If your Disney Cruise sails out of Port Canaveral, Florida, this Orlando to Port Canaveral Transportation Options guide is for you.

I have evaluated the most popular options and will provide you with a list of "pros" and "cons" for each method of transportation.

What is it?
Disney Cruise Line offers rides from the airport to the Disney terminal at Port Canaveral in a deluxe bus. These things are pretty big. At the airport, you simply meet at the Disney's Magical Express pickup location. Daily service begins at approximately 9:00 AM. The buses are boarded on a “first come, first served” basis. The first shuttle departs at approximately 10:30am.

Price
$78 per person round trip (or $39 one way). Under 3 years old is free.

How to Make Reservations
Make reservations via your Disney Cruise check-in. You can book online up to 3 days before your cruise. You can also call (800) 951-3532 for more info.

Flight Arrival Time
Make sure your flight arrives on your departure day before 1:30pm.

Luggage Tags
Disney Cruise Line will send you special DCL luggage tags to attach to your bags before you leave home.

When You Arrive at MCO...
After you get off the plane, just go straight to Terminal B, first floor. This is where the Disney Welcome Desk is located. Check in at the desk and they will show you where to get on the DCL shuttle. Shuttles leave every 30 minutes starting at 9:30am with the last one leaving at 1:30pm.

There is no need to go to baggage claim. DCL will pick up your bags for you. The next time you will see them will be in the stateroom of your Disney Cruise ship by 6pm that day.

Keep a Day Bag
Make sure to keep a day bag with your important cruise documents/passports with you.

The night before the cruise
You’ll receive a letter to your Disney resort hotel room with instructions about luggage and bus pickup schedule.

Porters will pick up your luggage
Usually around 8am, a porter will retrieve your baggage. They hold it for you until time to board the bus.

DCL bus pickup is usually around 11am
Between 11:00am and 11:30am, the DCL bus will pick you up (usually in the lobby). Read the instructions fully or ask at the front desk.

Bus ride is 1.5 hour drive to Port Canaveral
The bus will make a few stops at other Disney resorts before driving to Port Canaveral. You’ll arrive at port between 12:30pm and 1:30pm.

There are many shuttle services that will pick you up at Orlando International Airport (MCO) and give you a ride to Port Canaveral.

Basically this is a van or a small shuttle bus that will accommodate multiple passengers and their bags.

They will give you a per person charge for each way. Some don’t leave until they are filled with other passengers. Others will operate on a fixed departure schedule.

I like Cortrans Shuttle because of the price, the service, and the strong reviews available online.

Things to know:

• Picks up from the airport every hour on the half hour starting at 9:30am with the last shuttle at 12:30pm
• Picks up from nearby airport hotels with two options: Between 10:00am-10:15am and between 11:00am-11:15am
• Picks up from the cruise terminal (after cruise) at 8:15am, 9:00am, 9:45am and 10:30am

Contact Cortrans Shuttle via their website or call 407-446-3896.

I wanted to experience Cortrans for myself. After a recent cruise, my friends and I rode from Port Canaveral to Orlando. While Cortrans supplied me with a complimentary ride, my opinions are my own.

Watch this video for my full review.

If you have a large party and are considering taking the Disney Cruise Line shuttle, consider booking a town car, limo or van. It's probably cheaper! (See rate comparison.)

You’ll spend about the same amount of money but you’ll enjoy personal service, a more comfortable ride, and more flexibility, as you will control the time of pickup and can even ask for a stop at a grocery store along the way.

My recommendation for Town Car Service from Orlando to Port Canaveral from Orlando International Airport is Access Line Transportation. They have fantastic ratings on TripAdvisor, so be sure to read those reviews.

I have used Access Line Transportation for myself and I love their approach to customer service and how they take care of their passengers.

On top of that here are few other cool things that Access Line Transportation offers:

• Complimentary 20 minute grocery store stop. Make sure to request this at time of booking.
• Complimentary child car seat or booster. Make sure to request this at time of booking.
• Flight tracking - Access Line Transportation will track your arrival flights online so they are aware of any delays.
• Includes Meet and Greet at the airport
• No credit card needed to hold reservation (except with limo reservations)

For most people, renting a car is the best overall option for transportation from Orlando to Port Canaveral.

Why?

• I like to save money.
• I like to have control over my schedule.
• I like to have flexibility to make a stop or two on the way if I want.
• I want to be able to get myself to the port at the earliest possible arrival time. (Why? It's my #1 Disney Cruise Tip.)

Renting a car at the Orlando airport is typically the most cost effective option for couples or families.

