Terminal C at Orlando International Airport numbers its passenger floors 1, 2, 4 and 6
The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority publishes facilities on four floors of Terminal C, and Levels 3 and 5 are not among them. Cars drop passengers at Level 2 and collect them at Level 6. In Terminals A and B the same two curbs sit one floor apart, with departures on top.
Terminal C at Orlando International Airport opened in 2022 and is the only building at MCO where the departures curb sits four floors below the arrivals curb. The reason is printed on the airport’s own Terminal C page. Passengers arriving on international flights enter the terminal on the top floor, and the building was laid out downward from there.
Everything below was read from Greater Orlando Aviation Authority pages at flymco.com in September 2026, and from the Brightline Orlando Station page for the rail half. Where two pages of the same issuer disagree, and they do twice, both readings appear with the page each came from. Parking rates are not the subject here. The floors are.
| Terminal C floor as MCO labels it | What the airport publishes on it | What arrives or leaves from it |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1, Ground Transportation | Lost & Found, 8:00am to 4:00pm daily; Global Entry Enrollment Center; Orlando Police Department; nursing room | Out of town shuttles at spaces C205 to C209, parking shuttles at C285 and C286, Universal’s SuperStar Shuttle at C282 and C283, hotel shuttles at C270 and C271 |
| Level 2, Check-in | Airline check-in, the single security checkpoint, the Windows on Orlando displays and Palm Court | The Departures Curb, used by private cars and by Uber, Lyft, Wingz and KreweCar |
| Level 4 | On-airport rental car counters, the Visitor Toll Pass counter, Eola Market as a 24 hour vending machine, nursing room | The bridge to Parking Garage C and the bridge to the Ground Transportation Facility |
| Level 6 | Bag Claim, Customs & Immigration, the Meet & Greet Area, the airline recheck counters, Barnie’s Coffee & Tea and Starbucks | The Arrivals Curb, where ride share collects and where private cars may pick up |
An airport that grew a third building and gave it a different vertical order
For decades Orlando International Airport ran on one building. Terminals A and B are opposite sides of a single structure only 525 feet across, and the airport tells passengers to cross between them on Level 3. Terminal C is a separate building on the south side of the airfield, and the Aviation Authority describes it as the only airport terminal in the United States connected to an intercity passenger rail service.
Scale explains part of the difference. A page devoted to the Terminal C Expansion records that MCO opened a new wing with gates numbered 250 through 254, designed as Multiple Aircraft Ramp System gates that hold up to eight narrow body aircraft positions or four wide body aircraft. GOAA writes that the extra capacity helps the airport accommodate 10 to 12 million passengers annually, against nearly 58 million through MCO in 2025.
The rail hall came first. The South Airport Terminal Link station opened in November 2017, five years before the terminal it now serves, and the airport gives it 200,000 square feet. The wider complex around it is published as approximately 1.3 million square feet of terminal space built for up to three regional rail systems. How the resulting eight ground modes are priced and where each one waits is set out in the guide to every way out of Orlando International Airport.
The departures floor of Terminal C is Level 2, and the airport lists one facility on it
On the Terminal Maps page the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority prints a single entry under Terminal C Level 2: Airline Check-In. That one line covers the check-in counters for the eighteen airlines the airport assigns to Terminal C, the security checkpoint, and the entrance to gates C230 to C238.
Two art installations anchor the same floor and give it landmarks the facilities list does not. Windows on Orlando stands at the entrance to gates C230 to C238 as three identical LED displays, each 30 feet wide and 33 feet tall. The Moment Vault sits in Palm Court on the same level. Both are catalogued by GOAA with their level, which is what makes them usable as landmarks.
A car reaches Terminal C on Level 2 as well. The airport permits private vehicles to drop passengers at the Departures Curb on Level 2 at Terminal C, against Level 3 at Terminals A and B, and applies the same split to ride share drop-off. A driver who knows MCO from Terminals A and B and heads for the upper deck is applying the wrong building’s logic.
Level 6 is where an international arrival enters the building
The airport’s International Connections page for Terminal C sets out the sequence. After leaving the aircraft, passengers go to Baggage Claim and the Customs & Immigration area, collect every checked bag including oversize items, and clear passport control with biometric screening. Global Entry kiosks and the CBP Mobile Passport Control app are available, and the app form can be completed up to 4 hours before landing.
What follows is the part that surprises people. Passengers exit through one way doors onto Level 6, where recheck counters stand outside the exit doors for Aer Lingus, Aeromexico, Avianca, Azul, Copa, Discover, Emirates, Icelandair and JetBlue. After dropping the bag, the instruction is to proceed to the Level 2 security checkpoint and continue to gates 230 to 254. A connecting passenger therefore lands at the top of Terminal C and walks down four floors to reach the gates.
