Airport, WDW, Cruise, WDW, Airport...anyone done this ?

[Biddler]

Just trying to figure out how to transport a family of 5 to all these different locations. Has anyone done this before? I have noticed land/sea packages, however, I don't see them going back to WDW, they go to the airport from the ship. Any help would be great. Thanks

 

[JeffPort]

We are doing this exact same thing in January -- with a family of 6.

To me, the ideal solution is simple: You'll need to rent a car. It's the cheapest option for a group of your size and you'll have tremendous flexibility. I'd suggest a mini-van, but (depending on your luggage quantity) you could also get a mid-size, full-size, or SUV. With a little bit of hunting, you should be able to rent a mini-van for about $250 per week. (Go to Mousesavers.com for good car rental information. Also, lmcarrental.net is usually a good value at Orlando airport. I've used them a few times now.)

If you are taking a 7 night cruise, you'll probably want to drop your car off at the rental office near the port and then pick up a new rental on the day you get back into port. We're going on a 4-night cruise, so we are just going to keep the same car and park it at the dock.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[wdw47]

we have done this exact same thing we have found renting a car to be the easiest thing to do and and you have the freedom to decide when you leave and the drive to the cruise is very nice the only problem is arrangeing the suitcasses in the trunk out suggestion would be the mini van too wish we were joining you relax and enjoy

 

[allforpooh]

We are also doing this in Oct, flying in to Orlando Oct 8- picking up rental car Avis - driving to Contempoary - One night for MNSSHP.

Leaving Contemporary Sat AM, dropping car off AVIS at Port C. - Avis shuttle to ship.

Getting back in to Port Sat 16th, shuttle to Avis - pick up a new car and drive to BCV for a couple of days of the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. Then sadly back to airport to drop off car and home..

It is only going to be about 100.00 dollars total for car rental, much cheaper than renting the whole week. We are watching for anything cheaper, but so far nothing.

Denise

 

[wdw47]

we hadnt thought of droping a rental car off and taking a shuttel to the ship do all the rental car companies do this take you to the ship and pick you up on return for another rental car

 

[paulmc80]

We are doing this for our Setember 4, 2004 cruise.. But, we're using a towncar service. I just so hate to drive while on vacation. Its well worth the extra money to me. Just a personal preference.

 

[scrappermcl]

I just booked my rental car for my April 2005 cruise.
Arriving Friday afternoon, renting an Avis intermediate sized car, driving and returning it in Cape Canaveral on Saturday. Then picking up a rental at Avis upon debardation and retuning it to the airport terminal on Sunday morning. Worked out to be under $90 for both rentals compared with $160 (plus tip) round trip town car, plus we have the car at our disposal when we're on land. By the way, there are four of us travelling, so for five you will of course want a larger vehicle, but your transfers would be more also.

Hope this helps!

 

[Memaw2Wm]

I'm renting a mini-van for our land/sea ... picking it up at MCO, then 5 days at WL, then parking it for our 3 day cruise, then back to DTD for a few hours, before heading back to the airport.

It might have been cheaper to drop it off before the cruise and pick another one up, but I figured it was easier just to keep it AND we can leave our dirty laundry from WDW in the vehicle and not haul it on the ship.

There are 6 of us and I like having a vehicle to use while we're in FL.

 

[disneyfuntime]

we're arriving at MCO using a car company to pick us up take us to bwv, for 4 days pick us up from bwv take us to cruise pick us up after cruise then to airport where we then get a rental car for the remainder of our vacation. Something new to try this year.

 

[got2gp]

This reminds me of a funny story. We rented a car to get from the airport to WDW and then to Miami for our cruise on our 11 day trip in January. It worked out great, once we found one with space for all our luggage that is!

We had 11 pieces of luggage for a family of 4, 5 suitcases, the kids backpacks, 2 camera bags, 1 carrryon and a laptop. We squeezed it into our Toyota Solara for the ride to the airport just fine, it was tight, but we did it. In Olando we went out to the rental car lot and started searching for a car. We loaded and unloaded it all several times, trying one car, SUV or minivan after another just to find out that it simply wouldn't fit with out the kids sitting on suitcases! After about 30 minutes we found a SUV it all fit in, climbed in, turned the key...nothing...it wouldn't start. OK, there's another one just like it down the row. Unload again, schlep everything down there, open the door...OMG...the smell can only be described as if someone chainsmoked a bunch or cigars in there, stepped in dog doo, and ground it in the carpet and then left it to ferment in the sun for a few days!

