No check- in at the airport

[mickeyfan1]

Originally Posted by shburks

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]

Originally Posted by mickeyfan1

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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

[n8tivecaligirl]

Ok at the port. Yes at the airport you ONLY pick up the bus. Once you get to the port you check in. We were on bus 1 second in line at port for castaway club and got boarding number 4. Port is not busy (yet). Check in at the airport was closer to 9. Then we got to the port just after 10 and were first in the port. Everything went smoothly.

[Lisa Lisa]

Originally Posted by n8tivecaligirl

Ok at the port. Yes at the airport you ONLY pick up the bus. Once you get to the port you check in. We were on bus 1 second in line at port for castaway club and got boarding number 4. Port is not busy (yet). Check in at the airport was closer to 9. Then we got to the port just after 10 and were first in the port. Everything went smoothly.

Thank you for posting. So you got your boarding card at the airport, right? I'll be curious to find out what PAT you had and what time you actually boarded the ship.

Have a great cruise!

[n8tivecaligirl]

No we only got our bus boarding card, we had first PAT and they are running slow so I doubt we will be on time.

[LV Disney Fan(atic)]

So if getting to the terminal just after 10 am with a PAT of 11 am gets you boarding number 4, who is getting boarding numbers 1-3?

[PrincessShmoo]

Originally Posted by LV Disney Fan(atic)

So if getting to the terminal just after 10 am with a PAT of 11 am gets you boarding number 4, who is getting boarding numbers 1-3?

I know that #1 is Concierge. And I think #2 is Platinum.

It's my understanding that each window in the PAT system (11:00-11:30 for example) has X amount of each subsequent number before the next number is assigned. So, say, a PAT of 11:00-11:30 will have 25 #3s and 25 #4s, 11:30-12:00 would have (maybe) 25 #5s, etc. So within a specific window there may be 2 or 3 boarding numbers. How they may be assigned, maybe to who actually gets to the checkin window first?