Arrival Day Dilemmas: Disney Cruise Line

“I’m too excited to sleep,” would be a universal feeling prior to a Disney cruise.  Getting caught up in the excitement and planning for a Disney cruise can leave some guests feeling overwhelmed on embarkation day, or the day you board the ship and sail.  There are several potential arrival day dilemmas for a Disney cruise.

Are you flying?  For us the answer is yes, so the next question would be, when are you flying?  There are various choices.  Some guests fly a handful of days prior to sailing and enjoy a stay at the beach or the Walt Disney World Resort or other theme parks or resorts.  Other guests fly the day prior to sailing and still some fly in the day of the cruise. 

If you select to have Disney Cruise Line make your flight arrangements, you can indicate a preference for flying the day prior to sailing or the day of sailing.  For our first Disney cruise, we had DCL make our arrangements for flights the day prior to sailing.  Since then, we have continued to fly the day prior to sailing, but have made our own flight arrangements.  We did fly the day of sailing for our Mexican Riviera itinerary as we had a non-stop flight and the time zone changes were in our favor—giving us more time to get to the ship. 

Since the ship will sail whether all guests are on board or not, flying one or more days prior to sailing will make getting to the ship on time more feasible.  Just a note that we had a family on our flights that were sailing that day and did not make it to their 7 night itinerary, but instead were on our 4 night itinerary due to not getting to the ship on time.

How are you getting to the port?  There are several options. . . driving your own car, renting a car, local hotel shuttles, car service, or Disney transfers.  Some guests live close enough (lucky!) to drive right to the port and park their car for the duration of the sailing.  There is a daily/weekly fee for parking at the port and several warnings about what should not be left in your car, such as food as you may find your car full of ants when you return.  Renting a car is an option, but make sure that the rental can be returned near the port so that you don’t have to pay for daily rental and parking when the car is not in use.  Some guests stay at hotels and resorts near the port and then rely on shuttles to get to/from the port that may be included in the cost of the stay.  Check about availability and cost of shuttles prior to reserving your stay.  Reserving car or van service is another option for getting to the port.  Depending on the size of your traveling party, this may be the best value in terms of cost.  Using Disney transfers to get to the port is convenient, yet unlike Disney’s Magical Express that will transport guests for free, there is fee for Disney transports.  The cost of Disney transfers varies by port.

We have used hotel shuttle services to get from the ship to our hotel for a post cruise stay and then reserved an airport shuttle service to get us from our post cruise hotel stay to the airport for our Disney cruise on the west coast.  Disney transfers took us from the airport to the port.

For our Disney cruises sailing out of Port Canaveral, we have used Disney transfers from Orlando International Airport to the port, port to airport, and port to Walt Disney World Resort.  Disney transfers are also available from Walt Disney World Resorts to the port.

As I said previously, a car/van service may be more economical depending on the size of your traveling party.  Here’s why:  Disney transfers from Orlando International to the port are $70 per person.  A car/van service for Orlando International to the port is about $210 for a town car and then a bit more if it is a van or SUV.  So, for a traveling party of 2, Disney transfers would be less than a town car service.  A family of 3 is a wash in terms of price, but a family of 4 or more would save money by reserving town car or van service as the price is by trip, not per person.

What time will you arrive at the port?  Disney Cruise Line is now requiring guests to select a port arrival time or assigning a port arrival time.  The Port Terminal in Orlando does not open until 11:00 am.  Boarding typically begins between 11:30 am and noon with guests being assigned a boarding group number and boarding goes in the order of those numbers.  Guests with earlier arrival times have lower numbers, etc.  If you select or are assigned a later boarding time, say 2:00 pm, even if you arrived at the port prior to that time, your boarding group number would be for later in the day and there would still be a wait until 2:00 pm for boarding.

This is when both flying in prior to sailing and using Disney transfers to the port can come in handy.  Disney rewards early arrivers with an 11:00 am port arrival time and when checking in for Disney transfers at Orlando International, you can be some of the first to arrive at the port and get a low boarding number—click here to read more.  (One way to get the most value out of your cruise is to get the most out of your first day on board,)

What to do at the port?  Well, once you make your way through security, have your boarding documents handy, have checked in, and are waiting for your boarding number to be called, there’s not much to do.  There is a place to register kids for the kids’ clubs—get wrist bracelets, etc.  Characters can be found posing with guests and signing autographs.  Be ready to stand in line as the lines form quickly—and we get back in line after meeting the character as by the time we get to front of the line again it will be a new character.  There is no food at the port, so if you anticipate a long wait, bring snacks with you.  Just know that you will not be allowed to take open food with you when you board the ship and will need to throw anything away that has been opened and not finished.

