Planning for Kennedy Space Center

[Aristocath]

I'm planning our August trip and my family wants to visit KSC. I have not yet booked our flights and we have 2 options.
The first option is to fly out late on Wednesday night,getting into Orlando about 11:30 and stay at the Doubletree in DTD. Thursday we would drive over to KSC and have the whole day there.
The second option is to fly out early Thursday morning, getting into Orlando about 10:30 am and go directly to KSC.

The room at the Doubletree is free so that doesn't factor into our decision. Airfare seems to be the big issue right now.

My question is: If we end up flying in on Thursday morning, will we have enough time at the Space Center?

Thanks!

 

[pnyltwk]

If you plan on spending an entire day at KSC and seeing and doing all there is to do there then you will need to plan accordingly. My son and I went there a few years back and really had to rush to do all that we wanted to do. There is a lot to see and do. If you drove over after a 1030 AM arrival then it would probably be early afternoon before you got KSC. I do not think you would be doing yourself justice with just an afternoon.

 

[tink fan]

I would spend a full day there. You would only be able to experience a small part of the what they have to offer if you tried to do it in an afternoon.

We spent the end of a day (about 2 hours) and the whole next day (9-5), and didn't see everything we wanted. The main visitor center could be mostly done in a afternoon (if you didn't do all the shows), but you wouldn't have time for the bus tour, which was incredible. They recommend 2-3 hours for the bus tour; it took us 4 hours and I felt we were moving through it quickly. There are a lot of shows and videos they do during the tour that takes time, as well as needing to wait for the buses to pick you up at each spot.

If you choose to do just the afternoon, I'd get there and immediately go on the bus tour. When you are done, go to the inside attractions at the center. When we were there in July, the center closed at 6, but they didn't make you leave the complex. You could walk around the outside attactions and go the the gift shop after the closing time.

Also, the IMAX shows are awesome, but you can get those on DVD. Not quite the same experience, but I would rather see some of the attractions at the center than spend time watching a movie if I had limited time.

 

[Aristocath]

Thanks, tink fan. That is the info I was looking for. I figured it would take a whole day. We've been to Space Center Houston and I heard that it is a fragment of what they have at Kennedy.

 

[MinnieGi]

I too would recommend the full day option. Especially considering if you arrive in Orlando at 10:30 you still have to wait on line for bags, car rental etc. and that can sometimes take a while before you even get on the road to travel to KSC.

 

[MoreMouse5]

Would one of you mind to tell me more about what we'll see on the bus tour? Our kids are 11, 9, and 7. I know we'll want to spend quite a bit of time in the main visitor center; just want to make sure we want to take the time to do the bus tour also. We're going to KSC on Sunday before the shuttle launch on Thursday, March 18. I've tried to find out if we'll be able to get close to/view the shuttle on the launch pad, but I'm still not sure if that will be possible. I guess if it IS possible, it would be part of the bus tour. We are all interested in space, so we can't wait for this visit!

 

[loydandmel]

I have flown into Orlando 3 times and I love flying in at night instead of 1st thing in the morning. We have a 7 year old and it seems so much calmer getting there in the evening. We usually arrive about 11:00 and go to a hotel by the airport for the evening then go to Disney the next day. I would highly suggest flying in at night.

 

[happymommy]

We're also going in March (getting in on the 13th) and would like to go visit KSC. So a whole day sounds best, eh?

How is traffic coming and going? We'll probably avoid the launch day, obviously, as we don't have tickets!

Do you need to purchase tickets in advance, or can you just go there and get them? My DH is military (also works on a project at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD) so I don't know if you can get any discounts (learned in the military, you get spoiled with discounts).

I guess it sounds like the suggestion is go over early in the morning?

 

[Aristocath]

Well, I've managed to add a whole day to our trip! Since we decided to spend a whole day at KSC, I looked for evening flights. But then AirTran lowered fares and the last non-stop was at 10:30 am. It was such a good price we booked it.

We are staying at the Doubletree in DTD for three nights before the Disney portion of our trip. We'll get up early to drive over to Kennedy...I'm giving about an hour for transportation time and plan on staying until close. You can buy your tickets in advance. I plan on using the Mousesavers link for Undercover Tourist. Some Congresspeople have an educational budget for these tickets and give them out, ours does not. I'm unaware of military discounts but you might check the KSC webpage for info.

Between Disney, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Kennedy Space Center, I think my kids are going to love this vacation!

 

[starnightstarsky2000]

We just did the KSC Bus Trip last Aug and our 8 year old LOVE it he also would suggest that you make sure to make time for the Space Scouts attraction as that was really great and he really got into it as well. Also for those who don't know if your family is wanting to do KSC contact your Congressmen for free tickets as every state congressmen are given 500 free tickets to KSC although they tend to go quick (for those wanting to visit next month not sure if you will have enough time to get the tickets from the since it can take a bit of time to get them) though for the summer/fall trips you should be good. Also for those who dont have a hotel picked out but want to spend a couple of days at KSC and/or Coca Beach we got a great deal last year (which I found out is offered all the time on pricelince) for 2n/3days WITH rental car for $133(which we picked up at the airport and then dropped it back off at the airport and took Disney Magical Way Pick up from the airport to the World (we just looked up a flight that landed at the same time we were going to be turning the car in and told Disney we were taking that flight LOL a bit sneaking I know but hey it saved us more money to spend at the world. Our hotel was a whole 7 mins to the beach it was just your normal super 8 but for a couple of nights (where we were just sleeping there) it worked great.

 

[Disneyof3]

Were going this March also and would like to know which tour is best? We plan on spending the whole day there also. We expect to arrive at opening and stay till the end.