Kennedy Space Center

[cbmeadors]

We are cruising on Feb 8th. We plan to attend the Kennedy Space Center Feb 7th.

Can anyone provide a review of a day at KSC?

How long does it take to see everything?

Has anyone done the NASA Up Close tour? The shuttle is already on the launch pad for the Feb 12th launch and the tour is supposed to stop at the launch viewing area. Can you get off the bus to take pictures? What do you do/how much time do you spend at the assembly building?

If you cannot see all in one day is there anything not to miss?

 

[skylynx]

Our family did this the day before our Wonder cruise two years ago. We did just the basic tour package...we easily saw everything we wanted to see in about a half a day including the bus rides out to the launch pads, the really cool simulation of one of the takeoffs, the moon rocks, the Saturn rocket and the Imax movie. We were not rushed seeing all those things in 4-6 hours. In fact, we had time to drive to Port Canaveral and play on the beach at Jetty Park for a while before watching Magic sail out that Saturday evening at around 5.

I had not been to KSC since I was a kid back in the dark ages, and my kids (then 14 and 11) hadn't ever been there, and it turned out to be one of the highlights of our whole vacation. You could certainly spend more time if there was an imminent launch and more to see, but even with what we did, it was a relaxing and fascinating day leading up to a cruise!

 

[OurDogCisco]

We did this in November but not before the cruise. We staying in WDW and took a drive down. We did the Now and Then Tour. We arrived at 10 am and our tour was at 1 pm. The tour was suppose to be 2.5 hours but ended up being 3 hours. Then, we left the park at 4 pm. So, we were there 6 hours. We could only stay in the main area at the entrance because 3 hours would not have been enough time for us to see something else and get lunch before our tour. The sites are far away from each other.

On our tour we got to get off the bus for somethings. There was a shuttle on a launch pad but they only let us drive by.

Personally, we didn't get anything out of walking around and looking at exhibits. But I think that is partially our fault since we aren't familar with the space program at all. I definitely thought the tour was worth it as it provided a talking tourguide. I don't think I'd go without doing a tour.

I've only been once so, I doubt we saw everything.

 

[OntFamily]

I did the "Up Close" tour last March, about 36 hours before the Shuttle lifted off. My advice -- do it.

It was neat to watch them starting to ramp up operations for the Shuttle launch (ie helicopter gun ships, armoured personnel carriers, etc).

You get to within a mile of the shuttle, so there is some pretty good pictures. For the assembly building, you're there about 10-15 minutes. More than enough time for pictures.

 

[tm2924]

We did KSC the day before our cruise in 2006. It was a great experience. We just did the basic tour. The basic tour has 3 stops. You get an up-close view of the Saturn V rocket, the control room from the Apollo program and at a viewing tower about a mile away from the shuttle launch pad. Arrived at opening and spent the whole day there. We did most of the exhibits but didn't do either of the Omnimax movies(no time) or make it over the the Astronaut Hall of Fame (we did this after our cruise). I would say that KSC is 1 day plus a little more and the Hall of Fame is good for a couple of hours. The regular admission to KSC includes 2 days at KSC and admission the the Hall of Fame. Have Fun

 

[cbmeadors]

Thanks for the help.