New England newbie - sailing in February

[loril13]

So I am learning we should fly into FL the day before our cruise to help avoid any winter in New England delays.
What do we do with that extra day?
I know we can stay at the Hyatt at the airport. I am sure we'll be bored senseless.
Is it worth heading to WDW for the one afternoon / night?
I am assuming these are my options if we plan on taking Disney transportation to Port Canaveral. I'd rather hire a private car / taxi service. With only two of us, it does not seem cost effective.

I am so used to all my friends coming to me for WDW planning advice. I am so lost & confused being a newbie to cruising.

 

[lanejudy]

We fly from New England in February as well -- always AT LEAST a day early (some weather delays can actually take a couple of days to get travelers to their destinations). We have sometimes done WDW prior; if it's just one night, we might do Disney Springs instead of a park, or just resort time. Sometimes we rent a car and head straight to the port area, there are several hotels in Cocoa Beach. Or you can stay at a hotel near the airport and do DCL transfers in the morning.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So I am learning we should fly into FL the day before our cruise to help avoid any winter in New England delays.
What do we do with that extra day?
I know we can stay at the Hyatt at the airport. I am sure we'll be bored senseless.
Is it worth heading to WDW for the one afternoon / night?
I am assuming these are my options if we plan on taking Disney transportation to Port Canaveral. I'd rather hire a private car / taxi service. With only two of us, it does not seem cost effective.

I am so used to all my friends coming to me for WDW planning advice. I am so lost & confused being a newbie to cruising.

Our last cruise we arrived at MCO around 4:00 pm. Checked into the Hyatt for the night. Then rented a car and drove over to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. You could head out to Disney Springs, or one of the parks, if you want. We used DCL transfers from MCO to the port.

 

[chunkymonkey]

We flew to Port Canaveral from NJ this past February. We flew in the day before our cruise and it just worked out price-wise to take the first flight out. So we had a day to kill and we spent it at the Hyatt MCO. I had thoughts of renting a car for a day trip to the parks or to Downtown Disney but in all honestly we were so tired and the Hyatt MCO had enough to entertain us for a day, so we just took it easy. We relaxed, went shopping, used the hotel gym, ate at the food court and at the restaurants in the hotel. If it had been a bit warmer we would have gone swimming too at the outdoor pool. It was actually perfect for us to kinda relax a bit before embarkation day. If you do want something to do though definitely look at daily rentals for cars and check out your options. It may be cheaper to keep the rental and drive to port then. Or maybe look at uber?

As for transportation to Port Canaveral, we used Happy Limo and had a private car (we were 3 adults). It was only slightly more expensive and you get to stop and pick up some wine/beer before boarding. If it were just DH and I we may spend the money to get the private transfer again because it's nice to be able to pick up some wine before the cruise and we arrived before many o the buses did (our port arrival time was 10:30am though).

You can check out my trip report for our feb trip (complete) in my signature.

Have a great trip!

 

[diznymom]

We fly in early and stay on WDW property. We take the ME to the resort (free). Spend the night or 2 at the resort, then DCL bus from resort to port. When the cruise is over, we take the DCL bus from the port to the airport for our flight. We use one of the "Participating Airlines" so we don't have to schlep bags.

Once on WDW property, there is plenty to do that doesn't cost anything.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

For the cost of a night at the MCO Hyatt you could have a night at a WDW value resort (with a free bus to the resort, pool time, and transport to Disney Springs) AND pay the $35 per person for DCL transfers to the ship. And you wouldn't be bored.

You may also find members of your cruise group doing the same thing, and have a meet-up that evening!

 

[spgoad]

We like to fly in the day before and stay the day at a WDW resort. We enjoy the resort atmosphere and activities and find there is plenty to do (and good restaurants to enjoy) being on Disney property. With magical express it doesn't add any transportation cost. We also have stayed at MCO Hyatt once, which was handy for DCL morning transfers (got us to the port earlier), but there was definitely less to do (even though they do have a pool).