Orlando theme park transfer

[maxy35]

Can anyone confirm the return pick up times heading back to the ship from any of the parks on offer as an excursion from Port Canaveral.

Wanting to weigh up the worth of the visit to any park given the availability of time.

Oasis this coming October, arrive 1pm. Excursion transfers says leaves at two. Figure park by three. 2-3 hours at park if lucky.
Not much time at 100 bucks a ticket! Even less time if the bus pick up return is 6pm.

Any info appreciated 

[Pratique]

I worked at Walt Disney World for 12 years. 2-3 hours is not worth it. Barely enough time to visit the gift shop.

[TheBucketLister]

I am not sure of the return pickup times, however it is about a 90 minute ride to the theme parks from Port Canaveral, so at least 3 hours of travel time.  When does the ship depart?  Also with the current state of Disney and how they are handling queues/wait times, for that short amount of time, to do anything you would have to pay for the Genie+/Lightning Lane service.  Otherwise you may get on only a couple of rides.

 

Like Pratique noted, you need a good full day to really enjoy each park, whether that be any of the Disney Parks, Universal Parks or Sea World.

 

Years ago, October used to be a really slow month, however over the last 5 years or so October has been really busy for the parks here in Orlando.

Edited March 19, 2023 by TheBucketLister

[maxy35]

5 minutes ago, TheBucketLister said:

I am not sure of the return pickup times, however it is about a 90 minute ride to the theme parks from Port Canaveral, so at least 3 hours of travel time.  When does the ship depart?  Also with the current state of Disney and how they are handling queues/wait times, for that short amount of time, to do anything you would have to pay for the Genie+/Lightning Lane service.  Otherwise you may get on only a couple of rides.

Ship departs at 9pm. Sea world closes at 6pm the day we are there. Question is if the pick up is at 6 or much later to maximise visit to park if decided to go.

[maxy35]

16 minutes ago, Pratique said:

I worked at Walt Disney World for 12 years. 2-3 hours is not worth it. Barely enough time to visit the gift shop.

Yeah, our thoughts to.

 

[TheBucketLister]

28 minutes ago, maxy35 said:

Ship departs at 9pm. Sea world closes at 6pm the day we are there. Question is if the pick up is at 6 or much later to maximise visit to park if decided to go.

My best guess, in case you don't get any other definitive answer, is that if you leave at 2pm, 60 minutes of travel time to Sea World since it is closest to Port Canaveral (assuming no traffic or accident) you would arrive at the park at 3:00-3:15pm.  Then probably about 10-15 minutes to walk from the bus drop off to getting through the turnstiles at the front gates. If you are going for the shows, you are going to be highly dependent on the show times of said shows.  Also those shows typically run around 30 minutes each.  One show could easily carve out 60 minutes of your time depending on the showtime.  If you are going only for rides, then in three hours, you would probably have enough time to get through most of the thrill rides, if not all, at that time in October.

 

If the park closes at 6pm I would imagine pickup would be maybe 6:30-7:00pm at the latest in order to give time for those walking from the back of the park or those already queued for a ride at 5:59pm.  If they do depart at 6pm, then that will cut down on your ability to do more things as you would have to make sure you would not be stuck in a line that would prevent you from getting back to the bus at 6pm.

Edited March 19, 2023 by TheBucketLister

[Norwich Cruiser]

Don’t waste your time.

 

It simply wouldn’t be worth the money.

[taglovestocruise]

Did the Disney excursion a few years ago on Symphony, not worth the trouble. Bus left the port almost a hour after scheduled time as they wait for everyone getting off the ship. On arrival at the park bus driver told everyone to be back 1 hour early as traffic was expected to be bad. Returned to the bus and still sat for close to a hour as many were missing and paying no attention to the bus drivers wishes. Horrible experience, everyone on our bus went straight to GS to complain. Royal gave everyone a refund of park entrance fees and the cost of the bus trip. Not really a excursion, it was more of a Royal setting up bus service, they also ran a separate bus for those going to Universal or Sea World for the day.  Not nearly enough time to go somewhere that is crowded and far away. 

