Boarding # with DCL transport from MCO

[yfamdiscruise]

Has anyone gone in the last month or so and can let us know what time they boarded the MCO bus and which boarding number they received upon arrival?

 

[Barbamama]

Following this thread; we are also staying at the MCO Hyatt before our March cruise and so were not offered a PAT. The enployee I spoke to on the phone said to go check in as soon as we arrived at the port and that we would get the next available boarding number...

 

[mmouse37]

Does anyone know if Platinum still receives 1 or 2 as boarding number?

yes, sometimes it is #1 and sometimes #2 at Port Canaveral. Mostly #1 for Platinum.

MJ

 

[ladyofthetramp]

I'd sooner just walk on the boat. Two hours on a three or more day cruise isn't going to make a big difference ultimately, especially if it just makes everybody tired and cranky. Take your time, sleep in a bit and get there refreshed and ready to have a blast after going straight to your room to drop your bags off.

Always our game plan. Better start to the cruise than being in a crowded terminal. More relaxing way to kick things off. For us anyway.

 

[mktt]

We just got off the Fantasy this morning.
Last Saturday we were on a 9:40 Disney bus from MCO.
We’re silver and did our online check in at midnight of the first available day.

We were given a boarding number of 18.
The group checking in next to us on our left got 16, on our right got 3.
We basically had a two hour wait sitting in the floor of the terminal before our boarding number was called (around 12:25)

 

[yfamdiscruise]

We just got off the Fantasy this morning.
Last Saturday we were on a 9:40 Disney bus from MCO.
We’re silver and did our online check in at midnight of the first available day.

We were given a boarding number of 18.
The group checking in next to us on our left got 16, on our right got 3.
We basically had a two hour wait sitting in the floor of the terminal before our boarding number was called (around 12:25)

Thank you for the update @mktt !!! I was really hoping someone would reply with a recent update. Your response was very helpful!! I had planned to be on one of the first buses out of MCO, but your experience is leading me toward just taking our time and having a leisurely morning rather than scrambling for that bus. It’s a shame they don’t have the system ironed out. It doesn’t seem fair when you no longer have the option to pick a PAT and then the boarding numbers being handed out are all over the board.

 

[mktt]

Thank you for the update @mktt !!! I was really hoping someone would reply with a recent update. Your response was very helpful!! I had planned to be on one of the first buses out of MCO, but your experience is leading me toward just taking our time and having a leisurely morning rather than scrambling for that bus. It’s a shame they don’t have the system ironed out. It doesn’t seem fair when you no longer have the option to pick a PAT and then the boarding numbers being handed out are all over the board.

While I’m sure it’s not random it sure felt like it. As I mentioned we checked in next to people who arrived on the same bus as us and we all got different boarding numbers. I wish we had gotten the 3 that the group on our right got. We had a few meltdowns (3 and 6 yr olds) while waiting to board.
I wonder if the best plan is to add transfers after check in so one can get a PAT.
I also wonder how full the buses are after 10:30 or so, and if this is a way to even out the bus traffic.

 

[WIDisCruiser]

Another data point for you from the 1/20 Fantasy. Party had 3 staterooms. We checked in online before adding transfers and had selected whatever the earliest PAT available was (10:30?). We then added transfers 30 days out and couldn’t see the PAT anymore. We were on maybe the fourth bus and were group 5. The other two parties booked later and included transfers from day one. One party was on bus 2 and were group 14. The last party was on our bus and was 17. I’m going to add transfers after selecting PAT in the future.

 

[kkayluvsdis]

This is discouraging info to hear. I thought that it was actually advantageous to book Disney transfers and not have to select a PAT.

We were certainly hoping that would be the case since our family traveling with us will be utilizing the Disney bus and meeting us at the Port. We were hoping to board at a similar time. We are Silver and were able to choose the first PAT slot.

 

[yfamdiscruise]

This is discouraging info to hear. I thought that it was actually advantageous to book Disney transfers and not have to select a PAT.

