Debarkation day- WWYD?

[WishUponAStar3]

Ok, I am second-guessing my decision to go straight to MCO after debarkation on our July 1-5 cruise on the Wish. Currently, we're on a 4:50 PM flight home on the 5th, as that was the only direct option available after 10 AM, and I figured 10 was cutting it way too close. We are concierge, so looking forward to the express disembarkation- but I figure the only option with that is early-early? How late in the morning would we be able to disembark? Because if it's the kinda thing where we're off the ship at 8 or 9 AM, and we have ALL these hours to fill and try to entertain the kids (7yo boy and 2yo girl) then I'm inclined to just get a Disney resort for the night and keep the magic going one more day. (This vacation keeps getting more expensive but as a Disney superfan, I can't complain!)

So my first question for you seasoned cruisers is, what you would prefer in this situation: go straight to the airport and not bother with checking in somewhere new just for 1 night, or get a resort and add another day to the trip instead of filling that time between ship and airport? We will not have a car with us either.

The second question, if we do book a resort, is if we should make it a resort-only day or plan to visit a park? We live near DL, so I'm guessing my husband will think it's not worth it to pony up for a day at MK--but we all LOVE Epcot and our kids have only been there during our 2022 trip, so could be worth buying 1-day Epcot tix. At the same time, is July 5 in Orlando miserably hot and crowded? Maybe it would be more of an enjoyable post-cruise experience to just do Yacht/Beach Club and Stormalong Bay, or Contemporary and monorail-hop for 'Ohana and fireworks? (I would add Poly to this list, but that is wildly expensive on the 5th!)

Thank you SO MUCH in advance for your feedback!!

 

[jdb in AZ]

Yes, WDW is miserably hot/humid and crowded in July. It's one of the reasons we prefer Disneyland (which is still crowded but the humidity is more manageable.) The resort and Stormalong Bay sounds more fun, tho I don't know what amenities a waterpark has for your two-year-old.

 

[val1234]

I would recommend the Yacht club. Its the only hotel that we stay at during the summer months. The pool is the best for a resort only stay and if you decide to go to Epcot its a few minutes walk. Especially for your 2 yr old its great because the shallow sand bottom part of the pool is on the Yacht club side. My 2 and 6yr old granddaughters this pool. Its also very relaxing for adults watching the young kids because you can relax in the shallow pool water and sand while the play lol

 

[Flossbolna]

If you go to a Disney resort, you might not get your room until the afternoon and then it would be time to head to the airport. Or were you planning to move your flight to the next day? You would be able to use the pool though, but might not have access to a room.

There might be other hotels in Orlando with nice pools that will sell you a day room - Swan/Dolphin, Cypress Gardens. You need to contact them directly to ask about it.

Another popular way to spend time before late flights is to visit Disney Springs. Or get a reservation for breakfast at 1900 Park Fair and then take the monorail around for a tour of the resorts.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Most everybody would take the extra day at Disney, provided they had the income and time off.

From a rational perspective, I'd either go straight to the airport or enjoy a leisurely day. What you're proposing would cost around a $1,000 .. getting up early on debarkation morning and the debarkation process (of course you'll have priority) itself is exhausting. Disney's notorious for making you wait until late afternoon to check in your room, so you'd have to drop your belongings off, then go into the theme parks exhausted, etc. Not fun IMO.

 

[jillinastoria]

We just did a 3-night cruise on the Wish and I had similar feelings, so we had a WDW resort day without staying overnight. We got off the ship at around 9, played a round of mini golf at Fantasia Gardens right when it opened at 10, then headed to the Polynesian for lunch at Kona Cafe, shopping, and monorail rides around the MK loop and to Epcot. Got to the airport at 5 for our flight home. It was a great ending to our trip!