Level 6 is also the meeting floor. GOAA names a Meet & Greet Area there, publishes the international baggage claim art on the same level, and tells drivers that picking up at the Arrivals Curb on Level 6 is permitted only while actively loading. Its advice is to wait in a cell phone lot and allow at least 20 minutes after the aircraft arrival time, or 40 minutes if the passenger has checked baggage.
The only floor of Terminal C that touches another building is Level 4
Nothing on Level 4 is an airport gate or a curb. The Terminal Maps page lists a bridge to Garage C, a bridge to the Ground Transportation Facility, the on-airport rental car counters, a nursing room, and Eola Market described as a 24 hour vending machine. That vending machine is the only entry on the whole Terminal C facilities list that carries an hour of any kind.
Two instructions elsewhere on flymco.com point to the same floor. The airport tells anyone walking to the Train Station from Terminal C to exit on Level 4 and walk through Parking Garage C. And its Visitor Toll Pass answer places the Terminal C pick-up point at Level 4, near rental car counters, the same floor the Terminal Maps page gives the on-airport rental agencies. Which company hands over the keys on which level is worked through in the breakdown of car rental levels at Orlando airport.
That floor is invisible to a passenger who does not drive. Somebody arriving by air, collecting a bag on Level 6 and leaving in a taxi never passes through it. Somebody parking in Garage C, renting a car or walking to a train uses it every time.
Level 1 holds the curb, and two agencies Terminals A and B do not list
Ground Transportation at Terminal C is Level 1, the same number the airport uses at Terminals A and B, and it is the one floor where the three buildings agree. The facilities list gives it Lost & Found, a nursing room, out of town shuttles, parking shuttles and resort transportation.
Two entries on it appear nowhere in the Terminal A or Terminal B lists. The Global Entry Enrollment Center is published on Terminal C Level 1, while the TSA PreCheck Enrollment Center is published on Terminal B Level 2, so the two trusted traveller programs enrol in different buildings. The Orlando Police Department is named on Terminal C Level 1 and on neither of the other two facility lists.
Lost property splits by hours rather than by building. GOAA runs a Lost and Found counter in Terminal A on Level 1 from 7:00am to 7:30pm daily and one in Terminal C on Level 1 from 8:00am to 4:00pm daily. That desk is open eight hours against twelve and a half, so a bag left on an evening arrival into Terminal C waits until the next morning.
Terminal C against Terminals A and B, one task at a time
The comparison below uses only what the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority publishes, and holds the passenger constant: one traveller with a checked bag, arriving or departing on a scheduled flight, without a reservation for anything.
| What the passenger is doing | Terminals A and B | Terminal C |
|---|---|---|
| Being dropped off by car | Departures Curb, Level 3 | Departures Curb, Level 2 |
| Checking in and clearing security | Level 3, with two checkpoints for gates 1-59 and 70-129 | Level 2, with one checkpoint for gates C230-C254 |
| Reaching a gate outside your own pair | Not possible after security without clearing it again | Possible, because one checkpoint serves every Terminal C gate |
| Collecting checked bags | Level 2, carousels 1-16 at A and 20-32 at B | Level 6, alongside Customs & Immigration |
| Being picked up by car | Arrivals Curb, Level 2 | Arrivals Curb, Level 6 |
| Crossing to the other terminals | 525 feet across, on Level 3 | Terminal Link plus approximately 1,200 feet through Parking Garage C |
| Enrolling in a trusted traveller program | TSA PreCheck Enrollment Center, Terminal B, Level 2 | Global Entry Enrollment Center, Level 1 |
| Reporting lost property in person | Terminal A, Level 1, 7:00am to 7:30pm daily | Level 1, 8:00am to 4:00pm daily |
Read the four movement rows together and one rule covers all of them. Everything Terminals A and B put on Level 3, Terminal C puts on Level 2; everything they put on Level 2, it puts on Level 6. The gap between the two buildings widens as the passenger moves from departing to arriving.
The four minute ride that two Greater Orlando Aviation Authority pages describe differently
The Terminal Top parking page tells drivers that Terminal C is accessed via a 4-minute Terminal Link ride, and the Parking Garage C page says the reverse for Terminals A and B. Read alone, either sentence describes a train that stops inside all three buildings.
The airport’s own frequently asked questions page describes something else. It states that the Terminal Link operates 24 hours per day between Terminal B and the Train Station, and that reaching Terminal C then requires a walk of approximately 1,200 feet through Parking Garage C. Its Terminal Maps page agrees with the second version, placing the Terminal Link on Level 3 of the Train Station and access to Terminal C on Level 5, in a different building from the terminal itself.
A second option is published only in the FAQ. A shuttle bus runs 24 hours a day between Terminal C Level 1 at space C272 and Terminal B Level 1 at space B65. Neither space appears on the ground transportation pages where MCO publishes the numbered bays for taxis, shuttle vans, hotel shuttles, out of town shuttles and the local bus, so the only place a passenger finds them is an answer filed under Getting Around.
