Canaveral National Seashore is on the Atlantic Ocean side of Florida. It is about an hour drive from Orlando and two hours from Jacksonville. There are two separate entrances to the seashore, and you can’t drive down the coast the whole way. One entrance is near Titusville and the other is by New Smyrna Beach. The quickest way to get in between the two is by taking Highway 1 but you can also take the Kennedy Parkway which takes you through the lagoon side of the park.

There is a $15 fee per vehicle to enter this park. Because we have the America the Beautiful Annual Pass we were able to get in free. This pass is $80 for the year and allows you to get into any park for free. This covers your whole vehicle at parks where you are charged by vehicles and up to four adults at sites that charge per person. It really is a great deal.

Canaveral National Seashore

Canaveral is actually a barrier island much like the Outer Banks of North Carolina. On one side sits the Atlantic Ocean along 24 miles of shoreline. On the other side is Mosquito Lagoon. Both of these areas have an abundance of wildlife. You can see bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, sea turtles, otters, alligators, manatees, and many more species. This is an undeveloped area so animals are able to thrive. You don’t find secluded areas like this too often on the beaches of Florida. No houses or businesses for miles and miles. It is a beautiful place.

Canaveral National Seashore was originally set aside as a buffer zone for the John F. Kennedy Space Center run by NASA. It became a National Seashore in the 70’s and along with nearby Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is a great place to visit while also checking out the space center. It is a great place to check out rocket launches, though NASA has the authority to close it down during any of their testing or launching.

Playalinda Beach Entrance

The Playalinda Beach entrance is located in Titusville. You can get your National Park stamp at the gate here. This is the area that is closest to the Kennedy Space Center. Highway 402 goes from the entrance to the beach and dead ends at beach access 13. Along the way there are numerous areas where you can pull your car off to check out the space center and the surrounding nature. This is the entrance to go to if you are there for a launch. The park will close their gates when they are at capacity, so if you are going make sure you get there early.

Once you get to the ocean the road takes a 90-degree left turn and heads up the coast. There are 13 different beach access points at Playalinda Beach. One thing to be aware of is the last access point, 13, is a nude beach. We were laughing when we read that warning sign but we were grateful that it was there. This beach is far from the others and you will not have an issue going to the other access points. When we went we saw a bunch of surfers and the waves were pretty big.

Because this is such a primitive area there are no places to get food. If you are coming for the day, make sure you pack a cooler full of food. Also, there are bathrooms at the parking areas. However, there is no plumbing so they are like port-a-potties in buildings. Typical National Park bathrooms. They were clean and well-maintained. One last thing is that cell-service is pretty much nonexistent here. That is a good thing sometimes though.

Kennedy Parkway runs behind Mosquito Lagoon at the Playalinda Beach access. This is a really peaceful drive that gives you some great views of the lagoon and has some boat ramps. About halfway at up the parkway at Haulover Canal there is a manatee observation deck. This is a great spot to check out nature and take your time going through the park.

Apollo Beach Entrance

The main area of Canaveral is the Apollo Beach access area. The visitor’s center is located at this entrance. This is another really great visitor center run by the National Park System. The Rangers were super helpful and knowledgeable. Always start at the visitors center. We went to this entrance second because of where we were coming from, and we missed out on some things because of that.

We try and do the Junior Ranger book at every park we go to. Silas (we) enjoy collecting the badges from the different places we visit. This one was a really great one. Something we had (got) to do was take a bag and fill it with trash. It was a cool thing the park did to let us help keep things clean.

There are two roads at this access. The main one is Apollo Beach Road which takes you down the shoreline to the various beach access points. The other is the Eldora Loop Road which takes you for a little drive by Mosquito Lagoon. This is the only right turn on property and it loops right back to Apollo Beach Road.

Eldora

Eldora was the first place we checked out after the visitors center. To get there simply head down the Eldora Loop Road. Eldora was a farming community on the Mosquito Lagoon. Isolation and storms forced the community to fold but there is still a couple of buildings that have been rehabilitated.

The Eldora State House is the oldest remaining building from the community. The National Parks have done a great job in turning this into a museum. The house is beautiful and a great place to enjoy the rocking chairs on the front porch. We had a great time talking with the people on staff in the house. They were extremely friendly and helpful. There are a ton of great exhibits as well as a video you can watch that tells you about the history of the area.

