Transfers from WDW Resort to Magic

[DANDD]

We will be taking our 3rd cruise on the Disney Magic this spring. In the past, we either rented a car to get from the airport to the terminal or taken Disney busses from airport and usually arrived around 11:00 a.m. at the terminal. This time, we are thinking about staying at a Disney Resort before the cruise... I called DCL and they said the bus picks up at the resort at 12:30 p.m. the day we sail. Has anyone taken the bus from the resorts to the terminal on the day of sailing? If we arrive at the terminal around 1:30 p.m., how long is the line to board the ship? We will still have to check in at the terminal since we are sailing on the Magic (not doing the combination cruise and park stay like on the Wonder). Will we still be able to get reservations at Palo? Thanks for any info!

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

DANDD, this reply is from another thread

Originally posted by ofiesty4u

If you're using the DCL transportation you will not get to the dock early. We just got home a week ago from our land/sea package... the DCL bus didn't pick us up until 12:30 and it's an hour ride to the port. We got reservations at Palo but not the day/time that we wanted.

 

[2disneycruzrs]

We did the land/sea pkg with the transfer and were able to get the seating/time we wanted. I think it's just hit and miss. We're getting picked up at 11:45 this Saturday so we'll see.

 

[Jeanny]

Dandd~
I've read that arriving later you can sometimes just walk right on,,not much of a line.. If you're not able to get a Palo's reservation, keep checking each day to see if there are any cancellations .. another poster said they checked (high tea??) and the place was empty sans one table... so there's always a chance

 

[Chattyaholic]

DH and I spent 4 nights at the Contemporary before our first Magic cruise. Our resort was the first pick-up point, I think it was 11:30 when we got on the bus. We made several stops at other resorts, plus an "unscheduled" stop at Downtown Disney to pick up a woman and her son who missed their scheduled stop. We didn't get to the ship until 1:45 p.m. and didn't board until after 2:00 p.m. Granted, there was no "line" to board but we felt rushed. We were starving and Topsiders was closing at 3:00, so we had to hurry and eat, and we didn't have much time to "check out the ship" before the lifeboat drill. We didn't want to make Palo reservations, but I'm sure that if we had wanted to we wouldn't have been able to since we got on board so late.

For our upcoming cruise we are flying in 3 days early and renting a car to do some sightseeing (my parents are coming with us and have never cruised before). We will take the DCL bus back to the airport, but I wouldn't take the bus from a resort again, it just takes too long IMHO.

 

[MarkLem]

We're staying 5 nights before the cruise at WDW. We are not going to take the Disney bus due to it's late schedule.

We want to be at the Port by 10:30 AM or so, since getting the Palo and spa reservations that fit our schedule is important for us.

Ther are 5 of us, so we are either going to take Happy Limo, or have a rental we can turn in at the Port

 

[CRSNDSNY]

We wil never take DCL transportation from WDW again.

This past January, we stayed at the Dolphin and were picked up at 12:00 or 12:30 -- I forget which. BUT, since our bus wasn't too full, we made a pickup at AKingdom to pick up additional passengers. Because of this, we didn't get to the terminal until 2pm. It didn't take long to check in, but by the time we got done doing what we needed to do, it was too late for the lunch buffet.

We are using Happy Limo this December instead.

 

[Rence]

Since Disney likes to offer incentives for their guests, like "stay at a WDW resort and get into the parks an hour early"

One would think that they could do the same with their transfers. "Take Disney to the ship and be the first to board"

Wonder why they almost provide a disincentive to using their service.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Originally posted by Rence
Since Disney likes to offer incentives for their guests, like "stay at a WDW resort and get into the parks an hour early"

One would think that they could do the same with their transfers. "Take Disney to the ship and be the first to board"

Wonder why they almost provide a disincentive to using their service.

I think what may be happening is that the buses that pick up resort guests to take them TO Port, are the same buses that are dropping off resort guests FROM the Port. Therefore, they are busy in the morning and can't get to us earlier. Just my thought.