Can You Book 2 Excursions at Once?

[LuCruise]

I'm a bit torn on our Port Canaveral day on our Anthem cruise.  We love Disney but just too expensive for the number of hours we'd get in the park.

So to get a Disney fix, we currently have the Orlando Outlet and Disney Springs excursion booked.  Got it for a very good price awhile back (hasn't gone that low since).

My concern with this is most of the time is spent at the outlet vs Disney Springs...so it's mostly a shopping day, which our son won't be happy with.  

 

I'm also thinking as an alternative, we could book the Disney transportation excursion (which is cheaper) and then just visit resorts and Disney Springs ourselves.  Not sure though as I'm not familiar with Disney World (only went once) and not sure if this is too complex....or if there is enough to keep us busy.

 

Since Black Friday is coming up, I'm wondering if the Disney excursion has a good price, can we book it as well?  Then we have 4 months to decide which one we keep.  Or does the system prevent you from doing this?

 

P.S. - I  know that we can also rent a car and get there ourselves, but we would only visit Disney via a ship excursion.  It's too far away and we wouldn't want to risk missing the ship.

 

Edited November 9, 2019 by LuCruise

[Clarea]

We were able to book two excursions at the same time a few years back, but I've not tried it lately.  Why don't you give it a try now, and then immediately cancel?  At least you will know for sure.

[LuCruise]

25 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

We were able to book two excursions at the same time a few years back, but I've not tried it lately.  Why don't you give it a try now, and then immediately cancel?  At least you will know for sure.

Thanks. Great to hear.  Hopefully they still let you.

Not sure I'll try it now (for fear of losing our existing excursion as price is up again for that one), but if no one knows for sure with a recent experience, then will try it if the Disney excursion drops on Black Friday.  Not sure which one we'd like to keep but still have 4 months to decide.

[lisa6191]

I tried to book coco beach club when I already had a thrill island pass, and it told me there was a schedule conflict. I don't think they will let you do it. You can try now if you want - it won't cancel your existing reservation, it will just tell you that the new one can't be booked.

[LuCruise]

1 minute ago, lisa6191 said:

I tried to book coco beach club when I already had a thrill island pass, and it told me there was a schedule conflict. I don't think they will let you do it. You can try now if you want - it won't cancel your existing reservation, it will just tell you that the new one can't be booked.

Too bad.  Thank you for confirming.  Sounds like then we will need to select one or the other.

[lisa6191]

You could also just call and ask...couldn't hurt.

[Clarea]

48 minutes ago, lisa6191 said:

You could also just call and ask...couldn't hurt.

 

Well, this does sound logical, but it's not uncommon for  Royal customer service reps to give out inaccurate info.

[LuCruise]

1 hour ago, lisa6191 said:

You could also just call and ask...couldn't hurt.

Guessing if I asked, they would say no.  But whether the system lets you is different.  Never done it, but I believe you can book 2 cruises that overlap.

[LeeW]

I wasn't able to book an excursion that was within two hours of a dinner reservation a few months ago.  But instead of just asking if you can do it on the phone have them do the booking.  They might be able to override the booking engine. 

 

As I recall, non-Disney buses go to the Transportation and Ticket Center (big parking lot) rather than actually to a park.  Fairly quick connection to Magic Kingdom, lake resorts and Epcot and buses to other resorts and parks. 

 

Disney Springs has buses that go to resorts but intentionally not to theme parks (Hollywood is close, but a long walk) or the Transportation and Ticket Center.  They don't want people to use free parking at the Springs.  Check where you want to go on the Disney transportation page.  If you take the Disney park transportation it will be difficult to get to Disney Springs.

 

By the way, Disney Springs is also mostly shopping.  I can't imagine taking a bus 1 1/2 hours each way to go there.  But maybe your son would like the Void, NBA Experience or the balloon.  Check the attractions page to see if the trip is worth it to you: https://www.disneysprings.com/attractions-and-entertainment/

Edited November 9, 2019 by LeeW
clarity

[LuCruise]

23 minutes ago, LeeW said:

I wasn't able to book an excursion that was within two hours of a dinner reservation a few months ago.  But instead of just asking if you can do it on the phone have them do the booking.  They might be able to override the booking engine. 

 

As I recall, non-Disney buses go to the Transportation and Ticket Center (big parking lot) rather than actually to a park.  Fairly quick connection to Magic Kingdom, lake resorts and Epcot and buses to other resorts and parks. 

