Spending rest of day at WDW after cruise with late flight?

[IBLarsen]

Taking a 4 day cruise end of July, and already planning on spending 3 days at WDW before cruise. The issue is planning the logistics of the last day. If we get off the ship at 9am and have an 8:00pm flight, I'm trying to come up with options for the day. I WAS planning on doing Atlantis because the kids (will be ages 12 and 14) like water parks. But reconsidering Atlantis so thinking of spending that last day at one of the Disney Water Parks instead. HOW do we do this??? Would it be easiest to just rent a value room so we can change at end of day before going to airport? If we do this, can we take ME from the resort to Airport at end of day? What is the cheapest way to get from Port to WDW? I guess what is the easiest way to spend a day at Disney at all under these circumstances?
What other things do people do on this last day with late flights?

 

[LSUfan4444]

Would it be easiest to just rent a value room so we can change at end of day before going to airport?

Technically check-in isn't till 4 pm. So there is a chance your room may not be ready until an hour before you would need to board DME. If you did rent a room I would skip the water park and plan maybe a lunch at disney springs and an afternoon at the pool (or in the room napping if it's ready).

If you really wanted to do the water park skip the disney resort and just get dressed at the water park. Pick up a rental car from the cruise terminal and drop it off at the airport.

If we do this, can we take ME from the resort to Airport at end of day?

Yes.

What is the cheapest way to get from Port to WDW?

Depends on your family size but likely, rent a car. Alamo has locations at the swan and dolphin and at the disney car care center. The Disney care care center has a shuttle which can bring you to your resort. Disembark, take car rental shuttle to get your car, drive to your resort and drop off bags, etc., then bring rental car to car center and take shuttle back. Mid size cars are found rpetty easy for about $100.

I guess what is the easiest way to spend a day at Disney at all under these circumstances?

If you have a resort spend it at a park very nearby, at the resort pool or at disney springs or just get a car rental and spend the day at whatever park you choose.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

If you want to spend your last day at a Disney waterpark, I'd recommend what @LSUfan4444 did. Skip renting a room, get a car rental at PC and return it to MCO, change at the water parks. The Disney water parks have pretty nice changing areas. You could shower and get changed, then leave from there for the airport. With an 8:00pm flight, I'd recommend leaving for the airport around 5:00pm, or maybe even a little earlier.

 

[clten]

Technically check-in isn't till 4 pm. So there is a chance your room may not be ready until an hour before you would need to board DME. If you did rent a room I would skip the water park and plan maybe a lunch at disney springs and an afternoon at the pool (or in the room napping if it's ready).

If you were going to go this road and skip the waterpark in favor of hanging out at the hotel and possibly napping, I'd skip the DCL resort and get a day room at the Hyatt in the MCO airport. Your room will be ready to actually use during the day, you can use their pool, if you want to dine out for lunch they have a few restaurants or you can go to the ones in the airport. It also saves you transportation time (and stress) back to the airport as you'll be there all day!

If you are more interested in the waterpark, I'll third the recommendation for just getting a rental car and going there. You'll be able to store your luggage in the rental car and be able to go directly from the waterpark to the airport rather than trying to get back to your hotel room to change and catch a DME bus.

 

[RedSox68]

Why not just spend the afternoon at Downtown Disney and maybe ride the monorail to visit the resorts, rather than pay for a room that you may only get a couple of hours out of. If you want water access, go to one of the water parks and enjoy that for the day. From what I remember, they have changing rooms and showers. Then maybe have dinner at Downtown Disney before you head to the airport.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

We did this one trip. It was a fantastic way to spend the day and the kids had a blast. There are 4 of us, we rented a car and returned at the airport. Just leave yourself plenty of time to get to the airport and drop off the car etc.

 

[mya1k9]

Why don't you rent a car and spend the day at Volcano Bay, the new water park at Universal? It looks awesome and would be different since you just did Disney.

