WDW after makes more sense...to us.

[joech]

We've also done it both ways. Preferred the parks after the cruise, otherwise it was just too depressing to get off the boat!

That's what we figured. Plus I don't think we will like the idea of going from a one bed room savannah view to a 299 sq ft room.

 

[kalc12345]

We like doing the parks after a cruise too! That is what we always do. If you drive yourself and get off the ship as soon as they say you can, you can be at the parks around 9am so you get a full day. We thinks it works our great!

 

[SunshineCruiser]

Parks after cruise here too! It seems there are so many schedules and everything that you need to adhere to on the cruise, so it is nice to get that done and then focus on relaxing and not having to be anywhere at a certain time at the parks. You don't want to get home and feel like you need a vacation.

 

[Cats12]

Parks after cruise here too! It seems there are so many schedules and everything that you need to adhere to on the cruise, so it is nice to get that done and then focus on relaxing and not having to be anywhere at a certain time at the parks. You don't want to get home and feel like you need a vacation.

Really? You DON'T feel like you need a vacation when you get home from WDW? I must be doing it wrong! Anyhow, I prefer to do WDW before, but am going afterward this year due to how the schedule falls. For me, the vacation STARTS when I walk in that fabulous atrium and the travel and parks are behind me. I'm kind of bummed about doing it 'backwards' this year, but maybe when I get home I'll remember to chime in on here how it worked out.

 

[violetmonarch]

Boy, am I glad to have found this thread! I am just off Magic 6night cruise and booked again on board for Feb2014. However, I am planning on straddling the cruise with a couple days of WDW (two before and two after) I haven't yet found an easy to understand way to book this, and since this will only be my second cruise, and first WDW....I am lost! What have I gotten myself into?

 

[huskydogg]

We've done twice where we put in 4 days at DL after a 7 night cruise and it was a bit too much running around after such a relaxing week. This time, we are doing majority of WDW days first, and then tack on 2 days after to get best of both worlds

 

[jmb910]

We always do a few days before and after the cruise at WDW. It is such a letdown when you get off the ship that we need that park time as something to look forward to.

I agree with another poster that said that it is hard to pay for things after you've gotten it on the ship. On our next cruise I went ahead and paid for the Dining Plan, just so that at least feels like it's free even thought I just paid for it ahead of time.

I do agree that the parks are a lot more hectic than the relaxed cruise, but it's still worth it to us to have that to look forward to. It seems to be much harder to get off the ship than it is for us to leave WDW to come home .

 

[rdw]

Interesting perspectives here! I think I would also prefer WDW pre-cruise, but since our cruise is Sat-Thurs, works out better for us to go post-cruise. The only thing getting to me is that we will have only one park day and the tickets are so expensive for just one day! But, as long as we are in FL, I really want to do WDW.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

One of the many things I see on the DCL threads is that people enjoy going to WDW first then the cruise instead of WDW after the cruise. We booked our first Cruise/WDW trip for this September - 4 night aboard the dream. The WDW before or after issue got me thinking. So I analyzed it.

Cruise then WDW
Sat. - leave house about 6am and drive down to Downtown Disney. Do dinner and other things and then head to hotel by port.
Sun - cruise starts
Thur - cruise ends, drive over to WDW, check in and be to park by 11.
Friday and Saturday - parks
Sunday - a 2-3 hours in park then head home.
So in the above we do a 4 night cruise and 3 nights at WDW. We get two full days at WDW, one mostly full day and then one with a few hours. In this scenario I would only need to take 5 days off from work.

WDW then Cruise.
Thurs - leave house about 6am and drive to WDW. Check in and at parks probably about 3pm.
Friday & Saturday - parks
Sunday - park for 2-3 hours and then to port.
Sunday - Thurs - cruise.
Thurs - leave cruise and then head home.
So in the above we do a 4 night cruise and 3 nights at WDW. We get two full days at WDW, 1 half day, 1 day with a few hours. In this scenario I would need to take 6 days off from work.

