What's the easiest way....

[TandLMommy28]

to get to the ship?

Not necessarily the cheapest. But least headaches.

My theory is that the easiest thing to do is fly in the day before (so no worries about a late flight), ME to an on-property hotel and then take the Disney cruise transfer from there. Seems like that way from the time you land, you are in Disney's hands and there should be little to worry about.

Is this a correct assumption? I'm new at this. I've stayed on property six times now but this will be my first cruise.

 

[DVC4US]

Actually, the easiest way is to fly in the day before, stay at the Hyatt at the airport, and then take DCL transportation the next morning. Very easy!

 

[lanejudy]

I would say DCL transfers is the easiest, most convenient option. It won't be the cheapest. Magical Express will handle your luggage from MCO to your WDW resort, then it will be picked up again in the morning and taken to port. You'll see it onboard at your stateroom late that afternoon. But DCL transfers from WDW arrive at the port in the early afternoon and some people wish to get there earlier. In that case, as DVC4US suggests - stay at the MCO Hyatt and catch the first bus to port. Your luggage will be picked up from your Hyatt room and delivered to the ship same as from WDW.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[thumpie's mom]

Agree. We are from the West Coast and fly in the day before. We stay at the Hyatt...so easy, go from baggage claim, directly to the hotel. No muss, no fuss. The Hyatt is beautiful, good service and plenty of restaurants to choose from. Next morning, Disney picks up your bags and as posted previously, next time you see them is in your stateroom. You have time to have a nice relaxing breakfast, then head down to the DCL buses. Disney buses you over to the port and has a fun and informative video to watch on the way. Disney makes it very easy and stress free. Worth paying a little more and just be able to enjoy it. Enjoy your cruise.

 

[JMHDisney]

Definitely the Hyatt as other posters have said. I went to WDW before our last cruise and it is just more running around. For any future cruises we will be enjoying the simplicity of the Hyatt.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Good to know. I'm debating between the convenience and the fact that we are traveling without kids, so we'd have a chance to stay at one of the resorts we normally can't fit in (family of five), like WL or AKL... Decisions, decisions...

 

[bumbershoot]

I would say DCL transfers is the easiest, most convenient option. It won't be the cheapest.

I was going to say this before hypothetically then read down and she confirmed it...it *can* be cheap depending on the size of the group and what sort of rental car cost you get for your trip.

Good to know. I'm debating between the convenience and the fact that we are traveling without kids, so we'd have a chance to stay at one of the resorts we normally can't fit in (family of five), like WL or AKL... Decisions, decisions...

Are you ONLY planning on staying the one night at WDW?

If you were going to have more than one day total, I would fly in the day before, stay at the MCO Hyatt (it's IN the airport), take Disney transportation. On the way back, then have your WDW stay...and if you're doing that, honestly, towncar or DCL bus is going to be about the same, because there's no automatic baggage handling going back to the resort. You meet your stuff in the customs building, carry it to the bus or a towncar or rental car, and haul it to the resort.

And yes, you can use the DCL bus one way and not use it the other way.


If you're really wanting to stay at WDW the night before the cruise, then you should decide if you want to be at the port early or later. If you're fine getting there around 1pm or later, then the easiest is to take the DCL bus from the resort. (there is only one bus from each resort, and there are multiple stops, so from the resorts it gets there later...from the airport, however, transportation starts around 9, and it continues until 1ish with multiple buses that go straight to the port) If you want to get there *early*, though, hire a towncar. That will be the easiest way if you want to be there early. (b/c getting back to the airport decreases the ease of it all)

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

While I agree with the posts suggesting the Hyatt airport hotel would be the easiest, my family (and I) want all things Disney. So we do make a reservation for a WDW resort, take the ME to our resort, and spend the time exploring the resort (because we pick one we have not stayed at), going to Down Town Disney, or one of the Mini-golfs, going to our dining reservation that we made in advance to one of our favorite Disney restaurants, hanging out at the pool bar, taking a carriage ride through one of the resorts that provide that option, or renting a mouse boat from a resort that provides them, or a surrey bike. You get the message.

To those that stay at the Hyatt, what is there to do? The flight we normally take get us into MCO around 1:00 PM.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Our MCO flight usually gets us in at 8:45am, haha, so we would have allllll day at WDW. I think we would be bored to tears at the Hyatt unless we didn't take our usual flight (and most of them aren't nonstop but we take one that is because I hate flying so much, I can only handle taking off ONCE!). So I think we would have plenty of time to make something of being at WDW.

How early do you get on the ship? Does getting on the ship early matter a great deal? I'm sorry if these are silly questions, this is ALL new to me! If I could be lounging at, say, the AKL pool versus sitting and waiting to board the ship, I'll take the AKL pool. But if we can get on the boat early, that changes things a bit.

 

[kiford]

to get to the ship?

Not necessarily the cheapest. But least headaches.

My theory is that the easiest thing to do is fly in the day before (so no worries about a late flight), ME to an on-property hotel and then take the Disney cruise transfer from there. Seems like that way from the time you land, you are in Disney's hands and there should be little to worry about.

Is this a correct assumption? I'm new at this. I've stayed on property six times now but this will be my first cruise.

That's how we do it, although we usually stay 2-3 days at WDW prior to the cruise.

 

[kiford]

How early do you get on the ship? Does getting on the ship early matter a great deal? I'm sorry if these are silly questions, this is ALL new to me! If I could be lounging at, say, the AKL pool versus sitting and waiting to board the ship, I'll take the AKL pool. But if we can get on the boat early, that changes things a bit.