 

[disney789]

I reserved a day room at the Hyatt at the airport for our late flight after our cruise. No water park but there's a pool.

 

[DisneyPups]

What are your plans for the 3 days prior? If you get a 4 day pass instead, you'll be within the 14-day use timeline to use 3 days first and then the 1 day after. If you want to do one park per day, you can get that summer promotion ticket ($79/day, 1 of each of the 4 parks each day). Or if you want to do a park more than once, a 4-day pass isn't much more than a 3 day. As others have said, rent a car from PC and drop it off at MCO. If you really want to do a water park, they have showers there, but you'll need to take your toiletries with you. Either way, have fun! Skip the hotel room.

 

[PurplePencil]

Why not just spend the afternoon at Downtown Disney and maybe ride the monorail to visit the resorts, rather than pay for a room that you may only get a couple of hours out of. If you want water access, go to one of the water parks and enjoy that for the day. From what I remember, they have changing rooms and showers. Then maybe have dinner at Downtown Disney before you head to the airport.

I did this recently. Rent a car, drive to Disney Springs, eating lunch either at a Quick Service or ADR, walking around/ shopping, taking the boat to SSR OKW or PO, exploring the resort, returning to Disney Springs, getting dinner? and driving to MCO
Some fun things to at Disney Springs includes the Coca-Cola Around the world (Club Cool on steroids), merchandise hunts, or creating a scavenger hunt for your kids.

 

[IBLarsen]

What are your plans for the 3 days prior? If you get a 4 day pass instead, you'll be within the 14-day use timeline to use 3 days first and then the 1 day after. If you want to do one park per day, you can get that summer promotion ticket ($79/day, 1 of each of the 4 parks each day). Or if you want to do a park more than once, a 4-day pass isn't much more than a 3 day. As others have said, rent a car from PC and drop it off at MCO. If you really want to do a water park, they have showers there, but you'll need to take your toiletries with you. Either way, have fun! Skip the hotel room.

Exactly what I was thinking, as we would already have a 3 day, I would just add that extra day onto the ticket purchase since we would be within the 14 day window, so was thinking this would be a cheap way to add a day. I'm looking at the water park option for this day hoping my kids may not be too upset about skipping Atlantis on cruise if they still get in a water park. I'd prefer to do the water park on this day vs during our days before the trip, knowing we won't be able to make rope drop to make the most use out of normal park days, I'd rather do a non rope drop day at the water park where we don't have a list of favorites and must do's, this is just an 'add on' My main concerns with water park was needing to take a shower and change/dry hair before going to airport, which is where I thought the room may come in handy, as well as knowing we would have somewhere to leave luggage during day.

 

[IBLarsen]

Why don't you rent a car and spend the day at Volcano Bay, the new water park at Universal? It looks awesome and would be different since you just did Disney.

Much cheaper to add on a Disney water park since we are already buying tickets for earlier in the week BUT, I did not even know about this water park at Universal!

 

[DisneyPups]

Exactly what I was thinking, as we would already have a 3 day, I would just add that extra day onto the ticket purchase since we would be within the 14 day window, so was thinking this would be a cheap way to add a day. I'm looking at the water park option for this day hoping my kids may not be too upset about skipping Atlantis on cruise if they still get in a water park. I'd prefer to do the water park on this day vs during our days before the trip, knowing we won't be able to make rope drop to make the most use out of normal park days, I'd rather do a non rope drop day at the water park where we don't have a list of favorites and must do's, this is just an 'add on' My main concerns with water park was needing to take a shower and change/dry hair before going to airport, which is where I thought the room may come in handy, as well as knowing we would have somewhere to leave luggage during day.

If you felt like disembarking a smidge early, you could head to the airport and check your luggage in the morning. It's a little out of the way, but if you don't get a room, it could give you piece of mind that it's secure. And sometimes airlines send it along early so it would be waiting for you at your destination.