Disney Magic HOTHS Disney World bus transfers

[GJS_doombuggy]

We are booked for the HOTHS cruise next year leaving NY on the Magic and having a day in Disney World on Halloween day. We are wondering what is the latest bus transfer back to the ship and if we are able to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party? I know the ship leaves at midnight, so is there a late bus transfer or have people used other modes of transportation to get back to Port Canaveral in order to stay as late as possible to go to that event?

 

[ivanp91]

When I did the NYC cruise in 2016, I believe all buses left WDW before 9pm.

They actually had to hold the ship at Port Canaveral, because of a road fatality a lot of the buses (including mine) were stuck in traffic for HOURS. If you arranged your own transport, just keep in mind that if you encounter a situation like that, and all the buses have arrived at PC, the ship could very well leave you behind.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

We are booked for the HOTHS cruise next year leaving NY on the Magic and having a day in Disney World on Halloween day. We are wondering what is the latest bus transfer back to the ship and if we are able to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party? I know the ship leaves at midnight, so is there a late bus transfer or have people used other modes of transportation to get back to Port Canaveral in order to stay as late as possible to go to that event?

It is extremely unlikely that there will be MNSSHP on the cruise day in the parks. Magic Kingdom closes early to the public to re-open at 7pm for MNSSHP ticket holders. I don't believe Disney would do that. They understand you only have 1 day in the parks, they are not going to shorten it for anyone.

To answer your questions, the buses back to the ship operate the same as the parks. The last bus leaves an hour after the park closes.

When I did the NYC cruise in 2016, I believe all buses left WDW before 9pm.

They actually had to hold the ship at Port Canaveral, because of a road fatality a lot of the buses (including mine) were stuck in traffic for HOURS. If you arranged your own transport, just keep in mind that if you encounter a situation like that, and all the buses have arrived at PC, the ship could very well leave you behind.

We were on the same cruise!!! We got back around 1130pm and were told there were still buses out there stuck in the traffic. I think I heard the last bus arrived at 1am.

 

[Dug720]

It is extremely unlikely that there will be MNSSHP on the cruise day in the parks. Magic Kingdom closes early to the public to re-open at 7pm for MNSSHP ticket holders. I don't believe Disney would do that. They understand you only have 1 day in the parks, they are not going to shorten it for anyone.

If they are scheduled for Port Canaveral on Halloween, there will be a MNSSHP that night. Halloween is one that almost always sells out - and the park is not going to say "Oh, sorry everyone who wanted to go to a Halloween Party on Halloween. We have a ship in port and we're not going to be closing early so they get a full day." Only MK is closed early that day - other parks are open as normal. (And odds are MK will be pretty empty during the day with things picking up around 2 when DVC is able to get in for the party and more at 4 when anyone with a party ticket is allowed in.)

That said, Halloween IS in fact already sold out for the party, so unless they bought their ticket in anticipation of being able to go (risking that the last bus will be too soon to stay to the end), it's a moot point.

 

[Dug720]

We are booked for the HOTHS cruise next year leaving NY on the Magic and having a day in Disney World on Halloween day. We are wondering what is the latest bus transfer back to the ship and if we are able to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party? I know the ship leaves at midnight, so is there a late bus transfer or have people used other modes of transportation to get back to Port Canaveral in order to stay as late as possible to go to that event?

MNSSHP is already sold out for Halloween, so it's a moot point.

 

[rwthompson82]

We had a MNSSHP on November 1 during our PC day last year.

We did not purchase separate tickets, but loved the empty park in the AM!

I’ve attached what we received from DCL regarding this.

Note, we sailed Oct 28, and this emails is from August.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

MNSSHP is already sold out for Halloween, so it's a moot point.

They are sailing next year. I'm pretty sure those tickets have not gone on sale yet.

Rwthompson82 answered the OP's question.

 

[Dug720]

They are sailing next year. I'm pretty sure those tickets have not gone on sale yet.

Rwthompson82 answered the OP's question.

Ah, missed the next year thing.

Based on the crowding at the parties this year and lack of ability to do a lot, I would think twice before buying a ticket when you know that you cannot stay until the end.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Ah, missed the next year thing.

Based on the crowding at the parties this year and lack of ability to do a lot, I would think twice before buying a ticket when you know that you cannot stay until the end.

Not to go off topic, but it is relevant for new cruisers who have no idea how crowded these after hour parties are.
I think it's ridiculous how crowded the Halloween parties have become. My son and I went last year in August!!! We figured it was going to be great because people would want to go closer to Hslloween. Good grief!!! We didn't attempt to get in lines for candy, you could not move through the parade route starting at 7pm. Seriously, people pay that money to sit on a curb for 4 hours? It was more crowded that night than it was during the day and there is only supposed to be a limited amount of tickets sold. My butt.

