DCL Transfer advice - what would you do?

[EverAfter<3]

Hi all,

We are booked on the Fantasy in Jan 2025, and I am wondering whether to go the route of DCL Transfers or private transfer/uber.

We are at POP before the cruise and switching to POFQ afterwards so both transfers are coming from WDW. On our last cruise (Wish) we went from the Hyatt at MCO to the Port via DCL and found it very convenient and smooth. However, the disembark transfer to WDW took forever. We got off the ship early as instructed but they ended up keeping us sitting on the bus for almost 2 hours before we left for WDW.

I am looking for advice from the experts! From my research I have conflicting reports - some are saying that if you use a DCL transfer from WDW you automatically get an early board time, whereas others have said that it varies between resorts (and that POP has a late bus time in particular). Can anyone confirm if this is true or share their experiences?

Also, we really don't want to be in the same situation as before going from DCL to WDW and waiting so long just sitting on the bus. Is this a usual thing or did we just get unlucky? Should we be taking the transfer from POP to get an early board time then Uber back to avoid the hassle when disembarking?

 

[Kevin O'Brien]

Can I just clarify are you wanting to know which transportation is best for you?
It sounds like you had a good experience from WDW to DCL so from WDW to DCL I recommend the DCL transfer for one way WDW to DCL. You guaranteed early boarding group on DCL transfer from WDW to Port Canaveral
For DCL to WDW You had a bad experience because you had to wait on bus for 2 hours. I'm not sure if that's normal because I haven't done the DCL transfer from DCL to WDW but I'm going to say the delay could have been caused by they had to wait until the bus was full. If you are worried about if you have to wait again after debarkation on the bus you can book private transfer if you want. You can use Uber/Lyft from DCL to WDW but the only problem is that there are some Uber/Lyft drivers reject long journeys because most of Uber/Lyft drivers don't like doing long journeys.

 

[otten]

Hi all,

We are booked on the Fantasy in Jan 2025, and I am wondering whether to go the route of DCL Transfers or private transfer/uber.

We are at POP before the cruise and switching to POFQ afterwards so both transfers are coming from WDW. On our last cruise (Wish) we went from the Hyatt at MCO to the Port via DCL and found it very convenient and smooth. However, the disembark transfer to WDW took forever. We got off the ship early as instructed but they ended up keeping us sitting on the bus for almost 2 hours before we left for WDW.

I am looking for advice from the experts! From my research I have conflicting reports - some are saying that if you use a DCL transfer from WDW you automatically get an early board time, whereas others have said that it varies between resorts (and that POP has a late bus time in particular). Can anyone confirm if this is true or share their experiences?

Also, we really don't want to be in the same situation as before going from DCL to WDW and waiting so long just sitting on the bus. Is this a usual thing or did we just get unlucky? Should we be taking the transfer from POP to get an early board time then Uber back to avoid the hassle when disembarking?

We did transfers in both directions last October. Getting to the port was great. It was a nice perk to get an early PAT and boarding group and the process was easy. If I stayed at a WDW again on a future cruise I would do it again. It was worth the money. We had a similar experience with the return trip as you describe. We were staying at the GF and we waited a long time for the bus to leave. We would have gotten to the resort a lot faster on our own. This time around we're staying at AKL after and we're going to get our own transportation.

 

[EverAfter<3]

Can I just clarify are you wanting to know which transportation is best for you?
It sounds like you had a good experience from WDW to DCL so from WDW to DCL I recommend the DCL transfer for one way WDW to DCL. You guaranteed early boarding group on DCL transfer from WDW to Port Canaveral
For DCL to WDW You had a bad experience because you had to wait on bus for 2 hours. I'm not sure if that's normal because I haven't done the DCL transfer from DCL to WDW but I'm going to say the delay could have been caused by they had to wait until the bus was full. If you are worried about if you have to wait again after debarkation on the bus you can book private transfer if you want. You can use Uber/Lyft from DCL to WDW but the only problem is that there are some Uber/Lyft drivers reject long journeys because most of Uber/Lyft drivers don't like doing long journeys.

Apologies, I may not have made my questions clear. I am wanting to minimise waiting time in a bus, but an earlier boarding time works best for us. Is my best option:

1. DCL transfer return trip
2. Uber/private shuttle return trip
3. DCL transfer from WDW to DCL to take advantage of an early board time and uber/shuttle back to avoid long waiting time.

I am leaning towards Option 3 but as I have only been on a cruise once before I was unsure if my experience was typical/consistent with other's experiences.

 

[EverAfter<3]

We did transfers in both directions last October. Getting to the port was great. It was a nice perk to get an early PAT and boarding group and the process was easy. If I stayed at a WDW again on a future cruise I would do it again. It was worth the money. We had a similar experience with the return trip as you describe. We were staying at the GF and we waited a long time for the bus to leave. We would have gotten to the resort a lot faster on our own. This time around we're staying at AKL after and we're going to get our own transportation.

Thanks for your input! If the waiting time is similar for most when leaving the cruise we may look at catching an Uber.

 

[Kesohio63]

We have done the port to WDW DCL bus the last two years, and waiting on the bus was our experience, too. The bus doesn’t leave the port until 9:00 and makes multiple stops at resorts. We got to POR/POFQ at around 11:00-11:30. For us, the convenience of DCL transportation outweighs the discomfort of sitting on the bus for a while.

 

[mhe0716]

We are are on the Treasure in February and have elected to use private transfers from the ship to the Beach Club. I think the rate for Disney transfers in 2025 is $45/person one way. For a family of 2, it is about $100 more for a private driver and for us it is well worth it for a direct route to your resort with no waiting on a bus to depart.

 

[sponica]

I liked the WDW to PC transfer, but we filled up the entire bus at POR so we didn't have to make multiple stops. The PC to WDW resort transfer was terrible. The note in the app said to be off the boat by 745, which we were. And we were on the bus by 8 and didn't leave until 9. I would probably do a private transfer the next time around.

 

[jimmymc]

I believe the DCL transfers from port to WDW always leave at 9. They say to be off early because they won't wait, even if customs lines are long. Private transportation is great because it leaves at the time you want, whether it's early or late. Just be aware that Ubers can be difficult and expensive to get leaving the port, so it might be worth pre-arranging something.

 

[TheRichFam]

Our first few cruises we went the "private transfer" route. The last three we've taken were all DCL transfers. Having done both a few times each, I'll say for us, DCL is the way to go. It removes much of the guesswork (aka stress) of getting an Uber driver who has a vehicle large enough for all our stuff who knows how to navigate the port once we get there, etc.

On our cruise last week, we did DCL transfers from MCO Hyatt Regency to the port. It was the best, smoothest, easiest experience we've ever had with cruise transportation. It also didn't hurt that when we arrived at the port, we were given Boarding Group 1 tickets as we entered into the security doors. Obviously you can't count on this happening, but you can pretty much guarantee it WON'T happen if you arrive via Uber.

The biggest consideration for me is the price. We have a traveling party of 5, so we could DEFINITELY get from WDW, MCO, UOR, etc for much less than the cost of DCL transfers, but when we considered all the factors, we still decided using DCL was right for us. But everyone's situation is different.