Updates for NYC cruises that dock at PC for WDW

[dcassetta]

Regarding NYC traffic on the weekends, yes, it’ll be a little lighter than the weekdays, but there is always theater traffic coming into mid-town (via the Lincoln Tunnel), which is where the cruise terminal is. So from NJ you would want to give yourself an hour just for traffic. Even though it might only be about 10 miles! The earlier you go (like before noon) the quicker it would be. Matinee shows start at 2, so around 1 the streets start getting all jammed up.

Thanks for the heads up. I would never have thought about matinees.

 

[cruiser21]

Regarding NYC traffic on the weekends, yes, it’ll be a little lighter than the weekdays, but there is always theater traffic coming into mid-town (via the Lincoln Tunnel), which is where the cruise terminal is. So from NJ you would want to give yourself an hour just for traffic. Even though it might only be about 10 miles! The earlier you go (like before noon) the quicker it would be. Matinee shows start at 2, so around 1 the streets start getting all jammed up.

Thanks for the heads up. Well probably take the ferry, but I'll still complain about the cost. The ferry does include bus tickets from what I understand. My kids have never been to NYC and their excited. Its the only reason I'm planning this. I'm going to try to cram everything they want to see into a couple days. This is a one time only trip.

 

[Fish Fam]

Leaving in 3 days for our cruise!! SOOO EXCITED!!!

Anybody got a baby I can borrow for my January trip????

The "Rider Switch" service is not just for people with babies... we are a family of 5 (2 parents, 1 grandmother and 2 kids: 9 & 5) and we are planning on taking full advantage of it. Take a look at the explanation:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/

It states "If Guests in your party can’t or don’t want to board an attraction" - meaning, that this time around my son does not want to go on Space Mountain so he and my wife and his grandmother will hang out while my daughter and I go on the ride, then we will come out with the 'Rider Switch' pass good for up to 3 people. Then the 3 who didnt go on the ride can go on the rider with the pass. We got all 5 people on the ride using only 2 FastPasses.

We just got of the cruise this morning, we were at WDW on Wed. We encountered a problem with our Tickets, two were showing the 3 FPs loaded onto them but two were not. And, when I added the 4 tickets to my MDE, all four loaded but when I clicked on the Add FastPass option on my phone, it showed only two people, not all four people. So I went to Guest Services.

He fixed it for me. But what he did tell me was this: He said to be VERY careful with the three additional FPs that I wanted to book. He cautioned me by saying that if I was one minute early or one minute late at the attraction for the new FPs I booked, that it would take one of my “free” pre-loaded FPs. So if I chose something for 12-1 and tried to scan in at 11:59 or at 1:01, then it would take one of the original FPs.

I am part of a large Fbook group for our 10/14 sailing. Lots of people reported issues with their FPs. In our case, when we arrived at FOP and two of our FPs worked and two of ours didn’t, the CM asked if we were all together and if we were on the cruise and when we said yes, he waved us through because he could see part of our party had valid FPs. Some people in our Fbook group reported that CMs put restrictions on what attractions they could use their FPs for and many others reported that they had no issues. Hopefully things will run smoother for future guests on their WDW day. I would advise to take the letter along with you to the parks that you are given with your tickets. It clearly states the FPs can be used for FOP etc. Your stateroom host/hostess will give you an envelope two days prior to your day at WDW.

We are annual passholders, but this is our first experience going on a Disney Cruise that stops at Port Canaveral for a day at Disney World. With our annual passes we get 3 fastpasses for every day we are in the park. Then with the passes we get from the cruise we get 3 fastpasses PLUS the 3 VIP passes... will each in our group be getting 9 fastpasses for the day??

I scheduled our fastpasses a while ago for our day at MK thinking we would be getting 3 additional VIP passes in paper form that we would use at Epcot. If we are actually going to receive 3 regular fastpasses that we can schedule on MyDisneyExperience as well - can we schedule those for a park aside from MK? For example: I have scheduled already Space Mountain, Mine Train and Thunder Mountain (all at MK) - once I receive the tickets from the cruise, could I then schedule those for Mission: Space, Spaceship Earth and Turtle Talk (all at EP) and then use my VIPs on Avatar Flight of Passage, Expedition Everest and Na'vi River (all at AK)?

 

[lanejudy]

It states "If Guests in your party can’t or don’t want to board an attraction" - meaning, that this time around my son does not want to go on Space Mountain so he and my wife and his grandmother will hang out while my daughter and I go on the ride, then we will come out with the 'Rider Switch' pass good for up to 3 people. Then the 3 who didnt go on the ride can go on the rider with the pass. We got all 5 people on the ride using only 2 FastPasses.

