What time is Disney bus leaving MCO to Port Canaveral these days?

[Marc D]

As of this morning, I still not allowed to pick a PAT for my upcoming NYE cruise. The message clearly states that it is because I’m using DCL transfers from MCO. Some have speculated that the boarding group issued is tied to the moment when you checked-in. Since I checked in at midnight on Gold day, I should have a low group since Platinum can board anytime. I plan on being on the first bus, as usual.

 

[j1d1]

I chatted with a rep last night. She said that your boarding time if you take DCL transfers is still tied to how early you get on the bus and not the PAT in checkin. Not sure who to believe at this point. I think we'll try to catch an early bus and see what happens. I'll try to come back with an update once I see how it goes.

 

[Dug720]

I chatted with a rep last night. She said that your boarding time if you take DCL transfers is still tied to how early you get on the bus and not the PAT in checkin. Not sure who to believe at this point. I think we'll try to catch an early bus and see what happens. I'll try to come back with an update once I see how it goes.

All I know is at least in 2015 your boarding group was tied to your PAT (which you could select - and there is theory that you can hold off on transfer purchases until after you select a PAT and maintain...not sure if cancelling the transfers would allow you to pick a PAT and then repurchase them). I was on the first bus from MCO with the first PAT slot - got number 4 (lots of platinums that time so they pretty much started with 4 after all of them). A family who was on the same bus as me was at the check-in next to me and they got something like number 36 or higher. The father loudly (not impolitely - he just did not have an inside voice) questioned it, and the CM helping them explained that it was tied to the port arrival time they had selected.

 

[Weedy]

As of this morning, I still not allowed to pick a PAT for my upcoming NYE cruise. The message clearly states that it is because I’m using DCL transfers from MCO. Some have speculated that the boarding group issued is tied to the moment when you checked-in. Since I checked in at midnight on Gold day, I should have a low group since Platinum can board anytime. I plan on being on the first bus, as usual.

Maybe call Disney Cruise technical?? It’s one of the options when you call the main number.

 

[Marc D]

Maybe call Disney Cruise technical?? It’s one of the options when you call the main number.

I just mentionned my situation to contradict the theory they came back to the old way of doing things, where people on the DCL shuttle pick a PAT. I don't think it's a bug but a feature.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

Here’s s a datapoint: I checked in for my January cruise yesterday. It’s our second cruise, so we’re silver. We’re doing DCL transfers from MCO. I was offered PATs and picked 10:30.

Now there was a bit of a hiccup with my reservation...my TA forgot to add transfers when we originally booked the cruise, and then added them several months later. TA is actually comping the transfers for us because all of the quotes and documents we got upon booking/deposit said that transfers were included. So my reservation might be a little weird in Disney’s systems since I show as paid in full but the agency is picking up some of the cost.

 

[j1d1]

OK. I'm back from the Oct 15th sailing on the Dream and wanted to provide at least a little follow up. I'll summarize some of my prior posts. We had a transfer from MCO to Port Canaveral booked. First time Disney cruise. I first checked in about 6-8 weeks before the sailing, but don't recall exactly when. At that time, it would not let me choose a port arrival time because it said that we had the transfer booked. I went back to the check in website 1-2 weeks before the cruise to update some things and print the appropriate forms. It was now asking me to pick a port arrival time. Of course, just before the cruise, there were few times left. We ended up with a port arrival time of 12:15 or 12:30. I chatted with online customer service and was told that the port arrival time doesn't matter if you have a transfer booked. At that point, I wasn't sure what to believe.

We decided to arrive at MCO relatively early. The Hyatt had been booked, so we stayed at the Sheraton Suites near the airport. We arrived at MCO on the morning of embarkation at a about 9:15. We arrived at the port about 10:15-10:30. Times are approximate. 20-30 minutes to get through security and check in. We were given boarding group 16. I feel like we were on one of the earlier buses but still given a later boarding group. My takeaway is that the port arrival time selection now matters if you have Disney transfers booked.

I can't tell you how long we would have waited for that boarding group though. We have a special needs child, so my wife talked to one of the CM at the port. We were moved to boarding group 2 and were on the ship pretty quickly. I don't really know if this answers any questions, but wanted to come back to the thread with my experience. Again, my takeway is that port arrival times for those with transfers from MCO do matter.

 

[Dug720]

OK. I'm back from the Oct 15th sailing on the Dream and wanted to provide at least a little follow up. I'll summarize some of my prior posts. We had a transfer from MCO to Port Canaveral booked. First time Disney cruise. I first checked in about 6-8 weeks before the sailing, but don't recall exactly when. At that time, it would not let me choose a port arrival time because it said that we had the transfer booked. I went back to the check in website 1-2 weeks before the cruise to update some things and print the appropriate forms. It was now asking me to pick a port arrival time. Of course, just before the cruise, there were few times left. We ended up with a port arrival time of 12:15 or 12:30. I chatted with online customer service and was told that the port arrival time doesn't matter if you have a transfer booked. At that point, I wasn't sure what to believe.

We decided to arrive at MCO relatively early. The Hyatt had been booked, so we stayed at the Sheraton Suites near the airport. We arrived at MCO on the morning of embarkation at a about 9:15. We arrived at the port about 10:15-10:30. Times are approximate. 20-30 minutes to get through security and check in. We were given boarding group 16. I feel like we were on one of the earlier buses but still given a later boarding group. My takeaway is that the port arrival time selection now matters if you have Disney transfers booked.

I can't tell you how long we would have waited for that boarding group though. We have a special needs child, so my wife talked to one of the CM at the port. We were moved to boarding group 2 and were on the ship pretty quickly. I don't really know if this answers any questions, but wanted to come back to the thread with my experience. Again, my takeway is that port arrival times for those with transfers from MCO do matter.

It always has. I've been on the first bus with the first PAT and checking in next to someone who had a PAT of like 1:30 or so but was on the first bus. His Boarding Group was definitely tied to his PAT, so they had a long time in the terminal to wait.