What to do when you get on the ship?  This is where prepared cruisers get the jump on those not prepared, but since you are reading this, even if it is your first Disney cruise, you will be in the prepared category.  Because you know that the staterooms won’t be available to guests until 1:30 pm or so and your luggage won’t be delivered until even later in the afternoon, you will have a carry-on with everything you might need to enjoy your afternoon on the ship and know you can change in any of the bathrooms.  This is where things can go south quickly, as guests may want to swim, but don’t have swimsuits or sunscreen with them. 

Now, cruise line guides will give you advice about making dining reservations, spa appointments, reserving port excursions, etc. when you first board.  But, since it is highly likely that you have already done that during your on-line check-in, there would be no reason to spend your first afternoon onboard taking care of business.  The only thing we would recommend is reserving any on board activities that you just read about in the Personal Navigator that overviews the ship’s activities that was given to you when you checked in for your cruise.  Examples would include special tours, tastings, or entertainment events.  A caveat would be any “specials” that might be available at spas that were advertised in the previously mentioned Personal Navigator.

We recommend spending your first afternoon on board familiarizing yourself with the ship, taking advantage of pools that are less crowded, and, of course, having lunch.

Back to that carry-on bag that has swimsuits and anything else you might need for the afternoon, I also make sure our clothes for the evening are packed, too.  Doing this diminishes any worry about luggage arriving at our stateroom prior to dinner and in a timely manner to get changed.  I then can wait until after dinner to unpack and can enjoy the Sail Away Party, etc.

There are several ways to avoid any potential embarkation day dilemmas for a magical Disney Cruise Line vacation and there’s no easier vacation than a Disney Cruise.  Bon voyage!  

Arrival Day Dilemmas--Walt Disney World

We’re going to Walt Disney World!  With all of the excitement and anticipation of a Disney vacation, guests can get caught with an arrival day dilemma. . . what to do the first day.

A first time visitor might be tempted to make Advanced Dining Reservations arrival day, or other plans that involve exact timing.

We were once in an airport waiting for our flights to discover folks from our hometown also waiting for flights to Orlando, but on a different carrier.  It was mid-morning, flights were delayed, and they had a meal reserved at Cinderella’s Castle for later in the day.  While we were headed to Orlando, it was a Universal/SeaWorld non-Disney trip for us, but we wished them well as our flight boarded.  I just kept thinking that being stressed out about making it somewhere on-time on your arrival day at Walt Disney World isn’t the best way to start a vacation.

The various Disney message boards are loaded with questions about timing. . . being able to make it somewhere in a certain amount of time, specifically on the day of arrival.  One person posed the following scenario:  If the flights were scheduled to land at Orlando International at 11:00 am and they were staying at Port Orleans Riverside, could they make it to Downtown Disney by 2:00 pm for a late lunch reservation?  (Sounds like a complicated math story problem, doesn’t it?)

This would be my response (and was my response):  It can take 20-30 minutes to make your way from your flight to Disney’s Magical Express counter.  There may be a short wait to board a bus to your resort and there may be even more wait for the bus to load and then get going from the airport.  Walt Disney World Resort is 45 minutes from the airport and Disney’s Magical Express buses can make stops at multiple resorts to drop off guests.  If you are checking in at your resort prior to 3:00 pm, your room may not be ready, although you can leave your with Luggage Services.  If your room is ready, traversing the resort to your room can add on another 10-15 minutes, and then double it to make your way back to the boat launch.  Mid-day, the Downtown Disney boats run every 20-30 minutes (they run more frequently in the evening), so there may be a wait for the boat.  The boats at Port Orleans Riverside come from Port Orleans French Quarter and make another stop there on the way to Downtown Disney.  The boat ride to Downtown Disney is 20-30 minutes.  Then, depending on where the restaurant you are dining at is located, can add more minutes for walking to the restaurant or taking another boat to Downtown Disney’s Westside.  My recommendation would be to grab a light lunch at the airport or Port Orleans Riverside Food Court and make plans for dinner later in the day.

I added a bit at the beginning of my reply about how being stressed out about late flights, etc. wasn’t the best way to start a vacation.

The person posting the question decided to take my advice and opted to make dinner plans instead.

