Visiting Catholic Church while on Trip

[BelleandBeast22]

Hello all,

My husband and I are going to Disney at the end of March (our first Disney trip together!). We are not taking a car (we're staying at the Pop). We will be there during Palm Sunday, and we would like to attend a Catholic mass while we are there. Is there a church within walking distance of a Disney bus stop? Should we get a taxi for this trip?

Thanks for the advice!

 

[vicki_c]

Nothing in walking distance, you will need some kind of transportation. This is the Catholic church most Disney visitors go to.
http://www.maryqueenoftheuniverse.org/index.html

 

[Rileygirl]

My sister in law went over easter a few years ago, and she found a good church close to the world for Easter Sunday. It had a strange name (not one expected for a catholic church). I will see if I can find out for you where she went and how she got there (she had no car either).

 

[lakelandgal70]

I think the closest one is the Mary, Queen of the Universe shrine. It's located at: 8300 Vineland Avenue
Orlando, Florida 32821
407-239-6600

Their website is: http://www.maryqueenoftheuniverse.org/

According to Google maps its about 20min from Disney property. Hope that helps!

 

[Art 1]

Nothing in walking distance, you will need some kind of transportation. This is the Catholic church most Disney visitors go to.
http://www.maryqueenoftheuniverse.org/index.html

That's the one. Worth getting there early and walking all thru.

 

[realhousewife]

You can rent a car for the day...we got one for about $50. There are rental sites on-property that will pick you up via shuttle and bring you to their facility. When you return the car, they bring you anywhere you want to go....parks/resort/etc. I think we got our car from National. When you call around make sure of their busines hours and whether or not they are on property. The one we rented from was open 6 am-6pm.

 

[gk90]

Welcome to the Dis, BelleandBeast22!

From Pop Century it's 6 1/2 miles, when we drove it a few years ago it took us over 20 minutes. I remember looking at my watch anxiously and thinking that it was taking forever and we were going to be late for Mass.

It's not too far from Downtown Disney, 1 1/2 miles as the crow flies, but I wouldn't want to walk it--because of all the highways there including I-4, the actual walk would be 2.6 miles. (I calculated distances on the google pedometer map: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/)

I've seen posts about people taking the bus from their resort to DTD and then taking a cab from there, which might save some $ on the taxi fare.

It's a huge church, much bigger than the typical parish church, and WDW visitors make up a lot of the congregation. Our kids enjoyed looking at the huge turtles in the pond between the parking lot and the church.

Have fun planning your 1st trip as a couple!

 

[nkereina]

I have an app on my phone called Catholic Mass Times. When I type in Pop's address, it shows the closest church is Corpus Christi Catholic Church located at 1050 Celebration Ave in Celebration, FL. It shows it as 2.7 miles away. Next closest one is Mary Queen of The Universe, about 3.7 miles away. Here's the web site for Corpus Christi: http://www.celebrationcatholic.org/

 

[rotlex]

Try here http://www.celebrationcatholic.org/cccc/

A brand new Catholic Church right in Celebrations. I found this a few years ago, and found it a more pleasant experience than the other mentioned here. The only thing I wish is that one of these places would have a very early Sunday mass, say, around 6 or 7am. Starting at 8 or 8:30 really throws a wrench into our normal Sunday Disney plans. 6am mass would work perfectly!

 

[gk90]

You can also look at www.masstimes.org online. The distances given in the site and in apps are "as the crow flies" and don't take actual roads, turnings etc into account so plan accordingly.

rotlex, I also would prefer a real parish community to the experience at Mary, Queen of the Universe and will look into Corpus Christi next time we're there. Funny, that's also the name of our home parish and of another parish I lived in 20 years ago.

 

[PrincessBrianna]

I've been to mass at Mary Queen of the Universe, it's very close to that Prime Outlet mall thing on I-Drive if I remember correctly..anyways it was beautiful and very nice. Maybe you could somehow catch the I-Trolley to get there? Or a taxi?

 

[PrincessBrianna]

Actually one thing I remember from that Mass, which was on Easter Sunday, was that a lot of women were wearing these crazy looking huge fancy hats.. I thought it was funny... and at the same time kind of disrespectful to be wearing a hat in church..

 

[jlevis]

We go to Mary Queen of the Universe on Vineland when we're at Disney. They have been serving the Disney community since 1973. It is a huge Shrine and worth spending time there to explore.

 

[jlevis]

Actually one thing I remember from that Mass, which was on Easter Sunday, was that a lot of women were wearing these crazy looking huge fancy hats.. I thought it was funny... and at the same time kind of disrespectful to be wearing a hat in church..

You're giving away your age Brianna. I remember when ladies were required to wear a hat in church.

 

[Alesia]

Actually one thing I remember from that Mass, which was on Easter Sunday, was that a lot of women were wearing these crazy looking huge fancy hats.. I thought it was funny... and at the same time kind of disrespectful to be wearing a hat in church..

It's completely appropriate to wear a hat in church. In fact it wasn't that long ago that women were required to have their heads covered in a catholic church My grandma was thrilled when the pope said they no longer had to wear hats, because she never liked wearing them.

 

[khertz]

We always go to Mary Queen of the Universe. It's a gorgeous Shrine! We went during the Christmas season a few years ago, and their walk through Nativity was beautiful. We typically do AK on either Saturday or Sunday and go to the evening mass since AK closes early. I would say a cab would be your best bet since there is nothing within walking distance. I remember going to Mass twice on Disney property back in the day, once at the Contemporary and once at the Polynesian. That was pretty neat! Too bad they don't do that anymore.

 

[kidd_freeper]

No, there are no Catholic churches that you can walk to from WDW or any WDW bus stop.

They are all several miles away and the roads are all very busy.

Take a taxi / rent a car.

We go to Mary Queen of the Universe. Large, beautiful church with a very good selection of Masses.

 

[recmouse]

I'm not sure about on Palm Sunday - but when we spent Easter in Disney a few years ago they had Roman Catholic Easter mass twice in the Contemporary in the huge ballroom. It wasn't exactly 'churchy' but it was still mass and it was respectful. They may do it for Palm Sunday as well so you may want to check with Disney.

Have fun!

 

[gator girl]

I remember going to Mass twice on Disney property back in the day, once at the Contemporary and once at the Polynesian. That was pretty neat! Too bad they don't do that anymore.

According to Mousesavers, there are still religious services for both Catholics & Protestants at the Contemporary, but they only take place on Easter and Christmas.

 

[sbell111]

Actually one thing I remember from that Mass, which was on Easter Sunday, was that a lot of women were wearing these crazy looking huge fancy hats.. I thought it was funny... and at the same time kind of disrespectful to be wearing a hat in church..

My takeaway from the few times we went to mass there was that instead of a true homily, we got to sit through a marketing speech explaining why we should give them money. Bronze doors are expensive, I get that, but how about having your homily include a nugget that we can take with us, rather than just a suggestion of how much we should be leaving for you?