Orlando International Airport’s Terminal C has been open a little more than a year now, As of its Sept. 20 anniversary, the architecturally striking building has seen nearly 6.4 million passengers flow through its sun-soaked chambers, and 48,300 flights take off or land.
It’s been a year of mixed reviews. Depending on who’s talking, the new terminal is either a mess, a miracle or a mystery.
We’d vote for a bit of the first and third, but mostly, a magnificent miracle. The massive terminal has seen some mid-flight corrections. Overall, however, it’s lived up to its hype. Airport authorities are making plans to take better advantage of the most technologically advanced airports in the nation — including shifting more domestic flights to C, alleviating crowding at Terminals A and B — and moving to address the most common complaints about the newest addition.
The mess
That starts with, ugh, the interminable hike from the TSA checkpoint to the farthest gates on C’s east side.
Certainly, a half-mile walk is something that a healthy adult should be able to manage with ease. But not all the people flowing through this facility fit that description. And few people would set out on a walk encumbered with the kinds of burdens many tourists tote — suitcases, strollers, wheelchairs and wayward children—or sprinting to make a flight that will close its doors in 10 minutes, with or without them aboard.
Complaints about the distance to Gate C20, one of those slotted for JetBlue departures and arrivals, started piling up almost immediately. To their credit, airport authorities quickly tried to address the problems. A few months after C opened, they mobilized a fleet of zippy little transport vehicles to rescue winded passengers. But it never should have come to this: It’s now clear that the 2017 decision to eliminate a planned-for moving walkway was a mistake (something prescient individuals pointed out at the time, to no avail).
Adding one has become a priority, airport officials told Spectrum News 13 recently. Also in the works: More car-rental facilities in the new terminal, and an elevated bridge that will connect C to the older A and B terminals without forcing passengers to trudge through C’s garage.
These are all great, but in the interim, would it be possible to concentrate popular flights at the closest gates? As airport officials move forward with plans to shift more domestic flights over to C, it will become increasingly difficult to manage an adequate flow of transports to rescue winded passengers.
The miracles
There’s no denying, however, that the new terminal is packed with the latest in airport technology — the most notable of which travels on rails, not wings. Brightline trains are now running a regular schedule between Orlando and South Florida, and the reviews are enthusiastic. It remains to be seen how the ridership will stack up in the long term — but for now, it’s a thrill just to see the “accelerating serpent mottled in sherbert colors, slithering by jets and terminals, and getting its day finally to derail a decade of doubters, deniers and detractors,” as the Sentinel’s Kevin Spear wrote Sep. 23.
When the local-commuter SunRail spur to the airport is completed — something that should remain a priority — that will be one more link to a transportation future that many Orlando residents couldn’t envision just a decade ago.
Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes improvements are making routine airport tasks like baggage handling more precise and foolproof. Work has already started on eight more “narrow-body” gates that will allow more airlines to use C, currently reserved for JetBlue and international travelers.
And getting through C’s security checkpoints is a breeze, even on busy holiday weekends.
Among Terminal C’s most striking features, however, are the stunning digital-art exhibits throughout the facility. Since the terminal opened, photos of the exhibits have flooded social media. Many passengers clearly find them captivating.
The mysteries
But that leads us to one unanswered question: Airport folks, what is up with those spitting gargoyles?
For most of the digital displays, it’s easy to see the connection to Orlando: Giant manatees floating serenely in blue waters, families screaming with joy on roller coasters.
But one giant installation known as the “Moment Vault,” overlooking the busy food court at the juncture of C’s two concourses, is truly puzzling. Most of the online attention has focused on the panels inside the installation, which track the movement of nearby humans to generate stunning, abstract selfie-ready images. But from the seating area, travelers focus on its three-part, curving exterior.
At first, screens show a massive, ivy-covered wall. But then the digital vines shrivel back to reveal images of carved-stone animals (which seem to be modeled on Florida wildlife) and Gorgon-like human heads — and that’s when the spitting starts, with narrow streams of actual water projected at adjacent images.
If you think it sounds weird, well, it is. Orlando has certainly never been known as the City with Giant Walls of Spitting Gargoyles.
What’s even stranger is that nobody seems to be commenting on it. The more often we look at it (we found a short video, which we’ll link to online) the more we succumb to its goofy impudence. We’d still love to hear the backstory — one of our two big questions about C, along with “Did the people who laid out the gates here ever tried to trot half-a-mile dragging a suitcase with one busted wheel while maintaining a firm grip on an overstimulated toddler?”
Overall, it’s clear, however, that Terminal C belongs solidly in the “win” category, and give airport officials full credit for recognizing the tweaks needed to make it even better than it already is.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Contact us at insight@orlandosentinel.com
