Transportation to Port Canaveral -- Any suggestions for coming in the night before? About This Page:

[ShannonW]

Hello! Not traveling until November, but seeing some good air fares out there I may grab this week, and trying to decide when to travel. My thought -- we are heading out on the 4-day cruise (leaving Sunday). So, I am thinking that we will come in the night before and take a town car to one of the hotels in Port Canaveral. It looks like some of the hotels offer a shuttle to the Port, so we would try to get one of those. Then, when we get back from our cruise, take the Town Car to Disney for a couple of days, and then the car again to the Airport (I was just on QuickSilver's site and they had a land/sea package with 3 legs -- perfect!). How does that sound? I was also thinking we could take Disney transportation to WDW, as I understand they may offer it, but with us only going to WDW for a couple of days, I wanted to make it as hassle free and quick to get there. Anyone do something more simple? Any advice would be very helpful!

Thanks,
Shannon

[Colexis Mom]

That sounds good to me. You could also rent a car at MCO, and turn it in either before you go to the port and take their shuttle, or have one adult drop you off at the port and take the car back, and then he/she takes the shuttle to the port. Same for the reverse back to WDW. You might want to price it out both ways (rental car/limo) to see if there is a cost advantage. Obviously, the limo would be less hassle [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img]

[applejenn]

we came in the day before as well before our 4 night cruise, we stayed by the airport, because we used ME. The hotel was nice and had a shuttle service to and from the airport which was great and it was free.

[cokebearjdw]

we came in the night before as well just to get out of the michigan cold a day earlier. we stayed at the best western and took the hotel shuttle to the boat the next morning. It was the best idea I think I found on the boards. The next day was a storm in Michigan and we would not have made the boat. Plus it was nice to be there and start our vacation. I would highly recommend coming in a night early you never know what ould happen if you cut it to close.

[ShannonW]

Thanks! Maybe we will stay at the airport the night before... I guess I have plenty of time ot decide where to stay, once we decide for sure when to come in!

The Magic Express from the airport to the port terminal is OK? You get there in plenty of time to check in, etc?

Thanks,
Shannon

[Dave Marx]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks! Maybe we will stay at the airport the night before... I guess I have plenty of time ot decide where to stay, once we decide for sure when to come in!

The Magic Express from the airport to the port terminal is OK? You get there in plenty of time to check in, etc?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you stay at a hotel near the airport, you would return to the airport in the morning to catch the Disney Cruise Line bus. As soon as each bus fills up, it leaves for Port Canaveral. If you get to the airport around 9:30am or so you will be probably be on your way by 10:00am and at the port by 11:00am, plenty of time to check in before they start boarding at noon.

Note that it's not really a "Magical Express" bus - Magical Express is a free service, but there's no free service from the airport to Port Canaveral, or from Port Canaveral back to the airport or Walt Disney World. You can get free service from Walt Disney World to the airport at the end of your trip.

[JoanW]

Look into renting a car for the entire trip and compare it to the cost of the 3 way limo deal. Sometimes the longer rentals can be cheaper, and that's what we did. Then we were in control of when we left for each leg of our trip. We stayed at the Radisson at the Port, parked there for free and shuttled over to the port both ways and just picked up the car and headed to MK.

We found coming in the night before gave us some breathing room. We ate a lesisurely dinner at Kelsey's next door to the Radisson (yum), and swam in the pool at night. We got up at the crack of dawn (can't sleep from the excitement), and did a run to Walmart to get any forgotten items (sunglasses, a hat, etc).

We like the convenience of having your own car. We did use Disney Transportation in the parks when it was convenient, but when it's not, you have your own method.