Yes!! ^^This is the main reason we booked the Hyatt and DCL transfer. Turns out it’s actually a disadvantage.

 

[yfamdiscruise]

Another data point for you from the 1/20 Fantasy. Party had 3 staterooms. We checked in online before adding transfers and had selected whatever the earliest PAT available was (10:30?). We then added transfers 30 days out and couldn’t see the PAT anymore. We were on maybe the fourth bus and were group 5. The other two parties booked later and included transfers from day one. One party was on bus 2 and were group 14. The last party was on our bus and was 17. I’m going to add transfers after selecting PAT in the future.

That’s really interesting, @WIDisCruiser. Thanks for the info! Good to know for the future.

 

[Fyrefly]

Well that's stressful. There were clearly so many Platinum/Gold people on our cruise that I couldn't get any tastings or Palo brunch so I was counting on being able to board early and take care of it. Now I don't know whether to shoot to go early from MCO and hope for the best or if we're screwed no matter what and we should just come in later.

 

[Barbamama]

I wonder if the best plan is to add transfers after check in so one can get a PAT.

We DID have a 11:30 PAT but when I called DCL to add ground transfers, our PAT disappeared on our Reservation profile, replaced by the message that we didn’t need a PAT as we were using DCL transfers

 

[daisyx3]

Does being a silver CC member matter at all with this? We are looking at going from the Hyatt as we did in March of 2016...we were on the first bus, got right in the CC line, and were in a pretty quick boarding group. If I still have a chance to get a high boarding number I might rethink the DCL transfer as well.

 

[Starwind]

Does being a silver CC member matter at all with this? We are looking at going from the Hyatt as we did in March of 2016...we were on the first bus, got right in the CC line, and were in a pretty quick boarding group. If I still have a chance to get a high boarding number I might rethink the DCL transfer as well.

OP here, we were silver, on our 5th cruise.

We are seriously rethinking DCL transfers. Not sure if that means we will spend the night before at WDW and use DCL transfer, or will use a private transfer or what. But Hyatt + DCL transfer is probably not what we will be doing in the future, though the Hyatt is a great hotel and we enjoy staying there.

SW

 

[daisyx3]

Thanks! If it worked like it did for us two years ago, I'd still do the Hyatt, but if we book the 3 night this summer we are thinking of I think I'll just stay one night at WDW and go from there.

 

[Stratus22]

I too sailed a few weeks ago and we are gold members and utilized the DCL Bus and arrived at the terminal at 10:45. I was given boarding number 19 and a family I was traveling with who were also on our bus were given boarding number 2 and they are Silver members. I'm really not understanding their reasoning behind the boarding numbers. I let them know on my survey I took.

 

[hanscarlet]

Ugh this is discouraging.... this is our first time we were not given a PAT because we had DCL transfers on our reservation. We are at the Hyatt too and plan to take the earliest bus possible. If I get a late boarding number I'm going to be super ticked.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

It seems:

The DCL transfer folks with low numbers picked their PAT prior to reserving the transfer

And

The DCL transfer folks with high numbers reserved their transfer without picking a PAT

 

[jk and ek]

On our last cruise, we drove ourselves and chose the earliest possible PAT.

My in-laws flew in, stayed at the Hyatt MCO, used DCL transfer and had no PAT. The morning of the cruise, we rope-dropped port, were in boarding group 3. We were among the first onboard. We made an inquiry to guest services and then headed down to deck 2 to wait for the Enchanted Garden to open for lunch. 30 seconds after we got down the steps, my husband heard "Please welcome the K_____ family!" from just upstairs. He was like, "wait.....could that be them already??" and he ran up and sure enough the rest of the family was boarding...maybe only 15 or so minutes after we did.

Meanwhile they woke up when they felt like it, had a leisurely breakfast, got on the bus (NOT the first bus...maybe the third?) and got to the port hours after we did yet were on board at essentially the same time. It was their first cruise, so they were not even Silver level.

So. It just goes to show you can't really control the situation too much. This year we're all doing MCO/DCL transfer and I'm not too terribly concerned.