 

[lanejudy]

Did you look into a dayroom at MCO Hyatt? That would give your family a “home” for the day while awaiting your return flight. The kids can swim or nap.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

We have the same issue I can't believe there aren't more flights to LA

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Just something to keep in mind- they do close the concierge lounge on disembarkation morning. At least they did on our Wish cruise. I think it was 8:30. So you really can't hang out too long in there. For us we rent a car. We did the round of golf at Fantasia at 10am- no waiting, off to Disney Springs for lunch. If you still had time you could head to the Polynesian or Contemporary and shop. MCO- I always get there 3 hours ahead as you never know the lines you will find-even though I have TSA Pre. So the golf and the shopping got us right to the airport when we wanted. Through security and then snacks. Just the right timing.

If I didn't have a car and my budget was large, I would stay the extra day and either do the resort day or splurge on Epcot. It will be hot and crowded due to the 4th. Depends on how you want to end your vacation.

 

[sponica]

So I just did this a couple weeks ago, I'm NEVER going back to WDW resorts for just one night post-cruise. You're up so early, you get there and are exhausted. Luckily they did have a room ready for us at Wilderness Lodge, but the kids (7 and 3) were so tired we didn't even really get to explore or enjoy the resort and they were melting down by dinner and then we had to get up earlyish the next day for the flight home. Looking back, we would have been better off at the Hyatt.

 

[WinterSolider]

Ok, I am second-guessing my decision to go straight to MCO after debarkation on our July 1-5 cruise on the Wish. Currently, we're on a 4:50 PM flight home on the 5th, as that was the only direct option available after 10 AM, and I figured 10 was cutting it way too close. We are concierge, so looking forward to the express disembarkation- but I figure the only option with that is early-early? How late in the morning would we be able to disembark? Because if it's the kinda thing where we're off the ship at 8 or 9 AM, and we have ALL these hours to fill and try to entertain the kids (7yo boy and 2yo girl) then I'm inclined to just get a Disney resort for the night and keep the magic going one more day. (This vacation keeps getting more expensive but as a Disney superfan, I can't complain!)

So my first question for you seasoned cruisers is, what you would prefer in this situation: go straight to the airport and not bother with checking in somewhere new just for 1 night, or get a resort and add another day to the trip instead of filling that time between ship and airport? We will not have a car with us either.

The second question, if we do book a resort, is if we should make it a resort-only day or plan to visit a park? We live near DL, so I'm guessing my husband will think it's not worth it to pony up for a day at MK--but we all LOVE Epcot and our kids have only been there during our 2022 trip, so could be worth buying 1-day Epcot tix. At the same time, is July 5 in Orlando miserably hot and crowded? Maybe it would be more of an enjoyable post-cruise experience to just do Yacht/Beach Club and Stormalong Bay, or Contemporary and monorail-hop for 'Ohana and fireworks? (I would add Poly to this list, but that is wildly expensive on the 5th!)

Thank you SO MUCH in advance for your feedback!!

The hassle and logistics of adding additional legs of transportation and unpacking/repacking is going to be more work than just getting to the airport and parking it for a few hours. If you figure you'll get to the airport and through security around 11am, find something for lunch and that gets you to 12pm, now you're only killing about 4 hours before it's time to board. My kids (currently 9, 6, and 3) have been to Hawaii three times and that's an 11 hour flight from Boston. It's not that bad. Keep them off of the tablets/iPads for a week or two leading up to the cruise and on the cruise itself, then when it's time to just veg out in the airport, let them have all the screen time that you would never normally.

Think about it like this... You booked that 4:50 PM flight in the first place because you knew there was value in a direct flight. Adding a pit stop at WDW is like turning your direct flight into a connecting flight.

And that day is not going to be "magical" no matter what you do. You're going to be EXHAUSTED and it's going to be insanely hot and crowded.

 

[westie55]

With very young children in the heat of the summer, we prefer to rope drop to take advantage of the shorter waits. Then we are back at the resort during the brutal part of the afternoon, and we return to the parks at night. Since you aren't going to be able to rope drop due to getting off the ship and having to drive to WDW, I personally don't think a "park" day is worthwhile. If I was going to stay, I would just do a resort day.

