WDW Post Cruise

[wishuponastar617]

Has anyone ever gone to WDW after their cruise? We are taking DCL transportation but wondering if we should go to a park or not based on what time we may arrive. I know you can do express walkoff but wondering what time the busses leave too.

 

[lanejudy]

Are you planning a stay at WDW post cruise? Or just thinking going for the day before a late flight out? If going for the day you'll need to figure out what to do with your luggage. The DCL Transfers only go to the WDW resorts, not to the parks; you may be able to take the bus even if you don't have a reservation. I think the buses leave for the resorts at 9am. I would probably opt for a rental car if you want to go to the parks just for the day, that way you do express debarkation at 7:30 and leave your luggage in the car.

 

[sponica]

I've done cruise + parks and picked up a rental at the airport. I'm pretty sure we did Seaworld that day though, universal the next day, then 2 days at the parks.

 

[Kwami]

The bus to the resorts leaves at 9:00am, or earlier if everyone is ready to go. The drive to WDW is usually less than an hour, but since there's only the one bus, you might be waiting a while until it gets to the resort that you're staying at. Still, you'll probably be all checked in and ready to go by lunch time.

 

[wishuponastar617]

Are you planning a stay at WDW post cruise? Or just thinking going for the day before a late flight out? If going for the day you'll need to figure out what to do with your luggage. The DCL Transfers only go to the WDW resorts, not to the parks; you may be able to take the bus even if you don't have a reservation. I think the buses leave for the resorts at 9am. I would probably opt for a rental car if you want to go to the parks just for the day, that way you do express debarkation at 7:30 and leave your luggage in the car.

We are staying at WDW post cruise! We have reservations at POR as of now.

 

[wishuponastar617]

The bus to the resorts leaves at 9:00am, or earlier if everyone is ready to go. The drive to WDW is usually less than an hour, but since there's only the one bus, you might be waiting a while until it gets to the resort that you're staying at. Still, you'll probably be all checked in and ready to go by lunch time.

Ok, 9am is helpful to know! I can't believe that there's only one bus, I'd think a lot of people would be doing that. Do you have a recommended time to try heading off the cruise ship to make the 9am bus? (I believe our cruise is pretty full!)

 

[dcassetta]

Ok, 9am is helpful to know! I can't believe that there's only one bus, I'd think a lot of people would be doing that. Do you have a recommended time to try heading off the cruise ship to make the 9am bus? (I believe our cruise is pretty full!)

There will be several buses going to the resorts. It all depends on how many people have booked transfers. Your bus may go to POR first or it may drop off at several other resorts first. There will be no way to know until that day. Disembarking at 8:30 or so should be fine.

 

[I Run Long]

We always go to WDW after our cruise. Like others have said, disembarking by 8:30 will be fine. You will be on a bus with other resorts. We stayed at AKV and ended up being the first drop off. We left our bags with bell services and headed to AK and got there around noon. We got a text that our room was ready around 2:30 or so. We love cruising first and then heading to the world. Enjoy!

 

[Kwami]

Ok, 9am is helpful to know! I can't believe that there's only one bus, I'd think a lot of people would be doing that. Do you have a recommended time to try heading off the cruise ship to make the 9am bus? (I believe our cruise is pretty full!)

There was only one bus when I did this, but my cruise wasn't very full. Disney will, of course, add more buses as needed. They'll all leave at 9:00am, though.

I got a notice in the app about when to debark from the ship. It was earlier than I expected and we had to skip breakfast, though you'd probably be OK if you have the first seating. Anyway, we walked off with our luggage at the indicated time and we were almost the last people on the bus.

 

[wishuponastar617]

There will be several buses going to the resorts. It all depends on how many people have booked transfers. Your bus may go to POR first or it may drop off at several other resorts first. There will be no way to know until that day. Disembarking at 8:30 or so should be fine.

Ok- thank you!

Just trying to decide if its worth going to Magic Kingdom that day or not! DECISIONS!

