Advice on debarkation

[hadley1610]

Hi! We are going on our first DC in April. On the day we get off the ship we are headed to the magic kingdom. I have a driver transporting us and we are staying at the contemporary resort. My question is, what time do you realistically think we could get to the park? I’m trying to make ADRs. Any input would be appreciated… and should I post this in the theme park forum as well? Thanks!

 

[BennyBoyWrench]

I can't help you with this, but I wanted to applaud the use of 'debarkation'. A piece of me dies each time a flight attendant says deplane, so long may ships avoid this watering down of the English language.

 

[plutolovr]

If you are on a short cruise (Wish), I suggest walking off with your own luggage. This way you can be off the ship as soon as it clears. This can be as early as 7:30 a.m. So you could likely be at the Contemporary no later than 9:30 a.m.

I live about a hour from the port, and I can usually be home by 9:00 a.m.

 

[dcassetta]

Hi! We are going on our first DC in April. On the day we get off the ship we are headed to the magic kingdom. I have a driver transporting us and we are staying at the contemporary resort. My question is, what time do you realistically think we could get to the park? I’m trying to make ADRs. Any input would be appreciated… and should I post this in the theme park forum as well? Thanks!

Is your goal to get to the Contemporary as early as possible?


If you decide to do express walk off, where you keep all your luggage yourself and transport, everything off the ship, you can usually debark beginning about 7:30 AM. If you have first seating, your breakfast may be a little bit rushed with Xpress walk off, if you have second seating express walk off means missing breakfast or you can eat breakfast at Cabanas.

If your driver is there at 730 and you’re able to get right in the car Arrival at the Contemporary should be before 9 AM.

 

[Marc D]

DCL states that you shouldn't make any ADR before 12:30 on disembarkation day. That is when using the DCL shuttles that departs at 9.

If the ship is not late getting to port, disembarkation starts at 7:30 with express walk-offs. In PC, the luggage left outside the stateroom is usually already available at that time in the terminal. You need to make your way through immigration then meet with your car service. If all goes perfectly, you could depart PC at 7:45 or 8, getting you to the CR at between 8:45 or 9:30 depending on traffic. You'll need to leave your bags with bell services and check-in. Making your way to MK can take 20-45 minutes depending on your walking speed or if you decide to take the monorail.

Adding all those things, you could be in the park as soon as 10, again if everything goes perfectly and you have no walking limitation.

 

[hadley1610]

Thanks for the help! Do you know if global entry helps clear customs any faster like it does at the airport?

 

[Girl of the South]

Customs is for what you bought. Immigration is the Passport Control which is basically a walk through. There are no Global Entry kiosks or desks or special lines at the Port.

 

[lanejudy]

Which ship? On the Fantasy, I'd agree with others that you should be able to get to CR and subsequently MK by mid to late morning. If you will be on the Wish, reports are of long debarkation lines so I'd say late morning or noon-ish. Either ship could end up with a delay, so maybe allow for some extra time if making an ADR, or just plan QS lunch with an ADR for dinner.

 

[kiford]

Thanks for the help! Do you know if global entry helps clear customs any faster like it does at the airport?

Nope. We tried to show our Nexus cards but they wanted our passports instead (yes, I know that the government website says you can use Global Entry/Nexus for ships but I'm not gonna argue with the customs official). However, it's all irrelevant since everyone goes into the same line - there's no special access lines.

 

[cvjw]

Left the fantasy on Saturday. Sold out ship with 3600 passengers. We ate at cabanas around 8:00 and got in the LONG line to leave the ship around 8:30. We were at Saratoga springs around 10:00 and inside the MK by 10:30.

 

[MichelleCanada]

Hi! We are going on our first DC in April. On the day we get off the ship we are headed to the magic kingdom. I have a driver transporting us and we are staying at the contemporary resort. My question is, what time do you realistically think we could get to the park? I’m trying to make ADRs. Any input would be appreciated… and should I post this in the theme park forum as well? Thanks!

Just out of curiosity, how any people are in your group and what are their ages. Our DS11 can handle his own luggage so walking off with our luggage is not a big deal. We find the breakfast at Cabanas is the fastest for us. Enjoy your trip!!

 

[hadley1610]

We will be on the Fantasy with a 6yo and 12 yo. Cabanas is different from the "sit down" breakfast right? I'm leaning toward Cabanas for an early breakfast and then express walk off at 7:30.

 

[MichelleCanada]

Cabanas is the buffet. It doesn’t have as much selection on the last morning - but neither do the sit down restaurants.

 

[happycamper47]

We will be on the Fantasy with a 6yo and 12 yo. Cabanas is different from the "sit down" breakfast right? I'm leaning toward Cabanas for an early breakfast and then express walk off at 7:30.

I think Express walk off is a bit of a misnomer, at least at PC. Luggage is ready to be retrieved as soon as they say the ship has cleared customs. They do not call luggage tags anymore. We had breakfast in the MDR, got in line walked off the ship, grabbed our luggage and went through customs and in the garage at 7:30/7/45.

 

[MichelleCanada]

I think Express walk off is a bit of a misnomer, at least at PC. Luggage is ready to be retrieved as soon as they say the ship has cleared customs. They do not call luggage tags anymore. We had breakfast in the MDR, got in line walked off the ship, grabbed our luggage and went through customs and in the garage at 7:30/7/45.

They still called luggage tags for us in July on the Fantasy and August on the Wish.

 

[happycamper47]

They didn't in November(Fantasy) and December (Wish) Guest Services told us they no longer do it. They said everybody can just walk off when ready.

 

[MichelleCanada]

They didn't in November(Fantasy) and December (Wish) Guest Services told us they no longer do it. They said everybody can just walk off when ready.

How did you like it versus having to wait for your tags to be called? Did it create an congestion at customs?

 

[happycamper47]

How did you like it versus having to wait for your tags to be called? Did it create an congestion at customs?

No, as I said earlier we had 6:45 breakfast and were in the garage by 7:40 and we had a full ship. 12/26 -12/30.

 

[cvjw]

They called luggage tags 2/4 on the fantasy. They called them ALL at once! We were already in line to leave the ship, but got a kick out of seeing the look on other guest‘s faces when every tag was called at the same time. Lots of confused looks!

 

[happycamper47]

They called luggage tags 2/4 on the fantasy. They called them ALL at once!

Maybe because people were still under the impression they had to wait and few were walking off?