land/sea transportation

[coach1]

I'm doing a land/sea package for my disneymoon coming up June 12-19. I'm just wanting to know a little more about how the transportation to and from the cruise works. We're staying at the Beach Club so will we be picked up there? Also, after the cruise will we be driven back to the hotel or straight to the airport? Just curious, any responses would be appreciated.

 

[iluvallthingsdisney]

We did the land/sea for the May 22nd 4 night wonder cruise and stayed at the Polynesian. You should receive your magical express vouchers in your cruise documents. Take those to the magical express counter at MCO. Look for the ME cm's throughout the airport dressed in Blue blazers and khaki pants with Mickey Mouse gloves directing everyone to the ME counter. They are very easy to find. ME says that you should receive ME bags tags separately from your cruise documents. But they have had a lot of problems sending them out. You can tag your bags with your Cruise tags if this happens. The cruise tags will have your resort and name on them. So they will know to take your bags to your resort. Once you have checked in at the ME counter you will be escorted to your ME bus. Very nice bus. Your bus will make a few stops or u could get lucky and be the first stop. Check in at your hotel. Your bags will arrive in your room up to 3 to 4 hours later. Next check in with the DCL desk in your lobby if there is one. Hand them your cruise documents and they will check ID's. All adults need to be there for the DCL check in.

On the day of your cruise, you will tag your bags and leave them in your room. They will be picked up by 8am. Check out of your hotel. Not sure about the beach club but at the poly the DCL bus would pick everyone up at 1130 or 1145 I think. They also did an alternate pick up at Animal Kingdom which we did at around 1230pm. At Animal Kingdom DCL gives you priority seating for breakfast at Donald's Restauranturus character breakfast. Which was really nice. We were done eating right when the park opened. At AK there is a DCL desk that will hold all your carryons and that is where you check in for the bus, get your PS for Donald's and they also gave us a fast pass like ticket for the Lion King show.

It was a very smooth process. Enjoy your trip

 

[snowiit]

We did the land/sea for the May 22nd 4 night wonder cruise and stayed at the Polynesian. You should receive your magical express vouchers in your cruise documents. Take those to the magical express counter at MCO. Look for the ME cm's throughout the airport dressed in Blue blazers and khaki pants with Mickey Mouse gloves directing everyone to the ME counter. They are very easy to find. ME says that you should receive ME bags tags separately from your cruise documents. But they have had a lot of problems sending them out. You can tag your bags with your Cruise tags if this happens. The cruise tags will have your resort and name on them. So they will know to take your bags to your resort.

When my mom made our reservations for the land/sea we are going on on June 23rd-29th... there was no such thing as ME. So I know that transfers were bought. I thought the cruise buses and ME were two different things. Are you saying there are just ME pick ups now, or everyone goes to one place or did you just book ME instead of the DCL transfers. I'm just confused!
Also... did you find going to the AK was a good thing of the morning of sailing? I just wonder what the first showing of the Lion King show was in relation to your character breakfast time. We're considering it. What time did you get to the ship and was there a huge group to be picked up at the AK? Thanks for any info you can give me.
Nancy

 

[iluvallthingsdisney]

We purchased our land/sea package through DCL in November 2004 and i'm pretty sure we just purchased the DCL transfers to and from the cruise only. ME provided our transportation to WDW from MCO. DCL provided transportation from AK to the port and from the port to MCO. Check with DCL or your TA to be sure which transfers you have.

The night before debarkation, you remove all old tags from your bags and place the new ones that your stateroom host leaves in your room on your bags. Leave them outside your cabin by 11pm. The next morning proceed to breakfast then debark the ship. Pick up your bags in the color coded section according to your bag tags. Proceed through customs and you will be directed to DCL busses. If your airline participates with DCL you can check in for your flight and check your bags in right there in front of the busses at the port. We flew continental and they participated. DCL will tell you which bus to board and then you are off to the airport in a DCL bus. Very Very easy. The whole process for us took 30 minutes tops, the bus ride to the airport is about 50 minutes.

I think that going to AK the morning of the cruise was definitely worth it. The DCL desk is to the left of the entrance gates at AK. A 2minute check in with them, gave us PS voucher and show voucher you could choose from 2 different show times in the morning. We then entered the park on the far right turnstile before the park even opened to the public. Rented a stroller no line Then went to our 8am breakfast. We were deep in the park in Dino Land area when the park opened. We rode Kilimanjaro safari and did the exploration trail. Got 3 tempoary tattoos browsed the shops, kids played in the boneyard. Saw lucky the dinosaur. Never went to the show though. Family wanted to other things. Met back at the DCL desk by the AK entrance gate at 12:15. We all walked out together to the parking lot and they had 3 DCL buses waiting for us. There were about 3 buses full of people. We boarded the 2nd bus and were off. You have to call a phone number the night before to let DCL know that you will be picked up at AK. So they know ahead of time how many buses they will need. Very efficient. I would do it again

 

[weluv M&M]

Your trip sounds very similar to the one we will be on starting June 16....Could you tell me about transportation from the POLY to the AK on the embarkation morning? Did you take a bus? what time did it pick you up? was it a "charater breakfast bus" did you catch it at the POLY or the TTC? What other stops did it make? how long did it take you to get to AK? Thanks for taking the time to answer so many ?????s

 

[iluvallthingsdisney]

Your trip sounds very similar to the one we will be on starting June 16....Could you tell me about transportation from the POLY to the AK on the embarkation morning? Did you take a bus? what time did it pick you up? was it a "charater breakfast bus" did you catch it at the POLY or the TTC? What other stops did it make? how long did it take you to get to AK? Thanks for taking the time to answer so many ?????s

On embarkation morning we just went to the Poly Disney bus stop area. You can board buses to AK, Downtown Disney, Pleasure Island, West Side, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, and Disney/MGM studios. For MK and Epcot I would take the monorail off the second floor lobby easier. The buses run like every 15 minutes. The Disney buses provided transportation through out WDW. Magical Express buses provide transportation to WDW and from WDW back to the airport . Disney Cruise Line buses provide transporation from WDW to Port Canaveral and back to the airport from Port Canaveral. HTH

 

[iluvallthingsdisney]

Weluv M&M,

I forgot to mention that the white Disney bus from the poly to AK goes directly there no stops. Its about a 10-15 minute bus ride from poly to AK. I would allow 45 minutes for transporation to be on safe side. Sometimes the bus is at the bus stop other times you have to wait about 15-25 minutes.