What to expect these 2020 Holidays in Florida?
- tianyalexandra
- Nov 11, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 28, 2020
With cold winds hitting North and Christmas around the corner, Florida's warm weather and the incredible deals sound like a great choice to spend the holidays this 2020. While many are planning to travel by ground, airlines are resuming their flights across the US and internationally to lift up the travel industry.
Last month at Orlando International Airport (MCO) 31 services were resumed to 27 markets by nine airlines, including non-stop service to Westchester County, Portland (OR), San Antonio, San Diego, Memphis, Latrobe, Akron/Canton, Montreal and Toronto. Central Florida got 30,000 passengers per day in average! Now in November, 33 services are starting including Charleston, SC on Silver Airways and Ft. Myers, FL on Southwest as well as resumption of nonstop service to six markets: Harrisburg, Madison, Myrtle Beach, Oklahoma City, Omaha and Portland (ME). A total of 74 U.S. destinations available!
If you are planning to travel from or to Latin-America, then you have more options now! Avianca resumed this November its non-stop flights from Orlando International Airport (MCO) to Bogota, Colombia. This is the first international service to South America to return to MCO since COVID-19 travel restrictions. Avianca’s non-stop service consists of twice weekly flights on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but from December 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021 the frequency will be expanded to four days a week with the addition of Monday and Thursday flights.
Theme park wise, things are also looking different this year. At Disney World,
from Nov. 6-Dec. 30, guests will be able to enjoy festive décor, themed merchandise, seasonal food & beverage offerings and entertainment. Holiday magic will be in full force at the four theme parks and Disney Springs, and Santa Claus will make time for special pop-up appearances at each location, waving and exclaiming holiday wishes to all. However, holiday experiences that draw big crowds will be on hiatus this year, such as Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party and Candlelight Processional at EPCOT. Even the appearance of the iconic castle will be transformed with a rotating series of designs including a whimsical Christmas sweater and a regal overlay of red, green and gold ornamentation. This will be in place of the Castle Dream Lights. At Universal Studios, Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s won’t be making its way through the streets, but you can still see the balloons and floats up close like never before in this new walkthrough experience. Holidays at Universal Orlando Resort start Nov. 14 – Jan. 3, with hot Butterbeer staying even longer!
In South Florida, this November 15 Southwest Airlines is launching daily flights from Miami International Airport to Baltimore, Chicago, Houston, and Tampa. And if you didn't know, four international airlines, including Air France and EL AL USA, returned to MIA this past month. Hopefully, the South Florida destination will see a recover during this holiday season as well to increase those low daily passenger numbers from April and October, 6,000 and 40,000 respectively. In an interview with Diario Las Américas, Lester Sola, executive director of the MIA and the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, reported that 95% of those 40,000 daily passengers are attributed to domestic flights and only 5% travel abroad, mainly to the Caribbean and South America.
Sadly, this year the Polar Express in Ft. Lauderdale won't be hosting passengers this 2020. But you can still go check out the “Symphony in Lights” or The Grinch’s Grotto at the Aventura Mall.
If you are planning to take flight to or from Florida, here are some airlines that have resumed service:
At MIA
American Airlines: Aruba, Antigua, Atlanta, Austin, Barranquilla, Bogota, Cali, Cancun, Cartagena, Charleston (SC), Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Freeport, Gainesville, Georgetown, Guatemala, Guayaquil, Hartford, Havana, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Key West, Las Vegas, Liberia Costa Rica, Lima, London, Los Angeles, Medellin, Mexico City, Montego Bay, Nashville, Nassau, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Pensacola, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Port-Au-Prince, Puerto Plata DO, Punta Cana, Quito, San Francisco, San Jose, San Juan, San Salvador, Santo Domingo, Savannah, St. Louis, St. Maarten, Tallahassee, Tampa, Tegucigalpa, and Washington DC.
Avianca: Medellin, San Salvador
Copa Airlines: Panama City
Delta Air Lines: Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York, Cincinnati, Ft. Myers.
Frontier Airlines: Denver
LATAM Airlines: Lima, Santiago de Chile
United Airlines: Chicago, Denver, Houston, Newark, Washington DC.
Aeromexico: Mexico City
British Airways: London
Iberia: Madrid
Lufthansa: Frankfurt
TAP Air Portugal: Lisbon
Turkish Airlines: Istanbul
At MCO
AeroMexico: Mexico City
Air Canada: Toronto
American Airlines: Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.
Avianca: Bogota
Cancun (JetBlue and Spirit), Guadalajara, Mexico City (AeroMexico), Montego Bay, Montreal,
Copa Airlines: Panama City
Delta Airlines: Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles.
Frontier: Atlanta, Detroit, Islip, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles.
JetBlue: Boston, Cancun, Montego Bay, New York, Newark, San Juan, Richmond, San Jose Costa Rica, Providence.
Southwest: Atlanta, Albany, Baltimore, Birmingham, Buffalo, Chicago, Columbus Dallas, Denver, Louisville, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Montego Bay, Nashville, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Houston, San Juan and more.
Spirit: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Newark, San Juan, and Pittsburg.
United: Chicago, Denver, Houston, Newark, New York, and Washington.
If you are curious about other upcoming destinations like Brazil, Lima and Europe, check out the MCO flights calendar here.
Would you travel to Florida this Holiday season?
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