DVC resort to DCL transportation ?'s

[keef22]

I posted this on the DVC boards, too; but I thought I might get better info here...

Newbie here! Just bought our points last week and we're already using them for a cruise in October.

As I was finishing our plans yesterday, it dawned on me that since we're flying into MCO a day early, I had no need to pay for a hotel, I could just use points to stay at "home" since we've never been there!

Here are my questions: Should I schedule Disney transportation to the ship? Will the bus get me there early enough? We'll be taking a bus directly to the airport from the ship. Will this throw a wrench in the works? Does anyone have any pointers?

 

[mochabean]

Well, you need to get from the resort to the ship somehow!
The DCL bus does not pick up people at every resort, so depending on where you are staying you may need to schlep all your luggage to a different resort to carch the DCL bus. We were staying at OKW and had to go to PO to catch the bus. I am not sure of the list of resorts but you can probably call DCL to find out.
If there are enough of you, using a towncar service might be cheaper, and definitely more convenient if the DCL bus doesn't pick up at your resort.

The DCL return transfers are independent so they won't throw a wrench in the works.

 

[keef22]

I was under the impression that they did something "special" on the bus on the way to Port Canaveral...

Ami I severely misguided?

 

[mochabean]

If you define playing Disney videos as "special", then yes, they do.

 

[my3kids]

You could rent a car then that gets you to home, then to the ship. You can drop off cars at the port for no additional fee, then rerent to get back to the airport when you get back.

 

[ElenitaB]

We'll be staying at BWV prior to our cruise and I was told that we could be picked up there. However, it will not be a bus that departs early. As I would really like to get out to port on the early side, I investigated car rental costs. Check on the Budget site and you'll find that you can get a one-night rental, picking up at MCO and dropping off in Cape Canaveral (8401 Astronaut Blvd) for a very reasonable rate! Much less than a town car!

You can then take the bus back to the airport from the ship... I think it's around $30 a person. All in all, we'll be paying almost exactly the same for having the convenience of a car for our first night, going to port, and having the DCL bus take us back to WDW (or in your case, back to MCO), then we would for using DCL busses in both directions (oh, there are just two of us).

Hope that helps!

 

[westjones]

You could rent a car then that gets you to home, then to the ship. You can drop off cars at the port for no additional fee, then rerent to get back to the airport when you get back.

This is what we do. We like being there right when they let you in (around 10:30 am). We use Budget rental because you can pick up right at the airport and drop off at port (they have a shuttle to bring the driver back--the kids and I just go in the terminal and wait for DH to return).

The rental car will be cheaper and faster. They don't charge extra for dropping off at port after picking up at the airport, so it will be like 1 day's rental.

We learned about doing this on this board and that is probably how we will get to port for now on.

DJ

 

[keef22]

Thanks, everyone! Now I'm off to convince DW that we won't be missing anything by not taking the bus on the way out. Now it's just a matter of the WAIT til October!

 

[Drcell01]

We are also arriving two days prior to our next cruise and staying at BWV prior to our sailing. We are also planning on using Budget to pick up a car to drop us off at the port. Much less expensive to rent a car than DCL transportation or Limo. We are also coming back for a day prior to returning home and will use Budget to get from port to WDW and use Magical Express (having them pick us up at airport upon arrival) to shuffle us back to MCO.