Time between disembarkation and arriving at WDW resort

[toughmudder]

Howdy all... we are booked on a 4-night cruise in February that leaves on Sunday, Feb 3 and arrives back at Port Canaveral on Thursday, Feb 7. The itinerary states we arrive at 7:30am.

For those that have had experience cruising on DCL... what would be the approximate time after getting through all the checks, etc. that it would take to arrive on-site at a WDW resort (we have a town-car service)? Are we talking 2 hours or less.... or more like 3-4 hours?

We are trying to plan out our day, and want to leave enough time for check-in, etc. but would like to hit one of the parks that day.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Rob S.]

After you get your bags and clear customs, you should be at WDW in less than 90 minutes.

 

[kcashner]

There are a couple places where you can influence the speed....but in most cases you can be thru Customs in 15 minutes. After that, depending on traffic it will be 75-90 minutes till you should be able to hand the bags to the bellman at your resort.

 

[Namsupak]

Even though the itinerary says 7:30 am keep in mind sometimes you won't get off the ship until 9-9:30, sometimes later. Also it will somewhat depend on if you eat the served breakfast the last day. If you have the first seating of dining your breakfast time will be earlier than the people that have the 2nd dining time. It is also your choice to do a buffet breakfast or just skip it altogether. When you are out at the curb and the car service comes to pick you up then 90 minutes is a good estimate, depending on which resort you are staying the distance may be slightly farther. You can definitely hit the parks that day. Often when we have done this our room isn't even ready yet so just leave our things with bell services and then go out to the parks instead of waiting at the resort.

 

[kcashner]

To further expand on the above.....normally US Customs "clears" the ship before 7:30 and guests may disembark at that time. In 3 of our 25+ cruises, the clearance did not come till after 8:30; once it was 9:10. When that happens, there are LONG lines of guests waiting to get off and it is a MESS. However, that is a relatively rare occurrence.

On the last morning, you are assigned a dining room and time for breakfast based on your dinner assignment from the night before (early dinner = early breakfast.) If you don't like your assignment, you have several options. You can talk with your head server to see whether he will be able to seat you at the opposite time, you can eat at the buffet in the pool deck restaurant, or you can order room service the night before--get milk, juice, cereal and store the perishables in your fridge. There is no room service to non-concierge cabins on the last morning.

So, it is largely up to you whether you are ready to disembark as soon as the ship clears. If you have main (early) seating and eat as assigned, you will be. If you choose to keep your luggage with you on the last night and wheel it off yourself in the morning, you'll save a little time in the terminal and usually be allowed to disembark a little earlier (you don't have to wait till the luggage is set up in the terminal!) However, claiming luggage in the terminal typically takes only a few minutes if that system works better for you.

 

[MaleficentRN]

We disembarked at 9 ( Huge line at customs!), stopped at Publix on our way to WDW and arrived at Contemporary at about 11. Checked in and were at HS by noon.