 

Disney Springs has buses that go to resorts but intentionally not to theme parks (Hollywood is close, but a long walk) or the Transportation and Ticket Center.  They don't want people to use free parking at the Springs.  Check where you want to go on the Disney transportation page.  If you take the Disney park transportation it will be difficult to get to Disney Springs.

 

By the way, Disney Springs is also mostly shopping.  I can't imagine taking a bus 1 1/2 hours each way to go there.  But maybe your son would like the Void, NBA Experience or the balloon.  Check the attractions page to see if the trip is worth it to you: https://www.disneysprings.com/attractions-and-entertainment/

Thanks for the note as I'm trying to figure out our options and how to get around.  I can see your point of why they don't provide buses from the parks to Disney Springs.  If we went with the regular Disney excursion option, I was thinking we could visit the monorail resorts, and then take bus from either Polynesian or Contemporary to Disney Springs (think this is an option, right?).  Yeah, I realize it's mostly shopping anyways.  We did enjoy World of Disney at Downtown Disney at California...but true, not like we could spend all day here.  

Thanks for the link...DS would probably like The Void. But funny enough, I just looked it up and looks like there is a location where I live.

[Ourusualbeach]

2 hours ago, LuCruise said:

Guessing if I asked, they would say no.  But whether the system lets you is different.  Never done it, but I believe you can book 2 cruises that overlap.

You can actually book the same person in multiple cabins on a  cruise as well as cruises that overlap sail dates.

Edited November 9, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[LuCruise]

23 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You can actually book the same person in multiple cabins on a  cruise as well as cruises that overlap sail dates.

It's funny that their system doesn't check or catch that, but guess not surprising. 😉

Was hoping it would be the same with cruise planner excursions, but sounds like it catches those.

[venicia]

The last time I was at Disney Springs the gondola's were not completed.  Disney Springs is almost next door to Epcot, not really walking distance, but just to give you an idea which theme park it is close too.  I'm not positive but I think the gondolas go from some of the theme parks to Disney Springs.  You may want to look up the new Gondolas that are now in operation.  As I mentioned, they were in the process of completing them the last time we were at Epcot and it looks like a great way to get around.  Parking is free at Disney Springs, but as someone else mentioned it is almost all shopping or restaurants, but boy are the restaurants great.  

[LuCruise]

3 hours ago, venicia said:

The last time I was at Disney Springs the gondola's were not completed.  Disney Springs is almost next door to Epcot, not really walking distance, but just to give you an idea which theme park it is close too.  I'm not positive but I think the gondolas go from some of the theme parks to Disney Springs.  You may want to look up the new Gondolas that are now in operation.  As I mentioned, they were in the process of completing them the last time we were at Epcot and it looks like a great way to get around.  Parking is free at Disney Springs, but as someone else mentioned it is almost all shopping or restaurants, but boy are the restaurants great.  

I thought the Skyliner just went to Hollywood Stuidos, Epcot and then Caribbean Beach Resort in the middle (plus Pop/Art of Animation).  I could be wrong, but didn't think it went to Disney Springs.

[luv2sailAgain]

The Skyliner does not go to Disney Springs.

 

I have no idea what the Royal Caribbean excursion to Disney Resorts includes.  But in addition to the Skyliner and Monorail, don't forget about the boats.  There are boats between Wilderness Lodge and the Magic Kingdom area.  There are also boats going from Yacht/Beach Club, Boardwalk, Epcot, Swan/Dolphin, and Studios. I almost forgot the boat between Disney Springs and Port Orleans/Riverside.

[LuCruise]

11 hours ago, luv2sailAgain said:

The Skyliner does not go to Disney Springs.

 

I have no idea what the Royal Caribbean excursion to Disney Resorts includes.  But in addition to the Skyliner and Monorail, don't forget about the boats.  There are boats between Wilderness Lodge and the Magic Kingdom area.  There are also boats going from Yacht/Beach Club, Boardwalk, Epcot, Swan/Dolphin, and Studios. I almost forgot the boat between Disney Springs and Port Orleans/Riverside.