Doing the Cruise then WDW seems less rushed and gives us more time plus that little extra time at DTD.

Love to hear comments and other people's experiences.

We did WDW after, and loved it. It was great and we had so much fun. We are active people though, so after relaxing on the ship, we felt very ready for the parks for 3 days. To DH and I, it would feel much worse to leave the ship and head to the airport to go home! We are doing it the same way next year on our cruise (7 night cruise, then 3 nights at WDW)

 

[Princess Sleepy]

We have just done one cruise so far and we did WDW after the cruise. I like to have the time to relax and be pampered first thing on my vacation. It de-stresses me from real life and the whole scrambling to get ready to go out of town stuff. Then when I am all relaxed and recharged, I get to get off the ship and play at WDW. We are doing the same plan this month.

 

[ppony]

This is what we're doing this time as well. Last time we did WDW before, and while it was nice to blow energy and relax after, I don't see any problem w/ relaxing and then taking in WDW w/ a more relaxed state of mind. I also HATE the morning you get off of the ship and then the rest of your day is about going to the airport and going home. blech. I want to look forward to something after the cruise.
It works both ways of course, but I'll enjoy not being bummed that last evening on the ship.

 

[Kim1964]

Last month we took our first cruise, and we chose the Dream for it. We did the 4 night, then 3 nights at Universal. Next year we'll do three nights at WDW then the cruise. My main reason for flipping the order around is that, while I was fine on the ship, it took me three days (the entire time at Universal) to get my land legs back. It was an odd sensation to walk around the park in that condition, and I don't want to do it again.

 

[bbrnca]

This year we (myself and DW) will be doing a 7night Eastern on the Fantasy and staying 2 days ahead at Old Key West and then 4 night on the back end at animal kingdom Kidani, staying 2 days before hand is always a nice down time to start the relaxation prosess of leaving the real world behind, the backside is a chance to do what we want by visiting the World and fufilling the inner child in each of us.....

 

[Fjobe]

We did WDW both before and after our cruise. We stayed at WDW 4 nights before and 2 nights after and had a total of 5 days in the parks. It worked out well for us. It definitely made it a little easier leaving the ship knowing we were going to be able to go to WDW for a couple days. I would be happy vising WDW before or after a cruise.

 

[oklamomof4boys]

We've also done it both ways. Preferred the parks after the cruise, otherwise it was just too depressing to get off the boat!

We are exactly the same way! But after the cruise and WDW we are so tired we are ready to get home!

 

[scrapbookmomma74]

We aren't doing WDW this time, but we had a similar issue for our cruise later this year.
We were planning to go on the DVC Member Cruise in September. It is a 4 night on the Dream, Sunday to Thursday. Well, as I started looking at the DCL site, I found that we could do the 7 night on the Fantasy that leaves the Saturday before and returns on the Saturday after, and DH would only have to take one more day of vacation. The Fantasy 7 night was also more affordable, so we decided to go with that instead! (I will ALWAYS choose more days on the ship if its possible).
We have done WDW for just 1 day prior to a cruise and after a cruise. I don't really think there is a huge difference, its enjoyable either way.
WDW after definitely makes sense for the OPs family, so yay for them!

Have a fantastic cruise!

 

[Shelley Chiarats]

We are doing the 4day on the Dream in October. We wanted to do something after but did not want to deal with the crowds of the park.

So we are planning one night at Animal Kingdom Lodge with a possibly Waynama Tour. We are normally All Star type people so staying at a Deluxe is going to be special. I am hoping that we can see some of the animals and it will be almost as good as Animal Kingdom without the rides.

