Ideas for what to do for the day we get off the cruise?

[hockeyqueen19]

I'm wondering if we would have time to either do sea world or aquatica after the cruise before our flight. We plan to park at the port and our flight leaves that day at 6:05. Anyone done this or do you think it's way too much?

 

[squirk]

You said "parking at the port" but you're flying, too? Are you leaving a rental car at the port while you cruise?

 

[sambycat]

that seems like a lot? if you are renting a car, you can, i guess as long as you don't expect to get a "full day" out of your ticket price, its doable. mostly people, who are renting cars, feel its "reasonable" to go to downtown disney for lunch or something like that. it's just a matter of being committed to the logistics of getting off early and having the rental thing worked out, and if you are good with spending maybe 10am-3pm in an actual park for the price of admission, then its doable.

 

[hockeyqueen19]

You said "parking at the port" but you're flying, too? Are you leaving a rental car at the port while you cruise?

Yes. It was cheaper to get a rental for the week vs. a one way from Orlando.

 

[hockeyqueen19]

that seems like a lot? if you are renting a car, you can, i guess as long as you don't expect to get a "full day" out of your ticket price, its doable. mostly people, who are renting cars, feel its "reasonable" to go to downtown disney for lunch or something like that. it's just a matter of being committed to the logistics of getting off early and having the rental thing worked out, and if you are good with spending maybe 10am-3pm in an actual park for the price of admission, then its doable.

We are doing discovery cove before the cruise which comes with free tickets to sea world or aquatica, so I wanted to try and take advantage of it. Since its "free" a few hours would be ok for us.

 

[squirk]

Yes. It was cheaper to get a rental for the week vs. a one way from Orlando.

Ah. I think Sambycat is right. You can do it, but it might entail a lot of running around.

Say you get off the ship promptly at 7:00, clear customs and load up the car, drive, park, and walk into Sea World by, oh, let's say 10:00 like SC said. If your flight is at 6:00, you probably want to arrive at the airport to return the rental no later than 3:30, I would think? So you need to start heading out of the park by 2:30. So I think you can get a decent day out of it, but I personally would not like to be "under the gun" in terms of time like that.

Plus, I don't know how long your flight is or if you are traveling with young kids. Up at 6:00 to prepare to disembark, ride hard throughout the day, a (possibly?) long flight home - all that makes for a very long day for little ones. I like the Disney Springs idea better. Also free, and more leisurely.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I'm wondering if we would have time to either do sea world or aquatica after the cruise before our flight. We plan to park at the port and our flight leaves that day at 6:05. Anyone done this or do you think it's way too much?

I think it's doable since you don't have to pay for the park tickets. My $.02 on it is; the cruise is such a relaxing thing for me, I'd hate to get off the ship and run in "bells to the well" mode to do a theme park and make a flight at 6:00. I'd much rather; be one of the last off the ship, drive casually to Disney Springs, have lunch there, stroll and shop, then make my way to MCO. That's just my opinion I could be wrong.

 

[BensDaddy]

Space Shuttle Atlantis. The last shuttle to fly, is on display at Kennedy Space Center. Well worth the visit! If you've never been to Kennedy it is a wonderful way to spend a day with the family. There are tons of activities suitable for children, tours and IMAX movies for older kids. Even a few "rides". I feel like kids today don't have the same fascination that we did growing up with space and seeing some of these amazing machines close up might inspire them! We will be visiting Atlantis on our debarkation day before heading back to the airport.

 

[Nightshiftplanner]

We went to Disney's Christmas party the day we disembarked our cruise because we did not leave until the next day. I loved having something fun planned because it took away the sting of the cruise being over.

 

[lolainkent]

We drove into Orlando and spent a few hours at Lake Eola. There's a cute playground, it takes about 30min to walk around the lake, we had lunch at World of Beer (kids welcome, we sat outside on the patio - there are 2 other restaurants right around the park) and we chatted with the guy who had exotic birds. It was a good (cheap!) way to pass a few hours between disembarkation and our 7pm flight from MCO.

