Will I have time for a breakfast reservation?

[nittanyliongirl02]

We (DH, DD (2), and I) are staying for 2 nights prior to our 7 day cruise on the Fantasy in October. I plan to use DME from POR to Port Canaveral (and yes, I know there are other methods of transport, but I'm keeping it simple). I have read that DME picks you up a little later and gets you to the port a little later. I am fine with this, as our previous cruise, we arrived to port earlier, and still had to sit and wait. My question is....do I have time for a character breakfast reservation in the morning? I believe it's around 9:20. Not sure what time DME picks up you.

TIA!

 

[OKW Lover]

First, to avoid confusion please be aware that "DME" refers only to the airport to WDW (and reverse) bus service. DCL has their own transfer service from the parks and the airport to the ship.

Second, where are you thinking for eating for your character breakfast? Be sure to figure in transportation time plus a generous fudge factor so you'll be back at POR in time for your DCL pickup.

Third, you won't really know what time that pickup will be until probably the day before your cruise. So...its a difficult call.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I'd be after an earlier breakfast time looking for a character meal, since by definition you'd have to be going to GF, Poly, CR or the Boardwalk area (Cape May, Trattoria). You'd definitely want to take private transport (cab/uber/minnie van/lyft) both ways. And even with that, if you were looking at a 9:20 ADR... you might miss your bus at POR.

With a 9:20ADR, even assuming you were seated on time 10:30 is the earliest you'd be out of the meal, and sometimes cruise bus pickup can start as early as 10:30 or 11. And as stated, you won't know until the night before what time the pickup would be.

An 8AM would be far safer, but you'd still want to private transport to and from brekkie.

 

[dcassetta]

We (DH, DD (2), and I) are staying for 2 nights prior to our 7 day cruise on the Fantasy in October. I plan to use DME from POR to Port Canaveral (and yes, I know there are other methods of transport, but I'm keeping it simple). I have read that DME picks you up a little later and gets you to the port a little later. I am fine with this, as our previous cruise, we arrived to port earlier, and still had to sit and wait. My question is....do I have time for a character breakfast reservation in the morning? I believe it's around 9:20. Not sure what time DME picks up you.

TIA!

There is absolutely time for a character breakfast on your departure morning. However, I agree that 920 in the morning is too late. The night before your cruise, you will get information about your pick up time at your resort. It can be as early as 1030.

 

[nittanyliongirl02]

Thanks all. I may just cancel my reservation all together. We are headed to MNSSHP the night before, and I don't want to be up super early the next morning....although having a toddler, I probably will be anyways, lol!

 

[dcassetta]

Thanks all. I may just cancel my reservation all together. We are headed to MNSSHP the night before, and I don't want to be up super early the next morning....although having a toddler, I probably will be anyways, lol!

No characters, but pretty good beignets next-door at Port Orleans French Quarter.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

You will get lots of characters on the Fantasy!

 

[bumbershoot]

We were very content to simply eat at the food court at POR before the meeting time for the bus to Canaveral. We were very glad to not be rushing around and being worried.

 

[KdKyA]

We did MVMCP the night before our cruise last year. I was able to get a coveted spot for the Bon Voyage breakfast for 7:40. Bad mistake. Even with having private transport it was just too early. Everyone was too tired to eat. Our pickup wasn't until 12:00. We had a ton of time after breakfast. We even had time to go back to our room, except mousekeeping had thought we were gone for good and had already deep cleaned and set it up for the next reservation. Wasn't thrilled with that as we all wanted to lay back down and still had an hour before we technically had to be out. We went to the lobby and I fell asleep on the lobby bench. We had almost 2 hours to kill before the bus. That being said, I would not do a 9:20 reservation either. I think the very latest I would be comfortable with would be an 8:30 with private transport. We won't be doing a character meal that early after a party again. Not worth the money for too many tired kiddos. I agree with others, take a nice morning stroll over to French Quarter and enjoy some Beignets. The walk is gorgeous. Also, keep in mind that sleeping in really isn't an option either. The cruise luggage people come by around 8 am to pick up luggage. No way to really sleep through that. This time we plan on sleeping until the luggage handlers come and then getting ready and doing a breakfast at our resort (CBR). No rushing, just a leisurely pace.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would cancel the reservation. As others have said, there are a ton of characters on the Fantasy. POR is so lovely and they have good food there. If your pick up time is a little later and you are feeling adventurous, you could always boat over to DS for the morning. I, personally, wouldn't want to push it the morning after MNSSHP and you may be putting yourself in a stressful situation to get to the meal and back in time for your transport.

 

[MomOTwins]

You will get your cruise pickup time in the hotel room the night before so you can check the cruise transfer pickup time and see if it is noon or later —if so, you should be okay to keep it, and if not, cancel the breakfast resevation before midnight to avoid a cancellation fee. We did a breakfast last time at 8:20 with an 11am pickup and had time to spare, which is why I say noon or later for your 9:20 rez.

Just to echo what others said to make sure you know—there is no magical express to the port. It is a paid disney cruiseline transfer and it requires an advance reservation.

 

[kiford]

On one of our trips, we were at the GF before the cruise and I originally had an ADR for Kona Cafe (I forget the time). I decided to change it to GF Cafe and planned to do it at 9:15 am then changed my mind and decided to do it for 8 am. I figured I had to be up earlier than that anyway for luggage pickup at 8 am and I would rather eat and then relax than sit around waiting for breakfast and then wait again. Good thing I changed my mind - we had dinner at V&A's the previous night so didn't get back to our room until after late and discovered the DCL letter telling us pickup was at 10:30 am which was earlier than I'd ever been picked up. Since then, we always eat earlier than we think we need to and always eat as close to where we're staying as possible (preferably in the same resort) just to be on the safe side. If it turns out that we get picked up later, we can just go back to our room and read or watch TV for a couple of hours.