Disney resort transfers..

[BethanyRichardson]

Just don't do it!

We booked a Disney transfer from AoA to PC for our cruise last week. We weren't thrilled about it, but thought having one less thing to worry about might be nice. We had mostly read suggestions that pick up time was often around 11, so we figured that would be ok.

Our pick up time ended up being 12:45!! That was after they never delivered the note to our room the evening before and we had to hunt it down. Then hours after we'd gone to bed, the door of our room loudly opened, a man walked in, stood for a minute, then dropped the paper on the bed where my daughter was asleep, then turned and walked out. Scared the crap out of me.

By the time the bus got us to the terminal, there were no more characters in the terminal or the lobby of the ship. We'd been looking forward to that welcome for our first cruise. The desk for childcare check-in was closed, too. As soon as we got on the boat we went to Port Adventures for tickets to the Princesses... the guy working said "those people just left" and seemed to know nothing. Finally told me there were no Princess Gathering tickets left, only a handful of Frozen tickets at odd times. (He also insisted we should be able to just walk up to the Princess Gathering without a ticket, which totally didn't work... so that meant a lot of our time wasted standing in individual lines and never meeting Snow White at all.) We then tried going to get some (very late ) lunch and swim a bit... both the pools and Cabanas were already closed. At least our room was ready, so we could go twiddle our thumbs and be hungry for a while until the lifeboat drill. I spent a lot of time the first day being really bummed that the magic hadn't started out the way I had it all planned out. I got over it, and the cruise was awesome.

Anyway.... that's a lesson learned. Book private transportation and be in control of your PAT, unless you really don't care about anything besides just getting on the ship.

 

[Aby]

I'm sorry you didn't have a great experience with your resort to port transfers!

We had the opposite experience back in August. We received our letter the night before promptly, were picked up at 11:30am, and walked onto the ship shortly after 1pm. We didn't feel it necessary to get on the ship first thing, and liked the ease of the transfers. This was not our first cruise though, so we didn't have anything that had to be taken care of early, and we don't have any kids, so we didn't have to worry about anyone but us.

I've heard other stories like yours from people who have had bad experiences, but I just wanted to show that it's not always bad. I agree with your advice of finding alternate transport if you feel that you must get to the port as early as possible, but if there is no big rush, resort to port transfers can be a good choice, as it was in our case.

I hope the rest of your cruise was magical!

Aby

 

[mmouse37]

There is no set schedule for resort pick up. It can vary each cruise/each resort depending on how many people book transfers from a particular resort. It could be anywhere from 10:45 to 12:45 ish. The MCO DCL bus transfers leave much earlier so definitely something to think about.

MJ

 

[BethanyRichardson]

I guess that's the annoying thing for me... I had never heard of them being so late. I don't like to leave things up to chance and not have a precise plan. Will definitely book my own next time so I know exactly when things will happen.

The rest, of course, was magical!

 

[tinkerone]

did you not lock your hotel room door? I check that a good ten times before the lights go out. I've never heard of any cast members just walking in without knocking either. very odd.
as to food, did you try the quick service or room service? while they are listed as closing at 3:30 I have seen them open a bit later sometimes. depends on if the cast member is part of the safety team. a lot of them are.
sorry about your pick up time, that is kind of late. we have never had it later than 12 but I have read where others, like yourselves, have. did you have to make any stops after your pick up or was yours the last resort?

 

[bumbershoot]

Then hours after we'd gone to bed, the door of our room loudly opened, a man walked in, stood for a minute, then dropped the paper on the bed where my daughter was asleep, then turned and walked out. Scared the crap out of me.

Whoa, so when you reported this, what happened?

For others in the future, put the chain on!!!

I guess that's the annoying thing for me... I had never heard of them being so late.

I know of one person who had a very late pickup time, who has been posting semi-recently. Bummer you didn't see that. It's not common, but it can happen.