Airport to CB Resort

[Mate]

DGD arrives at 4:00. We have an ADR at 1900 Park Fare for 6:40. She will not have any luggage only a carryon (we will be bringing her suitcase with us). We are thinking we should take a taxi from airport to CR Resort (we will already be checked in as we arrrive the day before). Then if we are tight on time we could have the taxi just take us directly to the GF for our ADR. I would like to get to stop at CB first though. Am I correct in thinking we should pass on the ME and just take a Taxi?? Just want to make sure that the 6:40ADR is possible if we do the Taxi.
mate

 

[Wild4Walt]

I'm assuming that you are already there and going to the airport to pick her up.

I agree, I would not take the ME as sometimes it's only a 5 or 10 minute wait before you leave and then sometimes you can sit for 20 minutes or more.

Here are a few thoughts:

You could still take ME and just go directly to GF for your ressies. This way it will drop you right off at that location and even if you have a 30 minute wait you would still make that res on time.

If you don't want to risk it, you can take a cab, but they are very pricy. You may want to consider looking into a town car, it may be less expensive than paying for two one way cabs.

 

[CleveRocks]

DGD arrives at 4:00. We have an ADR at 1900 Park Fare for 6:40. She will not have any luggage only a carryon (we will be bringing her suitcase with us). We are thinking we should take a taxi from airport to CR Resort (we will already be checked in as we arrrive the day before). Then if we are tight on time we could have the taxi just take us directly to the GF for our ADR. I would like to get to stop at CB first though. Am I correct in thinking we should pass on the ME and just take a Taxi?? Just want to make sure that the 6:40ADR is possible if we do the Taxi.
mate

I'm confused ...

Are you staying at Caribbean Beach Resort? How are you getting from the airport to your resort on your arrival day? Are you then going BACK to the airport the next day to meet your daughter? When you typed "CR Resort" was that a typo or did you mean the Contemporary?

The reason I ask about how you are getting to your resort on your own arrival day ... if you're taking DME from the airport to your resort, then you will NOT be entitled to take a DME bus from the airport to your resort a second time.

Even if her flight arrives on-time at 4 p.m., it might be a little tight to get to GF by 6:40 p.m. ... not by any means impossible, but a little tight. The average time from airplane landing to resort via DME is 70 minutes. If her flight lands right on-time at 4, chances are she's not walking off the plane 'til 4:10. If DME then takes the average of 70 minutes, then you're arriving at CBR at 5:20 p.m. Then depending how far your room is from the Custom House, it could be 5-10 minutes to get to your room, then maybe 5 minutes for her to freshen up, then a walk to your nearby bus stop, then up to a 20 minute wait for a bus to Magic Kingdom ... so it could be as late as 5:55 p.m. before you even board the MK bus. Then a 10-15 minute drive depending on traffic, so it's 6:10 p.m. Then a walk to the boat dock for the motor launch to GF, and you might wait 10-15 minutes for that, so now we're talking that it could be 6:25 p.m., and then the walk from the dock to the restaurant ....

So as you can see, it's do-able, but tight. Of course, if you have a room in Barbados right next door to the Custom House, and if your MK bus pulls up just as you walk up at the bus stop, then that shaves 25 minutes off the time, putting you at GF at a comfy 6:00 p.m. But things could go longer, also.

Like I said, possible but a little tight.

The main time saver with DME (as compared with a taxi) is that you get to skip baggage claim. But since she's not checking any bags, this advantage is erased. A taxi will definitely be faster for you guys ... it's just a matter of whether you want to spend the money. A less expensive taxi ride would be from CBR to Grand Floridian ... you could hop off the DME bus and have Bell Services store her carry-on, which cuts out the time it takes to walk to your room and wait for a MK bus and all that ...

So you have options.

But like I said, if you already took DME the day before to get to your resort, then the DME option is off the table for you for the next day. Your daughter is entitled to a DME ride from the airport on HER arrival day, but you aren't entitled to take the same ride twice.

I hope this all makes sense.

 

[CleveRocks]

You could still take ME and just go directly to GF for your ressies.

Unless they are staying at GF, they won't be permitted to do this. DME runs exclusively between MCO and YOUR resort, not just any resort that you want to go to. In other words, you can't choose your destination on a DME bus. The ONLY way this would work out is if, by chance, the resort you wish to go to happens to be on the same bus as your resort, AND you have no luggage for the driver to stow (since they group them under the bus by resort) ... carry-ons often get stowed under the bus as many are too large to fit under the bus seat or on the overhead shelf.

 

[Mate]

Yes, we will already be there a day ahead of her. We did not want to fly the same day as her in case we ran into travel difficulities.
Our travel agent has said because we have two separate reservation numbers one for our 1st day and a completely different reservation number for her check in day and the rest of the trip we would be able to use ME for ourselves airport to CB and then CB to airport (to pick her up) under the 1st reservation and then airport to CB under the second reservation number as this is how DISNEY wanted to do it.
Due to our time constraints I do not think this will be an issue as we will probably pick her up (she will have no checked luggage) and taxi it back to either the CB or right to GF for our 1900 Park Fare ADR.
Thanks for the input.
mate

 

[CleveRocks]

Your travel agent is a smart cookie who knows her WDW ins and outs! You never mentioned here you had 2 separate resort reservations.

 

[seashoreCM]

Let's say you want to leave your resort at 3 PM to meet DGD at the airport at 4. For your first reservation DME trip back to the airport, name a flight, any flight, any airline leaving at 6. Then you will get a bus time around 3.

There is a slight chance the 3 o'clock bus does not make it to the airport by 4 and this causes you to meet DGD late and possibly throws everything after that off. You could request on a 2:30 bus back to the airport (name a 5:30 flight) instead if you wish.

Make or modify your bus reservation back to the airport as early as possible the day before checkout if not sooner.

Do not use the same telephone call to discuss both matters related to the first room reservation and matters related to the second room reservation.

 

[Mate]

Thanks all.
Since our 1st priority is getting to the airport by 3:15 for her 4:00 flt. arrival (so we would plan accordingly for ME) and then 1900 ParkFare for our 6:40ADR I am leaning toward Taxi at least for trip back to resort, just so I do not worry and stress. After all it should be Magical and so far this board has helped in sooo many ways to make it that way. Thanks again for all the tips.
mate