Welcome aboard, Charlotte! It sounds like you have a
Disney Cruise Line voyage planned after your stay at Art of Animation! My family and I do this every time we sail with Disney, as we enjoy spending as many magical hours as we can, so a stay at the resorts and fun in the parks before sailing is a must for us too!
You can book
Ground Transfers through Disney Cruise Line (800-951-3532) to take your family from your Disney Resort to Port Canaveral, and then transfers from Port Canaveral either back to the Orlando International Airport or to the Walt Disney World Resort if you're heading back for another stay after your cruise. Currently the transfers cost $35 per person each way. I promise you that they are the best way to transition from land to sea and back again. These need to be booked in advance, and cannot be booked at the resorts, so go ahead and set that up now!
We receive a note or a call in our resort room the night before the sailing to give us the final details of when to meet our motorcoach and when our luggage will be picked up. Usually it's at 8:00 a.m. that our luggage is picked up directly from our resort room - talk about convenient! It meets us later that afternoon at our stateroom onboard the ship. We keep day bags with us so we can enjoy a relaxing morning exploring the resort and having a leisurely breakfast before we get picked up somewhere between 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. (again, exact time is determined the night before). The motorcoach ride is fabulous because the kids get to watch the classic Disney cartoons on the screens and then about an hour later we're arriving at
Port Canaveral to board the ship!
Have so much fun planning this Land and Sea adventure, Charlotte!
Marcy