No check- in at the airport

[PrincessShmoo]

Reservations will open just after midnight, Port Arrival time opens at 3am. You won't be able to change that. Since you are on the DCL bus, it won't matter what PAT you get, but the earlier the PAT, the lower your boarding number will be. So stay up and get your Palo and Remy, if available, then wake up and to the rest.

Reports here indicate that both windows (excursion reservations & online checkin) are both available at midnight now.

 

[Billinaz]

I just checked in for our next cruise. The excursion and dining reservations were available at midnight. The online check in wasnt available for several hours after that.

 

[lbgraves]

Reservations will open just after midnight, Port Arrival time opens at 3am. You won't be able to change that. Since you are on the DCL bus, it won't matter what PAT you get, but the earlier the PAT, the lower your boarding number will be. So stay up and get your Palo and Remy, if available, then wake up and to the rest.

At the 105 day mark for the 3/23/13 cruise the PAT was available right after midnight ET as well as the regular Palo & excursions.

 

[lbgraves]

Have you gone online to see what the earliest PAT you can get. For those of you waiting to see what will happen you should go ahead and pick a PAT as back up in case they change this.

The earliest PAT online will be 11-11:30 when booking initially opens at the 120 day mark.

 

[lbgraves]

My next problem is that tonight starts my on-line check in and reservations (and we are only silver so lots of people have done this before us So, do I do my on-line check in first (to try to get the best port arrival time) or do I try to get my reservations for Remy and Palo first (hubby and I really want to do these on this cruise)? I thought that on-line check-in/advance PAT would be a moot issue since taking DCL transfers, so I could do this at my leisure and just go for the ressies first, but now this is not a sure thing. Any thoughts?

Right now not many people know this is happening so I would still go to Palo first. Honestly, the 3/23 cruise is the first time in 10 cruises there have been so many reservations open and I forgot to stay up until midnight. At 2 pm the next day it still showed practically every single time available each day for brunch and dinner. I had never seen a 10 a.m. brunch time before!!! Every other time it sold out after 5 minutes. You should have a good chance of getting what you want. Also, easier to get a reservation changed so if you don't see what you want, take what there is and ask to have it changed.

 

[Weedy]

The earliest PAT online will be 11-11:30 when booking initially opens at the 120 day mark.

I guess I did not make myself clear. I was suggesting they go online and and book what the earliest PAT still available for their cruise. That way since they will need a PAT regardless if they take Disney transportation or not they can decide if they want to rent a car or still take the bus.

 

[calidoc2006]

Thanks for all the input! I am hoping that there are still lots of times open for Palo for the 3/23 cruise since that is the one we are on as well!! I think I will try for Palo/Remy first, then PAT based on everyones' answers. Thanks so much!

 

[shburks]

We're staying at the Hyatt MCO next month the night before the cruise simply for the ease of it. Just ds and I flying in with an evening flight, and I love the idea of being at the hotel so quickly and just hopping on the bus in the morning and heading over to the port. I'm secretly hoping lots of folks decide to drive themselves to the port or make other arrangements so that I'm not fighting tons of people in the morning to get on the bus... Is that wrong?

 

[kcashner]

We're staying at the Hyatt MCO next month the night before the cruise simply for the ease of it. Just ds and I flying in with an evening flight, and I love the idea of being at the hotel so quickly and just hopping on the bus in the morning and heading over to the port. I'm secretly hoping lots of folks decide to drive themselves to the port or make other arrangements so that I'm not fighting tons of people in the morning to get on the bus... Is that wrong?

Other than the fact that I've never seen "tons of people," no, it isn't wrong. Most I've ever seen was the TA in 2010. We were there before 9, and were still on thr 4th bus. Of course, the buses were departing as soon as they could get them loaded!

We did the overnight at the Hyatt in March, 2012 and EVERYONE who had checked in at the welcome center by the time the 9:30 bus was ready to depart was on that bus, whether they came from the Hyatt, another hotel, or a plane...and there was still space on the bus.

 

[shburks]

Other than the fact that I've never seen "tons of people," no, it isn't wrong. Most I've ever seen was the TA in 2010. We were there before 9, and were still on thr 4th bus. Of course, the buses were departing as soon as they could get them loaded!

We did the overnight at the Hyatt in March, 2012 and EVERYONE who had checked in at the welcome center by the time the 9:30 bus was ready to depart was on that bus, whether they came from the Hyatt, another hotel, or a plane...and there was still space on the bus.

