Best transportation to pco

[PrincessSophiesMom]

We will probably fly lax to Orlando with 6 adults and two kiddos with car seats. We plan on flying in a day early to reduce the chances of missing the boat. Should we stay in Miami or port canaveral the evening before the cruise? And what is the best way to get 6 adults and two kids in car seats from Orlando to port canaveral? Keep in mind all of the luggage. Thank you in advance!

 

[lanejudy]

Your post is a little confusing... you are flying into MCO (Orlando)? And where does your cruise depart from -- Port Canaveral or Miami?

If you are flying into Orlando for a cruise departing from Port Canaveral, absolutely no need to travel to Miami. Stay in either Orlando or Cocoa Beach.

If you are flying into Orlando but your cruise departs from Miami, I suggest hiking down to Miami to stay so you are close to the port the next morning.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Miami is approx a 3 hour drive from Orlando so for one night precruise that wouldn't be practical. PC is about a 50 drive east of MCO. So you could stay either in/near MCO or find a hotel near PC. We always chose hotels near MCO when our kids were little simply because it was a lot of sitting still at the gate, on the flight and retrieving our luggage. We didn't want to add another hour of sitting still in a car on top of that.
Also there's more competition in pricing near mco and more options there too.
We prefer the Hyatt right inside mco.
There are a lot of ground transportation companies to choose from. There's the one that sponsors the Disboards though I don't have personal experience with them. We have used Happy Limo many times and DCL offers transfers too but that can be expensive with a large group.
The nice part about staying at the Hyatt and using DCL transfers is that you can leave your tagged luggage in the room and Disney handles geeting your luggage from the Hyatt to your cabin.

After reading post #2 I can see how it's a bit confusing. If you're sailing out of Miami I wouldn't fly into MCO unless you plan to stay there an extra day or 2 to enjoy that area before driving to Miami.
If you plan to fly the day before sailing from Miami, i would simply flt into MIA or FLL.

 

[PrincessSophiesMom]

Whoops sorry. Wrote this post right before crashing. I intend on flying into Orlando and cruising from the port canaveral port.

 

[GoofyDisneyDaddy]

This has been quite thoroughly discussed, so do some searches to see lots of opinions.

Personally, with two young kids in car seats, I would stay at the Hyatt in the airport the night you arrive and take Disney transportation to the ship the next morning. That way, you don't need to bring your car seats. You can leave your bags the next morning in your room at the Hyatt -- Disney comes to collect them and brings them to the ship.

Now, this is not the cheapest option -- Disney transportation is $70 p/p. But, it is by far the easiest IMO. With Disney transportation from the ship, depending on the airline, you can even check your bags for the flight home right on the ship.

 

[Weedy]

Here is a link about different transportation options:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/discounts/discounts-cruise.htm#trans

It is cheaper to book private transportation for a group the size of yours. Some will provide car-seats. Also this way you can make a stop at a grocery store or liquor store on the way to the port.

WDW is about 1/2 hour from the airport the opposite direction of Port Canaveral. If you are getting in in the evening and plan to leave for the port in the morning I suggest staying at or near the airport.

Or if everyone is up to it and you are taking private transportation stay in the Port Canaveral/Cocoa Beach area. It's about a 1 hour drive from the airport. This way you will be right there for your cruise.

Also please feel free to ask questions at anytime. Some people read these boards all the time and forget that some people are new to this site.

If you want to find past threads I feel the search tool is hard to use. I have better luck using Google. I type Disboards cruise transportation (or what ever you are searching)

 

[lanejudy]

Whoops sorry. Wrote this post right before crashing. I intend on flying into Orlando and cruising from the port canaveral port.

Sorry, the Miami reference threw me so I wasn't sure if you had the ports or airports confused and thought Miami was near Orlando or something.

The basic options from MCO to Port Canaveral are DCL transfers, private car service or rental. There are pros and cons to each, you'll have to decide what is best for your party.

DCL transfers can be pricey at $35 per person each way, but offer great convenience from either MCO or WDW resorts. Luggage service is included from the MCO Hyatt and WDW resorts; if you stay at another airport-area hotel, you can bring your luggage on embarkation morning and they'll handle it from there.

Private car service may run similar cost to DCL or less -- depending on party size and what you reserve. Most will also offer one stop along the way, for either groceries, liquor store, or a last minute forgotten item. You can schedule your pick-up times to suit your preference.

Car rental is usually the least expensive, but probably involves the most work on your part. One-way rentals are available, watch out for one-way fees (some agencies charge extra) and the best deals typically come out about 6-8 weeks ahead.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[PrincessSophiesMom]

Thanks to all the friendly DIS!

So the prospect of a limo intrigues me, has anyone done it? How much luggage can it hold? And can it hold car seats (we would fly with at least one carseat, maybe both car seats)? I'm wondering if the limo can handle 6 adults, 2 car seats and probably 8 suitcases...