Our favorite part of the our time in Eldora was the short hike to the house. The best part of the walk was the super old live oaks that were all around. The trees there are so unique and super beautiful. They have so much character. And the Spanish moss hanging off of them made them that much cooler. There is a really great pier where you can look for manatees and take a break. It is a good thing to pack some insect repellant here.

Turtle Mound

Turtle Mound is an ancient Native American site of the Timucuan people. This mound is over 50 feet high and can be seen seven miles out in the ocean. The mound is made up of oyster shells. There are a lot of different ideas of what it was used for, but most people agree that this was a dumping place for empty shells. You can get there by hiking trails and you can walk to the top. There is a boardwalk that takes you around the area. There are some great views of the surrounding area from here.

Apollo Beach

We spent the majority of our time on Apollo Beach. We had so much fun relaxing here during the afternoon. This beach is really great. The sand is darker and more coarse here with a pretty big mix of crushed up shells. It is not uncomfortable to walk on, but it is not the soft, white-sand beaches you might picture when you think of Florida.

There is absolutely nothing on the beach except for a boardwalk through the dunes, a bathroom, sand, and a couple of people. Make sure you pack all you need for the day. It is a great place to go to escape from the crowds. If you are looking for a relaxing day at the beach, it is worth the $15 to not deal with crowds. There are a ton of shells at this beach and we had a lot of fun shelling. We found some really great shells and loved hunting them down.

A huge thing at Canaveral is the sea turtle nesting areas. From April to October leatherback, kemp’s Ridley, green, and loggerhead turtles use this area as a place to lay their eggs. The parks system and volunteers have made great efforts to do all they can to ensure that the eggs are protected. There are a some great ways that you can become educated and even help through the park system.

We had a blast (get it) at Canaveral National Seashore. It was a great place for us to spend a relaxing day at the beach. We loved the solitude in the middle of busy central Florida. It was a great place to get away without having to get too far away. What are some places you like to escape to? Where do you go to get away from it all?

Want to check out some other National Park sites? Check out our trips to Fort McHenry, Yosemite, Mammoth Cave, and Booker T. Washington.

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Whether you love them or hate them, FastPasses are here to stay at Disney World. Using these tips and tricks will hopefully help you have a more enjoyable and stress free Disney experience. We have been Disney Passholders on and off for several years now and have learned how to master the FastPass system…. So let’s dive in!

The very first thing you need to do is download the My Disney Experience App on your smartphone. Once you have the app dowloaded, you need to link your account and tickets for each person in your party. You can now begin booking FastPasses for your group! If you don’t have a smart phone you can make FastPasses online and also use the FastPass kiosks throughout each park while at Disney. *Note – FastPasses at Disneyland work differently than at Disney World! This is a guide for Disney World only!

What Even Is A FastPass?

A FastPass is a way for you to skip the standby line for any attraction at Disney World (this could be rides, shows or meet and greets). Every person who has a ticket for the day starts with three FastPasses. This is something that is part of your park admission, no up charge at all. It is amazing how many people go to WDW and do not realize this and because they don’t want to pay more they miss out on this perk.

Once you use your three FastPasses you are eligible to get more the day you are in the park! You can get these one at a time. Once you use the fourth, you can get the fifth. There is no limit on how many FastPasses you can get in a day.

It is important to know that just because you have a FastPass for an attraction it doesn’t mean that you will not still have a wait. For some of the more popular attractions the FastPass wait time can reach up to 20 minutes. One thing we hear from guests all of the time when they come to a longer FastPass line is the complaint “This is the FastPass line!?” Don’t be that person. This is still way better than a 2 hour wait. Sometimes the FastPass line even looks longer than the standby. Don’t be tempted to switch lines, you will ALWAYS get through the FastPass line before the standby line.

How Far Out Can I Make My Selections?

It depends on where you are staying. If you are staying off property, you can make your selections 30 days out. If you are staying at a WDW resort you can make your selections 60 days out. This is a major perk of staying on property. If you are staying at a deluxe resort at the Club Level you can make your selections 90 days out. We have never done this because of the price, but that option is out there.

You can start making FastPass selections at 7 am EST the day you are in that 30 or 60 day window. Make sure you have the app open right at that time because the good times go pretty quickly. Disney lets you plan all FastPass selections for the whole length of your stay (if you stay on property) on the first day of your window.

