Overnight the night before boarding

[CraftyMouse]

..We stayed at the Comfort Inn, it was less than 5 miles away from the terminal. Publix was right down the street, that made it nice for picking up supplys. Nothing fancy, it was clean and has a nice pool for the kids to play in before bed. The real bonus was I got it on Hotwire for 59.00 bucks plus taxes. Well worth it for a place just to but your head down for a night..

Great to hear! We also got the Comfort Inn for $59 on Hotwire (1/2 of what the Radison was charging) and it's nice to hear it's a clean, comfortable place.

 

[DisneyBride'03]

Changed plans...but have learned alot on this thread, so thanks...great input, and thanks to the OP for bringing this up!!

We are going to stay at BWV the night prior...so ME...use DCL transfers...then back to AKV...

After going over every possible scenario..rental cars...limo service...hotel stay at MCO/or Port...shuttles....
With three kids in tow and one of them in a stoller, this appears to be the best choice for us..we are using pts for everything...
We will see how it all works out...for our next cruise lol

 

[COMET MOM]

WE ARE GOING TO TRY THE COCOA SUPER 8! NEVER STATYED AT ONE BUT IS ONLY 1 NIGHT AND IT DOES NOT LOOK BAD! I HOPE THE PICTURES ARE RIGHT! LET YOU ALL KNOW IF I IS WORTH THE 50.00 A NIGHT.

 

[scottb8888]

We are thinking of going to WDW the first night via the magical express then the DCL transfer from WDW and back to WDW after the cruise... followed by a few days at WDW and Magical express back to tMCO. Thoughts?

 

[4cogscruzin]

Does anyone know how early the disney bus leaves from the Hyatt?

Thanks

 

[DisneyBride'03]

We are thinking of going to WDW the first night via the magical express then the DCL transfer from WDW and back to WDW after the cruise... followed by a few days at WDW and Magical express back to tMCO. Thoughts?

That is what we are doing....for our family, me, DH, DS14, DD10 and DD1...I did all scenarios....rental car..hotel at Mco, at the port...private transfer....
With using our DVC pts for our hotel accomodations before and after..it jsut seems more convenient for us this way..
There are alot of options! So just choose what works best for your family!
Someone did mention that you will be on DCL's "time" as opposed to getting to the port when YOU want.

 

[dicar123]

It goes in 24 hour increments. If you are over 24 hours they will charge you for 2 days, even if it is only an extra 15 minutes. Changing your start time should fix the problem.

I'll bet he never changed the start time, only the turn in time. Thanks so much for your help! It seemed awful silly to pay extra just to get us to the boat when there is also a shuttle. But I wasn't really looking forward to dropping the car off at 6pm the night before.

 

[flexsmom]

Does anyone know how early the disney bus leaves from the Hyatt?

Thanks

First one leaves around 9:30am. We were on the third bus out at about 9:45 and were at the terminal with plenty of time to spare before boarding began.

 

[mmps108]

Thanks to all who posted! I just got a 2 bedroom room at the Marriot for less than we would spend on 2 rooms. We booked Avis for two 1-way trips for less than $100 combined! Now we can spend the afternoon in the Cape!! I love the people on the DIS!!!

 

[DisneyBride'03]

Does anyone know what time the DCL bus comes?? I am concerned now about waiting with "everyone" else....the more I think about it, I would like to be on the ship as soon as it is allowed!

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Hi
I definately plan to stay near the port the night before the cruise - but I am unsure whether to stay at Cocoa beach or at the port itself. How far exactly is Cocoa beach from the port and do any of the Cocoa beach hotels do shuttle transfers to the port? I think it would be nice to stay at the beach to give us something to do the night before - nice walk on the beach, meal etc, but I don't want to be too far away. can anyone advise?

 

[ibela]

So many people have talked about doing this, but I have a question. We're flying in the day before, around 10am. To keep the rental car to drop us off the next morning, it was going to be a 2 day rental, even though it was only 24 hours. Are you guys coming later and getting around it that way?

Am I missing something?

As CraftyMouse posted, days are calculated in 24 hr increments not calendar days. I wanted to add that if your flight is scheduled to arrive at 10am, you don't need to schedule a pick-up time for the car until at least 11am taking into account the time needed to get off the plane, claim your luggage, and make it down to the car rental desk.

 

[birkner]

Hi
I definately plan to stay near the port the night before the cruise - but I am unsure whether to stay at Cocoa beach or at the port itself. How far exactly is Cocoa beach from the port and do any of the Cocoa beach hotels do shuttle transfers to the port? I think it would be nice to stay at the beach to give us something to do the night before - nice walk on the beach, meal etc, but I don't want to be too far away. can anyone advise?

There are several hotels near the port that come to mind. The Comfort Inn and Suites, the Residence Inn and the The Radisson.

We have stayed at the Radisson in a two king bed whirlpool suite and taken their free shuttle. My GK's really like their pool. We had a nice breakfast the next morning and took the shuttle to the port.

Here is the Radisson website:

http://www.radissonport.com/