Space Shuttle Launch and WDW

[cattprez]

i tried to make this work earlier in the year when i was at WDW. in then end we went out the front of DHS and watched it.. all we saw was the trail and i think we heard the boom.. but still its magical to see. it may be 1.5hr in the car to get there but coming back i read at heaps of places when ive investigated it its up to 4hrs and then some coming home

[prspeppers]

If you can't make it out to the cape to see the launch, I highly recommend heading over to the dock in the back of the Contemporary for the best view. If thats not an option, the beach at the Poly is another great place to watch the shuttle launch. In addition, another option would be to head over to a place like Coco Beach Pier or anywhere on the coast with a great view. However none of these locations compare to actually being at Cape Canaveral. If you have the opportunity to get there dealing with the drive, traffic, etc...is all worth it!

[wdwwdeagle]

Originally Posted by prspeppers

However none of these locations compare to actually being at Cape Canaveral. If you have the opportunity to get there dealing with the drive, traffic, etc...is all worth it!

OP here.
Thanks to everyone for the help and suggestions. I knew you guys would come through for me! We have a NASA friend who is working on getting us tickets to view the launch from inside canaveral. Hoping he can secure these tickets! If so, we'll go for it (unless the weather is bad) and just plan to leave WDW in the early morning. If we don't have tickets, we'll probably just stay at WDW and watch from one of the places mentioned here.

I might take the suggestion of driving on the east-west instead of the beach express (or whatever it's called). That looks like a good idea. And if we get back for our ADR, great. If not, we can always eat there another trip! thanks again!

[WDWRLD]

Originally Posted by animal

Ummmm... Why those locations specifically? Because you can't see the sky from anywhere but those locations??

Well I have seen launches from POR and Canada. And I have heard that there is a certian spot that you can get a great photo of the shuttle above MS.....

Originally Posted by WDW Monorail

I highly recommend looking in the direction of The Land pavilion.

Actually its better if you go inside of The Land and look up through the skylights.........

[Tinkrbell]

I saw 2 launches from WDW this past spring. The first one was at night & it was trying to rain. There was enough of a break in the clouds for us to see it.

The second one I saw was around 6 or 7pm. It was a perfecg day to see the launch. We probably watched it for almost 10 minutes before we couldn't see it anymore.

I saw both of the launches from Fantasmic, once from the parking lot next to the costuming building & the other time from the back of the mountain.

I've also heard the sonic boom when the shuttle re-enters the atmosphere. We didnt have a clue what was going on. I was working at Block Party that day and we thought something had gone wrong at the Indiana Jones show cuz we were near the backstage area for it when we heard it.

[WDWRLD]

Originally Posted by animal

But the shuttle is in the SKY. So if you can get a great photo of it above M:S, then why wouldn't you be able to just as easily get a great photo of it above anywhere else?? I'm not getting why you think that a person needs to be near M:S (or any other building or attraction for that matter) in order to provide the "best view" of the shuttle. As long as you can see the sky, it's all the same.

The point of it above Mission Space is the whole tie in with NASA and the space theme and a real space craft appearing to come right out of the top of the attraction.....thats it. Im not saying that you cant get a great photo of it from anywhere else but me personaly rather have one of it there rather than say the Hess gas pumps. Also the only reason I mentioned POR or Canada is that I personaly have viewed one from there and it was realitively clear of trees, therefore I know that it can be seen good from either of those two locations. I mean im sure that you could watch it from the Studios, AK or even MK but I have never seen one from there, I was merely giving two options of where I knew it could be clearly seen.

[WDWRLD]

Originally Posted by animal

I'm not getting why you think that a person needs to be near M:S (or any other building or attraction for that matter) in order to provide the "best view" of the shuttle.

I never said that anywhere was a best view....just stated where there were a couple "good views". Read before you type.....