PAT & Boarding Group Tracking Thread

[dreamer17555]

I thought it might be nice to have a thread for tracking PAT & BG (similar to the IGT, OGT, VGT Thread). I really hope others will participate as I always find this info very helpful.

Before Sailing:
What ship are you sailing on?
What port (and terminal) are you departing from?
What PAT and boarding group (BG) did you get?
Are you taking Disney Cruise Line transportation?
If yes, where are you taking it from? (If it’s a Resort\Hotel, which one?)
If you're not taking DCL transportation:
What Castaway Club level are you?
Did you check in right when your window opened (midnight EST)?
Did you have any issues during check-in?

And then some questions to be answered (or edited) after the sailing like:

After Sailing Report:
What time did you arrive at the port?
What time did they let you into the terminal?
What time did you board the ship?
Anything you'd like to share (positive or negative) about your embarkation experience?
Anything you think new cruisers, or cruisers new to that port or terminal, should know?


I have two September sailings that I will be happy to report on as soon as I can check in. I hope others will also share their experiences.

 

[Erica1016]

Before Sailing:
What ship are you sailing on? Disney Magic, August 2025
What port (and terminal) are you departing from? Port Canaveral, Terminal 8
What PAT and boarding group (BG) did you get? 11:30, BG 8
Are you taking Disney Cruise Line transportation? No
If yes, where are you taking it from? (If it’s a Resort\Hotel, which one?)
If you're not taking DCL transportation:
What Castaway Club level are you? Platinum
Did you check in right when your window opened (midnight EST)? Yes
Did you have any issues during check-in? No

After Sailing Report: (will edit after sailing)
What time did you arrive at the port?
What time did they let you into the terminal?
What time did you board the ship?
Anything you'd like to share (positive or negative) about your embarkation experience?
Anything you think new cruisers, or cruisers new to that port or terminal, should know?

 

[awrites]

I can provide info from our May sailing earlier this year!

Before Sailing:
What ship are you sailing on? Magic, May 30 2025
What port (and terminal) are you departing from? Port Canaveral, Terminal 8
What PAT and boarding group (BG) did you get? 10:45-11:00, BG 3
Are you taking Disney Cruise Linetransportation? Yes
If yes, where are you taking it from? (If it’s a Resort\Hotel, which one?) Hyatt MCO
If you're not taking DCL transportation:
What Castaway Club level are you? Silver
Did you check in right when your window opened (midnight EST)? Nope, waited till around 9/10am MT
Did you have any issues during check-in?Nope, not during check-in. Later, I had to resubmit one passport photo and a computer glitch temporarily lost that we’d completed check-in (it was fixed within a day), but check-in itself went great!

And then some questions to be answered (or edited) after the sailing like:

After Sailing Report:
What time did you arrive at the port? Bus rolled up right around 11, I think, maybe slightly earlier
What time did they let you into the terminal? As soon as we arrived
What time did you board the ship? 11:40ish
Anything you'd like to share (positive or negative) about your embarkation experience?
Using DCL transportation from the Hyatt MCO was super-convenient! They can do the port check-in stuff right there so as soon as you get to the terminal you just wait till your boarding group is announced.

That includes having your Magic Band+/Disney Bands charged & ready to activate! Unfortunately we’d spaced it and put them in our checked luggage, so we had to wait till our bags were delivered to the stateroom before we could retrieve and have Guest Services activate.

Anything you think new cruisers, or cruisers new to that port or terminal, should know?
This isn’t specific to the port or terminal, but might be helpful for new cruisers:
I hadn’t sailed for 13 years and forgot Family of the Day needs to be announced before anyone boards! (Or maybe I’d always gotten there so late it wasn’t an issue.) Since all our check-in stuff was already done we spent a few minutes looking confused till a friendly CM explained what everyone was waiting for.