This type of scenario/dilemma is common and the best advice is to go with the flow on arrival day. You can decide whether or not to have a park ticket for that day and whether or not to use a day of park entry on your arrival day.  If we are staying for more than 5 days we typically add a park day for our arrival day to our ticket package as the cost is minimal—the more days you stay and play, the less the cost per day (usually $4-5 per person to add the extra park day onto our tickets.)  If we have a short stay scheduled, then we don’t add the arrival day park ticket into our package—counterintuitive, I know, but the cost of adding the day to a shorter stay is more expensive and would be less of a value if we arrived late due to flights, etc.  And, you can always add a day to your park ticket package when you arrive, if you find yourself arriving in a timely manner and want to head to a theme park.

Making these types of decisions and plans can be difficult with all of the excitement of heading to the most magical place on earth for both first time and experienced guests.  And, we, too, have been caught up in the excitement and planning and haven’t always followed our own advice and have been very fortunate that most of our plans have worked out.

Considerations For A Smooth Arrival Day At Disney

You made it; you’re at Walt Disney World!  It is your arrival day, now what do you do?  And, while you have carefully planned your vacation, you may not have planned your arrival day.  There are a few things to take into consideration to make your arrival day go smoothly.

Let me begin with the caveat that we don’t or shall I say, haven’t followed all of the advice that is about to follow.  Sometimes successfully and sometimes not.  And, we have changed our arrival day plans a bit over time.

For the sake of ease, these arrival day considerations are based on the fact that you have flown into Orlando International and are using Disney’s Magical Express service to get to your resort.  Adjust if this doesn’t apply to you and your traveling party.

Consideration:  It may be best to not make ADR’s for your arrival day.  Especially with the new 24 hour cancellation or you’ll be charged a no show fee policy.  The last thing you’ll want to worry about is flight delays/cancellations and missing your ADR.  Wait and schedule ADR’s for the following days in your vacation.

Again, we have done just the opposite.  We’ve eaten at Mickey’s Backyard BBQ, Chef Mickey’s, Mama Melrose, on our arrival day.  We’ve even had tickets to ticketed events such as Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.  If our flights had been delayed we would have been out some money.  Gratefully, that didn’t happen and now we typically schedule ADR’s for the other days in our vacation.

Consideration:  The resort pool may be just what the doctor ordered.  This has been the case for our last two trips.  No parks until we hit the pool.  I can’t tell you how many times we walked by pools to our resort rooms with the boy asking if we could swim.  The answer has been yes for the two most recent trips.  We just make sure the swim suits and any other needed items are packed in our carry-on bags so we don’t wait for the luggage delivery to our resort.  After a dip in the pool and possibly a snack, we are re-energized and ready to hit the parks.

Consideration:  Have needed items in your carry-on luggage.  Disney’s Magical Express’ luggage service can take up to 5 hours to arrive in your room after your flight.  Depending on the time of your flight arrival, it could be bedtime before the luggage arrives.  We make sure to have jammies, swim suits, items needed for park touring, and clothes for the next day, just in case, in our carry-on bags.

Consideration:  No need to wait for your luggage, or your room to be ready for that matter.  Walt Disney World Resort official check-in time is 3:00 pm.  If you arrive prior to that time, your room may not be ready.  No worries.  Just get what you need from your carry-on bags and let Bell Services hold your bags.  There are locker rooms near the pools for changing if you want to swim.  Or you can explore the resort or grab your Key to the World cards and hit the parks.  If you have what you need, there’s no reason to wait for your luggage to arrive.  It is a magical feeling to arrive back in your resort room and discover your checked luggage has arrived.

Consideration:  You don’t have to use a day of your park ticket on your arrival day.  There is plenty to do outside the parks—explore your resort, visit Downtown Disney, or explore other resorts, so there is no need to use a day of your park ticket, unless of course, you have planned to do so.

Consideration:  It has been a long day, get some rest.  This may mean a nap poolside or in your resort room or turning in early.  Your Disney vacation is going to require lots of energy.  Rest up and be ready!

Again, we haven’t followed this consideration very well.  We’ve seen parades, fireworks, etc. on our arrival day.  There was one trip, however, that we napped on the bus to the park, after swimming in the resort pool.  It wasn’t planned, but still felt great.

If you are anything like us, your arrival day means that you have been traveling since early that morning and possibly the day before.  At this point, we are feeling a mixture of excitement, anticipation, and exhaustion.  It’s easy to just run on adrenalin at this point, and we have done that, too.

We have learned that by managing our arrival day in terms of time, energy, and needed items, the rest of our vacation goes much more smoothly; dare I say magically.  If you think I’m kidding, check out how we lost the boy at Orlando International on the arrival day of our most recent trip—click here.