Newbie question re: adding WDW and transportation

[anomamatt]

I am usually not an impulsive guy, but I was watching the DIS unplugged today and saw the tidbit on the 3-day fantasy cruise in May. Talked to my wife and I booked it for us and the kids (3 and 4 at time of cruise). We've talked about doing a disney cruise for a few months now, but this is our first time.

It's 180-some days out and I am thinking adding one night before at WDW and maybe a night after. [We are going to WDW for 8 days in Feb/Mar, so even 1 day before the cruise would be a cool bonus].

If I did decide to do WDW before the cruise, how does one get from the resort to the port? Is there something like the magic express for that? And can you easily get from the port back to a resort?

I'll go and read up on what I got us into now... but because the 180 day window is close for WDW, I wanted to ask this question right away.

Thank you!

 

[apathetic]

If you stay at a WDW resort, then you can take the Disney Cruise Line bus to the port. They pick up your luggage from your room then you meet the bus later for a ride to the port. It is $35 per person/1way. You could look at other options, there are tons of threads on this board. If you are off Disney property you would likely need to arrange transportation, depending on the hotel. There are several shuttle companies that specialize in getting people to Canaveral.

 

[n2mm]

We always stay at wdw before and after but at $70 round trip per person that can be pretty steep when traveling in a party of six. If it's only 2 of you, then it's not too bad. Keep in mind that you will not arrive at the port early when using transportation from the resort. I believe I've read that arrival time is between 12:00-2:00. We like to arrive early at 10:30am for our port arrival time so we can get a low boarding number to get on the ship early......though we just became platinum last month, so now have a #1 boarding number.

 

[anomamatt]

Thanks. Great to hear there is a resort to port bus. We are sailing concierge so I think boarding number is not a concern. But I have so much to learn...

 

[com_op_2000]

With four people, you are looking at $140 to and from the port with WDW transportation. For that amount look into renting a car at the airport upon arrival, driving yourself to WDW and the port, parking at the port or offsite, driving back to WDW, and then to the airport to drop off your car.