Disney Parks and Walt Disney World have released the 2026 concert line-up for the Epcot Flower & Garden Rocks concert series. The Music of ABBA, Information Society, FireHouse, Katrina, formerly of Katrina & The Waves, Josiah Queen, and Iam Tongi will be new to the series this year, providing something for every musical taste. The EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival is blooming back to life March 4 to June 1, 2026, along with the ever popular Garden Rocks Concert Series! With a mix of chart-topping legends, powerhouse vocalists, and Orlando’s rising local talent, this year’s lineup brings something fresh to the American Gardens Theater in The American Adventure Pavilion at Epcot. Garden Rocks concerts are performed throughout the Festival. In recent years, on Friday to Monday nights the concert series featured globally known artists, and talented local acts were featured Tuesday through Thursday nights. Show times are typically 5:30PM, 6:45PM & 8PM. Concerts are included with regular park admission to EPCOT. If going to Epcot before 2pm, make sure you have a park reservation! Garden Rocks Dining Package What’s Included Dining Packages are available to pair breakfast, lunch or dinner (either a three-course meal or full buffet with a beverage — non-alcoholic or alcoholic for of-age guests — based on location) at a participating EPCOT restaurant with guaranteed priority seating for an evening show on the same date. The exception is Spice Road Table, where each guests receives 2 small plates and a nonalcoholic beverage (or alcoholic beverage for Guests 21 and older), and a shared tagine and a shared dessert platter for the table. Guests who book a Garden Rocks Concert Series Dining Package will enjoy: An entrée and dessert or one (1) full buffet, plus a non-alcoholic or alcoholic beverage. The Spice Road Table package includes two small plates, shared tagine, shared dessert platter, and one (1) non-alcoholic beverage. One (1) guaranteed seat per person to the Garden Rocks concert held the same day as your dining reservation. Reservations for 2026 Dining Packages open February 5th. The Garden Rocks Concert Series is the perfect springtime night out: enjoy a delicious meal, then head over to America Gardens Theatre knowing your seat is waiting for you. Thanks for visiting! You can also follow me at: Instagram at Ladies.WhoDisney YouTube at Travels With Mickey Pinterest at Travels with Mickey Instagram at Travels with Mickey Please visit and follow my Amazon store for more helpful items to make your Disney visit and travel even more enjoyable! P.S. If you found this helpful, please don’t keep it to yourself. Please share on Facebook or PIN to your favorite Pinterest board (share buttons are below). Thanks so much! Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. This means I will earn a commission – at no extra cost to you — if you click on the link and purchase anything from these trusted companies. It helps Zest4Travel, a small business, stay in business. Thanks for your support!
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Port Canaveral: Complete Guide to Orlando Airport, Shuttle Options and Hotels
Updated March 7, 2026 This post contains affiliate links, if you click and buy a product, I may make a commission, at no cost to you. Please see my disclosure policy for details. Port Canaveral is a world-class cruise and cargo port located 45 minutes east of Orlando. Cruise Critic voted it as the Best North American Homeport. It is the fastest growing cruise port in Florida and is a homeport to many of the top cruise lines. You can also find fishing charters and one-of-a-kind, waterfront dining that serves some of the freshest seafood in Florida. Want to watch a rocket launch? Kennedy Space Center is only a few miles away. Why not arrive a few days early and enjoy the Space Coast? The beaches are first class, with plenty of hotels to choose from. Or…spend a few days in Orlando visiting Disneyworld , Universal Studios and Harry Potter World or SeaWorld Orlando? Quick Facts Distance from Orlando Airport: 45 miles Number of Cruise Terminals: 6 (plus one cargo ship terminal) Passengers Carried Each Year: ~5 million Cruise Ship Dockings Each Year: ~ 800+ Getting There If flying to the port, you will arrive at Orlando International (MCO) or Sanford International Airport (SFB). There are plenty of car rental agencies available and hotels if you choose to stay before heading to the port. The drive time to Cocoa Beach…where Port Canaveral is located….is approx. 45 minutes to an hour from MCO depending on traffic. It is an easy drive via toll road FL-538 E. Driving to the port? Interstate 95 runs north and south on the eastern side of the state. Watch for signs for A1A and Cocoa Beach/Port Canaveral. While each terminal has a slightly different address, they are all in the same complex. You can use the following address for navigation: 9241 Charles M Rowland DrPort Canaveral, FL 32920 Once in the port area, you’ll see signage directing you to each individual cruise ship in port that day. Below are the distances and times to get to Port Canaveral from a number of popular spots in the area, depending on traffic of course. Orlando Airport: 45 miles | 45 minutes Disney World: 67 miles | 1 hour 15 minutes Universal Studios: 60 miles | 1 hour Downtown Orlando: 55 miles | 55 minutes Kennedy Space Center: 18 miles | 30 minutes Cocoa Beach: 5 miles | 10 minutes There are toll roads between Orlando and Cocoa Beach. If renting a car, be sure to get a Visitor Toll Pass which is available at Terminals A, B, and C! Visitor Toll Pass™ is a free, temporary toll pass for rental car customers traveling roundtrip from the MCO airport. Save on tolls & make travels even smoother! A: Level 1 B: Level 1 C: Level 4 For more information, visit Visitor Toll Pass Shuttles There is a thriving industry that caters to cruise passengers, including transportation options to get you back and forth between Orlando and the cruise terminals. While many of the options seem expensive, remember that you won’t have to pay for parking at the port. If you want the most affordable option (and help the local economy), we suggest an independent shuttle service. There are numerous companies that can do the job and usually at rates below that of a taxi or Uber/Lyft. Rates and service level can vary from company to company and will fluctuate. There are a number of companies and some run specials from time to time. The best rates we’ve found are $36 per person round trip by Orlando Cruise Line Connection. (There is a coupon on their website for this price.) For most of the other shared shuttle services, expect to pay about $50-60 and more per person for round trip service. All of these shuttles run from the airport to the port. These will be a shared shuttle service that may run on a schedule. Normally, there are several departure times from the airport and you will ride to the port with other cruise passengers. Shuttle companies: Go Port Canaveral Cocoa Beach Shuttle Cortrans Shuttle Port Canaveral Quick Shuttle Orlando Cruise Line Connection Port Canaveral Transit Airport Canaveral Orlando Black Car Go Fast Pass Hotel Shuttles Orlando and Port Canaveral are meccas for tourism. With theme parks, cruises and beaches, there is an amazing amount to do and see. To service all these tourists, there are a ton of hotels competing for tourist business. As a perk to get your business, many hotels offer extras such as shuttles between Port Canaveral and the Orlando airport and/or the cruise port. The good news about these services is that they are perfect if you are flying in the day before your cruise. The shuttles will pick you up from the airport, take you to the hotel and then to the port the next day. If you are flying in the day of your cruise, then hotel shuttles won’t work for you. And if you don’t plan to stay at a hotel the night before, then it’s not worth the extra cost of the room just for the shuttle. Uber/Lyft Not recommended for transportation to/from MCO. While Uber and Lyft have made getting rides easy no matter where you want to go, most of the drivers are locals and prefer to stay in the Cocoa Beach area. With the airport being an hour+ away, many will not accept bookings or will charge a high premium. The rideshare services do offer service to Port Canaveral from the Orlando airport and other points in the area, but it can get expensive. Expect the ride to be over $100 per car (not per person), each way. Taxis A one-way trip from the Orlando airport to Port Canaveral by taxi is estimated at over $150. Keep in mind that multiple passengers can ride for the price of one. For that reason, taxis can make sense for families, but are somewhat expensive for just one or two passengers. If you want to take a cab, ridesContinueContinue reading “Port Canaveral: Complete Guide to Orlando Airport, Shuttle Options and Hotels”
Grand Floridian, Walt Disney World
We spent four nights at the Grand Floridian in March. I have always wanted to stay in this wonderful hotel, and thanks to my cast member daughter, we finally had the opportunity! Our first video has been posted too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T82WnE9sQKk Be sure to watch! We stayed in Sugar Loaf, which is the concierge building. The rooms were very nice. I was not able to get pictures of our room. 🙁 The concierge room was actually an area in the main lobby….they had food offerings available throughout the day. Alcoholic beverages were also available….all we had to do to was ask! The interior of the main building is beautiful. In the evenings, there is live jazz music on the balcony overlooking the first floor and during the day, there is live piano music. And if you look closely, you will find several wonderful mosaics on the floor….next time you go, see if you can find them! This hotel has two pools. The larger of the two has a hot tub, but does not have a life guard. The other pool has a fun kids water area with a large hat that dumps water. And a VERY fun slide! We really enjoyed our stay in this beautiful Disney property and hope to return someday.
This is the best pool in DisneyWorld!
I just moved my youngest daughter from Disneyland to DisneyWorld. Yes…you read that right…moved her! She works for Disney and was transferring to Florida. Living the dream! The drive took us five days. Luckily, we had perfect weather. Totally unlike what I left behind in Idaho, where we are experiencing the worst winter in 80 years. I will post more on that later. Right now, I am can’t wait to share where we stayed in DisneyWorld! Since Erin works for Disney, we were able to stay at the Disney Beach Club Resort and enjoyed the #1 pool in the property. DisneyAddicts just posted an article rating the top 10 pools at DisneyWorld. http://www.disneyaddicts.com/top-7-resort-swimming-pools-disney-world-8901/ This is the view from our room of the pool. We got in a little too late that night to take advantage of it, but believe me…we did the following day! I also took a few pictures of the lobby. This is a wonderful hotel and worth every penny! We found this adorable picture in our room also. I just love Disney! Here are a few photos of the room I pulled from the Disney website. They even had hidden Mickey’s in the shower curtain! We had a small balcony with chairs and a table where we could enjoy the sunset. And let me tell you about those beds….like sleeping on a cloud!