WDW Visit Between B2B Cruises?

[mousefan73]

I would rent the car and keep your options open on how late If a disembarkment you are willing to accept t before you give up the WDW idea. If for some reason things are delayed then take the car to explore NASA or cape Canaveral and to buy your two bottles of wine! IMO it’s doable but at what cost. Look at crowd levels too. Is this during spring break where you have to wait 20-30 min just for bag check? 125 for 3, max hours true park time is a lot. Also which park. ? MK plan another 30 just to get in the park, once parked.

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

My initial reaction was no way! But once I thought about it this sounds very do able. I would personally hire a private driver to be waiting at port and have them drop us off either at Grand Floridian to jump the monorail to MK or the Contemporary to walk to MK. Arrange for driver to pick us up at same drop off location and be back to the ship in plenty of time. Shoud be able to squeeze in a few fast passes and soak in Main Street USA!

 

[lanejudy]

I was planning to get 2-day park tickets, and use one between the cruises, and one after the second cruise. Any logistical problems with using tickets 4 days apart that anyone knows of?

PPs are correct that 2-day theme park tickets are only good for FOUR days -- that's the first day you use it and the following three days, you must use the last day on or before day 4. If your second cruise is a 4-night, the ticket will expire before you can use the 2nd day.

I checked the WDW website, and it said you get an extra day if you have hoppers,

The Park-Hopper-Plus option does extend that expiration by a day, however the regular PH ticket does. It's the option which adds the waterparks and mini golf. Alternatively, you could add the "Flexible" option which allows you 14-days from first use before the ticket expires; that may be quite pricey though depending on your dates. Buying an extra day (a 3-day ticket) would extend the expiration, but would cost more than 2 single-day tickets.

I recall reading a discussion recently about whether Disney would extend the number of days you can use your tickets if you have a cruise in between and I think the consensus was that it might be possible. It could be worth a call to Guest Relations to find out.

I believe that requires a land/sea package purchased through DCL and wouldn't apply to stand-alone tickets (without a WDW resort). But it doesn't hurt to call and ask.


I would buy separate 1-day tickets. And take into account time for picking up the rental, stopping for gas, and returning the rental. Even as a B2B, you must be onboard for the muster drill.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

PPs are correct that 2-day theme park tickets are only good for FOUR days -- that's the first day you use it and the following three days, you must use the last day on or before day 4. If your second cruise is a 4-night, the ticket will expire before you can use the 2nd day.


The Park-Hopper-Plus option does extend that expiration by a day, however the regular PH ticket does. It's the option which adds the waterparks and mini golf. Alternatively, you could add the "Flexible" option which allows you 14-days from first use before the ticket expires; that may be quite pricey though depending on your dates.


I believe that requires a land/sea package purchased through DCL and wouldn't apply to stand-alone tickets (without a WDW resort). But it doesn't hurt to call and ask.


I would buy separate 1-day tickets. And take into account time for picking up the rental, stopping for gas, and returning the rental. Even as a B2B, you must be onboard for the muster drill.

Enjoy your vacation!

Thanks for the ticket info. I didn't even know there was a flexible option. The backstory on tickets is that I have expired tickets to upgrade via a new purchase, so it makes more sense for me to buy multi-day tickets than two separate tickets.

I will keep the rental car until after our second cruise so we can return to the parks- there are no worries about returning the rental on the second embarkation day. We'll just park at the port and walk in.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I have booked B2B Dream cruises for my teenage son and I for next year, and am leaning towards treating our gap day as if it were a port day, and going to WDW. I was thinking of renting a car at the port, then going to a park for 3-4 hours, enough time to get in 3 FP+ rides as well as a few standbys. Then leave the parks around 1pm, and board the ship in the afternoon. I was considering keeping the rental car throughout the 2nd cruise, then using it again after final disembarkation, to go back to WDW before our evening flight home.

Has anyone here gone to WDW between B2B's & have experiences to share, tips or thoughts?

I haven't done (or even considered doing) a WDW day between B2B cruises, but we did do WDW between our Dream & Fantasy cruises (2 1/2 days between).

Personally, I wouldn't do it. Earliest you can be off the ship would be 7:30 (at best), then travel to rental car place and drive to WDW at least an hour and a half. Then actually getting into a park, another 1/2 hour. Best guess - you won't be inside any given park until (at the earliest) 10:00. Since the all aboard for the next cruise would be 4:00, it means you need to leave the park (thinking backwards) - 1/2 hour to get to car, 1 hour travel, some time to actually park and get into the terminal, 1:00 seems generous, but I'd be so concerned about traffic/road issues the whole time that it really wipes out the enjoyment of the rest of the day.

 

[DCLPrincess]

I don't think I would do it, but if you are really considering this, I would rent the car for the whole time.

If you move your car between cruises you have to pay for parking again.

 

[ljcrochet]

If you move your car between cruises you have to pay for parking again.

But that would save time getting off the ship and hitting the road. That could be an extra hour of park time. I wonder what the cost would be once you figure getting the car from the first day, you would not need to pay for transportation to the pier.