Carnival Pride - A day in ORLANDO, FL !!!

[SonjaR]

Our family is taking a cruise to Bahamas (Carnival Pride from Baltimore).
Instead of spending the whole day (from 7 am to 7 pm) at Port Canaveral, FL or visiting Kennedy Space Center (girls are not very interested in rockets) we decided to go to Orlando and visit one of the theme parks .
Kids picked Universal Studios ( Universal Studios Orlando ? Your Orlando Vacation Destination. ). We booked a shuttle from the ship to the park at 8:00am. The company is called Star Trans Vip ( Transportation to Port Canaveral / Transportation from Orlando Airport to Port Canaveral ). It was recommended to us by friends and family (let me know if you used them before).
We will get there around 9 am. I believe 7 hours will be enough to see everything and we will leave Orlando by 4:30 pm. Shuttle will get back to Port Canaveral by 5:30pm.

Just want to hear some tips / opinion... Should we leave the park earlier then 4:30 pm?...are we going to be back in time? (i don't want the ship to leave without us ) Thank you!

[krunch]

Hmm, at first I was skeptical but you might be able to pull this off. I think your day will be a little tight to see everything in Universal Studios in that time but you should definately have a good day and be able to hit the prime rides.

Only advice with a shuttle would be, CONFIRM the time they will get you back to the port and find out what time the ship wants everyone back on board at the latest. Again, good idea, just be cautious.

I recomend the Simpsons ride and the Harry Potter ride. Off top of my head, the two best attractions in the park!

Krunch

[SonjaR]

Thank you, krunch.
Hope everything goes as planned

[Jamman]

Krunch, the two rides you recommended are in two different parks. The Simpson's ride is in Universal Studios, and Harry Potter is in Islands of Adventure. If I had to choose between the two for a one day trip, I would choose Islands of Adventure. In addition to HP, Spiderman and Hulk are also awesome. You could get a two park pass, but with only 7 hours of time it wouldn't be worth it.

The OP didn't say when they were going, but if it's during Christmas or Spring breaks, expect HUGE crowds and long waits. You can purchase front of the line passes for a hefty extra fee though.

[krunch]

Good points Jamman.

We have been to Universal Studios Orlando twice, both times in October or November. We did the pass for both parks. It wasn't double from what I recall what one park is. We didn't want to see and ride everything (I hate coasters, though I think the Simpson's ride might be worse than a real coaster ) we just wanted to hit the "Prime" items.

Universal has two parks, but they are right next to each other, are only a few minutes walking apart, and are not even in the same ballpark as say Disney World. I would not recomend attempting to do more than one park per day in Disney. You'll waste too much time travelling from one park to the other and getting in and out of them. Universal is a different animal. The decision is the op's but as I stated, you made some good points. The op needs to decide which, or both parks to do based on cost and time.

Krunch

[Jamman]

We are doing the same cruise as SonjaR during Christmas Week. For our day in Pt. Canaveral we are renting a car, then spending the day at Downtown Disney. Would NEVER do a theme park during this week. The crowds will be out of this world!! Just for fun I looked up the pricing for a two park pass, plus front of the line passes (ExpressPass plus) for Universal. Two park pass =$120/pp + two park (ExpressPass plus)=$90/pp for a total of $210/pp. That's $840. for a family of 4!!! For 7 hours!! No way!! And there is no ExpressPass access on Harry Potter!!!

We spent two weeks in Orlando this past August, including 7 days at the Royal Pacific which is a Universal on site hotel. Staying on site gets you front of the line priveledges. We purchased 14 day, 6 park flex tickets, for $280./pp. Unlimited 14 day access to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Wet n' Wild, Sea World, Sea World Aquatica, & Busch Gardens in Tampa (with FREE shuttles from Sea World if you didn't want to make the drive yourself). That's the way to go!!

[krunch]

For Disney and Universal, the passes get cheaper per day, the longer you stay. Kinda sounds like Carnival !.

Krunch