Winner by scenario, judged on the published wording alone. Connecting between Terminal C and Terminal B with luggage and time to spare, the shuttle bus wins, because GOAA gives it a curb, a space number at each end and a 24 hour clock, with no walk through a garage. Travelling light on a tight connection, the Terminal Link wins on the 4 minute figure, provided the 1,200 feet is added to it rather than assumed away. Neither wins for a passenger who reads only the parking page, because that page publishes the ride and not the walk.
Parking Garage C checks bags for six airlines, and five of them fly from another building
Alongside the terminal sits Parking Garage C, which GOAA describes as being on the South Entrance Road adjacent to the South Terminal Link station, with 1,690 parking spaces and remote check-in facilities. The remote counters serve domestic flights on Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest and United, with a minimum of 90 minutes before departure and opening hours between 6:00 am and 2:00 pm.
Cross that list against the airport’s airlines page and only one of the six flies from Terminal C. JetBlue is assigned to Terminal C. Alaska, American, Delta and United are Terminal B carriers and Southwest is at Terminal A. Five of the six airlines whose bags are accepted in the Terminal C garage operate out of the building on the other side of the airfield.
That is a useful asymmetry rather than an error. A Southwest passenger who parks in Garage C can drop a bag at 8:00 am, ride the Terminal Link to Terminal B and cross the 525 feet to Terminal A without luggage. The catch is the same one the parking pages carry: what a night in Garage C actually costs is a separate question, laid out in the comparison of every MCO parking rate.
The MCO Train Station puts Brightline on Level 5 and the Terminal Link on Level 3
The Train Station is a third building with its own floor numbering, and the numbers interleave with Terminal C rather than matching it. GOAA publishes Brightline, access to Terminal C, access to Parking Garage C and on-airport rental car agencies on Level 5; the Terminal Link to Terminals A and B plus a second access to Parking Garage C on Level 3; and the passenger drop-off lane, taxi, ride share and access to the surface lots on Level 1.
Hours are where the two issuers part company. Orlando International Airport lists the Brightline station under Hours of Operation as Daily 5am to 11pm. Brightline publishes its own Orlando station hours as Monday to Sunday, 4:30 AM to Last Train Departure, with station parking open 24 hours. The operator opens half an hour earlier than the airport says and declines to name a closing time at all.
The walk is measured twice as well, in different units. Approximately 1,200 feet through Parking Garage C is the airport’s figure. Brightline tells its guests that from Terminal C the station is a walk of 13 minutes, and separately that a driver parking in Garage C should head to Level 5 for the skyway bridge and a walk of 5 minutes. The only published difference between those two figures is the starting floor, which is the sort of detail worth allowing for on a train with 16 daily round trips and hourly departures.
Details on the Terminal C pages that decide where a passenger stands
- One checkpoint serves the whole terminal. GOAA writes that Terminal C only has one security checkpoint and so all gates may be accessed once you have passed through security, which the airlines page confirms by giving every Terminal C carrier the same range, C230-C254.
- The gate assignments have not caught up with the wing. Fifteen of the eighteen Terminal C airlines are listed at gates C240-C245, JetBlue at C230-C238, Porter at C230-C245 and Virgin Atlantic at C238-C245, while the expansion gates numbered 250 to 254 carry no airline on that page and are the ones GOAA describes as carrying Common Use equipment.
- JetBlue is the only Terminal C airline with Curbside Check-In listed as Yes, and GOL the only one listed as not offering TSA PreCheck. Every other Terminal C carrier answers No to curbside check-in and Yes to PreCheck.
- Aircraft spotting is permitted on Level 6 of Parking Garage C, next to Terminal C, and the airport requires an online form reviewed by a GOAA representative before anyone uses it.
- For meeting somebody past security, the airport points Terminal C arrivals to the Experience MCO Visitor Pass. Applications open up to seven days ahead, entry is restricted to between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., and holders must leave the terminals by 8:00 p.m.
- Nursing rooms in Terminal C are published on Level 1 and Level 2, then again near gates C234, C238 and C244, and on Level 4 near the bridge to Garage C in the Ground Transportation Facility.
- The Hyatt Regency is not in Terminal C. The airport’s own answer places it between Terminals A and B, above the security checkpoint for gates 70-129, which is a different building from the one Brightline serves and a factor in choosing between the terminal hotel and the airport hotels outside.
Five assumptions about Terminal C that the airport’s own pages contradict
Treating Terminal C like Terminals A and B is the first. Departures sits above arrivals in the older building and below it in the newer one, so a driver dropping at Level 3 and a passenger waiting at Level 2 are both in the wrong place at Terminal C by four floors and one respectively.
