Would you spend your a cruise's port day at WDW?

SyracuseOrange

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
(Edit: EW...sorry about the grammar error in the thread title. My bad. Guilty of talking on the phone to my boss while writing this thread.)

Last week, I was on a cruise from New York that stopped for one day at Port Canaveral. This itinerary had us in PC from 12pm-9pm on Monday. (Memorial Day...)

The cruise line was really pushing transportation to WDW, Universal, and SeaWorld (at a really high cost per person) and I know that many people on the ship went to one of the three. Even though I'm a huge Disney fan (obviously) and would have loved the opportunity to bring my travel partner to WDW (he's never been) I didn't think it was worth it. After leaving the boat, we would have arrived at the park no earlier than 1:15pm, and we'd have to leave no later than 7:45pm (that's being generous.) Since typically mornings/evenings are less crowded than the middle of the day, I already thought this was a bad idea. Add on Memorial Day crowds, and I knew it was a recipe for disaster. My friend & I opted for Cocoa Beach instead, and our shuttle driver told us that he drove a shuttle earlier in the day to SeaWorld and just to TURN IN to the parking lot from the highway took him 45 minutes. When I got back on the boat, I overheard one family complaining about how they had to wait in line for over an hour at WDW just to get quick service food.

So my question to you is this: If you were in my situation, would you have gone to WDW anyway just to get a little taste of the magic? (I have an AP so I wouldn't have had to pay for a one day ticket. My friend would have had to buy one, though.)
 

5thGenTexan

Well-Known Member
Probably not in that situation, BUT... :) On an 8 day cruise on the Disney Magic last month, we stopped at PC for the day. A one day park hopper was included in the cruise, and we were on a DCL bus to the Magic Kingdom at 7:00 am. Ship did not leave PC till 2:00 am. So, people had no problem staying till the parks closed. We have a 2 1/2 year old and a 4 year old, so we lasted from opening at 9:00 till about 3:00 in the afternoon.
 

Zortek

Active Member
I think you made the right call. I had looked at some of those cruises out of NYC and I couldn't believe they were just allowing people to hit the parks during the busiest hours of the day. Talk about creating a bunch of haters. Not too many people are going to enjoy that experience. I'm sure there are a lot of logistics involved, but Port Canaveral is a port that should be done really early or really late or both.
 

disneyfan1995

Well-Known Member
You definitely made the right call by spending the day at Cocoa Beach. The only way I'd go to WDW/Universal/Seaworld if the cruise is docked in Port Canaveral is if they were docked the entire day. Like pulling in around 6-7 AM and the all aboard time being at like 12-1 AM. That way you could make the most of your day.
 

SyracuseOrange

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Glad to hear my fellow Disney fans agree with my choice. To the point of the timing, yes, if we had either gotten in super early or left super late, I might have gone to Disney, but going JUST for the afternoon seemed crazy to me, and yet, many people went.
 

kfergdisney

Well-Known Member
Totally would have gone to the beach. I love WDW, too, but the two strikes were: Memorial Day and don't arrive into WDW until the afternoon. WDW deserves to be admired for more than an afternoon.
 

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