? visit Disney-Is port time too short?

Sailing Spirit out of New York Feb 13th. Arrive Cape Canaveral 12noon and

leaving 10 pm. I'm guessing will arrive at Disney about 1:30, get organized

by 2:00 pm-Not sure when the bus takes us back. Maybe 5 hours in Disney-is it worth the price? I don't want to feel rushed.

As a cruiser and someone who has been to disney with 2 kids on a seperate trip, I think you are going to be pushing it. Think about this - to stand in line for 1 ride may take up to an hour for that time of year. Not to mention the cost to get into the park.:eek:

if you want to have a nice day in port canaveral, we rented a car and drove less than an hour south to the Brevard Zoo.in Melborne Fla.. it is an awesome place even tho my kids were 17 and 21 at the time! we kayaked in the zoo, fed giraffes, lorakeets and spent several hours there last Christmas. take a look at their website.

we then drove up to Cocoa beach where my son skateboarded at their impressive skatepark there and the other son went shopping with me at Ron John's

unless this is the ONLY time you think you might ever get to go to disney world, I would save it for a trip later.

We did Disneyworld this November and were there all day til closing, about 11 hours. We managed to get on 7 rides! Seriously, take your family there on a land based vacation, that way you can do it at your leisure and they can enjoy it a bit more, instead of worrying that you might miss the bus back to the ship. PLUS it is quite expensive. We had free entrance tix as we'd done the volunteer day last year, but I wouldn't want to pay that for a few hours visit.

There was at least one other thread not too long ago and the general consensus was it just wasn't worth it.

Having lived and worked at Disney World recently, I would say 5 hours is not giving yourself time to do a whole lot. Even if I would go from 9am-9pm, I would only get at most 3 parks in, and I knew what I wanted to do in each of them/wasn't disappointed even if I missed something because I knew I would be back.

WDW is not around the corner from the port either, its a good 50-60 miles or so each way.

It's so expensive to go, so I just don't want you and those going with you to be disappointed!!

I did this excursion last year on the Gem. Luckily my gf and I did the Give a Day get a day program and did not have to pay entrance to the park. This is really the only way it is worthwhile. The actual time spent in the park was relatively short. We were able to hit all the mountain rides (which have hte longest wait times) and that is about it. It was fine because we didn't feel like we had to do too much... but it was still relatively a short time spent at Disney. If you only want to hit a few rides its worth it. If you want the full "disney" experience then you aren't going to get it.

No..it takes about 45 min. to get from the parking lot into the actual "Magic Kingdom"....you need 3-4 DAYS to visit Disney.....do something else. Port Canaveral is about 1 hour (without traffic jams) to Disney.

Total waste of time. You need to do a land vacation for Disney.

No way! I would not try and see Disney in 5 hours. Heck, you can stand in line for an hour for the popular rides, and you can't even walk the whole thing in 5 hours even if you never stopped to do anything.

Save that for another visit!

Hmmm, what can a family of 4 do with $500 instead of being inside Disney for 4.5 hours (2:15 pm: inside the park's entrance - to 6:45 pm: exiting the park & proceed to the pickup point at the designated bus parking area) assuming that the last NCL bus returning to the ship will leave Orlando no later than 7:30 pm.

We did this once in 2003 sailing the NCL Dawn but it wasn't as expensive - definitely NOT wasting money & time again - barely enough time to cover half of Epcot, took some photos and stood in shorter lines w. 15 or 20 minutes wait - for 3 or 4 rides, stops for bathroom & overpriced snacks/drinks before walking out to the park's entrance/exit to look for our bus.

BTW, you will be pretty hungry en route back to Cape Canaveral - faced with near closing time for MDR and possibly long lines at the buffet since everyone returning late just in time for 10 pm sailing time will all be rushing to eat.

And, the primary highway bridge overpass connecting the Cape to Orlando was damaged last month as a result of a tanker fire, repairs ongoing with traffic slowing & detour in effect - expect additional travel time if anyone MUST go (updated info in the CC's Port of Calls subforum)

Our plan is to go to nearby Coca Beach for a few hours after a leisure lunch and then return to the ship, take a dip in the pool or hot tub, and enjoy dinner over sunset.

Sailing Spirit out of New York Feb 13th. Arrive Cape Canaveral 12noon and

leaving 10 pm. I'm guessing will arrive at Disney about 1:30, get organized

by 2:00 pm-Not sure when the bus takes us back. Maybe 5 hours in Disney-is it worth the price? I don't want to feel rushed.

I'm a FL resident and DW and I have season passes. I can tell you 5 hours in Disney barely scratches the surface. Some of the best rides, Space Mountain,Splash Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Thunder Mountain have long waits (usually 45-60 minutes and the fastpasses will have return times beyond your leaving time).

You might be able to see some things but you will feel rushed - sorry.

If you have never been to Disney World and have little hope of going in the near future I would go to just have the Disney feeling and say I have been there. Check the schedule for the parade that day, buy some ears and, of course, only go to the Magic Kingdom. Walk through the park and visit It's A Small World for sure! :)

My DH and I have done it twice and would not do it again. If you decide to go to Disney, make sure you have a plan before you go so that you know exactly what rides you want to go on and what you want to see. I think we did 4/5 rides and that was it. I am not sure I would do it with kids. Since it was just my DH and myself we were able to run to the next ride quickly! As another poster said, take snacks with you for the ride back to the ship...you will be starving! We were too tired to deal with Blue Lagoon or buffet that was open so opted for room service. It was an exhausting day! I would stay in Cocoa Beach for the day instead...day at the beach, Ron Jon's.

Enjoy your cruise!

I was on the jewel Thanksgiving week. My family and I (5 of us) went a fishing trip with a company called fish tales Very close to the boat fished along a pier, seen dolphins. Kids caught fish almost every cast (about a foot long) Cost $150 w/ tip. Kids loved it. We fished for 2 hrs

OP....I don't think it's worth it. My wife and I have been to Disney several times and that doesn't sound like enough time to do much. We usually spend a week in Orlando on a Disney property when we go. We have always purchased the weekly pass and made good use of the free bus transportation between the parks. If it was too crowded in one park just hopped the bus or monorail to one of the others. We also broke up our park visits with a day or two of lounging around the hotel pool. If you have never been to Disney you will quickly understand the need to get away from the action every once in awhile. Just my take on it...good luck with whatever you decide.

Sailing Spirit out of New York Feb 13th. Arrive Cape Canaveral 12noon and

leaving 10 pm. I'm guessing will arrive at Disney about 1:30, get organized

by 2:00 pm-Not sure when the bus takes us back. Maybe 5 hours in Disney-is it worth the price? I don't want to feel rushed.

If you don't think you'll have another opportunity to get to Disney I say it would be worth it to me to go to the Magic Kingdom and just walk around and take in the sites. You DON'T have to go on rides but if you do want to be sure to do your homework so you are not walking around aimlessly looking for something to do. You may rather go to MGM or Epcot but also do your homework. WDWINFO DOT COM has LOTS of information on the parks, rides, dining, etc.

We are going to go to Disney because of the grandkids, but we have told them we will probably only be able to do 4/5 rides. We have Disney dollars, so tix will be covered. Thanks for the heads up.