Odd Boarding Group Assignments

[Lady_S]

Hi All - Did our check-in last and got what I thought were odd Boarding Group assignments. Was curious if anyone had any insight into why this would happen.

We have 2 rooms with linked reservations. One with 3 guests (all silver). One with 2 guests (1 silver/1 first-timer). All guests have Disney transfers from MCO Hyatt to Port Canaveral. All guests are on the same flight.

I checked in Room #1 with 3 guests. When check-in was complete. Room #1 was assigned PAT: 10:45, Boarding Group 6.

I then checked in Room #2 with 2 guests. When check-in was completed 20 minutes after Room #1. Room #2 was assiged PAT: 10:45, Boarding Group 3.

Why would room #2 get an earlier Boarding Group? Is it because there was a slot for only 2 people in Boarding Group 3? I know it's probably only a 15 minute difference in boarding, but just curious what algorithm/business rule logic would cause this to happen. It's driving me crazy trying to rationalize it

 

[auntlynne]

Very curious.

 

[lanejudy]

Are boarding groups for DCL transfers actually assigned by check-in order? Or maybe some other random (or not random) way? I don’t know.

 

[sponica]

Are boarding groups for DCL transfers actually assigned by check-in order? Or maybe some other random (or not random) way? I don’t know.

I didn't check in until the following morning and got BG 6? Not that it mattered, I think they were on BG 5 when we got to the port and after the bottleneck at checkin/security, they were well past BG 6 by the time we got upstairs....I think they were on 12 or 13 by the time we left the restrooms.

 

[Lady_S]

From reading some Facebook group conversations, it sounds like the Boarding Group assigned at check-in might be a placeholder number and the actual boarding group is assigned the day-of (?). That would be consistent with what I read on this Board about the Hyatt MCO boarding Disney transfers by castaway level. So we would end up with a lower Boarding Group number than platinum, gold etc. If I remember, I'll update this thread in 30 days and report back our experience

 

[Girl of the South]

In my experience, the PAT time is more tied into the fact that you are taking DCL transport rather than “status”. Do check to make sure both cabins have reservations from the HYATT and not the Airport. But in the grand scheme of things, I’d just board both little groups with BG #6. Cabanas won’t run out of food, I promise!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

We left for the port on the DCL bus at 10am and when we got there they were already on group 6 so it won’t likely matter.

 

[mcd2745]

Reviving this old thread since there's a lot of discussion about this topic in the FB group for our upcoming cruise. Boarding group assignments don’t seem to make a lot sense. Platinum CC members, who checked in right at midnight and are using DCL transportation to the port, got worse PATs boarding group numbers than Silver CC members who checked in a week later. The main difference seems to be taking DCL transportation from MCO (whether staying at the Hyatt or not) seems to give you a better PAT and boarding group than if you take DCL transportation from a WDW resort.

Anyone else notice this?

 

[lanejudy]

The main difference seems to be taking DCL transportation from MCO (whether staying at the Hyatt or not) seems to give you a better PAT and boarding group than if you take DCL transportation from a WDW resort.

Yes, this has been reported before. DCL transfers from MCO Hyatt seem to be "prioritized" over DCL transfers from WDW resorts as far as boarding group assignments.

 

[jtkboston]

taking DCL transportation from MCO (whether staying at the Hyatt or not) seems to give you a better PAT and boarding group than if you take DCL transportation from a WDW resort

That makes sense to me, because WDW bus transfers in my experience get to the port later than the early MCO bus transfers.

 

[CamColt]

Reviving this old thread since there's a lot of discussion about this topic in the FB group for our upcoming cruise. Boarding group assignments don’t seem to make a lot sense. Platinum CC members, who checked in right at midnight and are using DCL transportation to the port, got worse PATs boarding group numbers than Silver CC members who checked in a week later. The main difference seems to be taking DCL transportation from MCO (whether staying at the Hyatt or not) seems to give you a better PAT and boarding group than if you take DCL transportation from a WDW resort.

Anyone else notice this?

We had a strange experience on our Fantasy cruise in February. As Pearl we (2 rooms/5 people) got BG 2. When they announced the family of the day and then concierge we got up and headed toward the boarding area but there were a ton of people camped out there. We thought they can't all be Pearl??? We then heard a CM say to another, Ok, official now? And she replied yes, and then Boarding Group 1 was announced. All the people hovering went in, BG 1....like a LOT of people. It definitely wasn't concierge as they had boarded from the lounge area.

By chance, DH had a coworker on this cruise with us and they had previously talked about it. She had gotten BG 3, taking the bus from the airport. He saw her in that group boarding ahead of us. We also noticed all these people had paper "tickets", like the old BGs they used to assign at check in. In talking to the coworker after the fact we found out as they got off the bus they were all handed BG 1 tickets. Based on the number of guests we saw boarding I would say it was definitely more than 1 bus worth. So I don't know if that is common now or a 1 time thing, but a lot of other guests, including first timers (the coworker) got BG 1, ahead of Pearl.

 

[enzy65]

In 2017 we got a card at the port after arriving on the bus from the airport and it said we had been magically upgraded or something like that to BG 1. Only time this has happened.
The terminal was in the middle of a bathroom remodel at that time.