[nelblu]

We did Disney world in October.  The ride is a little over an hour. The return was scheduled to meet at the transportation center at 7 pm. 
My DIL got us some fast passes and we got to enjoy some 9 rides. 
Everything shut down at about 6:15 as Disney was having a separate entrance fee.for their Halloween extravaganza. 
 

I haven’t been to Disney and really enjoyed the Country Bear Jamborees 🤣

 

Many wild characters. 

[OCVTSGIRL]

We were on Adventure and took the bus to WDW because it was only $14 each...not the case anymore.  We are annual pass holders but didn't go to any parks because of the time frame.  We chose instead to go to Disney Springs and also visit some resorts...like those that are on the monorail loop.  We were told to return back to the bus at 7:00.  I couldn't imagine paying for park admission for such a short period of time.  There were a few others who did what we did.  Again, the cost of the bus ride was worth it.  Not sure about now.  We are seeing around $33 for our Anthem cruise in November.  Not sure if we will do it.

[Pratique]

The problem with these Oasis sailings out of New York is that because of the sailing time they don't arrive in Florida until 1 pm, which is too late in the day to be getting started landside even if you are just going to Kennedy Space Center because that closes at 5. We are probably doing this sailing in June just because we can drive to port instead of flying to Florida first and we only care about going to Coco Cay and spending the rest of the cruise on the ship. Otherwise it is a lousy itinerary. There isn't even enough time in Port Canaveral for us to rent a car and go visit our friends in Central Florida.

[VernRDH]

We just did this on Anthem in Feb. Went to Magic Kingdom. Got on one ride, saw one show, walked the whole park and shopped. Ate dinner at Columbia Harbor House.  Had Dole whip from Aloha Isle. Went on Monorail to Contemporary, shopped there, then back to TTC and walked over to Polynesian to look around.

We left PC at 12:45, were at Disney before 2pm. Our return however, was far more eventful as there was an accident on the highway and we sat in traffic for quite some time. We did however, see the SpaceX launch from the bus, driving right past it as it went off. We were the last to return to the ship. Most of the port was shut down, limited staff hurrying us through. By the time we got back to our cabin they were hauling in the gangway and we were shoving off!

Was it worth it? For us, we wanted to see MK for its 50th anniversary, and we have been there many times so the rides are not that important to us. So I can't say it was, but I can't say it wasn't either.

The reason why we did not do Disney Springs was transportation. There is no direct transport from TTC to DS, so you have to go to a resort or park to take a Disney bus to Disney Springs. DH was concerned about travel time, so that also factored into why we chose MK. 

[nelblu]

1 hour ago, OCVTSGIRL said:

We were on Adventure and took the bus to WDW because it was only $14 each...not the case anymore.  We are annual pass holders but didn't go to any parks because of the time frame.  We chose instead to go to Disney Springs and also visit some resorts...like those that are on the monorail loop.  We were told to return back to the bus at 7:00.  I couldn't imagine paying for park admission for such a short period of time.  There were a few others who did what we did.  Again, the cost of the bus ride was worth it.  Not sure about now.  We are seeing around $33 for our Anthem cruise in November.  Not sure if we will do it.

In October it was $19.99 to each of the parks. 

[maxy35]

23 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Did the Disney excursion a few years ago on Symphony, not worth the trouble. Bus left the port almost a hour after scheduled time as they wait for everyone getting off the ship. On arrival at the park bus driver told everyone to be back 1 hour early as traffic was expected to be bad. Returned to the bus and still sat for close to a hour as many were missing and paying no attention to the bus drivers wishes. Horrible experience, everyone on our bus went straight to GS to complain. Royal gave everyone a refund of park entrance fees and the cost of the bus trip. Not really an excursion, it was more of a Royal setting up bus service, they also ran a separate bus for those going to Universal or Sea World for the day.  Not nearly enough time to go somewhere that is crowded and far away. 

