logistics of flying into MCO, going to WDW, cruising, and then flying home.

[halfmonkey]

Hi all. I was hoping to get some help and or tips from folks that might have done this same "trip" or from anyone that has some helpful tips. It'll be our first time to FL, WDW, and taking a cruise departing out of FL. We've already booked our cruise leaving Port Canaveral on Sept 24, 2016. We're thinking of flying to MCO on Sept 18th and then going into the various parks from Sept 19-23 (Mon-Fri.)

I understand that from the airport, there is a free Disney shuttle to take you to a Disney Resort. We're thinking of maybe staying at the Art of Animation as it'll be 6 of us. 3 adults and 3 kids (9,7, and 3.) So getting around WDW, I understand you can take shuttles although there will be some wait times involved.

When we finish visiting WDW on Friday night, do you recommend finding our own transportation to Port Canaveral and renting a hotel there close to port? I understand that there is no shuttle service from the resort to port if going on any other day than the day that you depart. I believe that if you stay at the Disney Resort on Friday night, then on Saturday morning you can utilize a Disney shuttle to get you to port, correct? I read that this will not get you there super early in the morning but more like late morning, early afternoon, correct? Does anybody have any recommendations either way; go the night before and rent a new hotel or go the morning of departure with the shuttle?

When we come back to port on Sat, Oct 1st, we don't necessarily want to rush off the ship and mess with flying out on that day too so we're thinking of getting a hotel room for the night and then flying out Sunday morning. I could see flying out later on Saturday so we don't have to rush off the ship and rush to the airport. This would save us some money since we wouldn't have to rent a hotel for Saturday night. Either way, once we get off the ship is there a Disney shuttle that will take you to the airport or are you on your own at this point? If we're on our own, how hard is it to wing it coming off the ship and find one of those for hire shuttles waiting around for passengers?

Sorry for the long post and the many questions but just want to get some clarity to help in the planning to what is feasible and what is not. Thanks for your help.

 

[minnie mum]

Many of your questions might be better asked on the Transportation forum, but I'll try to answer some of them.

Magic Express is a service that will take you and your luggage free from MCO to your Disney resort. You need to sign up for this service.

Once at your resort, you can use the Disney transportation anywhere onsite. Buses go to every park, but there is no resort to resort service. To do that, you need to go to a park and transfer to another bus (or boat or monorail) to the other resort. Allow an hour or an hour and a half. Chances are you won't need that long,vbut better to arrive early rather than late.

The Disney Cruise buses go from the resorts and from MCO to the cruise ship dock on the morning you sail. They do not go early because guests can't board until late morning at the earliest. The Disney buses are a paid service which must be booked in advance.

You have a few choices. You can stay at your Disney resort and take the Disney Cruise bus. With 6 people, this would be expensive. You could stay at your Disney resort and rent a car to get you to Port Canaveral on the morning you sail. All of the car rental agencies have their own free shuttles that will take you to the dock. Or you could rent a car, drive to a PC hotel the night before and go to the ship in the morning, either using the rental car or the hotel shuttle if it has one.

On your disembarkation day, you are going to have to get off the ship quite early whether you like it or not, because they need to prep the ship for new passengers before noon. But again you have choices. You can book and pay for the Disney Cruise bus to take you directly to the airport. Or you can rent a car. If you rent, then you can choose a later flight that day, or you can spend an additional day ( the Kennedy Space Center is close by) and get a local hotel room, then drive to MCO the next day. But you can't just "wing it" when you get off the ship.

 

[halfmonkey]

Many of your questions might be better asked on the Transportation forum, but I'll try to answer some of them.

Magic Express is a service that will take you and your luggage free from MCO to your Disney resort. You need to sign up for this service.

Once at your resort, you can use the Disney transportation anywhere onsite. Buses go to every park, but there is no resort to resort service. To do that, you need to go to a park and transfer to another bus (or boat or monorail) to the other resort. Allow an hour or an hour and a half. Chances are you won't need that long,vbut better to arrive early rather than late.

The Disney Cruise buses go from the resorts and from MCO to the cruise ship dock on the morning you sail. They do not go early because guests can't board until late morning at the earliest. The Disney buses are a paid service which must be booked in advance.

You have a few choices. You can stay at your Disney resort and take the Disney Cruise bus. With 6 people, this would be expensive. You could stay at your Disney resort and rent a car to get you to Port Canaveral on the morning you sail. All of the car rental agencies have their own free shuttles that will take you to the dock. Or you could rent a car, drive to a PC hotel the night before and go to the ship in the morning, either using the rental car or the hotel shuttle if it has one.

