MCO to Port Canaveral ground transfer questions

[MickeyWaffles]

Our flight lands at MCO at 9:00 am on our cruise day. (Ideally we would have flown in the day before, but our schedule would not allow it.) We have a 12:45 PAT and have scheduled ground transfer with DCL.

Questions:

1. Are the DCL buses from MCO continuous? Are we scheduled for a specific bus related to our PAT, or is it like DME where you just show up and get on the next one? Is it usually a long wait to get on the road?

2. If we get to port via bus earlier than our 12:45 PAT, are we able to get into the building?

The reason I ask is that we will have had a very early travel morning and I’d like to feed my kids something substantial at the airport before getting on the bus, but not sure if that’s a good idea. Or, would you just pack some food and go directly to the bus when we land? Just concerned about getting to port too early for our PAT.

Thank you for any info/suggestions you can provide to this DCL newbie!

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

I would not plan to eat anything substantial at MCO; I have found the service to be horrid. I would “stuff” them at the departure point, have food for the plane ride, and then granola bars or such that can be eaten while traversing the terminal.
The buses run continuously but they do “wait to fill” to a degree. The ride is about 60 min.
Your PAT time is when you board, not enter the terminal. The terminal can be chaotic and seating is limited so it’s a judgment call as to “too early.” There are no amenities in the terminal that I recall.

 

[MichelleCanada]

I agree about getting to the bus and to the port instead of getting food at MCO.

Was 12:45 the earliest PAT you could get? We took out our flight information for our last cruise and were able to book an earlier PAT. We ended up almost walking straight on after checking in.

 

[sethschroeder]

I would not plan to eat anything substantial at MCO; I have found the service to be horrid

Never had an issue there or any other airport. Its fast food.... Not sure how bad service can be.

Ate at Jersey Mike's earlier this month and employees were pleasant.

 

[jdb in AZ]

MCO has a McDonald's. The grand kids were quite fine with it.

 

[Marc D]

Contrary to what a PP said, PAT is meant to be your ‘Port Arrival Time’, not your boarding time. There are PATs starting at 10:30 but the ship never boards before 11:30. In special circumstances, guests have been held outside the terminal based on the PAT. It is a tool to stagger guests arriving on their own throughout the day so the terminal does not get too crowded.

However, when using the DCL shuttles, PATs are never enforced. If you add the transfer to your account before check-in, the system does not (usually) allow you to pick one. You just show up at the MCO counter, get your place on the next available bus and wait for it to depart.

Arriving at 9AM, you can expect to be at the DCL shuttle check-in around 9:30-9:45. By that time, the usual backlog of guests lined up before they started handing out places will have been processed. You should be able to check in immediately. You might have to wait 20-30 minutes for your assigned bus to board, and will be entering the terminal 45 minutes after that. You will therefore be in the terminal just before they start boarding around 11:30. Unless there is a problem that day, you should be onboard before 12:30.

I would just pack some snacks and wait to grab lunch onboard.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

Contrary to what a PP said, PAT is meant to be your ‘Port Arrival Time’, not your boarding time. There are PATs starting at 10:30 but the ship never boards before 11:30. In special circumstances, guests have been held outside the terminal based on the PAT. It is a tool to stagger guests arriving on their own throughout the day so the terminal does not get too crowded.

However, when using the DCL shuttles, PATs are never enforced. If you add the transfer to your account before check-in, the system does not (usually) allow you to pick one. You just show up at the MCO counter, get your place on the next available bus and wait for it to depart.

Arriving at 9AM, you can expect to be at the DCL shuttle check-in around 9:30-9:45. By that time, the usual backlog of guests lined up before they started handing out places will have been processed. You should be able to check in immediately. You might have to wait 20-30 minutes for your assigned bus to board, and will be entering the terminal 45 minutes after that. You will therefore be in the terminal just before they start boarding around 11:30. Unless there is a problem that day, you should be onboard before 12:30.

I would just pack some snacks and wait to grab lunch onboard.

Thank you for clarifying! I added the ground transfer before checking in and the system still had me choose a PAT.

I’ll pack lots of snacks for the kids and we’ll head straight to the bus and make our way to Port Canaveral when we arrive!