Hate the bus rides the ships run, always seem to be waiting on others before leaving.

 

[maxy35]

23 hours ago, nelblu said:

We did Disney world in October.  The ride is a little over an hour. The return was scheduled to meet at the transportation center at 7 pm. 
My DIL got us some fast passes and we got to enjoy some 9 rides. 
Everything shut down at about 6:15 as Disney was having a separate entrance fee.for their Halloween extravaganza. 
 

I haven’t been to Disney and really enjoyed the Country Bear Jamborees 🤣

 

Many wild characters. 

The timeline just seems to tight to me. Don’t understand why RC leave it late to get to PC. Done itinerary before on Anthem a few years ago and arrived earlier!

[maxy35]

23 hours ago, OCVTSGIRL said:

We were on Adventure and took the bus to WDW because it was only $14 each...not the case anymore.  We are annual pass holders but didn't go to any parks because of the time frame.  We chose instead to go to Disney Springs and also visit some resorts...like those that are on the monorail loop.  We were told to return back to the bus at 7:00.  I couldn't imagine paying for park admission for such a short period of time.  There were a few others who did what we did.  Again, the cost of the bus ride was worth it.  Not sure about now.  We are seeing around $33 for our Anthem cruise in November.  Not sure if we will do it.

We are weighing up the RC bus to SW then Uber to Disney Springs. Or 

Uber to DS from PC and back.

[maxy35]

23 hours ago, Pratique said:

The problem with these Oasis sailings out of New York is that because of the sailing time they don't arrive in Florida until 1 pm, which is too late in the day to be getting started landside even if you are just going to Kennedy Space Center because that closes at 5. We are probably doing this sailing in June just because we can drive to port instead of flying to Florida first and we only care about going to Coco Cay and spending the rest of the cruise on the ship. Otherwise it is a lousy itinerary. There isn't even enough time in Port Canaveral for us to rent a car and go visit our friends in Central Florida.

We did Anthem a few year back and hired a car from Enterprise for the day and went to SW and outlets. Remember when I dropped the car off it was hunt a parking space, it was nuts. Cars parked everywhere and anywhere!! Same rental is not open Tuesdays & Wednesdays it’s telling me. Other rentals, Avis budget are further away, again more time to consider. To be honest, last Octobers experience with car rental we did after a cruise in Fort Lauderdale was ridiculous having to wait on a car becoming available. Don’t want to risk that again.

[maxy35]

22 hours ago, VernRDH said:

We just did this on Anthem in Feb. Went to Magic Kingdom. Got on one ride, saw one show, walked the whole park and shopped. Ate dinner at Columbia Harbor House.  Had Dole whip from Aloha Isle. Went on Monorail to Contemporary, shopped there, then back to TTC and walked over to Polynesian to look around.

We left PC at 12:45, were at Disney before 2pm. Our return however, was far more eventful as there was an accident on the highway and we sat in traffic for quite some time. We did however, see the SpaceX launch from the bus, driving right past it as it went off. We were the last to return to the ship. Most of the port was shut down, limited staff hurrying us through. By the time we got back to our cabin they were hauling in the gangway and we were shoving off!

Was it worth it? For us, we wanted to see MK for its 50th anniversary, and we have been there many times so the rides are not that important to us. So I can't say it was, but I can't say it wasn't either.

The reason why we did not do Disney Springs was transportation. There is no direct transport from TTC to DS, so you have to go to a resort or park to take a Disney bus to Disney Springs. DH was concerned about travel time, so that also factored into why we chose MK. 