On your disembarkation day, you are going to have to get off the ship quite early whether you like it or not, because they need to prep the ship for new passengers before noon. But again you have choices. You can book and pay for the Disney Cruise bus to take you directly to the airport. Or you can rent a car. If you rent, then you can choose a later flight that day, or you can spend an additional day ( the Kennedy Space Center is close by) and get a local hotel room, then drive to MCO the next day. But you can't just "wing it" when you get off the ship.

That's a lot of useful information. Thanks a ton!

I didn't know there was a transportation section. Mods, can you move to the transportation forum if appropriate?

 

[sdjen]

With 6 people, it might be more cost effective to get a private car service to take you the morning of your cruise from your resort to the port. This will also allow you to get there earlier. The DCL bus costs $35 per person each way so round trip for your family would be $420. If you decide on DCL buses another option would be to take the free magical express back to an airport hotel Friday night. Then, you can get to airport Saturday morning and get on an earlier bus.

Another option would be to rent a car one way to the port. You can either drop off Friday night and stay at a hotel with free shuttles to port or drop of Saturday morning before you board the ship. This would be more work for you but should be significantly less expensive.

I wouldn't try to find a shuttle back to the airport without prearranging something, if you take the DCL bus back (which you can do only one way if you want) you will probably be back to MCO by about 10 AM. I believe DCL recommends flights noon or later.

I can also recommend a day room at the MCO Hyatt if you have a later flight. We have done this with a late afternoon flight and it was great. You can swim, have lunch, rest and reorganize luggage. Much better than wrangling tired kids at the airport!

 

[Steveromo]

Thanks for the info on this thread. It has helped me with the planning of my first cruise next month (cruise only - no WDW unfortunately.) However, I have a few follow up questions. 1. I am staying at Hilton Cocoa the night before cruise and will take hotel shuttle to port the morning of cruise. I assume I am responsible for my luggage until I get to the boat, is this correct? 2. Upon disembarking at the end of cruise, how to we get on the Disney shuttle to MCO? Is it set up in advance online, set up upon arrival to the boat or setup upon check-out at end of cruise? And what about luggage upon disembark? Do I carry off the boat and on to the shuttle or does Disney do it a'la Magical Express? Thanks!

 

[minnie mum]

Just want to point out that there is a Disney Cruise forum on these boards, where these types of questions might get more responses.

Also, the Disney Cruise line website has information regarding ground transportation to and from the airport/hotels, and luggage handling procedures.

 

[AZMama2016]

I've done the WDW stay on property plus cruise itinerary and it worked out great. Just book your trip on the ME bus on arrival date; they will send you luggage tags ahead of time and actually pick up your bags directly for you and transfer them to the hotel, so the next time you see them is in your room. Make sure you pack a day bag with toiletries, clothes change, medications, bathing suits, whatever you might need, because it might take awhile for your luggage to arrive as it may be transported by truck with stops at multiple hotels (we arrived at the hotel about 5 pm and didn't get our bags until after 8 pm). On the day before the cruise, place your bags with cruise tags outside the door and they will transport them to your cabin. Again keep a day bag as you won't see your bags for about 6 hours at least. You will get an assigned time to meet the cruise bus; it was around noon for us, which allowed us to sleep in, eat a late breakfast and take our time. Even arriving early afternoon to the ship will give you plenty of time to explore before muster and sailaway.

I wouldn't recommend changing hotels for that night. Given the size of your party and bags for two weeks of vacation, it's way easier to stay put and let Disney take care of everything.

On the way back, your bags will be picked up outside your cabin door the night before docking, so keep another day bag with you (don't forget toothbrush and change of clothes!). You will have an assigned time to leave based on your dining rotation. We've always left around 8:30-9. You will pick up your luggage and go through customs; there are contractor baggage handlers all over, so they can help retrieve your bags and schlep them through customs for you and to the bus. If you are flying certain airlines, you can even check-in earlier and your bags will go straight to the airline from the port (I've never tried this because our airline of choice isn't on their list). Once you arrive at the airport, just get your bags if not prechecked and hang out until your flight.

I've never done a stay afterwards. I have to admit, by then I'm ready to go home and unpack. While I hate ending a vacation, there's just something mental for me in being able to go home after a cruise - most likely due to the fact that my post-cruise suitcase is a disaster compared to when I arrived!

One tip I do have is when you board the ship, do your laundry that day. The laundry facilities are EMPTY! They'll get busier as the week progresses, unless you don't mind doing it in the middle of the night.

On our last trip, we skipped the WDW portion and just did the cruise. We stayed at the MCO Hyatt on arrival, which was great. You can even give your baggage claim tags to the hotel staff at check-in and they'll get them from baggage claim and bring them straight to your room. The next day they'll pick up your bags early and get them onto the Disney transport to the ship, so you won't see them until later onboard. Then just pick up the cruise bus at your scheduled time after a lazy morning and head to the port - it's super easy and convenient.