Pre and Post Cruise fun

[swissfamilystrickland]

Hi everyone

We get to Orlando the day before our cruise and plan to stay at the Poly for a night. I want to make the most of this and watch fireworks from the beach, get some dole whip, have breakfast at Ohana the next day and hopefully have time to go for a swim in the pool before we drive to Port Canaveral in our rental car. However I would like to do this without sacrificing any major cruise fun so I'm wondering... on embarkation day is there a benefit to getting there earlier in the day? What I mean is, are there many activities early on embarkation day or is it safe to say that we won't miss much if we don't plan to arrive until one of the later port arrival times? Also, is there a good chance that we won't be able to get some of the popular meet and greet tickets if we don't board asap?

I'm also wondering about post cruise fun. Our flight home doesn't leave until evening time on the last day and I was told that everyone gets off the boat right after breakfast. I would hate to just go straight to the airport and sit there for hours with two restless kids after a week of fun. Does anyone have any recommendations for post cruise activities to ease the transition back into the real world?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi everyone

We get to Orlando the day before our cruise and plan to stay at the Poly for a night. I want to make the most of this and watch fireworks from the beach, get some dole whip, have breakfast at Ohana the next day and hopefully have time to go for a swim in the pool before we drive to Port Canaveral in our rental car. However I would like to do this without sacrificing any major cruise fun so I'm wondering... on embarkation day is there a benefit to getting there earlier in the day? What I mean is, are there many activities early on embarkation day or is it safe to say that we won't miss much if we don't plan to arrive until one of the later port arrival times? Also, is there a good chance that we won't be able to get some of the popular meet and greet tickets if we don't board asap?

I'm also wondering about post cruise fun. Our flight home doesn't leave until evening time on the last day and I was told that everyone gets off the boat right after breakfast. I would hate to just go straight to the airport and sit there for hours with two restless kids after a week of fun. Does anyone have any recommendations for post cruise activities to ease the transition back into the real world?

I can only say, with a late flight, we had a rental car and drove to Animal Kingdom for a time before heading to the airport.

 

[com_op_2000]

Pre-cruise you can usually get into your staterooms @1:30, I would suggest you plan your day so that you are on-board before then. That way you can offload your luggage into the room right when you get on-board. Also, lunch is served starting @12:00.
Post-cruise you can go spend the day at DS or Citywalk. Kennedy Space Center is an option.

 

[Scillycruisers]

We have always travelled to the port on the DCL bus so have had the whole morning at the resort before leaving. Once at the terminal general boarding has started so we have never had to wait after check in and never had check in lines either. We have been on board just after the cabins are ready so have been able to dump all our bags and get lunch. We have never felt we have missed out by not being earlier.
After the cruise we have always had late flights so have got a rental car and driven to international drive for some adventure golf, lunch and shopping. We have also visited Kennedy Space Centre.
We haven't been to the parks on this day as we have always had a few days there before the cruise.

 

[FindMeAFishingSpot]

We've done Downtown Disney post cruise the past few times. This year, we're spending the day at SeaWorld.