Believing the Terminal Link stops inside Terminal C is the second. Two parking pages describe a 4-minute ride to the terminal, while the FAQ and the Terminal Maps page put the train at the Train Station and add a walk of approximately 1,200 feet through a garage. Budget for the walk, because the airport publishes it.
Timing a train from the airport’s hours is the third. Hours of Operation on the airport page read Daily 5am to 11pm, while Brightline lists 4:30 AM to Last Train Departure. Neither issuer has changed to match the other, so the safe reading is the operator’s for the first train and the airport’s for the last.
Trusting the Terminal C description page for the airline list is the fourth. That page names ten carriers, including Lufthansa, which does not appear on the airlines page at all, while the airlines page assigns eighteen to Terminal C. The same description page still says 15 gates, and the expansion page adds five more.
Assuming Parking Garage C means a Terminal C flight is the fifth. The garage takes remote bag check for six airlines between 6:00 am and 2:00 pm, and five of them, including Southwest and Delta, board on the far side of the airfield. Anyone driving in from the coast should also confirm which terminal the flight uses before choosing a floor, and the reverse trip to the cruise coast is measured in the guide from Orlando airport to Port Canaveral.
Which Greater Orlando Aviation Authority page carries each Terminal C figure
The level lists, the facilities and the bridges came from the Terminal Maps page. The gate count, the Train Station description and Parking Garage C’s 1,690 spaces came from the Terminal C page in the airport’s frequently asked questions. The airline assignments, gate ranges and PreCheck answers came from the airlines page, the arrivals sequence from International Connections for Terminal C, and the wing with gates 250 to 254 from the Terminal C Expansion page. All were read in September 2026.
The rail figures have two issuers. Hours of 5am to 11pm, the ride share levels and the 1,200 foot walk are the airport’s; the 4:30 AM opening, the 13 minutes from Terminal C, the 5 minutes from Garage C Level 5 and the 16 daily round trips are Brightline’s, from its Orlando station page. Both readings appear above with the issuer attached, and neither is corrected against the other.
The figures in this guide were verified in September 2026 against the sources named in each section. Parking rates usually change in January, shuttle fares and cruise line transfer prices change by season, and ship schedules change weekly; check the issuer’s page before you travel. No provider paid for placement here, and none can pay to appear. Where a booking link earns Lot and Gate a commission it is marked as sponsored and flagged in this line, and as of September 2026 no affiliate link is live anywhere on this site.
What travellers ask about the floors, curbs and rail link at MCO Terminal C
The answers below use the same September 2026 readings as the tables above, including the Level 2 drop-off and Level 6 pick-up that the airport publishes on its ride share page and repeats in its FAQ.
Level 6. The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority puts bag claim, Customs and Immigration, the Meet and Greet Area and the Arrivals Curb on Level 6 of Terminal C. Ride share and taxis collect there. Departures, check-in and security sit four floors below, on Level 2.
On the Departures Curb at Level 2. The airport publishes that level for private vehicles and for Uber, Lyft, Wingz and KreweCar alike, while Terminals A and B use Level 3. Pick-up at Terminal C is Level 6, so the two curbs are in different parts of the building.
Two ways, both published by the airport. The Terminal Link runs 24 hours per day between Terminal B and the Train Station, and reaching Terminal C from it takes a walk of approximately 1,200 feet through Parking Garage C. A shuttle bus also runs 24 hours, between space C272 and space B65.
No. Brightline Orlando Station sits on Level 5 of the MCO Train Station, a separate building reached from Terminal C by a pedestrian bridge. Brightline calls the walk from Terminal C 13 minutes. GOAA measures it as approximately 1,200 feet through Parking Garage C.
The two issuers do not agree. The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority lists the Brightline station at the MCO Train Station as open Daily 5am to 11pm. Brightline publishes its Orlando station hours as Monday to Sunday, 4:30 AM to last train departure, with station parking open 24 hours.
Eighteen, on the airport’s airlines page: Aer Lingus, Aeromexico, Air France, Avianca, Azul, British Airways, Caribbean, Copa, Discover, Emirates, GOL, Iberia, Icelandair, JetBlue, Norse Atlantic UK, Porter, Virgin Atlantic and Zipair. All clear one checkpoint covering gates C230 to C254.
A terminal that reads upside down because the aircraft door is at the top
Terminal C is not confusing by accident. The building, opened in 2022, was laid out so that an international arrival steps off the aircraft into daylight on the top floor, claims a bag before passport control, and works downward, which forces the arrivals curb to Level 6 and pushes departures to Level 2.
The rest follows from that single decision. The rental counters and the garage bridge sit on Level 4, between the two ends. The Train Station meets the terminal at its own Level 5. And a driver who learned the airport on the 525 feet of Terminals A and B arrives at Level 2, which in Terminal C is where passengers leave rather than where they appear.
Four floors between the two curbs of one building, published on the same airport page.