Where do you stay the night before?

[carcam51]

We are cruising in January - flying into MCO. I know there is the Hyatt right at the airport, but would like to know where all of you stay if you come in the night before you sail. We have always taken our chances and flown in the morning of, but being January in Ohio, we figured we might want to come down a day early. Is it better to stay at the airport or closer to Port Canaveral? We currently have Disney transportation scheduled from MCO to port, but are willing to change that if we don't stay at the Hyatt. Also, if we do stay at they Hyatt, I'm assuming we claim our bags but my other question is when we board the disney bus, does disney manage our luggage from there or do we have to schlep it around until our room is ready? TIA for the help

 

[JacksLilWench]

Hi carcam51! I have cruised several times from Port Canaveral, and I always stay at the La Quinta right at port. They have a Park n' Cruise package I like to take advantage of. I may be wrong, but I think the only way to take a Disney bus to port is if you stay at a Disney hotel But once you get to port, there are people there that handle your luggage right at the sidewalk, and Disney brings it to your room that afternoon- usually after you sail away, but before dinner. HTH, have fun on your cruise!!

 

[magrudersmakes3]

We have stayed at Residence Inn and Courtyard Marriott and have liked both hotels. We used Park-N-Cruise for both cruises and was pleased with them both times.

 

[carcam51]

We are trying to avoiding renting a car (there are 7 of us), so I'm thinking staying at the Hyatt at MCO and taking Disney transportation in the morning (from the airport) would be our best option. I do know you can take disney transportation from the airport, but I'm not sure if I can fly in the day before and still take Disney transportation from the airport to port the day of the cruise. Has anyone done this?

 

[sue]

We usually stay at a Disney resort. Sometimes we stay at one of their value resorts, such as Pop Century but this time we are using our DVC points and are staying at the Bay Lake. If you have DCL transportation, they will come to any of their Disney resorts and pick you up around 10:30 am and take you right to the pier. They will even come to your hotel room and grab your luggage and the next time you see it, it will be in your stateroom on the ship. I say why not get in the Disney spirit early and stay at one of their resorts. The value resorts are only about $120.00 a night, so maybe even less that the Hyatt at MCO. You can take Magical express from the airport (free of charge) and they will bring you to any of the Disney resorts for check in. Then use DCL transportation from the resort to the pier and then from the pier back to the airport.

 

[JACH1976]

We have stayed at the Hyatt several times. As of late 2012, you could take the DCL transport MCO to the port. Claim you bags when you get off the plane and let the hotel staff know you are sailing with DCL when you check in. They'll give you a sheet of paper with instructions- basically, you tag the bags with your DCL luggage tags the next morning, leave them in your room & go and check in at the DCL bus desk. The porters will collect them directly from your room, and transport them to the ship. (We've done this 3 times with no problems

 

[TAK]

We are trying to avoiding renting a car (there are 7 of us), so I'm thinking staying at the Hyatt at MCO and taking Disney transportation in the morning (from the airport) would be our best option. I do know you can take disney transportation from the airport, but I'm not sure if I can fly in the day before and still take Disney transportation from the airport to port the day of the cruise. Has anyone done this?

Yes, we flew in the day before, stayed at the Hyatt MCO, and took the Disney transportation from the airport to the port the morning of the cruise. You can definitely do this.

The Hyatt MCO has a nice pool, and a nice breakfast -- ours was comped for being AAA members or something, I think, but it looked reasonable either way.

 

[Meriweather]

We stayed at the Hyatt once. It was nice being right at the airport. A lot of people stayed there!!
Now we stay at WDW. And then take Disney Cruise transportation

 

[Uncleromulus]

We have stayed at the Hyatt several times. As of late 2012, you could take the DCL transport MCO to the port. Claim you bags when you get off the plane and let the hotel staff know you are sailing with DCL when you check in. They'll give you a sheet of paper with instructions- basically, you tag the bags with your DCL luggage tags the next morning, leave them in your room & go and check in at the DCL bus desk. The porters will collect them directly from your room, and transport them to the ship. (We've done this 3 times with no problems

 

[darwinsrule]

We did the Hyatt once when we didn't get in till late the night before the cruise. Otherwise we stay at a resort, sit back and relax. If you feel the need to get to the port early then the Hyatt is the way to go. We were on the ship by 11:30 which was nice, but it isn't a must for us. If we do a resort we generally try and do a nice breakfast (maybe with characters depending upon where we are staying) and spend some time in the pool before heading over to the bus. From the resorts we have always been on the ships by 1:30. The extra couple of hours you might gain by leaving from MCO isn't worth it to us, but based upon what others have posted in the past it can make or break some peoples vacations.

 

[com_op_2000]

We stay at DVC-VB, DVC at WDW, and one time at CSI at the port using their park/ride promo.

