Do you fly down the night before you leave and where do you stay?

[poohbear8]

It was cheaper and less stressful to fly down to FL the day before we leave, but I am not sure where to stay.

Where do people stay? and how do you get there from the airport? And how do you get to the port? Do any of the hotels offer transfers or shuttles?

TIA!
Peg

 

[cjsmith]

Even though we only live about 4 hours away from the port we still go up the night prior and stay at the Radisson at the Port.

 

[eye R.N.]

I would suggest Radisson if you are coming in only one night before. They do have a shuttle to the Port which makes things easy the embarkation day.

If you are coming in earlier than one night, then Ron Jon's has a nicer pool and you can walk to the beach.

 

[mackymaddyconnorsmom]

We stayed at the Motel 6 in the port area. It was right up the street from Ron Jon's Surf Shop. It was very cheap and clean. There are many hotels in the area

 

[CherCrazy]

We flew in to Orlando the morning before our cruise from Port Everglades left...Carnival Glory. We rented a van for the six of us, easiest way to get around. After picking up the van, we went straight to Islands of Adventure for the day. We stayed overnight at a Marriott timeshare. The next day we drove over to Port Canaveral with the van, dropped it off at the local Hertz office, and they took us the 5 minute drive to the ship. It was so easy to do! Plus it gave us the freedom to drive around Orlando. After the cruise, we took the shuttle bus to the Orlando airport. You pay the cruise line in advance for the shuttle, and it's right outside of luggage pickup.

By the way...if you are going in the winter from a snowy destination, you should REALLY fly out the day prior! The ship won't wait for you if you're snowed in!!
:

 

[CTFamilyCruisers]

We are going on our first Disney Cruise in April. We are flying in the night before (arriving late) and staying at the Hyatt at the airport. I called Disney and told them - we arranged transfers through DCL - and they made it sound very easy. They said the Hyatt will have something for us at check-in and that on the morning of our cruise, DCL will come to our room and pick up our luggage (sweet!) Then we board the DCL motorcoach right there. The convenience is what sold me - that, and the possibility of a flight delay and arriving even later than planned. Has anyone else done this? Most of the posts I see seem to suggest people head over to the port the night before.

 

[fljelad]

I pondered this question as well. Since we purchased a Land/Sea package the decision was sort of made for us. Any flight that we could take on Thursday would get us to Orlando mid-afternoon at the earliest. That means that almost an entire day of the three that we purchased was a waste. We are flying in the day before and our TA booked us at the Best Western near the airport for $59, including breakfast. We'll just take their shuttle back to the airport where we'll catch the Disney Transportation to AKL. (We purchased the transfer package.)

Not only are we gaining our full day at WDW, the flight we got is cheaper than the earliest Thursday flight by nearly $300 total!

 

[Verandah Man]

On our first cruise, we rented a car at the MCO airport, drove to the port area, and stayed at the Radisson the night before our cruise. We then took the Radisson shuttle to the port Saturday morning. Our second cruise we had our car with us, but spent the night before the cruise at the Radisson, left our car in their parking lot during the cruise, and again took their shuttle to the port. The last cruise we stayed at my mom's in Deland, FL the night before and drove our rental car to the Budget office and took their shuttle to the port. I like the stress free feeling, of being in Florida the day before our cruise, if not sooner.

 

[Scott5150]

We are flying in on Friday and will be staying at the Hampton Inn MCO for free (Thanks to Hilton Honors). Flying free too, thanks to USAirways Dividend Miles. Sorta cruising for free, too- thanks to Disney Vacation Club. And oh yea, tipping and expenses for free thanks to Disney Visa Rewards.

Scott

 

[tvguy]

We stayed at the Sheraton just off the airport property. Our flight arrived about 11:30 pm. They have a 24 hour shuttle. They picked us up, and the next morning, they dropped us off right at the Disney buses to the port.
There are several (6,7 or 8) built around a little lake just off the airport, I think all offer shuttles, and all are much cheaper than the Hyatt in the airport.

I gather if you have more than a few in your group, renting a car is cheaper than the Disney tranfers, but the last thing I wanted to do was try and find the rental car place, get directions to the hotel, drive there, drive to the port the next day, turn in the car, then repeat the whole process coming home. I put my brain in vacation mode the minute I got on the plane, and didn't get our of vacation mode until I got off the plane back at home.