OK...maybe "tons" was a stretch! After reading all the posts on here, I felt like there were quite a few people who either stayed at the Hyatt MCO or at surrounding hotels (or even WDW hotels just wanting early port arrivals) and all came pouring in at 8:01 to be in line to catch the first bus and that if I wasn't in line at 8:01 I was going to be on bus #5 to the port and have to sit around for a while just waiting for a bus!

I'd much rather roll downstairs at 9:00 and still be on a bus fairly soon. Sounds like from your experience in March that I'll be OK!

I don't need the first bus! Is it similar to ME in that they'll roll out pretty quickly? I mean bus #5 isn't TWO HOURS later than bus #1, is it??

 

[mickeyfan1]

OK...maybe "tons" was a stretch! After reading all the posts on here, I felt like there were quite a few people who either stayed at the Hyatt MCO or at surrounding hotels (or even WDW hotels just wanting early port arrivals) and all came pouring in at 8:01 to be in line to catch the first bus and that if I wasn't in line at 8:01 I was going to be on bus #5 to the port and have to sit around for a while just waiting for a bus!

I'd much rather roll downstairs at 9:00 and still be on a bus fairly soon. Sounds like from your experience in March that I'll be OK!

I don't need the first bus! Is it similar to ME in that they'll roll out pretty quickly? I mean bus #5 isn't TWO HOURS later than bus #1, is it??

You have to realize that on any normal cruise, the DISers may only be < 10% of the total passengers. In May of 2010, I was on the first bus out of MCO, there looked to be a lot of people waiting in line, when in reality, the buses do hold a lot of passengers and they end up leaving about every 15 minutes or sooner. Same with the Hyatt, here will be a few people staying the night before, and not all of them are on the DIS, but you will have plenty of time.

 

[shburks]

You have to realize that on any normal cruise, the DISers may only be < 10% of the total passengers. In May of 2010, I was on the first bus out of MCO, there looked to be a lot of people waiting in line, when in reality, the buses do hold a lot of passengers and they end up leaving about every 15 minutes or sooner. Same with the Hyatt, here will be a few people staying the night before, and not all of them are on the DIS, but you will have plenty of time.

Good point on the small percentage! I just kept reading how everyone was waiting in line for the first bus and I was a bit nervous!

 

[lbgraves]

Have been thinking about this and wonder if it is going to have an affect on how the PATs at the port are handled. Before the change everyone who arrived on a DCL transfer had a low boarding number that was given to them at the airport so they simply walked into the terminal and -- if boarding had started -- got in line and boarded the ship. Now that their boarding number will be based on their PAT like everyone else -- except concierge and platinum cruisers of course -- that will mean that a lot more people will be sitting/standing around the terminal waiting for their boarding number to be called. This may result in people who drive to or get dropped off at the terminal early with a later PAT being told to wait outside until their assigned time, at least until things clear up around 12:30/1:00.

 

[kcashner]

I wonder whether the plan for this had anything to do with the earlier boarding of the ship. On our cruise, boarding started about 11:30--in past years, it was never before 11:45. Granted, it is only 15 minutes, but a lot of people can move from the terminal to the ship in that 15 minutes.

 

[lbgraves]

I know that it will never be as early as the Fantasy's MV again. That started around 9 a.m. or possibly earlier. We were told that our rooms were ready at that time also.

 

[wurtie]

What time does the DCL desk open at the airport? And what time do the buses start running?

 

[bumbershoot]

Dang, that's a bummer. I'd wondered last month when it was the word of some CMs vs another CM, though.

 

[calidoc2006]

Thanks for all the advice on the on-line check-in vs. reservations. Even though I was worried about getting an early PAT (wanted to make sure I got an early boarding number in case I needed to make/change Palo and Remy reservations), I decided to do my dinner and BBB reservations first. And there was so much availability, I was shocked! So different than my last DCL cruise on the Dream. I was able to book both dinners plus a Palo brunch (at 10am no less). Got BBB for my daughter on formal night - hooray and at the time I wanted. And then I went and did my on-line check in and got the 11-11:30am boarding time as well! So happy - went so much better than I anticipated after all that anxiety. Thanks so much for all the advice - much appreciated!!

 

[n8tivecaligirl]

Airport check in and busses run at the same schedule as they did before. 8 am desk opens and 9 am busses start, I will confirm this in a few hours when we head down to the desk.

 

[shburks]

Airport check in and busses run at the same schedule as they did before. 8 am desk opens and 9 am busses start, I will confirm this in a few hours when we head down to the desk.

Thx. I am looking forward to hearing how it goes.