I have actually had some fairly good success making sweet hard carbonated cider in about 10 days with a 4.5 % abv.
For a 5 gallon batch I use:
1 package of Nottingham ale yeast
Mix about 5 cups of cider with about 3/4 cup of brown sugar, and 1/2 a cup of honey. Then put the yeast in there for about an hour.
Then in the Fermenter I put the rest of the cider in there and then pitch the yeast starter.
I have found that after about 7 days, it will have about 4.5% abv, and it has a SG of ~1.020. From there I put it in the bottles without priming it, and I do the 20 oz coke bottle test. Typically it only takes them a day to carbonate, then I bottle pasteurize them.