On our grand Summer 2011 family vacation, we let Disney
transport us from the moment our plane touched down in Orlando
We then used Disney transport to go from Port Canaveral to
our Walt Disney World Resort. We thought
we would once again be transported in luxury on a Disney Cruise Line bus. But that didn’t happen. Here’s the story:
After disembarking the ship with Key to the World Cards,
Passports, and Custom forms in hand, we headed down the escalator just after
exiting the ship, to the big luggage room.
I quickly found a porter and told him our bags were in the “red Mickey”
section.
Off we went to secure our bags. Found them!
The porter loaded them on his oversized two-wheeled hand cart and we
zig-zagged through the queue to customs.
It was great to visit with our porter. . . how many days do you work at
the port? How long is your day? He said the crew of porters work every day
any ship, for any cruise line, is in port.
He said they arrive quite early, say 4:00 am, and start taking bags off
the ship so that when the first guests disembark between 7:00 and 7:30 am, the
luggage is in the luggage room.
We made it through customs without any issues and them
outside the port terminal. I explained
that we were headed to a Disney resort and it was confirmed by a code on our
Key to the World Cards.
A Disney Cruise Line Cast Member then directed us to a white
van. Huh? The beautiful Disney Cruise Line busses were
loading right beside us. There were
already 4 guests in the van and we were next.
The porter and van driver quickly loaded our bags.
Well, since I had anticipated riding in the Disney Cruise
Line bus, which had a restroom, I had waited to use the bathroom until after we
got through the disembarkation process.
Now, I was looking at an hour and a half ride without a bathroom. Nope, not going to make it.
The van driver directed me to a security guard. I then had to go through the metal detectors
at the entrance to the port terminal, up the stairs and use the restroom. I was the only guest on that floor of the
building! I quickly made my way back
down the stairs and to the van. A Disney
Cruise Line bus was already pulling away from the port terminal.
By the time I returned to the van, it had been decided that
I would ride in the front, next to the driver.
We would make the ride to Orlando
stopping at 3 resorts—Pop Century to drop off two of our passengers, Caribbean Beach
Another issue. . . on the Disney Cruise Line bus, movies
would be playing. The boy would be
somewhat entertained. No movies on the
van. He was able to entertain himself with his DS. I was three rows in front of
him in our white van!
Not having expected this turn of events, I asked our driver
how this happens. He said that the van
is typically there and fills up first, early, to get guests to the Walt Disney
World Resorts. He was surprised that the
big bus filled up first and took off. He
told us that riders on the van had to be over 6 years old. Okay, we met that requirement.
It ended up being a lovely drive/ride. Our driver allowed me to take the following pictures
from the front seat of the van.
We saw parts of Orlando
Disney continued to transport us using Disney Transportation
to/from the parks—busses, boats, and monorails.
Disney’s Magical Express transported us from our resort to
Orlando International for our return flight home. Yeah, there’s a story with this one too, but
I’ll save it for another time.
Disney does its best to transport guests in a safe, timely,
and efficient manner which is another reason we keep coming back. There’s no added cost of rental cars or car
services when traveling to Disney.
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