Disney World Fans - planning help

[lovely1m]

We are planning a Disney cruise in late January. We will fly in to Orlando the day before the cruise and stay at All Star Sports Resort. Our flight lands at 2pm, we will have that evening and the morning before the cruise free. What would you do? Go to a park (it will likely be years before we get there again)? Go to eat some where? It will be me, my mom and Nick who will be 7.

[tanyiadeskins]

Well, in the summer Disney is open late and there are fireworks and such, so that might be a great stop. In my opinion Magic Kingdom is definitely the pick if you have one night and can only pick one of the parks.

If you prefer animals you could do Sea World, have dinner on iDrive which is by Sea World, along with things like Ripleys, Wonderworks, etc.

In either case, at least after afternoon it wont be scorching lol

[BrattyMeg]

You won't have time for a park before you leave for your cruise..by the time you have to check out and it's an hour to the port plus you want to be there early.

I'd do a character breakfast maybe at Cape May Cafe on departure day

I'd probably do Magic Kingdom on arrival day if you have time. It should be open pretty late since it's summer and even better if there's night EMH since you are staying on site.Even though you land at 2 it'll be at least 330 probably before you even get to the resort so that'll eat up a bit of time.

[lovely1m]

Yeah, I totally screwed up in the original post I edited it. Why I typed July, I have no idea. It's January. '

I figured it'd probably be 3:30 before we get there. That's leaving here at 6am.

I never thought of a character breakfast! I had been leaning toward Magic Kingdom that day with thoughts of SeaWorld (military gets in free once a year). So funny that it's what you each mentioned.

[Robin Carlton]

I don't think the parks will be open late in January unless you're going to be there on a Friday or Saturday night and even then Magic Kingdom is only open til 9ish. By the time your flight lands, you get your luggage, you get to the hotel, etc. I'd be guessing it'll be 4 or so which for me wouldn't make a park admission worth the $$ for 4-5 hours. I'd honestly probably just spend the evening at Downtown Disney walking around shopping, grabbing dinner and getting ready for your cruise.

[lovely1m]

Dang, yeah, I had assumed they would be open late. Magic Kingdom closes at 8 that day. So not worth the money for 3 hour or so.

[BrattyMeg]

yah if it's only open til 8 I'd do Downtown Disney..maybe eat at T-Rex and visit the shops

[tanyiadeskins]

Also it will be cold in Jan..not like freezing but chilly enough to possibly make Sea World a PITA... you just need to avoid getting wet in shows and avoid water rides but other than that it would be fine.

[Julie Billingsley]

another thought for your arrival day would be to head to the Polynesian Resort and watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from their beach. If you won't have a car, take the bus to any monorail station (I think Epcot is closest to your resort?) and ride the monorail to the Polynesian Resort. Great idea for a character breakfast on your departure day, if you have the time.

[lovely1m]

Those are great ideas! The Polynesian will be far enough away from the fireworks to not be scary for my kid who hates loud noises. Someone on the DisBoard suggested eating at Animal Kingdom Lodge and checking out that area, too. That's my dream resort if I had that kind of money and I have been dreaming of eating there, too. I think I could do both of those most likely, right. Or one or the other anyway.

[dgreenshield]

You won't have time for the park on the morning of the cruise. Take in Downtown Disney the night before you leave, enjoy the in park transportation and try to catch the fireworks from one of the sister resorts.

[abm234]

I agree with the others that you wouldn't have enough time to justify a park if it closes at 8. Getting to your resort and getting checked in always takes longer than you think. I would do Downtown Disney as well. Just out of curiosity, do you have free transportation from All Star Sports to Cape Canaveral? We've cruised with Disney a few times and always have gone straight to the Cape and stayed there overnight. I'm wondering if I missed out on a deal!

[abm234]

Mari, I could talk about Disney for hours on end so I'm trying not to ramble. However, did you know that you can take alcohol on board your cruise! It is one of the few cruise lines that allows you to carry alcohol on board. One bottle of UV Blue for $10 mixed with the lemonade that is free at the pop machine and you have yourself one nice little vacation!

[lovely1m]

That's a great idea about the alcohol, Amy! I booked with Dreams Unlimited and they included transportation from WDW to the port and then back to the airport and they are giving me $200 on board credit and included vacation insurance. They also booked me the room at Disney for hardly anything. It was cheaper than staying at the military resort on WDW grounds. If you didn't book with them though, you can buy roundtrip transportation from Disney for $70 a person.

[abm234]

Sounds like you got a great deal Mari!

[catgoddess]

Originally Posted by tanyiadeskins

Also it will be cold in Jan..not like freezing but chilly enough to possibly make Sea World a PITA... you just need to avoid getting wet in shows and avoid water rides but other than that it would be fine.

I'm still laughing about it being cold in Florida. heheee I think it takes being here a few years to feel cold if you're from up North.

It sounds like you got a great deal, Mari. Port Canaveral is a nice port, too. It's great to see all the beaches as you sail out of the port. You should be able to see some dolphins on your way out, too.

[lovely1m]

Seeing dolphins will be amazing! And I agree about being cold in Florida, I will be coming from Fargo, ND in JANUARY. It will feel like summer to me there.

[staciahall]

Just so you know, the military hotel on property seemed pretty nice to me. We used to have business functions there and it seemed like a place I'd want to stay. They've done a lot of renovations in the past several years I think. Just in case you come back this direction.

[DawnMarch]

A character breakfast would be fun but you have the opportunity to meet a lot of the characters on the Disney cruise too.