By now we are all exhaused and starving, the kids are whining and I'm joking about tying a kid to the roof. DH is still smiling, after all he's on vacation. We spot a Pontiac Aztec at the end of the row and decide to give it a try. Lo and behold, it all fit, it started and we were finally on our merry way. BTW, we made sure to take a photo, so we could get it back in.

 

[Bobcat_Bob]

I did almost the same thing the last time I cruised in 2000 and used disney transportation for all the the trip. I had no problems and as I never use a car at disney anyway I didn't need one. You can set up the disney transportation through your travel agent or directly with disney

 

[suzanp66]

We did the same exact thing in May. Airport - WDW - Cruise - Airport.
We are a family of four and it was cheaper for us to use a towncar service instead of Disney transportation. We used "Happy Limo" and were VERY pleased. We were able to choose the times to be picked up and they were there waiting on us. Very pleasant ride and we will most definitely use them again.
Have a great time!

 

[invaderzim]

Our first cruise in November 2000, we did land and sea. We did the land portion at Beach Club, the cruise and then went back to WDW to do four more days at Coronado Springs. What we found out after the fact was that the DCL buses will only transport you back to certain resorts -- and Coronado Springs was not one of them (which our TA failed to tell us). However, the people in the port were wonderful and the supervisor was able to get one of the bus drivers to go out of his way to take us to Coronado Springs -- and we tipped him accordingly!

So check with DCL and see which resorts they can take you to after the cruise. And transfers can all be booked into this package to go back to a resort and then to the airport (via Mears).

 

[Sarangel]

We did this & used a towncar (I'm sure they'll have vans available for a larger party). We love the flexibility of choosing our arrival time without having to worry about allowing for dropping off a rental car.

Sarangel

 

[justhat]

We did this in June and used Tiffany Towncar. They picked us up at the airport, drove us to the GF, picked us up at the GF, drove us to Port Canaveral, picked us up 4 days later at Port Canaveral, drove us to AKL, then back to the airport. We didn't want to use Disney transportation to the cruise because we needed to be able to use our 4 month old daughter's car seat and the buses don't allow for that. We prefer not to rent a car on vacation so this option worked best for us.

 

[CSX2]

We did MCO -> Contemporary -> DCL -> Contemporary -> MCO last year with a limo and it worked out great. Didn't want to do the rental car with the 7 day cruise and the convenience was well worth it! Price really wasn't that bad compared to paying for rental car parking or two separate, short-term rentals (2 days prior to cruise and 2 day after).

We are doing MCO -> CBR -> DCL -> MCO in November and plan to use a limo again.

 

[Lthouseprincess]

We did this last year, a week in WDW (rented car at airport return at port) Cruise 1 week (rented car at port then spent 4 days in WDW than 4 night cruise, just parked at port for that, then back to WDW for 3 nights and returned car at airport.

 

[wdw47]

what rental car companies are at port canaveral... what is the cost of a limo from airport to wdw to cruise back to wdw to airport

 

[allforpooh]

WDW47,

We are using Avis, I called the main 800# then went online to get the direct number to verify location and shuttle information. It is locally owned and I spoke to the manager she was extremely helpful...

It looks like Avis, Budget, Enterprise and Hertz are listed. I would find the best rate then call the number directly and ask if and what kind on shuttle service they have. Try the link below...

http://www.portcanaveral.org/portinfo/groundtrans.htm#rentals

Denise

 

[faithmagicmickey]

This Oct we are doing MCO - Dolphin - Magic - Grand Floridian - MCO.

We are using a Happy limo Ford Excursion from MCO to Dolphin
then Happy Limo Hummer from Dolphin to Magic
then Disney transport from Magic to Grand Floridian
last we are using Happy Limo Ford EXcursion to MCO

I sure hope all of that works for us!

Best of luck to you all


Faith