 

[dcassetta]

There was only one bus when I did this, but my cruise wasn't very full. Disney will, of course, add more buses as needed. They'll all leave at 9:00am, though.

Wow! How many stops did you make?

 

[wishuponastar617]

We always go to WDW after our cruise. Like others have said, disembarking by 8:30 will be fine. You will be on a bus with other resorts. We stayed at AKV and ended up being the first drop off. We left our bags with bell services and headed to AK and got there around noon. We got a text that our room was ready around 2:30 or so. We love cruising first and then heading to the world. Enjoy!

Thanks so much! I guess everything takes time- noon just seems late if we're leaving the Port at 9am. We are going with two littles (2.5 years and 1 year) so just making a decision of a park vs not.

 

[lanejudy]

There was only one bus when I did this, but my cruise wasn't very full.

Wow were there really that few people that one bus for all 25 WDW resorts? Or there was only one bus going to your resort? Usually there are 2-4 resorts served by one bus, and you don't get a choice of buses because there is just 1 that will stop at your resort, but there are other buses going to other resorts. I don't think I've ever heard of a cruise having less than 60 guests going to WDW post-cruise.

 

[I Run Long]

Thanks so much! I guess everything takes time- noon just seems late if we're leaving the Port at 9am. We are going with two littles (2.5 years and 1 year) so just making a decision of a park vs not.

If you want to get to your resort even faster, you may want to use a towncar service. We did that once when our kids were travelling with us, so 4 people, and we got to our resort by about 9:30am. We got off the ship pronto though. Grabbed a few things in Cabanas to hold us over and were walking to HS by about 10:00am. We were staying at BCV that time.

 

[lanejudy]

I guess everything takes time- noon just seems late if we're leaving the Port at 9am. We are going with two littles (2.5 years and 1 year) so just making a decision of a park vs not.

Could you change your transportation and maybe get a private car service? That way you get more control over when you leave the port and it should only take less than an hour to get to the resort. A quick drop of bags at Bell Services and you could conceivably be in the parks 10/11am.

 

[Mommb]

If you are staying at WDW after your cruise, you will have time to go to a park on debarkation day. Arriving around noon sounds right. I prefer to Rope Drop on Magic Kingdom day, so I can get through several rides with minimal crowds, so I would choose a different park with fewer rides for the first day, but that's a personal choice. The ship should dock by 7 am, so you should have cell service to use for Genie+/LL if you want.

I agree that if you want to arrive more quickly, you could use private transport, and that renting a car (although you'd have the additional time to get to the rental agency) would allow you to leave luggage in the car and delay stopping at your resort until after you'd spent time in the park. (That assumes you don't need to worry about temperature control on the luggage.)

 

[Kwami]

Wow were there really that few people that one bus for all 25 WDW resorts? Or there was only one bus going to your resort? Usually there are 2-4 resorts served by one bus, and you don't get a choice of buses because there is just 1 that will stop at your resort, but there are other buses going to other resorts. I don't think I've ever heard of a cruise having less than 60 guests going to WDW post-cruise.

Well, it was very shortly after the restart. The cruise was very quiet and the parks weren't busy after the cruise, either. We never had to wait more than 20 minutes for a ride. Times was different!

I only saw one bus, though... Maybe the others left before we got there? I don't know.

 

[TikiRob]

We just did this two weeks ago. We left the ship at 8:00am, picked up our bags and went through customs by 8:30am. Boarded a bus with a dozen other people and we were at Animal Kingdom Lodge by 10:30am. We went to Disney Springs, came back and swam, had dinner at JIKO and spent 3-4 hours at Magic Kingdom.

 

[auntlynne]

 

[wishuponastar617]

If you want to get to your resort even faster, you may want to use a towncar service. We did that once when our kids were travelling with us, so 4 people, and we got to our resort by about 9:30am. We got off the ship pronto though. Grabbed a few things in Cabanas to hold us over and were walking to HS by about 10:00am. We were staying at BCV that time.

Do you have any towncar recommendations? Obviously we would need car seats.