How to travel from Singapore to Orlando’s Walt Disney World

We’ve been wanting to go to the largest Disney resort in the world, which is Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, in the United States. As you know, it’s literally on the other side of the world from Singapore, and the Southeast Asian region. Travelling halfway across the world can feel intimidating and difficult, but we’ve done some (actually a lot) of research and are here to share with you what we’ve found. 

I’ve always been jealous of how people living in the US and Canada, and Central and South America can easily travel to the Disney parks in Orlando and California, but then I remember that we in Asia also have convenient access to the three Disneyland resorts in the continent. Here’s our guide on the three Disneyland resorts in Asia, namely in Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. 

Back to planning travel from Asia to Orlando. There are actually many convenient flights that fly nonstop from Singapore and the region to the popular cities in the US like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and New York. Singapore Airlines flies these routes nonstop on their A350 Long Range and A350 Ultra Long Range aircraft. The A350 ULRs only have Business Class and Premium Economy Class, making the journey that much more pleasant. 

Best flights to take from Singapore and Asia to Orlando’s Walt Disney World 

Emirates

The most fuss-free way to travel from Singapore to Orlando, US, is to fly by Emirates. This includes one stop in Dubai, UAE. The first leg takes about 7 hours and the second leg goes straight to Orlando in about 17 hours. Total travel time is about 26 hours. You’ll soon find out that this is the norm - 24 hours or more, with one or two stops! 

Economy tickets cost around SGD2,000, while Business class tickets cost at least SGD8,000 return. Premium Economy is only available from Singapore to Dubai. The flight from Dubai to Orlando only has Economy or Business. 

Singapore Airlines + domestic US airline 

The second easiest way is to fly Singapore Airlines from Singapore to New York - either John F Kennedy Airport or Newark Airport (about 17 hours), and then take a domestic flight onwards to Orlando (2-3 hours). 

The fun thing here is that there are only Premium Economy and Business class seats on the SIA flights to New York. Premium Economy tickets cost about SGD1,700 while Business is about SGD6,500 return. 

The domestic flight cost can vary a lot, depending on the time you fly and the airline. Rough estimates are from USD200-800 on Economy, and USD800+ on “First”. I put “First” in double inverted commas because domestic first class in the US is pretty poor. They’re just wider recliner seats. And you don’t even get lounge access. You’ll need to be on their membership tier to get that access. 

United Air

The simplest and cheapest way to fly from Singapore to Orlando is actually on United Air. The total travel time is about 22 hours - including a stopover at San Francisco. However, I'd say this is the most uncomfortable way to travel for a whole entire day. Firstly, you'd probably be familiar with the bad reputation of the airlines in the US, and there have been tons of anecdotes and news reports over the years on this - from poor service to overbooking. Secondly, the economy seats in the United can feel cramped, especially so on such a long flight. Thirdly, the subsequent domestic flight from SF to Orlando is about 6 hours on the narrow body (most likely) 737. Economy tickets cost about SGD1,500 This would again be quite uncomfortable in the cramped space. But if you don't mind, it can work!

From around Southeast Asia 

This would be the case for flights originating from many other Southeast Asian countries. Be it from Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia - you can take an Emirates flight from these countries to Dubai and go onwards to Orlando. 

If you prefer, you could fly a short hop to Singapore, before taking the ultra long haul flight nonstop to New York, then to Orlando. 

From Japan, there are many flights that fly nonstop to many US cities, from which you can take domestic US flights to Orlando as well. 

Basically, there isn’t a short nonstop way to fly from Southeast Asia to Orlando in particular, so we just have to make do with what we have.