Orlando parks / full capacity?

[Cruisin'4Us]

If an excursion is booked with Royal to Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, Kennedy Space Center, etc., and the park is at full capacity by the time we arrive at the park, what happens to the excursion?

 

Does the transport take passengers back to the ship (refund), or do the parks have arrangements with Royal to reserve enough capacity for passengers who have purchased advance tickets through Royal?

 

Is the answer different if a passenger only has the Express Service excursion (transportation only) to the park?

 

We are sailing the week after Easter Sunday, porting in Orlando that Wednesday (arriving at the park around Noon.) I assume the parks will be very crowded that week.

 

Thank you!

[vanesssss]

Disney usually only closes for capacity issues during Christmas and New Years. I've been many times during Easter and it will be busy, but you should be fine.

[brenderlou]

Yes, the parks will be VERY busy due to it being spring break time.

I would not do a visit to any of the parks. By the time you get there the crowds will be huge and lines long.

In my opinion not worth it especially if not getting there until noon. How much time will you have?

 

We live in FL and visit the parks several times during the years. We do not visit during holidays or spring break for these very reasons.

 

 

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Edited January 8, 2017 by brenderlou

[KnightsFan]

Easter isn't a peak week for Disney and Univeral. It's not a major holiday for most of the US. And academic spring breaks aren't tied to it.

 

It might be slightly busier than normal, but not insanely so. Most spring breaks are in March so by the third week of April it's calmed down.

[illiniwahoo]

That's not universally true. In upstate NY and I believe NJ as well schools get the week of Easter off.

 

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[cb at sea]

Disney is best done via land vacation...not on a cruise. It takes about an hour to get there, then another 30 mins at least to get INTO the actual parks....lines are always long...you simply will not have time for the "Disney experience" on a short, 1 day trip. The Magic Kingdom is a 2 day affair...and I'm not kidding about that! Same with Universal...2 days minimum to see and do everything.

 

For the price you'd pay, you will not get the full experience!

[Cruisin'4Us]

Thank you for responding. All good points.

 

Port time is 10:30am, departure is 8:30pm. The shore excursions desk said we would roughly be at the park from Noon to 7pm.

 

Any idea if SeaWorld Orlando would be busy? I've heard that attendance has been down, but I don't know how much.

 

Still considering options. Any suggestions for something other than the parks?

[LindaAndBillTravel]

Kennedy Space Center is close by. IMO, it has been vastly improved in recent years by the addition of Atlantis and the new Heros and Legends exhibits.

[jetta8300]

Easter is absolutely one of the busiest weeks of the year at Disney. Its in the top 5 busiest weeks. The week before and the week after. Not sure why a previous poster would say it's not. Traditionally its in the top 5 busiest. However This year easter falls later in april so more spring breaks will fall probably the week before easter. So that week would probably be the worse of the two.

Edited January 8, 2017 by jetta8300

[Duffys wife 1957]

We took and excursion from our cruise last year. It was terrible.. Most of the rides we wanted were booked out.. no more lines they use the passes now and you sign in for the time you want to ride it. We ended up walking around and not doing a lot..... I would never do it again a HUGE waste of $$$.... We are Disney vacationers so we know what we want to do ect.... Don't waste your time or money .. If you want to do Disney take a few days before your cruise or after your cruise.

[spookwife]

Third worse week to go to Disney ESP if you want MK as a day ticket holder. Those are the first ones blocked from entering. And I am pretty sure the 'excursion' is transportation only. No guarantee of entering any park or venue

 

 

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[dasi11]

Stick to doing Kennedy space center. At Disney you may get on 2 rides if your lucky!

 

Unless you open the gate at 9am, most of the rides will be impossible to get on without fast passes! The fast passes will be gone by 9:30, especially since Disney lets you book it on line ahead of time if you are in a WDW hotel or hold FL resident tickets.

 

I enjoy Kennedy and usually go every 5 years to see what is new. If you have never been there, it is worth it.

[Cruisin'4Us]

Thank you.

 

It looks like Fastpass can be booked 30 days out with a ticket, 60 days out if staying at a WDW resort. I suppose most or all of the Fastpass slots would be gone by the time 30 days were left?

 

We went to Kennedy Space Center in 2014. We saw Atlantis, but didn't see everything that we wanted to (Saturn V, IMAX shows, rocket garden tour.) May be a good time to go back.

[SwedishChefChicky]

Thank you.

 

It looks like Fastpass can be booked 30 days out with a ticket' date=' 60 days out if staying at a WDW resort. I suppose most or all of the Fastpass slots would be gone by the time 30 days were left?

 

We went to Kennedy Space Center in 2014. We saw Atlantis, but didn't see everything that we wanted to (Saturn V, IMAX shows, rocket garden tour.) May be a good time to go back.[/quote']

 

That week will be very crazy at least for Magic Kingdom. You could possibly do one of the other parks. As far as fastpass there will be something available but probably not the best rides so it depends on what your priorities are. In general I do think that the excursion to the parks is very doable if you plan ahead. Check crowd calendars (google kenny the pirate crowd calendar for a good one), buy your ticket in advance so you can book your fastpasses and use a touring plan. I also wouldn't attempt it with young kids. My husband and I did Disneyland and California Adventure in less than a day and that was with repeating some stuff twice (or 3 times in the case of Space Mountain :) ) but we stuck to our touring plan and it was just us. A great touring plan really works!! And by touring plan I mean going to one of the sites that does them and have them create a schedule for you. They know the best times for each ride. I also would only recommend this plan if you are familiar with the parks. Definitely not the best option for your first visit. Whatever you end up doing, good luck!