Noticed that DS was not an option from TTC, that’s why we thought SW then Uber/cab to DS. Just would like to know the bus time return RC run

[monorail81]

1 hour ago, maxy35 said:

Noticed that DS was not an option from TTC, that’s why we thought SW then Uber/cab to DS. Just would like to know the bus time return RC run

Since you are considering doing an Uber, you can always do a Minnie Van from TTC to DS. It’s Disney’s private car service through Lyft. 

[Sunshine3601]

On 3/19/2023 at 5:36 PM, maxy35 said:

Ship departs at 9pm. Sea world closes at 6pm the day we are there. Question is if the pick up is at 6 or much later to maximise visit to park if decided to go.

If ship leaves at 9 pm...all aboard would be 830.

We have sailed itineraries out of Bayonne numerous times and majority of the people that have gone to parks seem to all the say thing once back onboard...long day on the road with not enough time to enjoy the parks.

 

With how much tickets cost just to enter the parks, not worth it, IMO.

[Sunshine3601]

2 hours ago, maxy35 said:

The timeline just seems to tight to me. Don’t understand why RC leave it late to get to PC. Done itinerary before on Anthem a few years ago and arrived earlier!

Rc stops at PC for supplies.   

Maybe instead of trying to cram in a stressful day with lot of time on the road you might want to consider taking the shuttle bus to Ron Jon's and go to the beach and grab a meal at one of the restaurants at port, Fish Lips is a good choice.

https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tZP1zcsT7IoyyjJM2C0UjWosLBINUg0M040S05KMUhOTbEyqDC1SEs1MzNITTJKMkg0NzfwkkjLLM5QyMksKFYoyC8qUUhOzEssSy1KzAEAo3QY1g&q=fish+lips+port+canaveral&oq=fish+lips+port&aqs=chrome.1.0i355i512j46i175i199i512j69i57j0i512l2j0i22i30j0i390l2.6928j0j7&client=ms-android-boostdish-us-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#sbfbu=1&pi=fish lips port canaveral

[nelblu]

9 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

If ship leaves at 9 pm...all aboard would be 830.

We have sailed itineraries out of Bayonne numerous times and majority of the people that have gone to parks seem to all the say thing once back onboard...long day on the road with not enough time to enjoy the parks.

 

With how much tickets cost just to enter the parks, not worth it, IMO.

The old expression once and done.  Although, I have and 8 niter in February on Anthem and skipping Miami and arriving at PC at 7AM and departing at 6PM.  A bit more flexibility.

[nelblu]

10 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Rc stops at PC for supplies.   

Maybe instead of trying to cram in a stressful day with lot of time on the road you might want to consider taking the shuttle bus to Ron Jon's and go to the beach and grab a meal at one of the restaurants at port, Fish Lips is a good choice.

https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tZP1zcsT7IoyyjJM2C0UjWosLBINUg0M040S05KMUhOTbEyqDC1SEs1MzNITTJKMkg0NzfwkkjLLM5QyMksKFYoyC8qUUhOzEssSy1KzAEAo3QY1g&q=fish+lips+port+canaveral&oq=fish+lips+port&aqs=chrome.1.0i355i512j46i175i199i512j69i57j0i512l2j0i22i30j0i390l2.6928j0j7&client=ms-android-boostdish-us-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#sbfbu=1&pi=fish lips port canaveral

I did that on my February Anthem sail.  After being dropped off at Ron's parking lot walked a few blocks to the beach.  Rented one of the chairs for I believe $10 (deposit of $5 required) for 3 hours.  Umbrellas extra.  Surprised by the quality/texture of the sand and not close to the Caribbean.

[playingpossum]

We are doing the bus transfer to Disney next week from the Anthem.  The cost is $34.99 each for our excursion but we did get a discounted price(30% off I think).  It used to be a lot cheaper($13.99) as others have stated.  This will be the first time we have tried this as we would not go if the ship didn't offer it as traffic can be awful.  We have very low expectations for what we can get done for the day though as we will be going to Magic Kingdom.  We do have annual passes so for us it is not an expensive day but it might be the only time we try this as it is a lot of time on a bus.

