Kennedy Space Center...tour in 1/2 a day?

[Shellipoo]

Is it possible to tour Kennedy Space Center in 1/2 a day? We have six full days in the Orlando area and I'm trying to fit in a day or partial afternoon at the beach also. I thought maybe we could head to the beach after touring Kennedy Space Center? Is it do-able? What about Sea World? 1/2 a day possible?

 

[Thinktinknpixiedust]

SeaWorld is not a 1/2 day thing, really you'll want to stay all day. Kennedy could very well be a 1/2 day thing, it's not as big. It will take you an hour and half or more to get there, and if you go at typical rush hour it would be 3+. Its the drive that will eat up most of your day... However the beach next to Kennedy, called Merit Island is fabulous. It is everything you would picture a beach to be with sand dunes and all. not a highrise in site. very tranquil. and they do have life guards.

Is it possible to tour Kennedy Space Center in 1/2 a day? We have six full days in the Orlando area and I'm trying to fit in a day or partial afternoon at the beach also. I thought maybe we could head to the beach after touring Kennedy Space Center? Is it do-able? What about Sea World? 1/2 a day possible?

 

[wayneg]

Depends how much you want to take in and enjoy or rush and get out.
We went a few years ago for a full day.
Went again last Oct for full day, the tour took us over 4 hours then an Imax film so thats half a day gone, didn't even get to astronauts hall of fame, Going back again in Aug to finish what we have missed expecting another 3/4 to full day.

 

[we3disneygo]

we spent all day there......and didn't even take the more expensive tour just reg. admission....it's very interesting and fun! we really enjoyed the question and answer time. it was a nice change from the parks, a really nice drive.....have fun!

 

[golfgal]

You could do Kennedy if you didn't do any of the tours but that is kind of the point behind Kennedy. SeaWorld is like $65/day admission, I wouldn't want to do just a 1/2 day at that price.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Yes but you won't be doing it in full. And from my point of view there is nothing wrong with that. It means you'll be able to go back another time & see more stuff.

Given what your goal is I would invest some time in checking out the website to see what you think you can get in during your half day there. Plus...I would think the time of year would matter too. If more towards the time of year when the sun sets later you could get up really early and head over to the center, eat breakfast, do the center and then go over to the beach. If December I would probably just go with the space center only.

The day I went it was overcast and foggy so some of viewing wasn't so interesting...I do plan to go back some day and tour again, maybe catch a launch.

Sea World is not a half day park.

 

[jdm]

That was exactly what we planned a couple of years ago. We were going to go to KSC for half a day and then to Cocoa for the other half. We ended up closing the Space Center and never made it to the beach. We are not big space people and it was the highlight of our trip. For what it's worth, we did the lunch with the astronaut admission and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Jenn

 

[wayneg]

If anyone is considering going twice within a year buy the 12 month pass. $38 for 1 day or $50 for 365 days. Thats what we bought last Oct then we can use again in August.

 

[Baytoven]

We did Sea World in a day and felt like we saw everything we wanted to, but we didn't attend all the shows. I wouldn't attempt in a 1/2 day unless I knew we'd be back soon.

KSC can be done in a day if it is a launch day. Some of the tours are closed on launch days and there's less to do. We could still spend all day there anyway.

 

[jezabel_007]

Seaworld can be done in 1/2 day. I was there last Sunday for the first time and we got there right at 9a, went to 3 shows before noon, saw some exhibits until the Shamu show at 1:15 and then left. Mind you, it was freezing that day, so that might have been a factor.

 

[DVCconvert]

KSC (if you're interested in it) can not be done in even 1 day. I would say 2 min -- assuming you want to take the special interest tours.

 

[wayneg]

Seaworld depends how interested you are in the animals. I can't see how anyone can get round in half a day and enjoy everything. Each vaccation we spend at least 1 full day and a half day there. We have been at least 10 times in recent years and will be there again in August. 6 times on Kraken can take a while.

 

[Tinker*Shell*Bell]

KSC- If you consider 6 hours half a day you might be ok, but I would plan a whole day there.

