soft ceiling on its operational capacity. (Meaning the off-season has excess bandwidth, but there’s a lack of demand; peak season has unsatisfied demand, but the airport is already bursting at the seams.)
Anyone who has traveled through MCO in the last few years has probably seen this, and it doesn’t really matter what time of year, what time of day, etc. The airport is almost always busy.
Seating areas at the gates are so full that they’ve added overflow seating to walkways, and those are now full. The parking lots routinely are full, there’s traffic congestion just dropping people off or making pickups, lines to get through TSA are often 30+ minutes–you get the idea.
We experienced this first-hand and documented it in Our Awful Airport Experiences at Walt Disney World from last Christmas. Those were major problems getting from Walt Disney World to MCO, and then at the Delta counter for self-service luggage drop. That line ended up taking me over an hour. Just to drop off a bag and verify my ID.
Ultimately, Orlando International Airport clearly has infrastructure issues and badly needs both modernization of the existing facilities and further expansion. The airport was built decades ago when passenger volume was far lower and different, and Terminal C was a smaller swing than it should’ve been thanks to COVID.
MCO is now one of the busiest airports in the United States. It’s now a lot like LAX, which isn’t a favorable comparison. We’ve discussed this at length elsewhere. The government shutdown is only going to exacerbate all of this, making the infrastructure cracks even more prounounced.
If you’re flying into or out of Orlando as part of a holiday-time trip to Walt Disney World, you need to pack your patience…and your politeness. Regardless of your feelings on the federal government shutdown, I would hope we can all agree that the frontline employees have no say in the matter and that it’s very difficult to work without pay. We should all be grateful that they’re there and doing their jobs, even if it comes with lengthy delays.
So be thankful and express a little gratitude, as opposed to rudeness over the delays. (Obviously, this applies to TSA agents; you can’t exactly thank an air traffic controller.)
At the risk of stating the obvious, we’d also recommend arriving at MCO earlier than normal to give yourself sufficient time to get through security and any other delays you might encounter. If you haven’t already booked flights, I would also err on the side of earlier arrival and departure times, to give yourself a buffer in the event of delays or cancellations. It may not help, but it very well might.
If you’re eligible, you might want to use the free Airport Luggage Transfer at Walt Disney World. This is totally unrelated to the government shutdown; just good advice during busier times of year at MCO. (See the above about luggage drop-off delays.)
We would also caution against using Mears Connect for returning to the airport (from MCO to WDW is fine). Although we’ve never had issues, we’ve heard horror stories, and with the likelihood of increased delays in getting through security, your margin for error is much more slim.
For whatever it’s worth, we’re monitoring the situation when it comes to our own travel and preparing to modify future plans; our normal late night flights into SNA risk being diverted to LAX if they’re too late and miss curfew. I’m also considering switching to LAX in the first place for the sake of nonstop flights and easier pivots. Even if your circumstances are different, you might consider the same if you have multiple smaller and larger airport options near you. Good luck!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What do you think about the delays and cancellations at MCO? Expect this to get worse before it gets better? Please avoid any political or antagonistic comments; obviously, this is caused by the federal government shutdown, which is inherently political, but there’s a way to discuss the result and impacts without dragging personal politics into this. Otherwise, hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Get our free newsletter!
Sign up for news, Disney deals & free planning tips