 

Our plan is as such:  Get to the transportation station hopefully by 2, ride the monorail over as the boat transfer is generally a little slower, do a quick browse through the shops on the way to get Dole Whip, ride one ride while eating in line, try to get on to 2 more low wait time lines,  get a picture in front of the castle, have a quick service meal and then head back to the bus.  Our pick up is at 6pm. I figure we will likely only have 3 1/2 hours in the park and 4 hours max. 

 

It takes 15 minutes minimum and up to 30 minutes to get back from the entrance of magic kingdom to the pick up point.

 

For those of you considering going to Disney springs it is doable as well.  One option would be to take the monorail to the Contemporary and then the bus from there to Disney Springs.  Coming back take the bus to either Polynesian or The Grand Floridian and then the monorail back.  This would eat up quite a bit of time though.  Uber may be a better option but we have not done that.  The Polynesian does have 2 nice gift shops as well as a very good quick service dining area. 

 

Another option is to go and see the spring festival at Epcot.  The monorail to that park is pretty fast as well. It is a fairly long walk around the worlds pavilions.  If you are lucky you can grab a virtual que for Gardians of the Galaxy and hit that ride(Disney app needed for that)

 

* Keep in mind you will need a reservation for a theme park to get in. *  They are changing the rules for the annual pass holders (April 18 = 2 pm no reservation required) but best to plan accordingly.

 

I will keep track of how things go and post back on here when we return. I can say already that if we didn't have annual passes we likely would not do this excursion as the time frame is just too tight.  I would probably go to the beach near Ron Jon's and shop a bit afterwards.

[Sunshine3601]

7 hours ago, playingpossum said:

We are doing the bus transfer to Disney next week from the Anthem.  The cost is $34.99 each for our excursion but we did get a discounted price(30% off I think).  It used to be a lot cheaper($13.99) as others have stated.  This will be the first time we have tried this as we would not go if the ship didn't offer it as traffic can be awful.  We have very low expectations for what we can get done for the day though as we will be going to Magic Kingdom.  We do have annual passes so for us it is not an expensive day but it might be the only time we try this as it is a lot of time on a bus.

 

Our plan is as such:  Get to the transportation station hopefully by 2, ride the monorail over as the boat transfer is generally a little slower, do a quick browse through the shops on the way to get Dole Whip, ride one ride while eating in line, try to get on to 2 more low wait time lines,  get a picture in front of the castle, have a quick service meal and then head back to the bus.  Our pick up is at 6pm. I figure we will likely only have 3 1/2 hours in the park and 4 hours max. 

 

It takes 15 minutes minimum and up to 30 minutes to get back from the entrance of magic kingdom to the pick up point.

 

For those of you considering going to Disney springs it is doable as well.  One option would be to take the monorail to the Contemporary and then the bus from there to Disney Springs.  Coming back take the bus to either Polynesian or The Grand Floridian and then the monorail back.  This would eat up quite a bit of time though.  Uber may be a better option but we have not done that.  The Polynesian does have 2 nice gift shops as well as a very good quick service dining area. 

 

Another option is to go and see the spring festival at Epcot.  The monorail to that park is pretty fast as well. It is a fairly long walk around the worlds pavilions.  If you are lucky you can grab a virtual que for Gardians of the Galaxy and hit that ride(Disney app needed for that)

 

* Keep in mind you will need a reservation for a theme park to get in. *  They are changing the rules for the annual pass holders (April 18 = 2 pm no reservation required) but best to plan accordingly.

 

I will keep track of how things go and post back on here when we return. I can say already that if we didn't have annual passes we likely would not do this excursion as the time frame is just too tight.  I would probably go to the beach near Ron Jon's and shop a bit afterwards.

Your time in the park will be more like 2.5 hrs if you board bus at 2 pm, drive 1 hr or so then get get on monorail and have a pick up time of 6 pm.