10+ hour long layover before flight at MCO - what to do?

[gmark2000]

Our dilemma...

On disembarkation day for our Disney Magic Eastern cruise, we have DCL Land+Sea transfers to MCO.

The latest we'll get to the airport is about 10:00am since you have to off the ship by 9:00am. Problem is our flight back home is not until 9:40pm! The earliest we can check our bags is 5:40pm. We have almost 10 hours to kill in Orlando airport. There's no earlier flight that we can make with this carrier.

What should we do?

 

[dudspizza]

Our dilemma...

On disembarkation day for our Disney Magic Eastern cruise, we have DCL Land+Sea transfers to MCO.

The latest we'll get to the airport is about 10:00am since you have to off the ship by 9:00am. Problem is our flight back home is not until 9:40pm! The earliest we can check our bags is 5:40pm. We have almost 10 hours to kill in Orlando airport. There's no earlier flight that we can make with this carrier.

What should we do?

See if there is an airport hotel that will sell you a room for the day. My dad used to do this when he had a late flight and arrived near the airport that morning.. he would take a nap and get ready for his flight.

Something to look in to.

Duds

 

[marc1477]

See if there is an airport hotel that will sell you a room for the day. My dad used to do this when he had a late flight and arrived near the airport that morning.. he would take a nap and get ready for his flight.

Something to look in to.

Duds

This is a very great idea!

You could also rent a car for a few hours and go do some sight seeing at area attractions or go shopping.

 

[AllyBri]

Or you could rent a car (probably be a 24 hr. rental) and hang out at WDW for the day. Have lunch at one of the Resorts and look around the Marketplace.

 

[gmark2000]

We will have luggage to schlep and the two kids technically should be in car seats. There is NO luggage storage or lockers at MCO.

Best option now is getting a day rate room for $89 at the Hyatt (10:00am to 7:00pm) and let the kids maybe swim in the pool (hmmm... wet clothing not a good idea).

Any other ideas?

 

[AllyBri]

We will have luggage to schlep and the two kids technically should be in car seats. There is NO luggage storage or lockers at MCO.

Best option now is getting a day rate room for $89 at the Hyatt (10:00am to 7:00pm) and let the kids maybe swim in the pool (hmmm... wet clothing not a good idea).

Any other ideas?

You could rent seats for the children, along with the car but then it can get expensive.
Bring along some plastic bags to put he swimsuits in after swimming.

 

[goofy4tink]

Get a day room at the Hyatt...bring a big plastic bag for wet bathing suits. We do that all the time. You can grab a bite to eat, watch some tv, have a swim, wander around the airport shops. Throw the wet suits in the plastic bag, and toss it into your carryon. No worries about getting back for your flight, you can check your bags as soon as you are able to. Sounds like a plan to me!!

 

[Lewisc]

Can you spend the day at the space center? Is there a way to check your luggage at the Port? I thought some airlines had a remote check in desk at the port. It might be worth paying for.

 

[gmark2000]

Yes it would have been nice to do a remote check-in while still at PC, but our airline carrier is bordering on a charter flight. No codeshare agreements with any of the big airlines.

Thanks people, looks like the Hyatt's going to have us for the day.

 

[jaysue]

Enjoy your cruise

It will be a great end to your trip to have a nice day at the Hyatt and the Airport

Cheers
jaysue

 

[ducklite]

Cancel the return transfer, rent a car at the port, and spend the day at Kennedy Space Center or the beach, public rest rooms at Cocoa Beach to change in.

Return the car at MCO.

Anne

 

[QT Pooh]

Does the cruise line offer an excursion when you reach port? When we cruised out of Miami, we were able to take a tour of the Everglades which helped us kill time.

 

[crashbb]

Yes it would have been nice to do a remote check-in while still at PC, but our airline carrier is bordering on a charter flight. No codeshare agreements with any of the big airlines.

Thanks people, looks like the Hyatt's going to have us for the day.

Looking at your location, no matter what airline you are on you'd likely have trouble with remote check-in. I was at WDW in November and even though I was on a United flight, since the final destination was Canada, I couldn't do remote check-in or even web check-in.

Using airport hotels is often a great way to kill time.

 

[havencruiser]

We used Budget to rent a car from the port to Orlando. The shuttle picked us and luggage up right at the curb and took us to rental center a mile away. Then, at the end of the day, we dropped the luggage off at the airport curbside check-in, got boarding passes, and drove to drop off the car at the airport rental center and walked across the street to the airport. Seems like a much better way to spend the day seeing Florida and would be far cheaper than 4 transfers and the cost of a room.

 

[jtopp]

Is the 10 hour delay worth the money you saved? Could you go on a different carrier to save time. Is the time vs.dollar savings worth it? If not, some of the other posts are a great idea to kill time.

 

[gmark2000]

Hi. We're back now. We stayed at the Airport Hyatt and it was perfect.

We had lunch at the food court, did some shopping, had a nap, re-packed our luggage, swam in the pool and ate dinner at the airport.

It was a great way to decompress because we had to be up at 5:30am on the Disney cruise (Immigration and Customs) and had such an early start from Port Canaveral.

Thanks for the advice.
(BTW, the flight was considerably cheaper and we simply overlooked the amount of layover time we had.)