Disney transport to port

[louiesmom]

We are staying at wilderness lodge and taking Disney transportation to the port. I have heard a variety of times people are picked up and arrive at the port. While I know we won’t know for sure until our hotel arrival I was hoping others could share their experiences with departing froM a disney resort. We are taking the bus due to my 4 year olds love of Disney buses and this is one he has yet to ride. Thank you!

Edited: also if you have examples of where you stayed and what time you were picked up that would help.

 

[kiford]

Not sure exactly what you're looking for in terms of experience but we've done it several times from a variety of WDW resorts as well as in Europe. You get a letter about 7-8 pm the night before departure. That will tell you where and what time to meet the next morning. We've been picked up as early as 10:30 am and as late as 1 pm. Someone will check you in at the meeting place and will gather everyone up once the bus is ready to take passengers and will walk you to it to make sure you don't get lost or get on the wrong one. You may be getting on the bus after other people or it may go to another resort or it may be the only resort. It totally depends on the number of people going to the port. They will be playing a video on the TV screens some of which might be cartoons to start but then it will tell you a bit about the cruise in general and give you some information all using the characters. It all helps to ramp up the excitement for the cruise.

Your luggage will be picked up from your room. The letter will tell you that but it's always been at 8 am for us and they are very prompt. You don't need to be in the room. You place them near the door (inside the room) and they'll collect them. They go on a separate truck, not on the bus you're on. You will only see them again when they are delivered outside your room on the ship. Make sure you keep your carry on bags separate from the luggage and make sure your luggage has been tagged.

Typically you'll arrive after open boarding so there are very few lines and little waiting around in the port. You'll go through security and then up to check in and more than likely be able to board immediately. You may arrive slightly before your room is ready, but you may be able to go right up and drop your bags off in your room. Then off to lunch - they'll tell you what's open but check the Navigator. Easy peasy. They walk you through the whole thing.

If you have breakfast booked for that morning, my suggestion is to make it earlier rather than later. As I said, we were once picked up at 10:30 am which was way earlier than I expected and fortunately I'd changed my breakfast booking to earlier just a day before so we had plenty of time to go back to the room, check that they'd picked up the luggage and relax for a bit before going back down to the meeting place. You do not want to be rushing at the last minute.

 

[JaimeInParker]

Disney transport to/from the port is the best option in my opinion - it's the easiest and well organized method to do

 

[Geomom]

@kiford
Thanks for the detailed explanation! Doing our first Port Canaveral departure this summer, with DVC stays before (VGF/BWV) and after (AKV). Planning to add Disney transport just to make it easy!

 

[CyberPluto]

For what it’s worth, when we stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort in December, the bus to the Fantasy picked us up at noon sharp. We got information the evening of, and it was easy to locate the DCL rep in the resort lobby. Our luggage got picked up from our room and found its way to our stateroom door. Completely effortless.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

We stayed at the Contemporary Resort before our Fantasy cruise a few weeks ago. I don't remember exactly when we were picked up from the resort, but I do remember that we boarded the ship a little after 1pm, right around the time staterooms were opening. That was convenient as I had a heavy carry-on. We probably would have boarded 15 or so minutes earlier if the port hadn't been jammed with people. They said four buses arrived from the resorts at once, and security, check-in, everything at the port was really crowded.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

Our experiences have been almost identical to kiford. We love taking DCL transportation to the port. They take care of the bags and we have never had an issue. We normally stay at POFQ and our pick up times have been 12:30 pm in March 2019 and in November 2019 it was 12 noon. Another advantage of taking DCL transportation, in November, the computers were down and they had to check everyone in manually and it was taking a long time. We arrived just after 1 pm to the port, we sat on the air conditioned bus for about 20 minutes and then we were allowed into the terminal. You have a separate area for x-ray of bags etc. While we were taking the elevator up to check in (my Mom uses a walker/rollator) the regular line to go through security was out the door and around the building. I felt bad for the people waiting as they would only allow so many people into the terminal at one time. I also felt for the CMs who had paper lists of everyone on board. For us, there is only 2 of us, it is well worth the money.

 

[geoff112001]

We were on the Fantasy in August of 2019 and i will 100% agree with everyone else. We stayed at the Beach Club the day/night before and it worked out Great. i highly recommend staying at that resort if possible before a cruise. That Resort/area has so much to do without going to the parks. The morning of we had a great breakfast at Cape May and the kids were able to swim at Storm a long Bay. I think we were picked up around noon and we were on the ship by 1:30. There was a very short line to check in, our room was ready and Cabanas had a short lines as well. Before the trip i was going back and fourth about using Disney Transportation or getting there myself. I read many review about getting to the dock too late with Disney. There is no doubt the ease and stress free (especially with kids) that Disney offers is well worth the 3 hours you "lose" on the ship. If staying at the resort before we will always use the Disney Transfer.