Experience really varies, just be aware of that upfront. If the child is tall enough to ride but simply chooses not to ride, you may all be required to enter the queue, and then "swap" at the loading. Unfortunately, what's posted on the website isn't always accurate.

We are annual passholders, but this is our first experience going on a Disney Cruise that stops at Port Canaveral for a day at Disney World. With our annual passes we get 3 fastpasses for every day we are in the park. Then with the passes we get from the cruise we get 3 fastpasses PLUS the 3 VIP passes... will each in our group be getting 9 fastpasses for the day??

Be aware that you cannot use FP+ booked on your annual passes unless you enter the park using the annual passes; and then to use the FP+ and extra FP associated with the cruise ticket, you will need to exit the park and re-enter using that ticket. WDW is requiring that the ticket be used to enter the park in order to use the FP+; I believe they'll block your MDE account if you try to use FP+ associated with a different ticket. There was quite a big discussion on the TPAS forum a few months ago when this policy took effect.


Enjoy your cruise!

 

[Fish Fam]

Experience really varies, just be aware of that upfront. If the child is tall enough to ride but simply chooses not to ride, you may all be required to enter the queue, and then "swap" at the loading. Unfortunately, what's posted on the website isn't always accurate.

Thanks for the head's up!

11/4 UPDATE:
We just got back from the cruise... we were able to do get switch rider passes without even a look for the guest not riding at Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain - the operator at Mine Train asked which guest wasn't riding so we just pointed and they handed us the pass. Easy peezy. But that might just be the operators of those rides on that day... we are going back later this year and will try it again, but this time seemed to work like a charm.

Be aware that you cannot use FP+ booked on your annual passes unless you enter the park using the annual passes; and then to use the FP+ and extra FP associated with the cruise ticket, you will need to exit the park and re-enter using that ticket. WDW is requiring that the ticket be used to enter the park in order to use the FP+; I believe they'll block your MDE account if you try to use FP+ associated with a different ticket. There was quite a big discussion on the TPAS forum a few months ago when this policy took effect.

Ahh... this may be a little tricky to work around, but I think what we will end up doing is use our Annual Passes to enter MK in the morning (to use those fastpasses) then enter Epcot and/or Animal Kingdom using the paper tickets given to us by the cruise (to use those fastpasses)... but it sounds as if we wont be able to link the paper tickets to our MDE, at least until after we use our fastpasses at MK - which will make getting on anything a little more difficult at another park.

11/4 UPDATE:
We entered MK using the pass from the cruise and WERE able to use the fastpasses booked on our annual passes - we did not need to exit then reenter using the cruise ticket. We did not get 9 FPs for the day as I was hoping we might... we had the 3 associated with our annual pass (scheduled 60 days prior) and the 3 "VIP" fastpasses from the cruise tickets. I tried loading the cruise ticket onto MyDisneyExperience after we used the annual pass fastpasses then tried scheduling the addition 3 regular FPs, but was not successful. Though, I wonder if I were to create an additional person on MyDisneyExperience and apply the ticket to that person I would likely be able to have gotten those 3 fastpasses...

Here's another dilema: with our annual passes comes the Memory Maker package. Will we be able to use that if we enter the park using our paper tickets from the cruise?

11/4 UPDATE:
We were able to get all of our pictures applied to our Memory Maker even when we entered the park using the cruise tickets. Yay!

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[TFC_UNTIL_I_DIE]

if you want your hotel to be less costly go downtown - way downtown. Its quiet at night but safe. Also, I find the upper west side 70ths street area can be more affordable and very fascinating area to stay. Hotel rooms will be small though. But you are in Manhattan so who is sitting in their hotel?

 

[cruiser21]

if you want your hotel to be less costly go downtown - way downtown. Its quiet at night but safe. Also, I find the upper west side 70ths street area can be more affordable and very fascinating area to stay. Hotel rooms will be small though. But you are in Manhattan so who is sitting in their hotel?

I did get the Hampton inn at Times Square for 210.00 a night. Waiting to see if mil can swing us a deal with points she does conventions in NYC and stays at Marriott marquis and Waldorf when it was open.

 

[Dug720]

I did get the Hampton inn at Times Square for 210.00 a night. Waiting to see if mil can swing us a deal with points she does conventions in NYC and stays at Marriott marquis and Waldorf when it was open.

Which one - Times Square what? There are around 4 in the Times Square area.

 

[TFC_UNTIL_I_DIE]

I did get the Hampton inn at Times Square for 210.00 a night. Waiting to see if mil can swing us a deal with points she does conventions in NYC and stays at Marriott marquis and Waldorf when it was open.

