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Old 07-24-2008, 12:33 AM   #1
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Cruise Newbie

I'm planning a cruise/disneyworld vacation next year. I'm not going to do the land/sea package because we want more time at WDW. Thinking of doing a 4 night Bahama cruise and then 7 nights at WDW. How does the ground transportation work? The DCL website gave no information that I could find. I'm assuming MCO is considered the debarkation airport. Does it only run to and from MCO? Will we have to catch DME from there to my hotel? Is it better to start with the cruise? Thanks!
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Old 07-24-2008, 12:54 AM   #2
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You can take the DCL transfers after the cruise to a WDW resort. They charge you an extra $1 per person for the service. However the cruise line buses only go to the resorts on the land/sea packages so depending on the resort you want to stay at you may have to take a taxi from the resort you are dropped off at to your resort. You can then take Disney's Magical Express back to the airport after your WDW stay.
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Old 07-24-2008, 08:18 AM   #3
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We did 5 days land before 3 days at sea. We added a day to our land package. You can book land/sea seperate but we liked the hotels that were offered with our cat. 6. We couldn't afford another night at the Poly, so we stayed at the POP then transfered to the Poly. Unfortunatley our added day was used as a travel day due to flight delays and lost luggage on Disney's part.
Anyway, we took DME to the POP from MCO then planned to transfer via taxi, but POP transfered us due to our luggage situation. They found it a day and a half later. When it was time for the cruise, we took private transfers instead of Disney. We could schedule a pick up when WE wanted to leave and they also picked us up from port to MCO. Then we did a stady by 11am non stop flight, from our 1 stop 1pm flight and got on it. We had a day room at the Hyatt, but cancelled due to flight change with no penalty.
I would do Disney first then the cruise. Disney can be hectic with kids, this way you can relax on the cruise after.
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Old 07-24-2008, 08:31 AM   #4
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We just got back from our land / sea package vacation with 4 nights land and 3 nights sea. I wish we had done one or the other for 7 days! But this was the first time we had gone in years and also we did not know if one of us would be seasick...

We didn't have to plan any transfers as we had planned to have our own transportation anyway. We had planned in extra time on the travel part, which was VERY helpful.
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Old 07-24-2008, 11:35 AM   #5
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We just did the 3 night cruise and then 7 days in December. We had no problem with transportation - we took DCL trans from MCO to port and then port to AKL. I don't recall an additional fee, but we just looked at the total (which was less than originally quoted). If they can't drop off at your resort, I don't think you'd need to take a taxi - just take one of the busses (unless luggage prevents that). We then did Magical Express from AKL to MCO (free service, we just only used it one-way). Doing the ressies separately, you'll arrange DCL trans with DCL and Magical Express with the resort. Both will show up on your ressies on the website (when you log into My Vacation) on their respective sites. I know that you can do transportation on your own, too, but with air, hotel and cruise all separate ressies to begin with, I didn't want to add any more to keep track of.

I greatly recommend doing the cruise 2nd. I had thought that with the cruise being an unknown element and WDW to look forward to, we should do the cruise first. But the cruise is SO relaxing that we all agreed it would have been great to have that after the "go go go" of WDW.
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Old 07-25-2008, 10:43 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by mytinkerbelles View Post
I would do Disney first then the cruise. Disney can be hectic with kids, this way you can relax on the cruise after.
i agree with this quote.....and this is what we're doing this coming December - we are doing 3 days at WDW and then a 7 day Magic cruise. The cruise is soooooo relaxing that we wanted the rush to be beforehand! ;-) so we'd have time to recover! :-)

we are taking the DME from the airport to our resort (the POP) and then hired a car service to take us from the POP to Port Canaveral (it was less expensive for us - a family of 4). This same car service is also taking us from the Port to the airport after our cruise is over with.
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Old 07-25-2008, 07:56 PM   #7
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Oh, I agree with everyone else. When we go to The World, we are pretty short of breath by the end. When we were in our 20s and 30s, we used to open the park that opened first and close the park that closed last. Now we kind of take it easy, although we try to take in all of the fireworks shows. I might suggest looking at car rentals for the Orlando to Port Canaveral and back. You may find it less expensive.
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Old 07-26-2008, 12:35 AM   #8
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Cool thanks for the suggestions. I think I will move the cruise to the end of the trip. I didn't think about it being a wind down from WDW. Good advice. Planning on staying at Poly, which I saw as one of the choices for land/sea package. So that should make things easier transportation-wise. Going with just DGF. Maybe DFiancee by then. Or may save that for the trip. She hasn't been in 20 years so I'm trying to do it up right!
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Old 07-26-2008, 12:54 PM   #9
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Maybe DFiancee by then. Or may save that for the trip. She hasn't been in 20 years so I'm trying to do it up right!
Oh, you have to wait for the trip!!! Either propose at WDW, so the cruise can be a celebration of that, or secretly line up the "Romance Package" and use that as an entre' into the proposal. Or you could propose at Palo's (if you are dining there). Oh, there's so much you can do to make it memorable!

And yes, I did just completely poke my nose into your private business.
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Old 07-26-2008, 07:18 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by minniemanor View Post
You can take the DCL transfers after the cruise to a WDW resort. They charge you an extra $1 per person for the service. However the cruise line buses only go to the resorts on the land/sea packages so depending on the resort you want to stay at you may have to take a taxi from the resort you are dropped off at to your resort. You can then take Disney's Magical Express back to the airport after your WDW stay.
That's not correct. The DCL buses only pick up from certain resorts, but they will drop you off at your resort. I'm taking DCL transfers from the port to Pop Century.
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Old 07-28-2008, 08:25 PM   #11
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That's not correct. The DCL buses only pick up from certain resorts, but they will drop you off at your resort. I'm taking DCL transfers from the port to Pop Century.
Thank you for clarifying this - we're first timers that booked our land separately as well. I was hyperventilating into my monitor just thinking about the logistics of squaring away a taxi transfer to our proper resort with all that luggage!
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Old 07-29-2008, 01:40 PM   #12
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Even though they only pick up at certain resorts, if you talk to guest services at your resort the day before, they can arrange to transport you and your luggage to one of the participating resorts on the day of your leaving WDW to go to a cruise.

(At least that is what DCL told me when I emailed them the question)

"If you are not staying at any of these resorts, you may still use the
transportation service provided. At your resort's Guest Services desk,
please speak with a Cast member who will be happy to assist in making
arrangements (via a private taxi service) to transfer you/your family
and luggage to one of the participating Walt Disney World Resorts."
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Old 07-29-2008, 05:28 PM   #13
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(via a private taxi service)
That answer does not explicitly say it is free, however and the text I quoted makes me think that there would be a fee for the taxi (since they mention "private" meaning "not Disney").
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Old 07-29-2008, 05:30 PM   #14
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That answer does not explicitly say it is free, however and the text I quoted makes me think that there would be a fee for the taxi (since they mention "private" meaning "not Disney").
They did not answer that part in their e-mail to me.
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Old 07-30-2008, 12:20 AM   #15
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Oh, you have to wait for the trip!!! Either propose at WDW, so the cruise can be a celebration of that, or secretly line up the "Romance Package" and use that as an entre' into the proposal. Or you could propose at Palo's (if you are dining there). Oh, there's so much you can do to make it memorable!

And yes, I did just completely poke my nose into your private business.
I don't mind. Luckily she doesn't frequent this site so I'll appreciate all the ideas y'all can give me. If I did propose on the trip I would have to do it near the beginning. Don't think I could enjoy it otherwise.
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