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

[Jillpie]

The last time we cruised was five years ago, and really loved taking the bus after a night at the Hyatt. It was so easy. And will be doing it again. What time is the very first bus leaving in the morning now?

 

[Marc D]

The first two busses leave around 9:30, arriving at the terminal at 10:15, 15 minutes before the terminal opens to guests arriving independently. You enter through the right door and get the chance to take pictures of the near empty terminal.

People start lining up around 8:30 and they begin handing out places on the busses around 9.

 

[Jillpie]

Awesome, thank you!

 

[CamColt]

If you stay there, how do you get on one of the first buses?

 

[mmouse37]

If you stay there, how do you get on one of the first buses?

Just show up early. First come, first serve.

MJ

 

[Marc D]

If you stay there, how do you get on one of the first buses?

Indeed, tickets are handed out on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no advantage in being Concierge to secure a place on a specific bus, but they allow Concierge guests to board first on their assigned bus.

 

[Lmichele]

Do you have to be down their early? I was thinking we'd head down to the transportation area like 10:00am.

 

[Marc D]

Do you have to be down their early? I was thinking we'd head down to the transportation area like 10:00am.

As long as you show up before the last bus in the afternoon, you are ok. If you arrive around 10, you'll probably leave around 10:30 and arrive at the terminal at 11:15. By the time you are checked-in, the ship should begin to board. You'll have minimal wait time in the terminal.

 

[Weedy]

FYI: when taking Disney Transportation you can’t select a Port Arrival Time. People have been reporting that even if they arrive on the first bus the are getting High boarding numbers.
Just wanted you to know
Here is a thread
https://disboards.com/threads/boarding-with-dcl-transport-from-mco.3653302/

 

[Lmichele]

FYI: when taking Disney Transportation you can’t select a Port Arrival Time. People have been reporting that even if they arrive on the first bus the are getting High boarding numbers.
Just wanted you to know
Here is a thread
https://disboards.com/threads/boarding-with-dcl-transport-from-mco.3653302/

So that thread thoroughly confused me. We booked DCL Transfers from MCO, we are staying at the Hyatt and when I did online check in last week I was able to select a PAT. I picked 11:30am - 11:45am. So we didn't have to rush to eat breakfast and get on a bus. Now, I'm wondering if selecting that was all for not.

 

[j1d1]

So that thread thoroughly confused me. We booked DCL Transfers from MCO, we are staying at the Hyatt and when I did online check in last week I was able to select a PAT. I picked 11:30am - 11:45am. So we didn't have to rush to eat breakfast and get on a bus. Now, I'm wondering if selecting that was all for not.

I’m also pretty confused. We are leaving on Monday on the Dream. We have tranfers from MCO to PC. When I first did online check in, it wouldn’t let me pick an arrival time because we had the transfers. I later went back to change some things, and it did let me pick an arrival time. I picked the earliest time available 11:30. I had planned on trying to get on one of the first buses but don’t want to have to sit around in the port for too long. Now I’m not sure what to do.

 

[Weedy]

Interesting that must be a recent change (for the good).
Everyone use to be able to pick a PAT, then they changed it. If you were on a Disney bus you couldn’t. As you can tell by the thread it caused problems. It’s a good thing to see it changed back.
So.....never mind

 

[j1d1]

Interesting that must be a recent change (for the good).
Everyone use to be able to pick a PAT, then they changed it. If you were on a Disney bus you couldn’t. As you can tell by the thread it caused problems. It’s a good thing to see it changed back.
So.....never mind

Yeah. Fairly recent change as only a week or two between when I first did checkin and when I went back in to change it.

Now I’m wondering what happens if we take the early bus with a later arrival time. This thread made me go back to look at our arrival time. Turns out the earliest it would let me pick was 12:15. I’m a little annoyed that there was no communication regarding the change. This is our first cruise. Trying to figure everything out is surprisingly challenging. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, they change something on you without notice.

 

[Weedy]

And another FYI:
Typically At Port Canaveral
When you arrive and check in you will be given a boarding number. The earlier your PAT the lower your boarding number. The earliest PAT is 10:30-1045
11:15-11:30 they start boarding the ship.
Concierge and Platinum get boarding number 1.
Once they start calling numbers it goes pretty fast. They call the next number (sometimes numbers) about every 5 minutes.
12:00 pools, slides, restaurants and bars open
1:30 cabins ready
3:30 pools, slides, restaurants and bars close to get ready for the lifeboat drill
4:00 lifeboat drill
4:30 quick service restaurants and pools, slides and bars reopen
4:30 sail away party
Have a great cruise

 

[Dug720]

Yeah. Fairly recent change as only a week or two between when I first did checkin and when I went back in to change it.

Now I’m wondering what happens if we take the early bus with a later arrival time. This thread made me go back to look at our arrival time. Turns out the earliest it would let me pick was 12:15. I’m a little annoyed that there was no communication regarding the change. This is our first cruise. Trying to figure everything out is surprisingly challenging. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, they change something on you without notice.

Your boarding group will be tied to your PAT. You can certainly take an earlier bus, but you will be hanging out in the terminal for a longer time.

 

[Weedy]

Yeah. Fairly recent change as only a week or two between when I first did checkin and when I went back in to change it.

Now I’m wondering what happens if we take the early bus with a later arrival time. This thread made me go back to look at our arrival time. Turns out the earliest it would let me pick was 12:15. I’m a little annoyed that there was no communication regarding the change. This is our first cruise. Trying to figure everything out is surprisingly challenging. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, they change something on you without notice.

Usually about 12:30-12:45 they have everyone waiting onboard and they go to an “open boarding” meaning the lines waiting to board are gone and you check in and walk on.
It’s about a 45 minute drive from the airport to the port.

 

[Weedy]

Your boarding group will be tied to your PAT. You can certainly take an earlier bus, but you will be hanging out in the terminal for a longer time.

But for first time it can be fun.
The characters come out and take pictures. There is a model of the ship, there is a balcony you can walk out on and see the ship and there is the only pressed penny machine for the cruise line. It’s .51 per design and there are 6 designs. There is a change machine for dollars to quarters but be sure to have pennies.
This was from out first cruise. She’s now in college

 

[j1d1]

I appreciate all the helpful replies. As a newbie, I just wanted as much time on the ship as possible. I thought that arriving early for a transfer bus was going to allow me to do that. And up until very recently it would have. We’ll still have a great time.

 

[Weedy]

I appreciate all the helpful replies. As a newbie, I just wanted as much time on the ship as possible. I thought that arriving early for a transfer bus was going to allow me to do that. And up until very recently it would have. We’ll still have a great time.

Actually you’ll probably be about the same. If I were you I wouldn’t get on one of the first buses but maybe about 10:30. By the time you arrive and check in they should have started boarding so the terminal won’t be quite as crazy. Check in take some pictures, press some pennies (it’s located to the left of the yellow Mickey Ears entrance onto the ship). By then they should be calling your number.

 

[TortoiseTaughtUs]

We were on the Dream as first-timers in August, and we got to the port on the second DCL bus out of MCO. We were assigned #16. I was surprised, but things did move pretty quickly once boarding actually started. In retrospect, I can’t imagine that the first people on got more than an hour’s extra vacation on the ship, and now that we have the first sailing behind us that doesn’t seem like such a big deal. We’re getting on the Fantasy in April, and seriously considering not even trying to get to the port before open boarding begins.