 

[msmama]

I ended up adding a whole other city and 4 more days after our Alaska cruise because I didn't like the flight timing, so I'm NOT the best person ad giving this kind of input, BUT.... what about just getting a day room at the Hyatt at the airport.

When my son was little, just visiting the shops at the Orlando airport (the Disney Store, Universal Store, Sea World store, and Space Center store) was almost as much fun as the rest of the vacation.

 

[WishUponAStar3]

We have the same issue I can't believe there aren't more flights to LA

Right?! The lack of flights is so bizarre!

 

[WishUponAStar3]

Thank you so much for all the responses! This helps me definitely rule out a park day. Now I’m just torn between a resort day/night at Yacht Club or the MCO day hotel idea. I forgot to mention I do have Disney Rewards $$ that would cover almost half of YC room rate, and we really don’t want our 2yo napping before the flight, since she can get very fussy on planes (even threw up on our turbulent flight home from NYC last summer, oof!) so we really want her to nap during the flight as opposed to before. 4:50 would be late in the day for naptime too… I think I’m leaning towards spending the extra $ on YC for a resort day and then a smoother flight the next morning that she will hopefully nap during, but if this seems too logistically ridiculous, I could make the less expensive option work. Still torn!

 

[sponica]

Thank you so much for all the responses! This helps me definitely rule out a park day. Now I’m just torn between a resort day/night at Yacht Club or the MCO day hotel idea. I forgot to mention I do have Disney Rewards $$ that would cover almost half of YC room rate, and we really don’t want our 2yo napping before the flight, since she can get very fussy on planes (even threw up on our turbulent flight home from NYC last summer, oof!) so we really want her to nap during the flight as opposed to before. 4:50 would be late in the day for naptime too… I think I’m leaning towards spending the extra $ on YC for a resort day and then a smoother flight the next morning that she will hopefully nap during, but if this seems too logistically ridiculous, I could make the less expensive option work. Still torn!

I vote against the resort day, honestly I envisioned a relaxing day at WL, what I got were 2 tired kids and tired adults and when we got back from dinner, I turned to my husband and said, we should have gone to the Hyatt. If you're bumping out your flight to the next day, what time would that flight be? What time would you have to leave the YC. If you stay at the Hyatt, you can relax, there's a pool and then roll out of the bed in the morning, grab a bite to eat and head to security.

 

[lanejudy]

we really don’t want our 2yo napping before the flight

So no morning nap? Some 2s still do one, some don't. But that gives a little more twist -- what kind of "creature" will the 2-yr-old become by 4:50pm if she hasn't taken any nap all day? Maybe the morning flight is a better option...

 

[sponica]

So no morning nap? Some 2s still do one, some don't. But that gives a little more twist -- what kind of "creature" will the 2-yr-old become by 4:50pm if she hasn't taken any nap all day? Maybe the morning flight is a better option...

My kids have never napped when I wanted them to, my eldest did not fall asleep until wheels down at MCO when she was 20 months old...that was super helpful.

 

[Skippyboo]

How are you getting to Orlando from the port? You could go to Typhoon Lagoon cheaper than a room at Beach/Yacht. They have showers and changing rooms at the water park. Then hit the airport

 

[lanejudy]

My kids have never napped when I wanted them to, my eldest did not fall asleep until wheels down at MCO when she was 20 months old...that was super helpful.

Oh sure, there's no guarantee of a nap any given day. My point was just that if an AM or PM flight might be better timing for the child's typical persona. I knew for a fact that no nap (for whatever reason) meant a late afternoon monster, and in OP's situation I'd definitely prefer the morning flight rather than trying to board a plane with that. OP knows her child and what timing may be more conducive to a relatively-uneventful flight at the end of a stimulating vacation.