Hi Teri,
Welcome to planDisney! It is always my pleasure to greet a fellow North Carolinian!
I am so excited for your Disney cruise! We just returned from a cruise onboard the Disney Wish earlier this month and had an amazing time. If you have not yet planned your transportation from the cruise terminal to Disney Springs and back to the airport, I would suggest a rental car. We did a one-day rental and simply returned the car just before our flight. If you go with this option, you could leave the bags in the car. Our rental car company had complimentary shuttle service from the cruise terminal, so we boarded the shuttle from there and picked up our car a few minutes later. The process was quite efficient and the rental cost was affordable for my family when compared with other transportation options.
Otherwise, for additional insight, check out this answer from
another planDisney panelist. Your plan to visit Disney Springs does sound like a good one. Consider making an
advanced dining reservation for lunch. A few of our favorite dining locations at Disney Springs include
Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' and
The Edison. When we left our cruise and picked up the rental car, we headed to Kennedy Space Center for a few hours and then headed back to the airport to return the rental car and check-in for our flight. This was not our first visit to Kennedy Space Center, so a few hours was enough time for us! Just be sure to allot enough time to check bags for your flight if you have bags to check. Given the lines I witnessed at the Orlando International Airport just yesterday, I would allot at least two and a half to three hours.
Teri, a few last tips - remember to factor in the estimated time to travel from the cruise terminal and then to the airport. We also included the e-toll package with our rental. We had breakfast on our debarkation day and were leaving the ship by about 9:20 a.m. It took about 20 minutes to fully exit the ship. The rental car shuttle picked us up at about 10:00 a.m. and we were leaving the rental car lot by about 10:45 a.m. It was a busy but good day even though we were sad to leave the ship!
Sending you a little extra pixie dust as you finalize those plans!
Magic and memories,
Donyell