Boarding on the Wonder

[Annae]

Can someone tell me about what time Disney starts boarding on the 4-day Wonder? I have heard conflicting times from different people. I want to be close to the front of the line when the boarding starts. Thanks.

 

[professorandmom]

The question is not what time do they start boarding but what time does the line start. I was at port by 11:15 and there were already a few families in line. Boarding started for me at 12:15 but I have heard between 11:45 and 12:30. I would suggest shooting for 11 if you want to be within a dozen or so of the front of the line. (Of course this probably depends on the fullness of the cruise/time of year) Just my inexperienced opinion, I am sure others can give you ideas
Barbara

 

[HooKooDooKu]

To be near the front of the line for boarding, you have to show up at the port when it opens at 10 o'clock so that you can be one of the first to get in line to board.

The actually time to board varies. I'm not sure, but it seems like the official time is some time between 12 and 1, but everytime we've been, they have allowed boarding to begin before the official time.

However, what has stayed consistant is the port openning up at 10 o'clock, and even then you'll find at least a small line of cars waiting to get in.

 

[poopie]

should I show up if I don't want to wait in line and just walk onto the ship?

 

[HooKooDooKu]

I'm going to venture a guess of 2:00.

By that time, the early arrivals will already be on board (since boarding will surrly have begun between 11:00 and 1:00). By that time, all guests that were already in Florida (staying at WDW or a local hotel) will most likely already boarded, and your stateroom should be ready by that time (they are scheduled to be ready by 1:30).

That should give you enough time to complete the boarding procedure and get some lunch, and settle into your cabin before the 4:00 mandatory drill.

 

[Bacrd]

We arrived shortly after 12 and literally walked right up to CM and right onto the ship!! Well...not "onto" the ship...but into the line for pictures. Don't know how it happened or if it'll ever happen again. It was a little disappointing not to explore the terminal and get pictures...but in our excitement...we just ran on!!

 

[cat1239]

We arrived at the port at 10:00 and they wouldn't let us enter. They told us to come back at 10:30. We got back around 10:20 and we were around the 6th family in line. We were able to get on the ship by 12:00. The time passed quickly. I was glad we waited, it was fun to be one of the first to get on. It also gave us extra time to explore the ship.

Cathy

 

[Little Twin Stars]

What should be the latest time I get on board but at the same time still be able to get a reservation for Palo?

Any clues?

 

[tbuot]

bump

 

[jvas]

Originally posted by cat1239
We arrived at the port at 10:00 and they wouldn't let us enter. They told us to come back at 10:30. We got back around 10:20 and we were around the 6th family in line. We were able to get on the ship by 12:00. The time passed quickly. I was glad we waited, it was fun to be one of the first to get on. It also gave us extra time to explore the ship.

Cathy

Hi, do you know what time the Dis Cruise Line buses start to show up at the resorts and what time they leave for the ship?

 

[Annae]

See what I mean, it is so confusing. Getting on the ship by noon seemed good enough since Cat was the 6th family in line but what would be the latest to get on the ship and still be able to get reservations at Palo? We still don't have transportation worked out from the hotel to the port. We are trying to figure out what to do. I think we might rent a car. that way, we can leave the resort when we want and not have to wait for the buses.

 

[Jeanny]

Originally posted by HooKooDooKu
To be near the front of the line for boarding, you have to show up at the port when it opens at 10 o'clock so that you can be one of the first to get in line to board.

However, what has stayed consistant is the port openning up at 10 o'clock, and even then you'll find at least a small line of cars waiting to get in.

The port opens at 10:30 a.m. they won't let you in before that.

 

[minnieluvzmickey]

We were on the wonder last thursday. We arrived at 10:45. We were about the 7th family in line. They opened the doors to board the ship at 11:45. We walked on.....were announced.....and went straight to parrot cay for lunch. We then went to get palo ressies at about 12:45. There was a line of about 3 people and they had not opened the door to wavebands yet. At 1:00 exactly they opened the doors and started taking reservations. We got exactly what we wanted. We later heard from someone else that by 2:00 all the palo ressies were gone.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

The port opens at 10:30 a.m. they won't let you in before that.

Jeanny,

Your absolutely correct that they don't let you in before the time the port opens (basically, you're not allow near the building until your name is confirmed on the guest list, and there's no one there to verify that you are a guest until they open).

But I could have sworn that the time was 10:00.

Then again, I must admit that we showed up just a little early (say 9:55 I think) and the security guard allowed us to start a line to turn into the DCL port entrance. It was another 10 to 15 minutes before other DCL represenatives arrived and got set up to accept guests.

Now I know we did not wait for 35 minutes, so I guess the exact time that they open the gates to the port isn't consistant either.

At the very least, when we showed up at about 10:00 we were not turned away. On our last cruise (a little over a month post 9-11) the guard made us drive off and wouldn't allow us to start lining up at the gate until the port was open.

 

[jvas]

But what is the earliest you can board one of the Disney Cruise Line buses from the resorts? Do the buses for the cruise line show up at the resorts at a specific time?

 

[wintermom]

How long is the drive from AKL to the DCL. We rented a car
and will make the drive ourselves this time. We went two years
ago but then it was by Limo and I can't remember how long it
took. I guess we will need to allow time for parking the rental
car at the port too. Can you just walk from the port parking lot or
is there a tram to ride??

I hope I'm not getting off the subject but I am trying to figure out
what time to leave AKL to arrive by say 11:00 am

Thanks for the help
Wintermom

 

[HooKooDooKu]

First, what is AKL. I know that drive from WDW or the Orlando Airport is in the general time from of an hour or so.

As for Parking at the Port, parking is provided right at the port terminal. You will be able to pull right up to the terminal to drop off your luggage and other guests, then you park in the parking lot and walk back to the terminal (a distance of 100 yards IF you have a "bad" parking spot").

 

[wintermom]

HooKooDooKu,

Thanks for answering the parking question. AKL is animal
Kingdom Lodge at Disney World. I had seen post that said it
was about an hour from the airport but I thought it might
be longer from Disney World. Since this is our first time to
navigate the drive maybe we better plan on leaving around
9:00am to be in line by 11:00. Is that a good idea?

Thanks again,
Wintermom

 

[cat1239]

We left from WDW and we were able to get there in an hour easily. If I remember correctly we got there in a little under an hour. It was much shorter than I expected.

Cathy

 

[HooKooDooKu]

wintermom,

I don't think it will take more than an hour and a half from any place in WDW to get to the port, so if you leave at 9:00, that should put you near the head of the line to get into the port and check in.

If you want to make sure you're at the head of the line, you'll have to leave a little earlier to make sure you get to the port closer to 10:00 (or purchase a Cat 3 room or above and get priority boarding). The only reason's I can think you'd want to be at the head of the line is so that you can get in line as soon as possible after boarding to make Palo reservations or Cabanna Massage reservations. (On a side note, we love getting the first Cabanna massage of the day on CC, then spend the rest of the morning snorkelling. The first time we did this, we didn't have swim fins yet we swam all day on the Island without our legs and arms ever getting tired.)

Do keep in mind that it is a toll road between WDW and the Port. Is seem to recall that was one of the cool things about riding the DCL bus, they went through the toll booths in a seperate lane from all the regular passenger cars so we didn't have to stop and wait at each toll booth. I seem to recall that there were at least two toll booths you'll pass thru, but I could be wrong, it's been 6 years since we went from WDW to DCL. All of our other trips have been strait from home directly to DCL, and we avoid all the toll roads and conjestion of Orlando by taking I-95 along the coast.