We have always wanted to do a Disney cruise but are always focused on our next parks visit. I’ve never really researched DCL much, and now we’re going on a cruise in 2 weeks (and just booked it last week!) Gathering as much info as I can (as quickly as I can )

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

Contrary to what a PP said, PAT is meant to be your ‘Port Arrival Time’, not your boarding time. There are PATs starting at 10:30 but the ship never boards before 11:30. In special circumstances, guests have been held outside the terminal based on the PAT. It is a tool to stagger guests arriving on their own throughout the day so the terminal does not get too crowded.

However, when using the DCL shuttles, PATs are never enforced. If you add the transfer to your account before check-in, the system does not (usually) allow you to pick one. You just show up at the MCO counter, get your place on the next available bus and wait for it to depart.

Arriving at 9AM, you can expect to be at the DCL shuttle check-in around 9:30-9:45. By that time, the usual backlog of guests lined up before they started handing out places will have been processed. You should be able to check in immediately. You might have to wait 20-30 minutes for your assigned bus to board, and will be entering the terminal 45 minutes after that. You will therefore be in the terminal just before they start boarding around 11:30. Unless there is a problem that day, you should be onboard before 12:30.

I would just pack some snacks and wait to grab lunch onboard.

Thanks - we’ve always used DCL transportation and done concierge so missed the nuance.

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

Never had an issue there or any other airport. Its fast food.... Not sure how bad service can be.

Ate at Jersey Mike's earlier this month and employees were pleasant.

Have travelled through MCO for 14 years, and I have found the service at all dining facilities to be consistently poor or marginal. YMMV

 

[sethschroeder]

Have travelled through MCO for 14 years, and I have found the service at all dining facilities to be consistently poor or marginal. YMMV

In comparison to what? You found the Chipotle service worse at MCO than any random Chipotle you will find on the side of the road? Chick-fil-a is worse than any other random Chick-fil-a?

Sorry YMMV doesn't allow you to just say "its bad" and move on. Can you cite specific examples of how the service was worse at MCO than the same dining place at other airpots or stand alone locations?

Also 14 years ago is not relevant to today and to be clear I am no stranger to travel I am in airports every other week and travel roughly half the year. I think its unfair to act like MCO is not standard to Airports and Fastfood locations. My whole point is not that MCO has stellar service but to say its perfectly average and you don't need to worry about changing eating habits to avoid it.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Your PAT time is when you board, not enter the terminal.

Not correct. PAT = Port Arrival Time.

However, your PAT is tied to the actual boarding number you get at check in.

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

In comparison to what? You found the Chipotle service worse at MCO than any random Chipotle you will find on the side of the road? Chick-fil-a is worse than any other random Chick-fil-a?

Sorry YMMV doesn't allow you to just say "its bad" and move on. Can you cite specific examples of how the service was worse at MCO than the same dining place at other airpots or stand alone locations?

Also 14 years ago is not relevant to today and to be clear I am no stranger to travel I am in airports every other week and travel roughly half the year. I think its unfair to act like MCO is not standard to Airports and Fastfood locations. My whole point is not that MCO has stellar service but to say its perfectly average and you don't need to worry about changing eating habits to avoid it.

I’ll give you 3 recent examples and then I’m done here. Starbucks concourse for SWA 25 min for 3 coffees, 3 sandwiches one sandwich wrong: March 2019. Chili’s late last year on a weekday in Dec (restaurant not full) 20 min for drinks, 45 min for food - lukewarm, and then hunt the waiter for the bill. Finally, same concourse McD, 15 min for breakfast sandwiches during breakfast, again lukewarm in June 2018.
I travel for business as well - fortunately not as much - and nowhere did I talk about eating habits. I advised the OP that the service was not stellar and she would be better off packing her own.
RIF

 

[Chemist]

Food court varying service.

What no one is addressing is that:
Line to board shuttles
Hour long ride to port
Line to checkin
Wait to get on ship often.

Yes. Take the time to feed your kids first!

Shuttles run continuously. You can wait an hour.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

Thanks everyone! Really appreciate your knowledge and opinions.

We fly to WDW pretty much every year so we aren’t strangers to the MCO food offerings. We have found the service to be hit or miss, but pretty much what you’d expect from an airport food court. The benefit is not lugging food around for everyone, but would take some extra time to stop and eat.

This is all really helpful! Hungry kids are cranky kids so I make sure to stay on top of that while traveling

 

[Marc D]

If you are ever stranded in MCO and in need of a meal, go to McCoy’s at the Hyatt. It is very very good, and they have a lot of items to go.