transfers when arriving day before

[sunil]

I am planning a 4 days land, 3 day ship trip in Feb-06 (2 adults, 2 kids - 10 & 7). Since we are flying from CA, we will arrive in Orlando on Sat. The "land" portion of the "cruise" starts on Sunday, which means we will need to stay in a non-Disney hotel the first night. Is it possible to purchase transfers including a non-Disney first night ? This means
a. Airport -> Non-Disney Hotel on Sat
b. Non-Disney-Hotel -> Disney Hotel on Sunday
c. Disney Hotel-> Cruise Ship on Thu
d. Cruise ship -> Airport on Sun

Has anybody purchased such a transfer ? Or is renting a car the best option ?

Also, is it actually possible to book 1 night at the Disney hotel (hotel only, without purchasing a "package", just for teh Sat-before-the-7-day-package) ? If this were possible, it would be very convinient - anybody done this ?


Sunil

 

[rsjj]

we flew in from CA the night before too. stayed at hilton garden inn. they provided free shuttle service from mco. and we also purchased disney transfer for the day of our cruise (sat). for sat. morning, we just took the hilton's complimentary shuttle back to the airport, and took the disney transfer from mco to port canaveral.

i think most of the hotels provide free shuttle service to the airport, so it wouldn't be a problem. check into that. good luck!

 

[HooKooDooKu]

You can purchase individual Disney transfers for $25 per person.

In our case for the up-comming panama canal cruise, we will arrive at Port Canaveral via rental car (there are a couple with drop offs within 5 miles of the port with free shuttle service to the port). But when we dock in CA, we have booked DCL transfers from the dock to LAX.

 

[nyccajun]

I've got a question for rsjj.

How did you meet up with the DCL people at the airport the next morning?
Did you go directly to the bus or did you have to go all the way to where they are near the security area ?

thanks

 

[rsjj]

nyccajun...we just walked up to the dcl counter in the airport. not really sure if they were located by the security area or not. but i do recall it being right by the curb! if that helps.

 

[deltadinah]

We are arriving the day before our 3nightland/4night sea package and staying at a Disney resort hotel for one night. We booked one night at Pop Century, as it is a value resort ($55 for one night) and our package is for AKL. We are taking Mears transport ($17/pp),from MCO to Pop, as there is only 2 of us. In the morning we are taking Disney transportation, (or a taxi if the bus takes too long). Pop will take our luggage over to AKL for us. At least this is what we have planned according to info I have gotten on these boards. From AKL we have DCL transportation to the ship from AK. Hope this helps.

 

[sunil]

Great - thanks for this info !! Did you just book your first night with your travel agent ? On Travelocity & Expedia I cannot find Disney hotels without also buying park tickets for that day, which obviously I do not want to do since I will be arriving at the airport around 8pm (flying in from CA). And I want to try & stay in the same resort the first night (Sat) as the land-sea package (the Polynesian), so I can save a needless check-in / check-out with young kids, and so I can get to the park early on Sun morning...

Sunil

We are arriving the day before our 3nightland/4night sea package and staying at a Disney resort hotel for one night. We booked one night at Pop Century, as it is a value resort ($55 for one night) and our package is for AKL. We are taking Mears transport ($17/pp),from MCO to Pop, as there is only 2 of us. In the morning we are taking Disney transportation, (or a taxi if the bus takes too long). Pop will take our luggage over to AKL for us. At least this is what we have planned according to info I have gotten on these boards. From AKL we have DCL transportation to the ship from AK. Hope this helps.

 

[zeke11]

Sunil -

We just did the land/sea in September.

We arrived the day before because the first day ticket to the parks would have begun on our traveling day which would have been a waste. So we wanted to get to WDW the day before and hit the parks first thing in the morning the next day.

I booked a extra night at Port Orleans Riverside. I could have gotten a room at one of the value resorts, but this way, we were able to just stay in the room as this was the hotel with our package. I think it was worth it. We arrived in the afternoon, got all of our stuff unpacked, got organized, then spent the evening at Downtown Disney.

The next morning we were ready to hit the parks - didn't have to worry about checking out/checking in again, etc. Well worth it, I think!

Have fun!
Kris

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Hi Sunil,
We did the land (Poly)/sea this past Dec with an extra night at Pop (to save $) added on at the beginning of the trip. Our Dreams TA booked our extra night separate from our land/sea package deal. I think it's wise of you to spend your extra night at Poly, the same resort as your land/sea. I felt we wasted valuable park time "moving" from Pop to Poly, even though Disney takes care of your luggage.

You will not be able to use DCL ground transfers from MCO to Poly if you are arriving the day before your land/sea package starts. We booked a towncar from a limo service to take us to Pop, but you can also rent a car. I just prefer to let someone else worry about the driving.

Good luck and have fun!
Tink

Also, is it actually possible to book 1 night at the Disney hotel (hotel only, without purchasing a "package", just for teh Sat-before-the-7-day-package) ? If this were possible, it would be very convinient - anybody done this ?


Sunil

 

[fljelad]

We are doing the very same thing except it's a 3-land/4-sea "cruise". Since we are flying from Denver and don't want to "waste" the best part of one of our days at WDW we are flying in the evening before. We'll stay at a local hotel near the airport and then take their free shuttle back to the airport the next morning where we'll get the Disney transportation back to AKL to begin our "cruise". We were going to tack an extra day on at AKL but we're saving nearly $260 by staying "off property". Well worth it, I'd say.

Oh. Our travel agent booked the extra hotel for us.

 

[mmouse37]

If you want to just book a one night hotel stay at WDW you can call their central ressie number at 407-W-DISNEY.

Or, you can contact the TA if you booked with one and they should have no problem getting you one night on property at either the same resorts as your package or a different one if you wish to save some bucks!!

MJ

 

[deltadinah]

My travel agent booked our night at Pop and just had it added on to our reservation although it has a separate confirmation number. You can also just call the Poynesian or central booking and have them book a single night.

 

[sunil]

A big THANKS for all the responses - great to have such an active board !! Good to know that I can just add a day at the same resort as the land-sea portion of the cruise. I will just have to decide if the $$$ cost is worth it. Costco is quoting me $38xx for a 4 days land, 3 days ship, Cat-6 package for Feb 12 2006 (42xx on DCL). Looks like adding a day at the Poly will be an additional $340, and of course an off-site for that first night can be had for much much much cheaper. Just have to decide if its worth it... (Or if we should just go to Hawaii or Mexico instead !! )

Sunil

My travel agent booked our night at Pop and just had it added on to our reservation although it has a separate confirmation number. You can also just call the Poynesian or central booking and have them book a single night.

 

[LK03]

My TA at Dreams Unlimited told me that even though we are coming in two days in advance before our land/sea vacation starts and staying on property that we would still be taken from MCO to the All Star Resort. I asked her to book us for the Magical Express one way since we'd be there two days before, even though we have the transfers purchased she said that DCL would get us to the resort. Is this true?