3 days to spend after cruise.

luckeylasvegas

Earning My Ears
Joined
Aug 7, 2004
Messages
64
We will have three days to spend in FL. after our Halloween 2005 cruise. What would you veterans do with the time?
DD 8 has never been to any of the Florida parks, but she has been to Disneyland several times , and to the San Diego wild animal park. DH and I went to the parks in 1995 , but we spent very little time at the magic kingdom since we both grew up minutes from Disneyland.
We loved Blizzard Beach but I'm not sure if it will be open when we are there.
 
We had two days after our first Halloween cruise and we went immediately to AKL, checked in, went to MK the first day (ate dinner at the ALK food court), got up early and hit AK the 2nd day and flew home on the 3rd day.

It was VERY nice to cap off the cruise with some relaxed park days (no running around like maniacs). I never felt the post-cruise letdown because we didn't go immediately home.

This year, we're headed to WL to check in, to MK for the day, Epcot for dinner and then to Epcot for Early Entry the next day and possibly a trip to AK or back to MK. We fly out on the 3rd day again!
 
After the 9/11 cruise we did Sea World and Animal Kingdom. I was disappointed with both. The crowds, the hustle (definitely not relaxing), and the $$$ spent didn't seem to make this a very good value after the cruise. We spent about as much each day at the parks as we did for the cruise---and the cruise was sooooo much more fun and relaxing.

If I had it to do over I'd consider doing the Kennedy Space Center tour and something else more low key instead...
 
After our Halloween 2002 cruise on the MAGIC we went to Fort Wilderness and camped for five nights in our Rialta (small motorhome made by Winnebago.) It was relaxing and low key. We wallked around the campground and hiked the trail to Wilderness Lodge. We rode the boats on Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon, and the Monorail from hotel to hotel. We did go to some parks a couple days, but not every day. It was a good transition from the calm of the Cruise to the real world of home.

Jan :earsgirl:
 

Do you have to stay in the Orlando/Metro area??

Blizzard is usually the first water park to go down for rehab, and its usually around Halloween, or right after.

St Augustine is a few hours drive away from port or Orlando.. also Kennedy Space Center is neat, also Orlando Science Center is really nice too, if you are not interested in doing parks.

As far as already going to, in my opinon Disneyland in no way comes close to the Magic Kingdom--Disneyland is just so tiny.

Also, by Halloween 2005 a bunch of new and neat attractions will be open at WDW. The new stitch ride is openning in the next few weeks, and by '05, Soarin' will be open as well as the new Stunt Show at the studios.

Late October, early November is not a busy time in the parks, and its not too hot either, so a good time to do parks.. no big crowds to fight. But if you are thinking of wanting more low-key stuff, the things I mentioned earlier are great family activities which I think would really entertain your son.
 
In our planning for our 9/4/05 cruise, I had originally decided we would check out Vero Beach, since we had stayed at Hilton Head prior to our cruise this year.

However, I've decided I just can't stay away from WDW that long (for heaven's sake, it's been almost 5 months NOW and I'm getting fretful - I can't imagine it being 2 years), so we're going to try to do a relaxed WDW, if that's possible.

I'm going to pick out just the stuff we've missed before (well, OK, PART of the stuff we've missed before, because it always seems we can't quite see everything) and do a day at whichever water park is open, some time at DisneyQuest (love those pirates), and then an early breakfast in MK at Crystal Palace (never eaten there) followed by Stitch, before we hit the plane (have a late flight out that day). I don't know if I'll be able to stay away from FOTLK, though...I could watch those monkeys all day long!
 
Sounds like it may be a first time in Florida for you and there is a lot more to Florida than WDW. If you are into beaches, you could try Sanibel or Captiva on the Gulf. The water there will still be warm and it is wonderful for kids to go shelling. The Gulf is so different from the Atlantic and Pacific that it is really cool to walk the beaches and see so many live animals in the water and all of the different types of shells. (Of course, here's hoping that 4 hurricanes don't dump on Florida next year.) From Port Canaveral, it would probably be a 3 hour drive to a nice resort on the Gulf coast of Florida.

Since you are in Las Vegas and have been to DL and San Diego, you might want to try something different.
 
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Hi,
We just did a 4 day cruise followed by three days at Disney World. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and visited the parks as follows: Thursday (the day we got off the ship) MGM, Friday Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom (we did the MNSSHP so it was open later) and Saturday we did EPCOT.
 
In 2002 we did a 7 day cruise and then finished it off with a 4 day visit to WDW before heading on to visit family for another 2 days.. We stayed at Caribbean Beach since we took a Caribbean cruise and then just enjoyed each day at the different parks.. It was a little drab since it was soooo crowded and extremely hot since we went in July.. But I would say to spend your 4 days at WDW.. There is so much to do and what better way to spend your time?
 














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