SeaWorld- Can NOT be done in 1/2 day unless you don't care if you miss almost everything and you're willing to run between the things you do see. The cost alone should make one think teice about trying to cut time here. You could cram in 3 shows or see a few exhibits but Sea World is the kind of place that takes 10-12 hours to see, and that does not see everything. I have been there 15+ times and still do not feel like I have seen it all.

SW must see's: (IMHO) Shamu show, Seal/Sea Lion show, Water Ski Show, Feed dolphins (gooey fish), Shark tank tunnel, penguin exhibit, dolphin show, manatee exhibit, there have to be others I am just drawing a blank today...roller coaster and water ride look cool too, didn't try them (chickened out!)

 

[wayneg]

A few more things to see,
Wild Arctic, 2nd Shamu show in dark, Odyssea, Pets Ahoy!, Sky tower, Tropical Rain Forest, Dolphin Nursery, Stingray Lagoon, Turtle Point, Clydesdale Hamlet, The Waterfront, Shamu's Happy Harbor, Budweiser hopitality centre this one takes a while , there will be some I missed.
Not to mention shopping, eating (Their cherry chocolate cake and carrot cake is very nice)
They also offer at least another day free (6 days unlimited admission for cost of 1 day at the present time) so consider going in again and doing Adventure Express Tour takes 6 hours and is superb, we are doing it again in August.

I would love to watch someone try to do SW in half day.
Wayne

 

[Tinker*Shell*Bell]

A few more things to see,
Wild Arctic, 2nd Shamu show in dark, Odyssea, Pets Ahoy!, Sky tower, Tropical Rain Forest, Dolphin Nursery, Stingray Lagoon, Turtle Point, Clydesdale Hamlet, The Waterfront, Shamu's Happy Harbor, Budweiser hopitality centre this one takes a while , there will be some I missed.
Not to mention shopping, eating (Their cherry chocolate cake and carrot cake is very nice)
They also offer at least another day free (6 days unlimited admission for cost of 1 day at the present time) so consider going in again and doing Adventure Express Tour takes 6 hours and is superb, we are doing it again in August.

I would love to watch someone try to do SW in half day.
Wayne

the shopping and eating could take hours!!!

Thanks for reminding me of the others I know I had missed a few....what can I say I woke up late and missed my coffee!!!

 

[wayneg]

Anyone going to SW often like us. Consider 2 year pass. cost $137 last year (think its $144 now) Gave us free parking, $20 off off adventure tour, $100 off Discovery cove discounts off food and shopping. plus other perks.
I guess the $137 pass has saved us over $200 each on discounts.
They don't expire until Oct so we will save even more in Aug when we are there for 25 nights.

 

[lds0191]

you could do nasa in 1/2 day if you pick the highlights. we are going back in june and probably do the museum. you could also do the beach in the morning for a couple hours then hit the space center. we stay off 192 close to I-4 and it takes about 1 hour to get to cocoa beach. seaworld is definately a whole day. i had some great advice from a friend about seaworld. as soon as you enter get your map and plan the shows you want to see. it keeps you from running all over the park and/or missing something great. i think seaworld's website now has maps and schedules you can print off so you could plan your day ahead of time.....have a great trip!

 

[littlegreydonkey]

We did KSC in half a day because we were so disappointed in it. There was a 30 minute queue for tickets (and we got there for opening) as they spent ages explaining to everyone what you go with what, a 20 minute queue for security as they only had three people checking you - and nine turnstiles open so everyone was angry in the queue as people we're coming from all directions (we got accused of pushing in even though we'd just walked through the turnstile closest to us). We then went straight to the tour and had to wait an hour because they will only allow the buses to depart every 15 minutes no matter how many people were in the queue - this would have made sense if you were all being herded in and out of the tour stops - but you're not, you get off the bus, then tour at your leisure.

As for the tour itself, I'm not a big space fan so I knew I wasn't going to be enthralled - but even my partner who really wanted to go thought it was rubbish. The bus where our driver actually spoke and told us things was interesting, but most of the time they just stuck on the video which we couldn't hear. We enjoyed the Apollo 13 tour stop, but by then we'd had enough - we didn't even get off the bus at the last stop, decided to go do the rocket garden (which we liked) then go shopping instead.

I know everyone is different, but we just came away thinking 'if you don't want tourists, don't open the place up to people'. Maybe we just got them on a bad day.