Royal just has a "Disney Transportation" excursion, which simply drops you at the TTC and then picks you up again at this location to head back to the ship.  I'm sure that 97% of the people that take the excursion spend the day at one of the parks.  Park tickets are not included in the excursion and so it makes for a very expensive day...what would end up as 4-5 hrs of park time.  So...one option is to take this excursion to get us there, and then resort hop ourselves and then we can spend some time at Disney Springs (by bus, taxi or uber).Thank you for mentioning the boats as that opens up options too.  If we do this, I would need to research WDW better and come up with a plan as we've only been once so  I don't know the area well.  Timing would make a big difference (e.g. how often the bus, boats come, and how long it takes from point A to point B). 

 

Royal has an "Orlando Outlet and Disney Springs Shopping" excursion, which drives to the outlet mall for a few hours, then goes to Disney Springs for a few hours (I think with more time at the outlet mall).  

 

This Disney Transportation option may be a bit more stressful to make sure we get ourselves back to the TTC on time, but is more flexible.

[luv2sailAgain]

1 hour ago, LuCruise said:

 

Royal has an "Orlando Outlet and Disney Springs Shopping" excursion, which drives to the outlet mall for a few hours, then goes to Disney Springs for a few hours (I think with more time at the outlet mall).  

 

This Disney Transportation option may be a bit more stressful to make sure we get ourselves back to the TTC on time, but is more flexible.

I love Disney and cruising. I could talk Disney or cruising all day long. Could not stop myself from replying again. (-:

 

Just some thoughts...

In my humble opinion, if you have seen one outlet mall, you have seen them all (or pretty close). If the outlet mall portion is first, late people returning to the bus may make the Disney Springs portion even shorter.  This happened to us in Cayman. The late folks were ALWAYS holding us from leaving the various stops and our time at the Turtle Center was greatly reduced (the stop my daughter was REALLY looking forward to seeing). BUT the shopping excursion would be the safest.

 

Resort hoping would be a bit more stressful. But you could always Uber back to the TTC if Disney transportation became a problem. Many people only stay onsite without a car, totally rely on Disney transportation, and love it. I will say this is hard for me being from Houston.  A car is like another appendage. You are your car - your car is you. (-:

 

The boats from the Magic Kingdom to Wilderness lodge are open air, if I remember correctly.  They were much more fun than the Friendship Boats that are in the Epcot area.  The Friendship boats are mostly enclosed and can get hot in the summer.  They are also very slow.  We enjoy them anyway. I have never been on the boats from the Orleans/Riverside hotels to Disney Springs. (On my list though. . .)  You can get beignets at the French Quarter hotel.

 

There are two entrances to Epcot.  The monorail from the TTC stops at the main entrance.  The skyliner stops at the smaller World Showcase entrance on the opposite side of the park.  You would have to have a park ticket and go through Epcot to go from the Epcot monorail to the Epcot skyliner.  I do enjoy the Epcot monorail ride.

 

Disney transportation would give your son "rides" without a park ticket. Depending on his age, he may really enjoy the transportation options.  Each hotel/resort has small shops that can be fun and not so overwhelming.

 

I don't know if this would work time/weather wise, but here is a plan I might use.  It would have monorail, boat, skyliner, and bus rides:  

1.  Take the monorail to Magic Kingdom (you will go through security at the TTC ).

2.  Take the boat to Wilderness Lodge.

        I think there is now an open air restaurant/snack area by the pool for lunch.

3.  Take the bus to Studios.

4.  Take the Skyliner to Caribbean Beach Hotel.

5.  Bus back to TTC.

           or maybe

5.  Transfer to the Epcot Skyliner.

6.   Walk/Friendship Boat to Yacht/Beach Club.

7.   Bus back to the TTC.

 

You can research the hotels for little special things at each one.  Just walking through the Wilderness Lodge hotel and grounds is fun.  I believe it was the second level of the atrium that had a smaller fireplace to sit by and enjoy.  There are rocking chairs in the lobby.

 

On the other side of the coin, shopping is fun for me! I also like safe.  I do NOT want to miss the ship and always take ship sponsored excursions.  Whatever you do, I hope you have a great time!!

Edited November 10, 2019 by luv2sailAgain
typo

[LuCruise]

19 minutes ago, luv2sailAgain said:

I love Disney and cruising. I could talk Disney or cruising all day long. Could not stop myself from replying again. (-:

 

Just some thoughts...

In my humble opinion, if you have seen one outlet mall, you have seen them all (or pretty close). If the outlet mall portion is first, late people returning to the bus may make the Disney Springs portion even shorter.  This happened to us in Cayman. The late folks were ALWAYS holding us from leaving the various stops and our time at the Turtle Center was greatly reduced (the stop my daughter was REALLY looking forward to seeing). BUT the shopping excursion would be the safest.