This leads to a HUGE TIP! When you are staying on property, always book your FastPasses starting with your last day and moving backwards. If you are staying for 7 days, you can book 60 + 7 days out. So, go day 7 then day 6 then day 5 all the way to your check in date. You won’t get great FastPasses for your first couple of days, but you will get GREAT ones most of the time for the end of your trips. Most people go to Magic Kingdom the first day anyway, and there are a ton more FastPass options there than the rest of the parks.

What Time of the Day Should I Book My FP?

We like to plan our FastPass selections as early in the day as possible. We do this because as soon as you are done with your initial three, you can make another selection. As soon as you use that one up, you can get another one.

If a park opens at 9 am, we try and get our first FastPass from 9-10, second one from 10-11, and third one from 11-12. If you do this, you can rope drop the park (be there when the park opens), ride a couple of rides stand-by until 9:55 – because there won’t be any lines (or the lines are significantly shorter) – then ride your first FastPass. We would typically ride the next FastPass right after so we can be ready to ride the third one right at 10:55 (they give you five minutes before and typically 10 minutes after your slotted time). As soon as you scan your third FastPass you are eligible for another. You are getting to the FastPass reserves before most people have even used one or two of them!

How Do I Modify My FastPass?

The most important thing to take away from this whole post is how to modify your FastPass. This is a game changer and will help you get whatever attraction you want and most of the time during the time you want it, even the day of. This is a lot easier to do with smaller groups. Anything above 4 and it gets significantly trickier. If you have a larger group it is better to break that group up into smaller groupings and modify separately.

I just grabbed my phone, logged onto the My Disney Experience App, and tried it out. I started checking at 3:37 pm and by 3:43 pm I had a Flight of Passage FastPass for 4:05 pm that day. There is a good chance you can score great FastPasses the day of your visit!

Because people are constantly changing their FastPass selections during the day, this works best on the day you are in the park. If you learn this, there is not a park you cannot ride every ride in a day if you wanted to. I used this technique to ride 43 attractions in one day at WDW. It works and it is simple.

Steps for Modifying FastPass:

1. Open your MDE app

2. Select the FastPass you want to Modify and choose “Modify”

3. Next, Select the people you want to Modify for and press continue

4. You will then be able to choose a different time or experience – what most people do is they settle for whatever comes across on that first screen. Don’t settle for the first option the app gives you! Most of the time there are many other options and times available, you just have to take the time to find them. Simply select a different time slot until your desired time pops up!

Its always good to move your FastPass up every time an earlier time slot becomes available. Just keep moving and moving the time closer. Many people refer to this technique as “pounding the app” and it has worked well for us over and over. There are even times when the app will give you a message that all of the available FastPasses were done for the day when in fact we continued to modify and found a new time show up. We never trust the app and Modify until we get it.

There are a few ride exceptions…newer more popular rides can be difficult at really busy times of the year. For us the two rides that we have had issues finding day of FastPasses for are Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Slinky Dog Dash. So we make sure to book those in advance.

What Attractions Should I FP?

Here is a list for each park on what attractions we feel like are best to FastPass with your initial three. After that – go where you want.

Magic Kingdom – Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan’s Flight, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Epcot – Frozen, Test Track and Soarin’ (Epcot is a tiered park so you can only choose one of these as your original 3 FastPasses).

Animal Kingdom – Flight of Passage, Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris

If rides aren’t your thing you can always choose meet and greets for your FP…some characters are only available at certain parks so check on those before you go! We have found that getting a FastPass for shows is a waste of a FastPass. Most of the time you don’t have much of a wait for shows and you get a decent seat anyway.

Hollywood Studios – Starting August 29th you will only be allowed one FastPass choice for your original 3 from these selections (which is pretty much every ride at this park and seems super annoying to us) – Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Swirling Saucers, Toy Story Mania, Rockin’ Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror and all the rides at the new Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. Our guess is Galaxy’s Edge will be a tough one to get so we would start there! Otherwise, our favorite rides to FastPass are Slinky Dog Dash and Rockin’ Rollercoaster because these seem to be a little harder to get day of.

Takeaways

Whew, that was a lot! Once you start using the app it gets familiar and you will catch on quickly! The main takeaways we want you to know –

• FastPasses are included with every park ticket!
• Get the My Disney Experience App and use it!
• Choose your 3 FastPasses before you go
• Modify, Modify, Modify until you get the time you want!

If you have any questions we would love to be of help to you! Please shoot us a message or comment below with any questions you might have! If you have any more valuable tips to share we would also love to know those as well!

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