The "WORLD" before or after YOUR CRUISE!

[momrek06]

DH & I did the land/sea in Feb 2006 and LOVED the cruise. OUR first cruise ever. We re-booked while on the Wonder a 7 day MAGIC for Feb 2007!!!

My question is: I do NOT think I can go all the way from Boston to Orlando and JUST do the cruise . How many cruisers out there "hit" the WORLD either before or after their cruise? How many days do you think you will need esp since you are already doing a 7 day cruise?

Any replies/opinions will be appreciated!!!

 

[Marilou]

We decided to do WDW 1st. There is no slowing down and relaxing in the parks...least not in my Disney crazed family, but it seems that the cruises have potential for relaxing. I know there's tons of stuff to do if you choose, but it just seemed a more relaxed way to end our vacation.

Oh, I leave at 5:30 am tommorrow for 9 days in Orlando, doing WDW, then going on our 1st Disney Cruise!! Whoooo-hoooo

 

[Colestat]

I agree. I can't be that close and not do the World. We have gone on the 3 day Wonder in the middle of a World vacation. We have gone to the World before our last 7 night cruise and we are going after our upcoming 7 night. I don't think it matters when, just go.

 

[ti2xgrr]

After our first cruise we decided that we would never again do disney without a cruise, so that we have time to rest and recover from the parks which we do non-stop from early open to whenever the last park closes for 7 days. The cruise allows us to recover before going back to work. In September we are doing 7 days at disney and 7 day cruise to recover.

 

[sejejoemmiev]

I know how you feel. We live on the Cape and My thinking is if we are going to fly to Orlando for the Cruise how can you not stop for a stint at WDW too? We did a 4 day in Dec 2004 (our first cruise) and did 7 days at WDW. We are booked for our second cruise in Feb 2007 too! (Western) and we are planning 5 days in the parks before the cruise. I think if we skipped the parks I would feel like I was missing something. Afterall, my first love is WDW. But you need a vacation from that vacation and the Cruise is so relaxing and the kids have a blast too. If you have the time I would try to at least come in a day earlier and go for the day or more if you can.

 

[Marilou]

Hey Sejejoemmiev! I'm not too far from you, Plymouth county.
So excited for my 1st DCL that I woke at 3:30 this morning! We leave in 8 hours!!!!

 

[disneypoor]

We did our first cruise June 1st, and I also decided that we could not be in Orlando and not do WDW. We booked our land part on our own and went after the cruise. If we do the land and sea again, we'll do the land part before so we can just relax on the cruise. However, ANY trip to WDW is always worth it!

 

[MAGICAL EVENTS]

We only live an hour from WDW and have season passes, but I also feel that when we take our cruise we HAVE to go to WDW, just makes the whole trip perfect. We always go before the cruise. So much running around and craming stuff in,then get to the ship and just relax. We tried the WDW thing after one of our cruises and hated it. Plus all the food that you eat on the ship the last thing we wanted to do was walk all day! Even though it would have been good for us and the weight we gained! lol We really try to just enjoy the WDW resort and pool,and maybe do one parks in the 3 days and only go to the park for a little while so we are not beat when we board the ship. Then it is just smooth sailing from there. Plus we can always enjoy our massages at the end of the cruise and go back home relaxed.

 

[MagicMe]

We always do our parks before the cruise. You can run from morning to night and even when you get tired you know that you have the cruise coming to rest so you keep going. Then you get those days (3-4-7 it doesn't matter) to still have "Disney" fun and relax.

 

[SuzPasq]

We generally drive down Friday night, and spend a few hours at the parks on Saturday morning/early afternoon. Then we go back to WDW the day we disembark and spend another day and a half in the parks. This year is the first in four years that we're making a separate trip to WDW, and we'll stay for five nights. Hate to admit it, but we were sort of burned out after 7 years of living in Orlando and working for Disney and having access to the parks all the time.

 

[taeja71]

after so you can cope with the post crusing blues a little better.

