Gettting to Orlando theme parks from Port Canaveral?

[luzzg]

We are going on a cruise next week out of Baltimore. It debarks out of Baltimore and one of the stops is Port Canaveral in Orlando. For our shore excursion we were planning on going to one the theme parks in Orlando (Disney world, Universal Island of Adventure ,etc). We just discovered it takes an hour to get to said parks from the port.

It would cost way to much to get there with a taxi, so is our best bet just to rent a car? Is there perhaps a shuttle bus or would we have to book through Carnival to access this?

[kr8z]

How many hours are you there? The drive us anywhere from 60-90 minutes. Then once you make your way onto one of the theme park properties you have to park, walk or shuttle to the park, etc. Unless you are there from say 8am-8pm, there us no way it will be worth it to make that trip plus, if you hit traffic on the way back to port, you could miss the rest of your vacation.

[travelntreats]

Any Orlando theme park (especially WDW) is NOT a shore excursion...... They are at minimum a 1 - 3 day adventure to get the full experience of the parks. Don't waste your time and wait till you can devote a # of days to really enjoy what Orlando and its theme parks have to offer.

[Scythe]

Would be an extreme waste of $$ & risk time wise, unless this is an overnight (?) port/stop. We did Disney in one day while staying in Titusville a couple of yrs ago. One day is not close to enough for any of those resorts.

 

:cool:

[cwiggy]

I agree with all these responses ... we did a resort stay at Disney in August 2009 for 3 nights, then drove a rented vehicle over to the Port and sailed to the Bahamas, then went back to Downtown Disney area for 2 nights and one more theme park visit. Make the most of Disney some other time ...

[CruiseAdict218]

WDW(depending on what park) is really big parks and even if u make it to which ever park and back on time, during ur time there your probably going to rush to do so much in what little time, plan Disney or Universal for another time

[CruiseAdict218]

How many hours are you there? The drive us anywhere from 60-90 minutes. Then once you make your way onto one of the theme park properties you have to park, walk or shuttle to the park, etc. Unless you are there from say 8am-8pm, there us no way it will be worth it to make that trip plus, if you hit traffic on the way back to port, you could miss the rest of your vacation.

 

Ironically they are there from 7am - 7pm

[cruisy-suzy]

To answer your question on HOW to do it, I would rent a car from Budget in Canaveral. They will pick you up at the pier and take you to their rental office. Then you can do the reverse that afternoon. You should plan on it taking up to an hour to get the car, though, depending on how busy they are at the counter.

 

Sea World might be do-able in several hours. There is good outlet mall shopping in Orlando too. Maybe you just want to get a car and stick around Cocoa Beach, go to Ron Jon surf shop, whatever.

 

Happy cruising,

[travelntreats]

Have yet to figure out why Port Canaveral is even a port visited....

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I am at Disneyworld now for the week. The place is packed for spring break.Yesterday in 3 hours we were on 1 ride. Most rides including thw kiddie rides had a 60+ minute wait.

 

I would do as the others suggested and do Sea World or something besides Disney.

 

Bill

[travelntreats]

I am at Disneyworld now for the week. The place is packed for spring break.Yesterday in 3 hours we were on 1 ride. Most rides including thw kiddie rides had a 60+ minute wait.

 

I would do as the others suggested and do Sea World or something besides Disney.

 

Bill

 

Talk about a bad guest to space ratio !!! :eek:

[destiny217]

We rented a car and did Sea World and had plenty of time but that was 4 adults. We did research and Harry Potter at Universal has been over crowded since it opened, so would not recommend that.

[SANDYJABS]

The best way would be to rent a car. However, having lived in Orlando all my life, I would agree with everyone.

 

There is no way you could do Disney, and it is so expensive. WDW should be a seperate vacation- period! Once you make it to WDW you have to park, ride the tram to the ticket gate, walk up to the monorail, ride the monorail to the main park. Each of these things you wait in line for. Then you have to walk once in the park to get to where you want to go, meaning the park is huge and very spread out, you don't just enter the gate and you're there, its exhausting. The line wait for most rides is 30-45 min minimum.

 

Universal you could maybe do ONE of the parks, Islands of Adventure or Universal but not both. Also if you plan to ride the Harry Potter ride the lines are still an hour + on any day of the week.

 

Sea World would be your best choice if you insist on doing a theme park. It is also the closest from Port.

Sea World now has Aquatica Water Park but most days the Park is full and they close it down by 9am, this is a great Park for the day.

There is also a water park called Wet n' Wild that could be done in a day - again the lines are long but the park is easily done in one day.

 

If your in port 7a-7p remember that you have to be onboard before sail time and the hour + drive back from Orlando, stopping to pay tolls, and returning rental car.

[luzzg]

If we went to Wet N Wild, would we still have to rent a car to get there?

[cruisy-suzy]

If we went to Wet N Wild, would we still have to rent a car to get there?

 

You could maybe try SuperShuttle reserved in advance for each way. I think a car would be cheaper though. Just maybe more time/hassle to pick up / drop off.

 

Wet N Wild is in Orlando so same distance, more or less, as the theme park options.

[clanof5]

My brother and his family and friends (10 people) just went to

Islands of Adventure on a Port of Call out of Port Canaveral.

They were on the Carnival Pride.

They were all picked up at 7:45 am in a stretch limousine

and taken to Universal Studios and returned to the ship

at 6:00 pm. $300 for the round trip through Executive vip

limo. They had a wonderful time for 7 1/2 hours.