Ahoy, Amber! Welcome to planDisney, where we aim to answer all of your Disney vacation planning questions by both land and sea.
Combining a stay at the
Walt Disney World Resort with a sailing aboard Disney Cruise Line is one of my favorite ways to get the best of both worlds in one vacation. Thankfully, Disney makes it incredibly easy to go between Disney World and
Port Canaveral, but you usually need to
call Disney Cruise Line directly in order to add these specific types of transfers to your cruise reservation. When you speak with a representative, they will get the details on where you are staying at Disney World and can add the hotel
ground transfers to the port for you. Ground transfers to Disney World resorts are offered both before and after your cruise, but one-way options are also available. If you will only be visiting Disney World before your cruise, I would recommend adding an airport ground transfer for after the cruise to make sure that all of your transportation needs are arranged ahead of time.
In my experience, Disney makes the transition between Disney World and Port Canaveral seamless, so you can eliminate some of your travel stress and enjoy the feeling of being on vacation even sooner. By adding the ground transfers to the port, you can also leave a lot of the luggage handling to Disney too. Although you will receive exact instructions about what to do with your luggage, they typically have you put the Disney Cruise Line luggage tags on your suitcases, leave them in your hotel room for bell services to pick up, and then they are magically delivered to your stateroom onboard the ship later that night without you having to do anything. Just remember to keep all of your embarkation day basics with you in the bags that you will be carrying aboard the ship, so that you have all of the essentials prior to the luggage delivery onboard, which can take a few hours. Disney Cruise Line offers
packing lists for different destinations to help you plan and decide which items to keep separate.
If you add port transportation, you will also receive instructions about where and when to meet the bus at your hotel. Generally, you will be looking for a Disney Cruise Line representative in the lobby of your Disney World hotel and they will direct you where to go from there. Keep in mind that the ride from Disney World to Port Canaveral is approximately one hour, but the buses often play movies or other types of entertainment during the drive.
I hope you have an amazing vacation by land and sea no matter which travel arrangements you choose. We are always happy to answer any questions you may have about Disney World and Disney Cruise Line, so feel free to reach back out to planDisney if any other questions come up. Happy sailing!
Catherine