 

[Lyn-CA]

Space Shuttle Atlantis. The last shuttle to fly, is on display at Kennedy Space Center. Well worth the visit! If you've never been to Kennedy it is a wonderful way to spend a day with the family. There are tons of activities suitable for children, tours and IMAX movies for older kids. Even a few "rides". I feel like kids today don't have the same fascination that we did growing up with space and seeing some of these amazing machines close up might inspire them! We will be visiting Atlantis on our debarkation day before heading back to the airport.

We're planning on going to KSC after debarkation. It'll be me, DH, and DS. About how many hours would you say that we should plan on to see the highlights?

 

[bumbershoot]

We are doing discovery cove before the cruise which comes with free tickets to sea world or aquatica, so I wanted to try and take advantage of it. Since its "free" a few hours would be ok for us.

Sounds good

We keep APs for Universal and twice we've hit those parks post-cruise pre-flight with similar timing.

DO write down the timing in reverse and have solid written plans on when to drop what you're doing and head to the car. Don't get tempted to do one more thing because you could end up delayed.

 

[timrousbeastie]

We went to Disney's Christmas party the day we disembarked our cruise because we did not leave until the next day. I loved having something fun planned because it took away the sting of the cruise being over.

If at all possible, we go to the parks for a couple of days. Otherwise, the last day of the cruise and the trip home would just be too sad.

 

[SuperDry]

Ideas for what to do for the day we get off the cruise?

Cry.

 

[Garyjames220]

Ideas for what to do for the day we get off the cruise ?


Find wifi somewhere and book another cruise ?

 

[squirk]

Ideas for what to do for the day we get off the cruise ?


Find wifi somewhere and book another cruise ?

No, they should have already done that via OBB.

 

[Fuhnuh]

We are leaving the day of the cruise ending for the first time in July and have a 6:30 flight. We plan on spending the day at DS to do lunch and some shopping. This will also be the first time in our last five trips that we are not doing Discovery Cove. We love Aquatica and if we had the 14-day pass, we would probably go to Aquatica, mainly to go around Roa Rapids a 6 or more times. I think it depends on how your family travels. If it is fairly low stress, I think 4-5 hours in one of those parks isn't a bad idea. That is generally the amount of time that we spend at those parks anyway. Whatever you do, have fun! Oh, and if you go to Aquatica, think of us as you ski around the Roa Rapids on your feet. I'm 51 and have never had a funner experience in a waterpark.

 

[TeaBee]

I'm wondering if we would have time to either do sea world or aquatica after the cruise before our flight. We plan to park at the port and our flight leaves that day at 6:05. Anyone done this or do you think it's way too much?

On the day after our cruise we had the later disembarkation time, waited for almost 30 minutes in the shuttle line, shuttled to the rental car place, waited in line to pick up the car, drove to Orlando, checked into our hotel at Universal, bought passes, drove to Wet N' Wild, had time to go on a few slides, got rained out, and drove back to our hotel by about 4:30. So, I think you'd probably definitely have a good chunk of time to see Sea World or Aquatica, especially if you were able to cut out all the side errands we had to do and had passes you had already paid for. On our next cruise we're planning on just spending the day with a day pass at the airport Hyatt.

 

[carnationkila]

I'm wondering if we would have time to either do sea world or aquatica after the cruise before our flight. We plan to park at the port and our flight leaves that day at 6:05. Anyone done this or do you think it's way too much?

After our Fantasy cruise two years ago, we drove over to SeaWorld before our 6pm flight. I will not do that again. Being that it was a Saturday, the park was really crowded. It was hot. I was exhausted after the cruise. I felt the stress that I needed to get to the airport on time. I also found SeaWorld depressing after seeing animals with more freedom and in more natural environments like at Animal Kingdom and spending time with sea life in their habitat here in the Puget Sound and snorkeling in Hawaii and Caribbean. After our next cruise, we will relax. Take Disney transportation to airport and rent a room for the day at the hotel at the airport (?Hyatt)

 

[hockeyqueen19]

Thank you all for the suggestions and your experiences after the cruise. I think we will have two plans (one attempting to go to aquatica the other lunch at DS) and see how we feel getting off the ship.