The earliest port arrival time is 10:30 but you don't board until 11:30-45 even with that PAT. If you take Disney transfers, you're picked up 10:30-12:30 (you'll be notified the night before what time your pickup is and the location to wait) and then you get to the port anywhere between 12-2. Note that you cannot go to your stateroom until about 1:30 so I never like to arrive early since I always have a carryon bag and I don't really want to haul it around. There's also no lines to check in or wait to board the ship.

They pick your luggage up from your room at 8 am usually (you don't need to be there). So we get up around 7:30, make sure our bags are ready for 8 am, and have breakfast usually about 8:30-9:00. Then afterwards, depending on when we get picked up, we might watch TV for a couple of hours or sit outside on the balcony or by the pool.

 

[DISNEYFAN3260]

Our MCO flight usually gets us in at 8:45am, haha, so we would have allllll day at WDW. I think we would be bored to tears at the Hyatt unless we didn't take our usual flight (and most of them aren't nonstop but we take one that is because I hate flying so much, I can only handle taking off ONCE!). So I think we would have plenty of time to make something of being at WDW.

How early do you get on the ship? Does getting on the ship early matter a great deal? I'm sorry if these are silly questions, this is ALL new to me! If I could be lounging at, say, the AKL pool versus sitting and waiting to board the ship, I'll take the AKL pool. But if we can get on the boat early, that changes things a bit.

It may not be the most convenient option, but this is exactly what we are doing with our family of 6 before our August cruise and really don't find it to be a hassle. Disney transportation is a breeze and for us, not much more expensive (if at all) than other options. We have a really early flight to MCO the day before, so instead of getting two expensive rooms at the Hyatt (which is super convenient, I agree!), we're using a few DVC points at AKL for the night. We'll hang out at the pool, eat, watch the animals, maybe head to some other resorts or do a monorail run for fun. (Our APs expired so I'm not buying park tics for only a few hours.)

We do want to get to the port early and have a 10:45 PAT so we'll take ME back to the airport to meet some other family who are cruising with us, then all go together on the DCL bus. I just provided ME with a flight number/time that coordinares with arriving at MCO by 9:30 am so we can be on one of the earliest buses to port. It isn't critical to be on the ship early, and probably less so if you're a party of two adults. You can't get into your room until 1:30 ish or so anyway, but I just enjoy every minute of the experience and choose to get on as early as possible. I also really like the chance to see some areas of the ship before they fill up - it's really beautiful! If you plan to eat at Cabanas when you board, it's also nice to get there early before the crowds really hit so you can find outdoor seating.

 

[ahain]

Our MCO flight usually gets us in at 8:45am, haha, so we would have allllll day at WDW. I think we would be bored to tears at the Hyatt unless we didn't take our usual flight (and most of them aren't nonstop but we take one that is because I hate flying so much, I can only handle taking off ONCE!). So I think we would have plenty of time to make something of being at WDW.

 

[ahain]

In the past, if we are not going to WDW, we would fly in to MCO (like you - an early arrival flight) and stay at the Hyatt, then take DCL transfers because it was soooo easy. But even though you can go to the pool, we do get bored at the airport all day. So, next time, we are trying something different...we'll be doing the Comfort Inn and Suites - Cocoa Beach "Fly-Snooze-Cruise" package, which several DIS folks have recommended in other posts. When you fly in and get to baggage claim, you call the shuttle who picks you up and takes you to Comfort Inn Cocoa Beach, (very near the port) where you can spend time at the beach or the pool and do some shopping/have dinner nearby. Next morning, the shuttle takes you to the port. After your cruise, the shuttle takes you back to MCO.

Clearly it is not going to be as easy-peasy as staying at the Hyatt Regency in the Airport would be, but it will give us more options for how we spend the day and will also save us a couple hundred bucks. [/QUOTE]

 

[ldo]

depending on how long you will have the day you get there, I'd have to say the AKL is one of our fav places in the world to stay. It's very romantic and the public areas are very nice. We love Jiko and Bomas. It's a great place to sit in the lobby or on your balcony with a glass of wine. So, I would say stay at AKL--but only if you will have some decent time to enjoy it. If you are coming in the evening, I agree with others to stay at the Hyatt.

 

[Shea&Van]

Good to know. I'm debating between the convenience and the fact that we are traveling without kids, so we'd have a chance to stay at one of the resorts we normally can't fit in (family of five), like WL or AKL... Decisions, decisions...

We are in the exact same boat (LOL). We are doing an adults-only cruise for our anniversary in November and I cannot wait! We are flying in early the morning before the cruise. There is a Very Merry Christmas Party that evening and we are considering staying at a WDW resort (family of five as well), and then hitting the parks for the MVMCP that evening. We like the idea of the Magical Express getting us over to the resort.

Considering doing a town car transfer the next morning even though it is more expensive for the two of us than DCL transfers, but I can be more specific about what time we want to be picked up and such.

Good luck with our decision! Have a great time on your cruise!!

 

[waggles02673]

If flying in early the day before and staying on WDW property take the ME to your resort. If you don't want to wait till early afternoon for the DCL bus take a towncar service to the port. This past cruise last month we flew in the early day before and stayed at VGF went to MK for the morning and then back to the pool. The next day we had Tiffany Towncar Service pick us up at 9:30am and were at the port by 10:30. We were sailing Concierge so the check in was a breeze and we were on the boat by 11:15am. Our next cruise in Nov we will be flying in the day before in the early evening staying at the Hyatt at MCO and taking DCL transfer the next morning from the airport. We have done this several times and it works out very well for us.