15 years ago it was ghost town at the after hour parties. No lines and you may have only seen about 30 people in your general area. Now Disney is asking you to pay almost $100 to endure Christmas level crowds.

 

[GJS_doombuggy]

MNSSHP is already sold out for Halloween, so it's a moot point.

This is for 2019, not this year.

 

[Dug720]

This is for 2019, not this year.

Thank you, it was already pointed out that I missed that.

That said, given the letter that was posted, you'd have to be on the bus by 10:45, so you'd miss a good chunk of the party (given that you're looking at at least 10 minutes to walk to the bus location) - and this year they have massively increased the number of tickets sold. Even non-sell outs have been crowded with major lines. For a sold-out party which Halloween always is... I honestly wouldn't do it.

 

[GJS_doombuggy]

We had a MNSSHP on November 1 during our PC day last year.

We did not purchase separate tickets, but loved the empty park in the AM!

I’ve attached what we received from DCL regarding this.

Note, we sailed Oct 28, and this emails is from August.

Thank you very much. I'm assuming they'll send us this info in the future.

We know we can't stay until the end, but we just want to experience it for a few hours since we have never done it before and don't know if we'll ever do it again.

 

[mmouse37]

Good luck!!!

We are doing that cruise itinerary on Nov 10th this year with our WDW day on 11/14. We are toying with the idea of just renting a car from the port.

MJ

 

[GJS_doombuggy]

Good luck!!!

We are doing that cruise itinerary on Nov 10th this year with our WDW day on 11/14. We are toying with the idea of just renting a car from the port.

MJ

Have fun! We can't wait. Our particular cruise will be very special. We get Halloween fun on the ship until Halloween....We'll spend Halloween in the Magic Kingdom...then the ship is transformed into Christmas on the way back. It's really a once in a lifetime experience for us with that exact itinerary and have the dates line up that way.

 

[Chirple]

Have fun! We can't wait. Our particular cruise will be very special. We get Halloween fun on the ship until Halloween....We'll spend Halloween in the Magic Kingdom...then the ship is transformed into Christmas on the way back. It's really a once in a lifetime experience for us with that exact itinerary and have the dates line up that way.

I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer, but are you sure the change will take place during your cruise? I checked the schedule, and the 11/3 cruise is not themed (but 11/10 is), which makes me believe the Magic will change themes on the buffer. I don’t want to see you disappointed so I hope you have definitive confirmation of this.

In 2016 we were on the Halloween cruise that changed during our Port Canaveral stop because the cruise right after ours was Merrytime themed.

 

[mmouse37]

Have fun! We can't wait. Our particular cruise will be very special. We get Halloween fun on the ship until Halloween....We'll spend Halloween in the Magic Kingdom...then the ship is transformed into Christmas on the way back. It's really a once in a lifetime experience for us with that exact itinerary and have the dates line up that way.

Wonderful!!! We were on the Panama Canal cruise in 2015 and we were watching the crew take down all the Halloween stuff (tree and all) and put up the Christmas stuff.....also got to see the main stage cast practicing their Holiday numbers in the atrium. This was all after midnight and was so interesting to watch. Have a good time.

MJ

 

[GJS_doombuggy]

I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer, but are you sure the change will take place during your cruise? I checked the schedule, and the 11/3 cruise is not themed (but 11/10 is), which makes me believe the Magic will change themes on the buffer. I don’t want to see you disappointed so I hope you have definitive confirmation of this.

In 2016 we were on the Halloween cruise that changed during our Port Canaveral stop because the cruise right after ours was Merrytime themed.

Hmmm....that's a good question. I'll have to call and ask them. The research I've done showed them changing it over on this specific cruise. Maybe since the PC day is Halloween they won't do it. Good catch. Either way, I'm just excited to be in the Magic Kingdom on Halloween! I've been in Disneyland when they changed it over so we got to experience both. The cruise would be nice too, but wouldn't be a big downer. After all, we're still on a Disney Cruise. We plan on doing a Very Merrytime cruise in the future anyway.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We are booked for the HOTHS cruise next year leaving NY on the Magic and having a day in Disney World on Halloween day. We are wondering what is the latest bus transfer back to the ship and if we are able to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party? I know the ship leaves at midnight, so is there a late bus transfer or have people used other modes of transportation to get back to Port Canaveral in order to stay as late as possible to go to that event?

We did this cruise in 2017 and boarded the bus back to PC at about 10:00. It was after Fantasmic was over. We had a very long exhausting day and hardly did anything the following two days on the ship. I felt like we missed things because we were so tired from our WDW day. I’m just throwing that out there. I would do this itinerary again in a heartbeat as it was our favorite cruise ever, I just wouldnt stay as late at WDW or I wouldn’t head over there first thing in the morning. We also did all 4 parks that day so that could’ve also been the problem.