Welcome aboard, Elysia! Congratulations on booking your very first sailing with Disney Cruise Line! You are planning my family's favorite type of Disney vacation: a
Land and Sea trip! Disney makes it super easy for families to transition from land to sea and back again, especially when staying at the Walt Disney World Resorts before sailing.
I highly recommend that you book the optional
Disney cruise ground transfers through Disney Cruise Line. These carry an additional fee of $35 per person each way, and will take you directly from your resort to the port, and after the cruise from the port to the airport, or back to the resorts, whatever your particular plans entail. There is simply no easier way to do it! The night before you set sail, you'll get a note in your resort room letting you know the exact pick up time for the next day. They'll also pick up your luggage before then and send it ahead to the ship. When we use these transfers, our luggage is usually picked up directly from our resort room (we leave it tagged by the door inside, and they take it - no need for us to be there), around 8:00 a.m. We then get picked up somewhere between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. for our trip to Port Canaveral. That leaves us the whole morning to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and more exploring around our resort before it's time to go.
My kids love the motor coach ride, because the tv's onboard show classic Disney cartoons on the way, so they're fully entertained, making the hour-long ride go by quickly. Before we know it, we're arriving at Port Canaveral and get that first glimpse of our cruise ship waiting for us!
Have such fun as you plan, and stop back with any other questions, Elysia! We're happy to help!
Marcy