If you’re flying to or from Orlando for the first time (or the first time in a while), the experience can be stressful to say the least.

With airport construction, more arriving and departing flights, and LOTS of people, navigating the airport and your travel experience can be overwhelming if you aren’t prepared. Luckily for you, we travel to Disney World all the time and are in the Orlando International Airport (MCO) probably more often than we’d like to admit.

When visiting MCO, there are always a couple things that shock us just a little bit, no matter how much we’re prepared. Whether we’re arriving to or departing from MCO, there are two important things to note prior to arriving — in order to avoid stress and being late for our flights. Let’s talk about it!

LONG Lines. Like, No Matter What.

No matter what day, month, or season it is, there are always security lines at MCO. They can set you back a few hours, so make sure to come prepared, especially if you don’t have TSA PreCheck.

MCO actually suggests arriving to the airport 3 hours ahead of time so that your chances of arriving late at your gate are lower. Similarly, plan to wait a while for food if you’ll be eating at one of the airport restaurants. The lines are generally very long there, too.

Full Parking Garages

If you’re driving to MCO for a departing flight, come prepared for a parking spot scavenger hunt. Parking is nearly always a challenge here, so be ready and don’t let it cause you to be late!

Unfortunately, it is recommended that you arrive even earlier to account for the time spent searching for parking on top of the time spent waiting in security and check-in lines.

Well, there you have it! Although these situations will still likely be somewhat stressful, we hope they can be less stressful now that you’ve gotten the heads up to arrive earlier. We’ll continue to provide you with all the best Disney and travel tips, so follow along for more!

Traveling to Disney soon? Check out our packing list here!

Do you have any MCO horror stories? Share them in the comments below!

The post 2 Things That Shocked Us About the Orlando Airport first appeared on the disney food blog.