 

Resort hoping would be a bit more stressful. But you could always Uber back to the TTC if Disney transportation became a problem. Many people only stay onsite without a car, totally rely on Disney transportation, and love it. I will say this is hard for me being from Houston.  A car is like another appendage. You are your car - your car is you. (-:

 

The boats from the Magic Kingdom to Wilderness lodge are open air, if I remember correctly.  They were much more fun than the Friendship Boats that are in the Epcot area.  The Friendship boats are mostly enclosed and can get hot in the summer.  They are also very slow.  We enjoy them anyway. I have never been on the boats from the Orleans/Riverside hotels to Disney Springs. (On my list though. . .)  You can get beignets at the French Quarter hotel.

 

There are two entrances to Epcot.  The monorail from the TTC stops at the main entrance.  The skyliner stops at the smaller World Showcase entrance on the opposite side of the park.  You would have to have a park ticket and go through Epcot to go from the Epcot monorail to the Epcot skyliner.  I do enjoy the Epcot monorail ride.

 

Disney transportation would give your son "rides" without a park ticket. Depending on his age, he may really enjoy the transportation options.  Each hotel/resort has small shops that can be fun and not so overwhelming.

 

I don't know if this would work time/weather wise, but here is a plan I might use.  It would have monorail, boat, skyliner, and bus rides:  

1.  Take the monorail to Magic Kingdom (you will go through security at the TTC ).

2.  Take the boat to Wilderness Lodge.

        I think there is now an open air restaurant/snack area by the pool for lunch.

3.  Take the bus to Studios.

4.  Take the Skyliner to Caribbean Beach Hotel.

5.  Bus back to TTC.

           or maybe

6.  Transfer to the Epcot Skyliner.

7.   Walk/Friendship Boat to Yacht/Beach Club.

8.   Bus back to the TTC.

 

You can research the hotels for little special things at each one.  Just walking through the Wilderness Lodge hotel and grounds is fun.  I believe it was the second level of the atrium that had a smaller fireplace to sit by and enjoy.  There are rocking chairs in the lobby.

 

On the other side of the coin, shopping is fun for me! I also like safe.  I do NOT want to miss the ship and always take ship sponsored excursions.  Whatever you do, I hope you have a great time!!

 

Thank you so much for the reply. Our son is actually the older one and is 14.  Our daughter is 10.  This cruise is in March so weather should be comfortable.  

 

The boat from MK to Wilderness Lodge may be fun.  I'm looking at the (crazy) transportation map. It looks like there is a bus from there to Disney Springs?  We would still want to fit in Disney Springs if we went with the Disney transportation option. Or is a bus from Contemporary or Polynesian a better option to get to DS?   Also, next summer we are staying at Pop for a couple nights so the Skyliner isn't a must on this trip....but great suggestions.  

[luv2sailAgain]

16 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

 

Thank you so much for the reply. Our son is actually the older one and is 14.  Our daughter is 10.  This cruise is in March so weather should be comfortable.  

 

The boat from MK to Wilderness Lodge may be fun.  I'm looking at the (crazy) transportation map. It looks like there is a bus from there to Disney Springs?  We would still want to fit in Disney Springs if we went with the Disney transportation option. Or is a bus from Contemporary or Polynesian a better option to get to DS?   Also, next summer we are staying at Pop for a couple nights so the Skyliner isn't a must on this trip....but great suggestions.  

Disney REALLY wants your money. So no doubt WL would have a bus to Disney Springs.  You can actually walk from the TTC to the Poly or take the monorail.  You may just want to start at the Poly and then to Springs if you are wanting to maximize time at Springs.  If time allows, you could boat over to French Quarter for beignets if you had time.  At the theme parks, the deluxe hotels have closer drop off points in relation to the park entrances.  I would think this would also be true at Springs, but honestly IDK.  Wilderness Lodge is a deluxe, but Poly, Contemporary, and Grand Floridian have more prestige (and bigger rooms). But seriously, you are walking a million miles during the day. A little more walking at the bus pavilions won't make or break you.

 

Just allow plenty plenty of time to get to your destinations.  I am thinking 10 am and dinner times are peak times. March is spring break time for us Texans.  My daughter's band played at MK in 2018. Wow! The crowds were worse than our usual summer.  But boy, the weather was great!

 

Have fun!!

