parks after cruise... timing etc

[Cheerio]

We're been on 3 cruises out of PC and never had to wait for a group to be called, you just get off the ship. You will know what character your luggage will be grouped with because you put them on the luggage the night before (they leave them on your bed)

 

[mernin]

Did it take you a whole hour to get from Poly to Epcot? I figured on it being about a half hour or so.

no, we checked into the Poly and dropped bags with the bell desk and looked around. We were not rushing.

 

[adamsclan]

We had a split stay, part before and part after our cruise. We did express walkoff and paid a porter who got us thru customs without the guy even opening our passports (?!) Smooth sailing until we got to the resort and somehow our bands were screwed up by the split stay. Took over an hour to fix it. They did give us a fast past to use for the whole family. My kids fell asleep in the lobby while they waited. That was relatively soon after they switched to the magic bands so maybe that would never happen now.

 

[ahain]

Do you know what group you're in before the night before or do you need to decide before knowing what group you are in? I actually am at my parents' house now (we live in different states) and discussing.

I believe you will know the group (tinkerbell, minnie, etc), but I don't believe you will know the sequence they disembark.

 

[Lisa F]

We had a split stay, part before and part after our cruise. We did express walkoff and paid a porter who got us thru customs without the guy even opening our passports (?!) Smooth sailing until we got to the resort and somehow our bands were screwed up by the split stay. Took over an hour to fix it. They did give us a fast past to use for the whole family. My kids fell asleep in the lobby while they waited. That was relatively soon after they switched to the magic bands so maybe that would never happen now.

So you did express walkoff with your stuff and then as soon as you got off the ship you got a porter to handle it all and get you through customs? Or did you check your bags the night before and then just walk off with express walk off people? I did a split stay on my last trip and had no issues. I wasn't going to even go to the front desk, just go drop baggage with bell services and then head over to Epcot. I always carry my AP cards with me anyway for discounts so we'll at least be able to get into the park. I'll deal with the room when we get back in the evening, hopefully it is not a big problem!

We're been on 3 cruises out of PC and never had to wait for a group to be called, you just get off the ship. You will know what character your luggage will be grouped with because you put them on the luggage the night before (they leave them on your bed)

Thanks, so it shouldn't be any different if you let them handle the luggage. Maybe they just try to group people to prevent big lines to get off the ship but don't actually enforce it at that point, if you're getting off the ship they're happy ??

I believe you will know the group (tinkerbell, minnie, etc), but I don't believe you will know the sequence they disembark.

Thanks. It sounds like disembarkation is not very rigid.

 

[DCSWO]

It may have been a case of all the stars coming into alignment, but a few cruises ago we managed to get off the ship, checked in at our Disney resort and to our first park around 1015. We were staying in concierge so we just grabbed a few breakfast snack items out of the lounge early and skipped breakfast. We did express walk off (with bags) and got through customs and out of the terminal pretty quickly. We had Disney transport set up and they were filling a van/mini-bus (not the normal big bus) "first come" with the people headed to resorts - so we piled in. We were headed to Animal Kingdom Lodge and the driver wasn't wasting any time. Luckily, he hit our resort first, so we did a bag drop and check in at the hotel then went straight back outside to catch the Disney transport bus to the Animal Kingdom. We grabbed a few more food items to make up for the small breakfast onboard but I distinctly remember looking at my watch, and then my wife, and she was in the same state of disbelief that we had managed to get into a park so quickly. We probably couldn't do it again if we tried, but it was a great day!

 

[dcassetta]

Thanks, so it shouldn't be any different if you let them handle the luggage. Maybe they just try to group people to prevent big lines to get off the ship but don't actually enforce it at that point, if you're getting off the ship they're happy ??



Thanks. It sounds like disembarkation is not very rigid.

hey will not stop you from getting off the ship before your group is called, but it is possible that if you were supposed to be in a later group that your luggage might not be ready if you get off earlier.

 

[Cheerio]

They also try to arrange your luggage in the group by stateroom, so when you get to your "Mickey" group, it's usually grouped by deck if not in order