 

[ptcbass]

We usually stay at a Disney resort. Sometimes we stay at one of their value resorts, such as Pop Century but this time we are using our DVC points and are staying at the Bay Lake. If you have DCL transportation, they will come to any of their Disney resorts and pick you up around 10:30 am and take you right to the pier. They will even come to your hotel room and grab your luggage and the next time you see it, it will be in your stateroom on the ship. I say why not get in the Disney spirit early and stay at one of their resorts. The value resorts are only about $120.00 a night, so maybe even less that the Hyatt at MCO. You can take Magical express from the airport (free of charge) and they will bring you to any of the Disney resorts for check in. Then use DCL transportation from the resort to the pier and then from the pier back to the airport.

I second this. Sounds like a great plan!

If you really really wanted to you could go ahead and get a ride to the port from the airport and then see if you could get a hotel shuttle to a nearby hotel. (I know they run shuttles every so often from/to the ports) Then the next morning catch their shuttle back to the port. I am not sure if they would do this but it is a possibility.

 

[tinkerone]

we like to stay at wdw the night before. it gets that disney vacation going nicely. there is nothing like dinner at downtown disney and then a little stroll around.

if you decide to stay at wdw you will get luggage tags and disney will take pick up your luggage and take it to your hotel for you. next morning at about 8 a.m. they will pick it up from your room and then take it to the ship for you. easy peasy, no handling your own luggage. i really like that.

the only downside that some people see is that you don't get picked up as early as some want. your pick up time can range from 11ish to 12:30ish. we have always been to the port by 12:30 and the crowds have dispensed and we walk right on, go to lunch, then our cabin is ready. for the difference of an hour on the ship i'm good with this time pick up.

we normally stay at the pop as we like that hotel, its cheap and as its only for a night we don't need big amenities.

good luck.

 

[zooya]

I stay in one of the WDW resorts. Usually the ones with lots to do (Animal Kingdom or Boardwalk). For one thing, the luggage will be taken care of by the magic express bus service. Second, since it is only 1 or 2 days and I don't drive, Disney resorts guarantee something interesting to do. Even if I do get bored in the resorts, I can take the free bus to mini golf or downtown Disney.

Start DCL vacation a day early. LOL

 

[ptcbass]

Also have you looked into getting a van (taxi). It would probably be just as cheap or cheaper than Disney transport. This would give you more options.

 

[OhThePain]

Normally if we have to fly somewhere for a cruise, we usually fly in the morning of. My wife insisted that we fly in the night before on our first DCL cruise in September. We decided to stay at the Hyatt MCO because we can get on the ship faster (we are using DCL transportation) and the Hyatt takes care of picking up the luggage for us. We were also told when making our reservation that the Hyatt will claim our luggage for us after our flight and that we just need to give them our claim tags and give them a description of what the luggage looks like and they will bring it to our room for us so that we can go directly to the hotel to check in instead of going and getting our bags first (can anyone confirm this?).

 

[wendyoconnor]

We like to stay at one of the Disney resorts the night before. Transportation is easy, I don't like to rent cars and it gets us in the Disney mood.

 

[stephaniesnyder]

We usually stay at a Disney resort. Sometimes we stay at one of their value resorts, such as Pop Century but this time we are using our DVC points and are staying at the Bay Lake. If you have DCL transportation, they will come to any of their Disney resorts and pick you up around 10:30 am and take you right to the pier. They will even come to your hotel room and grab your luggage and the next time you see it, it will be in your stateroom on the ship. I say why not get in the Disney spirit early and stay at one of their resorts. The value resorts are only about $120.00 a night, so maybe even less that the Hyatt at MCO. You can take Magical express from the airport (free of charge) and they will bring you to any of the Disney resorts for check in. Then use DCL transportation from the resort to the pier and then from the pier back to the airport.

We are thinking about doing this for a Dec 2015 cruise. How much does the DCL transportation cost to pick you up from a Disney resort and take you to the pier?

 

[wilkeliza]

We are thinking about doing this for a Dec 2015 cruise. How much does the DCL transportation cost to pick you up from a Disney resort and take you to the pier?

If memory serves me correct it is 45 a person. Usually if you are a family of 4 it is cheaper to go with a third party. Also then you can get to the port earlier and choose your own port arrival time which should get you on the boat sooner as well.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Normally if we have to fly somewhere for a cruise, we usually fly in the morning of. My wife insisted that we fly in the night before on our first DCL cruise in September. We decided to stay at the Hyatt MCO because we can get on the ship faster (we are using DCL transportation) and the Hyatt takes care of picking up the luggage for us. We were also told when making our reservation that the Hyatt will claim our luggage for us after our flight and that we just need to give them our claim tags and give them a description of what the luggage looks like and they will bring it to our room for us so that we can go directly to the hotel to check in instead of going and getting our bags first (can anyone confirm this?).

Yes--they will do that.

But I never felt comfortable about sending someone I don't know to the luggage "wheel" trying to find our two black bags from among 50 others.

Since the hotel is right there anyway, it wasn't difficult (or time consuming) to just get our own luggage and take it to the lobby.

But again--the hotel will get your luggage if you ask.