Land and sea...get there a day early?

[mkandk]

This isn't really a question about cruising, but about the packages.

We are doing the 3 day land/4 day cruise, bought through All Seas Travel.

I haven't reserved airfare yet and the time crunch is on...should we try to come in a day early, to maximize the package? I had planned on it, but the room at AKL (that we have with the package) will cost us an extra $189, at least.

It's either that, or get an EARLY flight on the morning of the package, which means we will probably be tired at the parks.

The third option is to drive (18 hours), save maybe a $1000 on airfare and transfers, and get a cheaper hotel the night before the package begins. The big problem with this one is that I'm already taking the kids out of school for 2-3 days, and unless we drive straight thru, collapsing around midnight in Orlando, they might miss more. Coming back is much easier as it will be on the Thursday of Spring Break.

Sorry so long-winded, but I'm a penny-pincher, and the $$ clouds my common sense.

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

I think the main reason for arriving the day before is so that you don't have to worry about missing the ship if something goes awry. Obviously, the resort isn't going to leave without you, but your point about maximizing the time at the parks is a valid one. I would suggest finding a cheap off-airport hotel from Priceline or Hotwire and flying in, arriving the night before. You can then get to the resort early (and rested) on the first day of the land portion of the trip.

 

[jlp651]

I thought about tacking on an extra day in the begining-so we would have 4 days land 4 days sea...it was gonna cost me 1000.00$$$ more!!!

 

[erikthewise]

Have you considered just booking the resort and cruise separately? You may find you can save a lot of money just by doing that. We did!

You can take advantage of any special rates that come along for the resort, as you are not tied into a package. You can stay any number of nights you choose at the resort. You could buy park hopper passes instead of the length-of-stay passes that come with the package.

We found that we could rent a car for the full 7 days and park it at Port Canaveral for a lot less than Disney charges for transfers! You may do even better by dropping the car off at/near the Port and just paying for the bus to the airport after the cruise.

 

[kcashner]

You could fly in the evening before and book a room near the airport thru Priceline for about $28-35 per night (go 3*). You must do 3* to get a hotel that has a free shuttle to and from the airport. Also, you don't say how many people are in your party, but if it is more than 3, it might be cheaper to use a private limo for your transfers rather than the DCL bus. Some of the 3* have complimentary breakfast. DO NOT go down to 2.5* because there is a disgusting LaQuinta in the MCO area at that level.

Alternatively, you could book one of the hotels along the Downtown Disney row...there is a Best Western there that typically goes for $35-40 per night. However, you would lose the advantage of the free shuttle, and would have to take a cab to AKL (they don't allow luggage on the disney busses that run around WDW.) So...staying by the airport would be cheaper and easier.

That way, you will be in Orlando early in the morning, ready to go over to AKL and check in...thus getting a full day's use out of your passes. If the flight schedules work out, the kids won't have to miss any more school.

The early morning flight isn't a bad idea either. You can "park" until you drop, then do a character dinner or something relaxing...or just sleep in the evening. Also, dawn and dusk are the best times to view the animals at AKL.

 

[two-foxes]

We flew in a day early on our last trip to WDW when we did the land/sea and we will do this anytime we book any package at WDW. We added days to the land portion, so we were actually dealing with 2 packages on this trip (so we actually had 3 check-ins!) We knew we wanted to fly in a day early, and after checking MCO area hotels, we ended up at ASMu for $79 or so for the night. It was PERFECT because when we woke up the morning our package started, ASMu sent our bags over to AKL for us, we took a cab to AKL to get our KKTK cards and get started on our day. We got to the parks early, and we didn't waste one part of our day. Our room was ready with our luggage in it at about 4 pm or so. We didn't miss a beat.

For the record, we had checked into just adding a night at AKL, but the $300+ price tag was a bit much. The ease of staying on property was not worth that...but the ASMu price tag sure was!

 

[tksbaskets]

We added a day before our Christmas Land-Sea vacation last year. It was a seperate booking but it was pretty smooth once we got to our resort. We didn't have to change rooms or anything, just had to get new KTTW cards.

It was well worth it to have 3 full days at the parks. I think it was a bit of a bundle to stay the extra night but it's only money

Let us know what you decide!