Not quite full day in Florida

[kerry1379]

It looks like we may have an extra, not quite full day in either Orlando, Miami, or somewhere in between before our cruise. Since it isn't a full day, we don't want to spend the money for any of the amusement parks like Disney World or Universal. What are some of your favorite activities? We love Florida's miniature golf, so may try that. Or perhaps just enjoy a day at the beach. We will have grandparents with us as well as a wide range of child ages. We don't want this day to just be a day spent waiting for the cruise to start. We want to really enjoy our time in Florida. Thoughts? Thank you!

 

[FigmentSpark]

Disney Springs is free and gets you into the Disney feel of things.

 

[MSPeeler]

I was going to suggest the same, Disney Springs and lunch at T-Rex.

 

[21stamps]

It looks like we may have an extra, not quite full day in either Orlando, Miami, or somewhere in between before our cruise. Since it isn't a full day, we don't want to spend the money for any of the amusement parks like Disney World or Universal. What are some of your favorite activities? We love Florida's miniature golf, so may try that. Or perhaps just enjoy a day at the beach. We will have grandparents with us as well as a wide range of child ages. We don't want this day to just be a day spent waiting for the cruise to start. We want to really enjoy our time in Florida. Thoughts? Thank you!

Miami and Orlando are 2 very different places. What airport are you flying in to?

 

[21stamps]

If you're cruising out of Miami, what about an airboat tour? Or lunch in SoBe and Vizcaya? Both are relatively inexpensive.

 

[diznymom]

If you are in the area of WDW, go visit Animal Kingdom Lodge. I think all ages will enjoy the animal and activities at the resort.

 

[Otimon]

If in the Orlando area, Disney Springs is the place to be! Enjoy your cruise.

 

[poison ivy]

It's a fairly decent drive between Orlando and Miami. Depends on which direction you are going and where you are staying precruise.

 

[openwater]

It is near impossible to give ideas not knowing where you will be landing! Are you trying to decide between flying into Orlando or Miami the day before your Miami cruise?

Too many options from both places to list here and there is also the drive. Last year the drive from MCO to Miami took almost 4 hours.

 

[jlynch924]

You might also get into the mood, if in Orlando, and go to the Disney Marketplace.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Yes, it really depends on where you are flying in from. Are you driving or flying in a day before? Disney Springs is free, but it's just shopping and WDW is not close to Port Canaveral.

Kennedy Space Center is very close to the port and is amazing. There are also some great airboat tours in the port area plus Brevard Zoo. Florida is a HUGE state. I would try to find activities not too far afield from the port (not sure what port you are leaving from?), otherwise you could waste a lot of time just driving around.

 

[kerry1379]

Actually, we are trying to figure out what airport we need to fly into based on what we want to do. The cruise is out of Miami-Magic 5 day Western Caribbean-Sunday through Friday morning. (Port Canaveral would have been the preferable port for us but that just didn't fit with our available dates and what ship and itinerary we wanted.) We are planning on flying in on Friday evening. That leaves Saturday free but we want to be in Miami by that evening. Sunday-Friday morning cruise. That leaves most of Friday free as well but if we do Universal the next day, we want to be in Orlando by evening. Saturday is Universal. Sunday we fly home. If we keep Universal in that mix, I think we would probably need to fly into and out of Orlando. I know the drive is about 4-5 hours. We do road trips with our kids all the time so that shouldn't be a problem. However, if there are amazing things to do in Miami, perhaps we could take out the Universal plans and just stay in Miami the whole time.

 

[kerry1379]

Actually, we were REALLY hoping for a 7 day cruise but that just didn't work out. So now that we have the extra time, we are trying to find other ways to make those extra 2 days awesome!

 

[Sytrace]

If you decide on Miami, check out the Florida Everglades. Absolutely amazing and there are tours and boat rides you can take out there as well as learn the history of the Everglades.

The Venetian Pool in Coral Gables is amazing and the water temp is a cool 73 degrees year round. http://www.coralgables.com/index.aspx?page=167

The Vizcaya Gardens and Museum is pretty impressive too. http://vizcaya.org/

 

[CesD]

We took the kids to the beach to snorkel at the lighthouse on Key Biscayne. Go to Little Havana for lunch and ice cream at Azucar.