 

[momrek06]

OP HERE:

After reading all your replies and thinking about this whole situation...I really would like one or two days BEFORE and then at least one day AFTER...YUP ...
I just had so much trouble leaving the Wonder in Feb and going right home..


THIS WAS ME . Never again, I need as much of the WORLD as I can get so then I will be like this:

 

[eeyoregon]

Well, this one is a toss-up for me. I wanted to do WDW after the cruise because it was just too much for me to handle to be leaving the Magic after 8 amazing days and heading straight home.

The choice to do the parks afterwards was just peachy until my teenage son came down with the dreaded Norovirus 24 hrs after leaving the Magic. Yes, despite the amazing cleanliness on board and the hand washing stations throughout, he picked up the virus.

Because he was soooooooooo ill, we had to cancel/rebook our flights and add additional hotel stay = lot's of extra money that was hard to scrape up at the end of a 11 day trip! And let's talk torture! Being on WDW property, stuck in a hotel room with only 1 bathroom and a super sick child and having a healthy child bouncing off the walls with bordem and only one parent Miserable way to end such a fabulous trip. Other son came down with the virus after we were home, thank goodness! And God just knows that single Mom's can't get sick because I somehow escaped it

Gonna have to vote on before the cruise for the parks.

 

[jd99]

but we booked four nights at the Poly for AFTER the cruise for one simple reason. We have never ever been on a cruise before and we were afraid that if we hated it that going home would be way depressing...but if we had some time at WDW at a great relaxing hotel on the monorail line that we'd get over it faster. And if we love it..all the better - it'll be like having two vacations to look forward to. Nuts, I know. but that's us!

 

[disneypoor]

but we booked four nights at the Poly for AFTER the cruise for one simple reason. We have never ever been on a cruise before and we were afraid that if we hated it that going home would be way depressing...but if we had some time at WDW at a great relaxing hotel on the monorail line that we'd get over it faster. And if we love it..all the better - it'll be like having two vacations to look forward to. Nuts, I know. but that's us!

I don't think you're nuts at all! We booked our land part for after our first cruise June 1st. The way I look at it is that any time you can go do WDW, it is a treat! We did have a great time at the parks even though it was after the cruise. I think you just get so spoiled on the cruise that it's hard to go back to reality! For example, my son wanted to order room service while we were at the resort at WDW and was quite disappointed when he found out he couldn't! Plus, the food on the cruise was delicious, so it was hard to do counter service at the parks without thinking about how good the food on the cruise was.

We are going on another cruise next May, and although I say we will do the parks before the cruise from now on, I'm a teacher and our cruise leaves two days after school will be out, so if we do WDW, it will be after the cruise again! Oh, and BTW--I don't think you'll be disappointed in the cruise! It was the best vacation we've ever taken!

 

[stampinshauna]

I prefer to go to WDW before the cruise. We did it after our first cruise and it was almost a let-down. We didn't like having to pay for the food that wasn't as good after having such wonderful food on the cruise. It just wasn't relaxing. Next time I would like to go to WDW first, go on the cruise, and then have maybe one day to just relax, maybe do a waterpark, and do some shopping after the cruise.

 

[pppiglet]

We are flying to Florida for the first time next year for our cruise, so of course we have to do WDW. Because of the dates/work schedules, we have to go after the cruise. I don't care how busy it is, it will be exciting since we've never been and we will have 3 days when we get back home to relax before going back to work!

 

[GracieA7]

We were at the World for 5 days before the cruise, then after the cruise went back to the World for one more night.

 

[El Capitan]

There is never a shortage of advice on these boards.

We did the 7 day cruise and then stayed in Kissimmee for 9 days and had the 7 day park hoppers. I must say that after eating like royalty on the cruise ship for 7 days, it was a welcome move to get tons of walking in the parks so we could come home and be pleased with what the scales told us once we stepped on them.

I would do it the same way again. Nice transition from the cruise ship and I agree that it is a huge trip to make if all you do is the cruise.

 

[El Capitan]

Hey, cool, I just made mouseketeer on this thread....