[LeeW]

All the hotels have buses to the Springs and to the theme parks.  Typically they run around every 20 minutes.  But you can't generally get from one hotel to another (except around the Bay Lake - monorail) or the new Skyliner that runs from Animation through new hotel and Caribbean to Epcot.  Generally if you want to go between hotels you must change buses at Disney Springs or a Theme Park/Water Park.  Buses tend to eat up around 1/2 hour each plus waiting time. 

 

If you really want to go to Disney you might want to consider renting a car.  You would pay for tolls and gas and would also have to allow an hour or so for pickup and dropping off the car but this might be faster and cheaper than taking a RCI tour with your whole family.  You could either leave car at one of the water parks or Disney Springs and deal with Disney transportation, or if you want to visit a theme park you could pay the parking fee there - only pay one fee per day.  You can visit most hotels with a car but the guards will be a pain to deal with - they will let you in if you are checking out the property.  Hotels charge for overnight parking but not for day visits (like dining).

[Sunshine3601]

Disney springs does have alot of children / teen friendly activities.  There is big Lego store balloon ride amphibous car ride in lake. shopping is not cheap but lots of nice stores and plenty of restaurants.

March is a great time as long as it isn't spring break.

[LuCruise]

2 hours ago, LeeW said:

All the hotels have buses to the Springs and to the theme parks.  Typically they run around every 20 minutes.  But you can't generally get from one hotel to another (except around the Bay Lake - monorail) or the new Skyliner that runs from Animation through new hotel and Caribbean to Epcot.  Generally if you want to go between hotels you must change buses at Disney Springs or a Theme Park/Water Park.  Buses tend to eat up around 1/2 hour each plus waiting time. 

 

If you really want to go to Disney you might want to consider renting a car.  You would pay for tolls and gas and would also have to allow an hour or so for pickup and dropping off the car but this might be faster and cheaper than taking a RCI tour with your whole family.  You could either leave car at one of the water parks or Disney Springs and deal with Disney transportation, or if you want to visit a theme park you could pay the parking fee there - only pay one fee per day.  You can visit most hotels with a car but the guards will be a pain to deal with - they will let you in if you are checking out the property.  Hotels charge for overnight parking but not for day visits (like dining).

Thanks...good to know about the buses.  Am thinking we could visit the monorail resorts as I think those you can go from one to the other via monorail?  On the map, it shows a 'resort monorail' and an 'express monorail'.  Not clear where the latter one stops.  And select one to get to Disney Springs.  If time permits, we can visit another one by bus as well ...from Disney Springs or through a park.  I'm noting the timing for buses as that's good to know too.

 

Yeah..we know a car is most flexible, logical and economical, but we are not comfortable travelling so far away from the ship on our own.  So we would only do this through ship transportation. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[LuCruise]

28 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Disney springs does have alot of children / teen friendly activities.  There is big Lego store balloon ride amphibous car ride in lake. shopping is not cheap but lots of nice stores and plenty of restaurants.

March is a great time as long as it isn't spring break.

It is Ontario March Break (and thus, why we can take a cruise then), but hoping most will be in the parks?  So can't help that. 😉

 

Thanks...seems like lots of stuff to browse and look around to keep us busy for a bit.  Also why the Disney Transportation excursion may be better so we're not rushed with just 2 hrs at DS.

[CsStingray]

Another possibility to consider is taking a bus from MK to Saratoga Springs and then walking to Disney Springs.  The walk from the Congress Park bus stop to Disney Springs is quick and scenic.  

 

The resort monorail stops at each of the monorail resorts, while the express just goes between MK and the TTC.  

 

There is a lot to do at Disney without going to the parks—I think you will have a great time, and the weather should be fantastic in March!

[LuCruise]

14 hours ago, CsStingray said:

Another possibility to consider is taking a bus from MK to Saratoga Springs and then walking to Disney Springs.  The walk from the Congress Park bus stop to Disney Springs is quick and scenic.  

 

The resort monorail stops at each of the monorail resorts, while the express just goes between MK and the TTC.  

 

There is a lot to do at Disney without going to the parks—I think you will have a great time, and the weather should be fantastic in March!

Thanks!  Another great suggestion.    Didn't realize this was an option.

 

Well, if Black Friday has a sale on the Disney Transportation excursion, then will need to decide if we cancel our existing excursion for this one (unless the system ends up letting us keep both...but doens't seem like it)