The rental car would be so much trouble but the upside would be having the freedom to shop and explore on our own.

I might take the disney shuttle from pco to wdw but i want to get to pco early for embarkation. It sounds like it doesn't get there very early.

 

[LisaT91403]

Thanks to all the friendly DIS!

So the prospect of a limo intrigues me, has anyone done it? How much luggage can it hold? And can it hold car seats (we would fly with at least one carseat, maybe both car seats)? I'm wondering if the limo can handle 6 adults, 2 car seats and probably 8 suitcases...

The rental car would be so much trouble but the upside would be having the freedom to shop and explore on our own.

I might take the disney shuttle from pco to wdw but i want to get to pco early for embarkation. It sounds like it doesn't get there very early.

We are from Los Angeles, so we always fly the day before the cruise. With the time difference, you really can't get to FL early enough if you fly the same day (and you'd never want to risk it).

With a large group and the time difference working against you, I'd stay right at the Hyatt in MCO. You can have dinner at one of the restaurants there, and get the kids to bed early without losing time dragging everyone to an off-site hotel.

You will not fit into a traditional "limo", but the limo companies have all different kids of vehicles available. We had a party of 15 for one cruise, and chartered a small bus The limo companies can tell you what kinds of vehicles they have to fit your group.

Do you want the car seat on the plane because your child is very young and can't use the seatbelt on the plane? Just trying to figure out why you want to bring one with you since you won't need it on the ship.

As for getting to the port early, keep in mind that you have the time change working against you. If you want to leave your hotel at 9:00am the morning of the cruise, that's the equivalent of 6:00am PST. What time would you need to wake up in order to be ready by 9:00am? 7:30am, for example, would be 4:30am for your body. We have learned that it's better to let the kids (and adults) get a little sleep in the morning so that they aren't a wreck for the entire trip. Just my two cents

Have fun!

 

[Capt_BJ]

So the prospect of a limo intrigues me, has anyone done it? How much luggage can it hold? And can it hold car seats (we would fly with at least one carseat, maybe both car seats)? I'm wondering if the limo can handle 6 adults, 2 car seats and probably 8 suitcases...

they hook up a trailer for bags if needed

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Go for it!
We've used Happy Limo with booster seats and another company once in FLL when we needed a booster seat. It was an extra $5 or so IIRC but well worth the peace of mind. They take up a LOT of room in a cabin so it would be worth it to have the driver supply one unless you need it on the plane too. With 2 little ones and car seats, and presumably a lot of stuff since little ones don't travel light, a car rental would be a huge PITA.
It's almost an hour drive to the port which is a lot of sitting still time for little ones. When mine were little, we'd stay near the airport so the kids could have some down time instead of going directly from plane to a car and hour drive. jmho.

Happy Limo upgraded us for free 3x to a huge Excursion or Escalade. We only splurge when my parents cruise with us so we can split the tab. My dad loves it so much, for a few trips we got limos from home to the airport too.
This first pic is in FLL but the rest are with Happy Limo to PC.















Holds a good amount of luggage but this was only 6 people.

 

[PrincessSophiesMom]

You are all so helpful! Thank you so much. I especially love the photos. Are you serious about the trailer for luggage because that would be amazing! We wanted to bring car seats because our girls are small and I'm concerned about how secure they would be on the plane. We also may rent a car post cruise for sightseeing. I totally agree with my fellow Californian that the time change is going to be awful for the kiddos. I was thinking of flying in early the day before, maybe try to go to dtd and then sleep across from the port so we can trim the hour of driving on the day of.

 

[geekboy]

For our Easter (week) cruise, with 3 adults, 4 children, and 1 infant, we thought seriously about Disney Transportation and two rental cars. We stayed 4 nights at WDW before the cruise, so we knew that we needed transportation while on property. At the last minute, I was able to get a 15-PAX van (which is shocking because it was Easter Week). Through my company, the discount made this rental $745 for the week (all taxes included). I prepaid. (Our discount includes loss-damage insurance.)

We did need to fill the gas tank once -- which cost nearly $100 -- but overall, it was the best fit for us. We had a night after the cruise and stayed at the Homewood Suites By Hilton right at the airport (Samoran Blvd). We were able to take the van and drive to the Premium Outlets and do other shopping. Without the van, we would have been at the mercy of whatever shuttle the hotel provided.

In the end, it would have cost us $560 for the Disney transportation to/from the port. If we wanted to go to the outlets or do other things, it would have easily cost $600 to rent two cars for the week.

I didn't want to spend $750 on a rental 15-pax van, but it worked for us. We ended up using the entire last row for luggage. In fact, we had luggage under the last seat, on the last seat, under the middle seat, and crammed against the door (with a stroller as well). Luggage, luggage, luggage.