[msmayor]

We went to Disney on a cruise stop a few years ago...but the difference was that our ship arrived at Port Canaveral at 7am...we booked private transportation to meet us the moment we set foot outside the terminal at 7:20am and were on our way to Disney a good 30-40 minutes before the cruise excursion. We were through the gates at rope drop and hit all the big rides first, before the lines were long. We didn't stop to eat or see a parade, and were headed out of the park and back to the port by 4:30pm. All aboard was 6:30 so we gave ourselves an extra hour PLUS made sure we were heading back before the ship excursion was scheduled to head back (5pm). With only one main route back to the port, as long as we were ahead of the ship's group we had no worries about being too late.

 

That being said...we went in mid August, so no holiday period. We are Disney veterans and know the park pretty well without any maps. There were four of us...we each got to pick one ride that was a 'must do' and that's what we focused on. Anything else was considered 'extra'. We ended up fitting about 10-11 rides in thanks to the low crowds first thing in the morning.

 

If it was a holiday week there's no way we would have taken the time to go...it would have been too crowded. You have that against you...AND you won't get there until crowds are reaching top numbers. With just six hours of touring, you'll be lucky to get 3-4 things in before needing to leave.

[lvz2cruz]

I think Sea World would be a good choice if you are intent on going to an Orlando theme park.

I would not choose any because of your late port arrival and long drive each way.

[lvz2cruz]

Stick to doing Kennedy space center. At Disney you may get on 2 rides if your lucky!

 

Unless you open the gate at 9am, most of the rides will be impossible to get on without fast passes! The fast passes will be gone by 9:30, especially since Disney lets you book it on line ahead of time if you are in a WDW hotel or hold FL resident tickets.

 

I enjoy Kennedy and usually go every 5 years to see what is new. If you have never been there, it is worth it.

 

Very wrong info.

We have been over all the major and minor holidays and always ridden more than two. With paper fps a thing of the past they are not out at 9:30.

 

 

I would expect to do at least one ride per hour at that time. Not Seven Dwarfs or Splash but most rides. Hint--fast-pass those.

Anyone with a ticket can book 30 days ahead. Those at Disney hotels can book 60 days prior to check in for their entire stay.

We almost always change our fast passes day of because we often ride things we have fps for earlier without. They are not gone at 9:30.

You will be there during the busiest part of the day, but if you fast pass your three top rides, you can do less popular ones as time permits.

[lvz2cruz]

Easter isn't a peak week for Disney and Univeral. It's not a major holiday for most of the US. And academic spring breaks aren't tied to it.

 

It might be slightly busier than normal, but not insanely so. Most spring breaks are in March so by the third week of April it's calmed down.

 

It is one of their busiest times. The week before and after Easter as well as those around Christmas are blacked out on the gold annual pass because they are the busiest times.

In our state as well as where we used to live spring break is the week before Easter.

[lvz2cruz]

Can you drive down and spend a day at Disney enroute?

If our ship sails on Sunday, we drive to Orlando or Tampa Friday, do a park Saturday, that night drive towards Fort Lauderdale. If it sails Saturday, we get off ship and drive 3 hours to Orlando and do park.

Many are off Good Friday so you might have extra day.

[Cruisin'4Us]

Can you drive down and spend a day at Disney enroute?

If our ship sails on Sunday, we drive to Orlando or Tampa Friday, do a park Saturday, that night drive towards Fort Lauderdale. If it sails Saturday, we get off ship and drive 3 hours to Orlando and do park.

Many are off Good Friday so you might have extra day.

Departing from Baltimore, but a good thought.

[dasi11]

Very wrong info.

We have been over all the major and minor holidays and always ridden more than two. With paper fps a thing of the past they are not out at 9:30.

 

 

I would expect to do at least one ride per hour at that time. Not Seven Dwarfs or Splash but most rides. Hint--fast-pass those.

Anyone with a ticket can book 30 days ahead. Those at Disney hotels can book 60 days prior to check in for their entire stay.

We almost always change our fast passes day of because we often ride things we have fps for earlier without. They are not gone at 9:30.

You will be there during the busiest part of the day, but if you fast pass your three top rides, you can do less popular ones as time permits.

 

I was at Disney 4 days ago and Epcot 3 days ago. Getting fast passes for the popular rides was impossible for the top rides. The others were times after 5pm. even at 9:30 in the morning. We booked are FP's a few weeks ahead of time and the top rides were already full or posting late times after 5 or 6pm. We arrived at the Park before it opened and stayed till 10:30 at night and only got on half the rides using our fast passes. The park was packed.

Many of the wait times were over 100 minutes.