 

[budwmn]

For each of our 5 cruises, we've stayed at the Hyatt in the Airport. I can't say enough good things about it. Nice rooms, extremely convenient when arrriving the night before and leaving on the DCL bus the next day. We rush like crazies before the trip, but once we get on the plane and are heading for Florida, we calm down because we know how easy and relaxing it's going to be. Staying at the Hyatt just takes all of the guess work and stress out of getting to the Port.

No matter where you stay, have a wonderful cruise!

 

[*Fantasia*]

We flew the night before our cruise. We stayed at the Hyatt in the airport. It was easy and very conveniet. This is a very nice hotel. The following morning, we met with the DCL staff and walked us to the DCL area where you board the bus. We did leave our luggage outside the room that early morning.

If we're doing the cruise again, I would fly in the night before and stay here again.

 

[inkkognito]

We have often used Priceline to get a cheap ($28 to $38) hotel near the airport. Always be sure to bid at the highest star level. The hotels have a free shuttle to the airport, and you can either take it back to MCO to pick up the bus or have a towncar pick you up from the hotel.
Barb

 

[salbythec]

We were going to stay at the raddison but thanks to the post card rate I just got we changed our plans and now we are staying at the AKL the night beforet the cruise. We are renting a car.

 

[Asil65]

Is staying at the Hyatt part of some sort of Disney package? How much does it cost to stay there one night?

 

[HappyLawyer]

i live in illinois and am so worried about the weather and other stuff we are going down 2 days prior, priceline sounds very good

 

[tvguy]

The Hyatt is not part of a Disney package, I think they just have an agreement on bags.
Lowest rate I saw was $129.....about twice what the just off the airport property hotels charge. Anyone seen a lower rate for the Hyatt?

 

[scrapperjill]

We stayed at The Embassy Suites near MCO...they have a shuttle that picked us up at the airport. Once we arrived we found out they had a managers receptions...with free drinks. DH stuck with beer...but I had some mai tai's...Yummm. Then the next mornning they serve a complementry breakfast (cooked to order+++). For the price including the drinks and free breakfast...along with the shuttle...it was well worth it...(I think it was around $50 per night).

We decided to stay at a hotel near the airport the night before because we hire a limo to pick us up to drive us to the terminal....

 

[LoveMickey]

I recommend going down at least a day early. 2 feet of snow here last night.

Our first cruise,(4 adults) we booked the Radisson for a Sat. night before our 4 day Wonder. We arrived at MCO around 11 am and had Tiffany Town car pick us up at the airport and bring us to the Radisson. This was nice, but the weather was cool and without using the pool there is really not a lot to around the Radisson. The Radisson is very nice - stayed in a suite that slept 4. 1 King bed, sofa sleeper in the other room.

Our last cruise, (6 adults) we flew down on Friday night (got much better air fare) and stayed at the Sheraton (North of the airport) on points. This was very nice. The Shuttle (free shuttle) picked us up at the airport and we took the 5 minute ride to the Sheraton.

On Saturday am, we took the Sheraton Shuttle back to the airport to pick up the rental van - verry easy. We went back to the Sheraton to pick up the rest of the group. We headed to Kennedy Space Center and then spent Saturday night at the Radisson. Suite slept 6 - 2 king beds, one sleeper sofa in the other room.

It was nice to have the rental to get around on Saturday.

Sunday am, brought the rental back to Budget and they brought us back to the Radisson for the 10 am shuttle with the rest of the group.

Will do the rental again next time.

Added: And we had Tiffany Town car pick us up at the port to take us to WDW after the cruise both times.

 

[WDWLVR]

After 6 cruises I would never fly in the same day as the cruise. Last time we did that was back in May '03 for our 7 day. Weather was fine and we got to the port in plenty of time, but being up at 4 am for our 7 am flight we were beat. Now we fly in the night before. We stayed twice at the Raddison and took the shuttle. We just stayed at Vero which was nice and an easy ride up to the port. In September we are driving down and staying at Boardwalk.

If I was flying in late at night I'd stay at the Hyatt the night before.