ORLANDO, Fla. –

Nearly 3 million people are expected to pass through Orlando International Airport over the next 17 days.

The 2024 holiday travel period begins Friday and runs through January 5, 2025.

The busiest travel day is expected to be Saturday, December 28, with a total of more than 192,000 arrivals and departures.

Orlando will host several college football bowl games in the next few weeks and is one of the top 10 global destinations for Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

MCO encourages travelers to arrive at the airport three hours before their scheduled flight so they have enough time to park, check in their luggage, go through security and find their gate.

Travelers WESH spoke to Friday said arriving early appeared to be a prerequisite for a smooth travel day.

“I left much earlier,” said Theresa Torpey, who had just flown to the MCO.

“We are here very early for safety reasons,” said Michelle Reyher, who left the MCO after spending time at Disney with her daughter.

And for Torpey, her travel day went well.

“Today was a great day to travel,” she said.

But it didn’t go smoothly for everyone. Literally. One family feared delays could put them off their cruise.

“We’re desperately trying to catch a cruise ship leaving Fort Lauderdale tomorrow,” said Stephanie Bean, a traveler from Virginia.

She and her family made a stopover in Orlando. One that kept getting longer.

“It’s been delayed twice now,” Bean said. “Now we’re supposed to leave after midnight. So we have to make a difficult decision: should we take a car and drive or should we just stay at the airport for a long time.”

While delays aren’t exactly creating much holiday cheer, it’s still looking positive.

“Everything is still up in the air, but at least we are together,” she said.