I can't see getting a better deal than that to be honest

 

[cruiser21]

Which one - Times Square what? There are around 4 in the Times Square area.

Actually she got she us a big corner two bedroom suite at the double tree in time square. She basically lived at the Waldorf for a few months every year for 20 years. She's got millions of . points. She just got back from a week at the Marriott Marquis I guess that's her company's hotel now. My kids are beyond excited to go New York. My dh and my son were son were supposed to take a cruise this month. I broke my foot a month ago so I'm off off work until after thanksgiving. We all decided to do something to cure my boredom. We booked this vgt on the magic for next week. My last vacation for a year I'm completely out of pto until next fall. My foot is almost healed. Faster then predicted. I started running again yesterday, but I'll finish out my fmla and just enjoy it.

 

[Fish Fam]

1

 

[Sytrace]

Looks like a fun trip!
If I did not live 30 minutes from WDW, I would love to have taken this cruise.

 

[cruiser21]

Looks like a fun trip!
If I did not live 30 minutes from WDW, I would love to have taken this cruise.

We're doing it primarily to see New York and take a cruise of course. I'm knocking places off my list that I want to take my kids. We've done the Med, Iceland, Norway London, Alaska , and Hawaii. The places I have left New York, Washington DC, Boston, Quebec and a Baltic cruise. I'm running out of time their almost grown. We're cruising to Quebec next year. Hopefully a Baltic in 2019.

 

[Sytrace]

We're doing it primarily to see New York and take a cruise of course. I'm knocking places off my list that I want to take my kids. We've done the Med, Iceland, Norway London, Alaska , and Hawaii. The places I have left New York, Washington DC, Boston, Quebec and a Baltic cruise. I'm running out of time their almost grown. We're cruising to Quebec next year. Hopefully a Baltic in 2019.

I grew up in New Jersey just a hop, skip and jump from NY, Washington DC and of course Philly! But my kids have never been up that way and I am thinking we will do a road trip come spring or early summer when everything thaws out. The Mediterranean, Alaska, Panama Canal and Norway are on the list, but right now my husbands work schedule does not allow longer trips. So we stay content with the Caribbean and Bahamas for now.
And there is always the World Showcase and talking to Cast members I suppose that will just have to do. lol Not the same I know, but we take what we can get.

 

[mmouse37]

Nice score with the room!!! Enjoy your cruise!!!

MJ

 

[cruiser21]

I grew up in New Jersey just a hop, skip and jump from NY, Washington DC and of course Philly! But my kids have never been up that way and I am thinking we will do a road trip come spring or early summer when everything thaws out. The Mediterranean, Alaska, Panama Canal and Norway are on the list, but right now my husbands work schedule does not allow longer trips. So we stay content with the Caribbean and Bahamas for now.
And there is always the World Showcase and talking to Cast members I suppose that will just have to do. lol Not the same I know, but we take what we can get.

The last two years I've booked the Hyatt place at the Washington Mall the week after Thanksgiving. Hotel rates are great that time of year. Then GT rates would come out for Galveston and my plans would go out the window. Cruising is addictive. I loved DC as a kid and I think it's important for kids to see it. It will happen eventually. Too bad Disney won't sail out of Baltimore.

 

[dcassetta]

Those of you that have done this cruise, what were the lines like getting off at PC for the coaches. We have a 7:15 coach reserved, would 6:45 be early enough?

 

[MaleficentRN]

11/4 UPDATE:
We entered MK using the pass from the cruise and WERE able to use the fastpasses booked on our annual passes - we did not need to exit then reenter using the cruise ticket. We did not get 9 FPs for the day as I was hoping we might... we had the 3 associated with our annual pass (scheduled 60 days prior) and the 3 "VIP" fastpasses from the cruise tickets. I tried loading the cruise ticket onto MyDisneyExperience after we used the annual pass fastpasses then tried scheduling the addition 3 regular FPs, but was not successful. Though, I wonder if I were to create an additional person on MyDisneyExperience and apply the ticket to that person I would likely be able to have gotten those 3 fastpasses...


Thanks for the quick reply!

That's annoying. Do you think it had anything to do with you using your AP?

 

[psac]

Those of you that have done this cruise, what were the lines like getting off at PC for the coaches. We have a 7:15 coach reserved, would 6:45 be early enough?

Yes, that would be perfect. I think we left our cabin at 6:50, and we had a good spot on line. Our table-mates said they were later and the line snaked around all the way aft, either up or down the stairs, and then all the way back almost to the Atrium again.