Picking up a rental car at Orlando Airport (MCO)

Each major rental car company has a desk at the airport itself. Unlike other airports where you have to take a shuttle to a separate terminal, the rental car counters are located on the airport property itself on the same floor as Baggage Claim.

About one-way rentals

Almost all major rental car companies allow you to book one-way rentals. This allows you to drive from Orlando to Port Canaveral where you can drop off the car at the rental car office. From there, the rental car company will shuttle you and your bags to the Disney Cruise Terminal.

After you have compared rental car prices for Orlando to Port Canaveral, you will be left with a list of companies and cars to choose from.

All else being equal, I recommend Alamo / National / Enterprise (all owned by same company and share one office) for the following reasons:

The Port Canaveral office is very near the port (map)
This is nice as it can shave a few minutes off the trip from the rental car office to the terminal. Or it is that much closer if you decide to take an Uber or a cab to get there faster.

Free shuttle from office to cruise terminal
Once you return your car at Port Canaveral office, they will put you and your bags in a van and drive you to the Disney Cruise Terminal.

Cheap child seats
In comparing prices, I found that Alamo, National, and Enterprise offered the lowest daily prices on child seat/booster seats. Alamo and National charge $9.99 per seat per day; Enterprise is $8.95 per day.

Uber can pick you up at the airport as well as any hotel in the Orlando area.

Currently, Uber’s agreement with the airport only allows them to use their more expensive mid-tier luxury vehicles—UberSELECT and SELECT XL—to pick up at MCO. However, you can access their most affordable options, like uberX and uberXL, everywhere else in Orlando.

So if you are staying at a hotel near the airport (or any hotel except the Hyatt Regency at the airport) you can use the less expensive cars and save a lot of money.

If you live close enough to Port Canaveral that you've saved airfare by driving your own car, here are a few tips to help you save even more money.

Tolls
With more than 700 miles of toll roads, Florida has the most tolls in the nation. It pays to know generally how much you'll be paying in tolls for your journey. The simplest tip I have for you here is to stop at the bank and get yourself a roll of quarters. Here's a link to help you calculate what you might have to pay in tolls.

Speed
Florida's major highways allow maximum speeds of 70 mph.

Port Canaveral has covered parking at the cruise terminal. Parking is very close and they allow you to drop off your bags and passengers in front of the terminal. From there, Disney's porters will take your bags from you and allow you to park the car.

Prices
$17 per day, no matter how long your car is parked there. That means they charge you the full $17 even on disembarkation day, when you might leave the parking lot at 9am. You can pay with most major credit card. Vehicles occupying two or more parking spaces, such as buses or large campers, are charged as "oversized". You can make read more here.

Stay with Local Hotel, Get a 40% Off Coupon

Port Canaveral has a partnership with many local hotels that will give you a voucher good for 40% off your parking at Port Canaveral cruise terminal. When making your reservation with one of the partner hotels, let them know you'd like to have a cruise terminal parking voucher. You'll receive the voucher at the front desk when you leave your hotel.

Here is the list of participating hotels (on page 13).

Save some money by parking at a facility nearby but not on Port Canaveral property. Their per day charge is usually quite a bit less than Port Canaveral Cruise Terminal parking.

You'll park your car at their secure facility and they provide a shuttle to take you and your luggage to the Disney terminal.

Here are two nearby options. Check their websites for latest promotions:

Park N Cruise
1700 Sea Ray Drive
Merritt Island, Fl 32952

Park Port Canaveral
8600 Astronaut Blvd.
Cape Canaveral, Florida 32920

Hotels Near Disney Parks

Hey, you're already in Orlando, so why not spend some time at Walt Disney World, right?

And yes, there are many hotels near Disney Parks to choose from.

My Favorite: Wyndham Grand Bonnet Creek Resort

WHY I LIKE IT:

• Big rooms for families. I have stayed here multiple times and enjoyed the spacious bedrooms. There are even rooms with bunk beds - my kids loved those.
• Resort-style pools. The kiddos might just want to spend a "down day" relaxing at one of the many pools and waterslides on site. (You might like it too.)
• Centrally located. There are complimentary shuttles to the parks but if you want to take a rental car or Uber, it's no big deal. Just minutes away from Disney Springs as well.
• Easy to earn free stays. Wyndham has an excellent reward program, one of the easiest to accumulate hotel points for free stays.
• Lots of reviews. Don't just take my word for it. Read the more than 4000 reviews and see why it's rated a 4.4 out of 5.

Click the button below to see the current prices or watch my video walkthrough below.