 

[rdw]

I posted above, and as we are headed to the airport now, I can report back with a fresh perspective ( not the OP, but a poster with the same order of plans). We cruised the Wonder Sat - Thurs, then drove from Miami to Orlando for one day at MK - and now flying home from Tampa - so we're all over the state! I would have hated getting off the ship and going straight home. I was really glad we had WDW to look forward to. Now mind you - we didn't go all commando and try to do everything. Our kids are almost 6 and just turned 3. We got to the park around 11 and left around 9:30. Could have made it longer, but my younger one hadn't napped and we were soaked from rain.

When we started the trip - we left SO EARLY. For the cruise - woke kids at 4 am - we needed the sleep and relaxation of the cruise. It felt like WDW was just an added bonus at the end. (and something we could have skipped if necessary). So, I would say for us - park after cruise was really the best way to do it - we got to relax and dr compress - then go to the park. I do have yo admit though - after cruising, the park may have lost some luster to me. Loved the cruise and can't wait till we can do it again!

 

[Zeppelin]

One of the many things I see on the DCL threads is that people enjoy going to WDW first then the cruise instead of WDW after the cruise. We booked our first Cruise/WDW trip for this September - 4 night aboard the dream. The WDW before or after issue got me thinking. So I analyzed it.

Cruise then WDW
Sat. - leave house about 6am and drive down to Downtown Disney. Do dinner and other things and then head to hotel by port.
Sun - cruise starts
Thur - cruise ends, drive over to WDW, check in and be to park by 11.
Friday and Saturday - parks
Sunday - a 2-3 hours in park then head home.
So in the above we do a 4 night cruise and 3 nights at WDW. We get two full days at WDW, one mostly full day and then one with a few hours. In this scenario I would only need to take 5 days off from work.

WDW then Cruise.
Thurs - leave house about 6am and drive to WDW. Check in and at parks probably about 3pm.
Friday & Saturday - parks
Sunday - park for 2-3 hours and then to port.
Sunday - Thurs - cruise.
Thurs - leave cruise and then head home.
So in the above we do a 4 night cruise and 3 nights at WDW. We get two full days at WDW, 1 half day, 1 day with a few hours. In this scenario I would need to take 6 days off from work.

Doing the Cruise then WDW seems less rushed and gives us more time plus that little extra time at DTD.

Love to hear comments and other people's experiences.

agree 1000%...we did 4 days at WDW after our 7 night cruise last year and it was the right move...doing it again this year...

1) my daughter was devastated leaving the Disney Cruise last year and cried the whole day...her mood quickly changed upon arriving at WDW which was a complete surprise...

2) going after the cruise gave us something to look forward to walking off the ship, which is always depressing...

3) we took our time at WDW and really had a great time...

I think you made the right choice!!

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

agree 1000%...we did 4 days at WDW after our 7 night cruise last year and it was the right move...doing it again this year...

1) my daughter was devastated leaving the Disney Cruise last year and cried the whole day...her mood quickly changed upon arriving at WDW which was a complete surprise...

2) going after the cruise gave us something to look forward to walking off the ship, which is always depressing...

3) we took our time at WDW and really had a great time...

I think you made the right choice!!

Nothing chases away the Debarkation Blues better! In our case before a 7 day, we left work two days earlier and hit MK and HS base days Thurs Fri and embarked (not DCL) sat, debarked sat got to EP at 10:30 and hopped from there to AK, HS, back to EP for dinner and fireworks, then hoped back to MK to close it down at midnight. So we did two long park days, relaxed on our 7 day cruise and then since it came in on a sat and we could still drive home Sunday, we decided to go for it.

On our first DCL in April, since we had already taken that week and a half off in Feb/mar, it was just a quick bonus family trip. 3 day Dream on Thurs so we came in Tues nite, got Twinkie at the airport at 12:30 am.(we both worked until about 11am that morning and then worked on the road driving down that day.) Then we did a 4 park hop blitz on the Wed before the cruise. Since the cruise came in on Sunday, we had our nice MDR breakfast as a family and then headed back for the 14 hr drive and were at work the next day.

So going to WDW before or after or both, they all work.

But debarking to the parks def makes it a lot more fun!