Celebrating birthday-disney cruise or disney world??

[bobgobblin15]

Upon looking at the 2018 itineraries, there is a a seven day cruise where my daughters fifth birthday is the last day on the ship. We have sailed with disney before but without celebrating anything. We have been to disney world before, again without celebrating anything. For anyone who has celebrated a child's birthday at sea and at the parks, which would you suggest? Are there any little details that one may do and the other one doesn't?

 

[Dug720]

By "last day" do you mean last full day? Or the day you have to get off the ship?

If the latter (debarkation day) that would make me so sad to have to leave on my birthday. So I personally wouldn't do that.

If it is the former, I would think the cruise could be super fun - especially if the last day is Castaway!

As far as "what is done" a lot is at the discretion of the crew members on board or cast members in the parks. On the ship your servers can bring a little chocolate mousse-type thing to her at dinner. Either place you should be able to get a birthday button so she gets lots of greetings. Beyond that, there is no guarantee of any other free stuff given - adult or child.

 

[bobgobblin15]

Ah, sorry last full day on the ship. I am all about cruising. Just because you are paying that much money and actually going to other countries vs. paying around the same amount of money(pending where you stay, cost of food/dining with characters, etc.) and staying on US soil. BUT, at the parks there are rides, etc.

 

[Dug720]

I'd definitely go for the cruise then!

 

[gingerfeathers]

I think if she wears a birthday button, she'll get lots of attention regardless of where she's at (cruise or WDW). I don't think you could make a wrong decision on this.

 

[bobgobblin15]

I have been looking on both websites, and I know at disney world you can purchase extras from the floral & gifts store and I think have them delivered to your room, presenting your royal highness package and other packages similar to that. From what I can tell from the cruises website, they have gifts that can be delivered but nothing like that. And another thing, we don't even use the toddler/kids rooms where you drop them off and they play. Maybe if she was a teenager we would be ok with it, but not when she is five.

 

[tlprice]

When we were on the Dream last December, one of the young girls at our table had her birthday on the ship. Her mother had ordered a cake and they shared it with everyone at the table, but that was pretty much it. As an adult, it was also my birthday and our server brought at a small cake for me without any request. On my actual birthday a few days later, I was at Epcot and there was a lot more fanfare. People all over the park said Happy Birthday to me. The cast members told me Happy Birthday on every ride. We ate lunch at Garden Grill and Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale all signed a card for me and came over to visit several times. Dale even drew me a special picture of himself. I was also given a special dessert at lunch and at dinner at Via Napoli. Some of the PhotoPass photographers also took some special birthday pictures.

 

[TrySomethingNew]

Our 9yo had a bday on debarkation day, so we celebrated the last full day, a sea day. No candles and no balloons onboard. We did a little decoration in room. You can buy decoration packages too, but they get put up at the beginning of the cruise - not a day you choose -ours was 11 night primarily for our 20 th anniversary, so we did not want bday stuff up the whole cruise. On the Disney store website you can get bday invitations, so we got them printed with date, Main dining, location (North Sea), the ship (Disney Magic), her name and age. These invites cannot use WDW names however (see fine print), so it worked for the cruise. Kidsclub counselors were great- I mentioned her bdayto the counselor she bonded with and we received a hand made bdaycard from the counselor in our FE. We ordered cake for her bday and it was tasty and crew sang her happy bday at dinner last night. BBB is onboard most ship (all now?), so a great option as well. The spas have kids or tween packages I think, so another possibility perhaps. Birthday button too!

At the parks, there is a greater variety of places to go, eat at, etc. you can have candles and balloons. There are many more cake options -even some pretty nice character themed cakes that you can order ahead of time (on board there is a Mickey cake option, otherwise the cakes are custom based on cake/frosting/filling choices -no characters). Birthday button to wear. We've done an adult birthday at WDW, but lots of options. Princess meals - or other themed meals-plenty of options. When I took youngest to WDW for mom daughter trip when she was 5, we did 3princess meals, watched parades, rode only a few rides,watched more parades (her choice), BBB, and every night she crashed by 8 pm. And to facilitate traveling with a short legged, possibly very tired 5 yo, I did buy a small umbrella stroller at a resale store at home - great use of $8, as we would have never made it around world showcase without it.

Really, depends on what you see as fun for her and your group. Also, what kind of pace will work well. The ships are more relaxed in some ways,but you get to go to various new places. Parks are generally fast paced, but huge variety of experiences. Good luck with your decision!

 

[bobgobblin15]

We were on the disney dream last year, and honestly we didn't see any characters besides in the terminal on embarkation day and when we were walking to the beach on Castaway Cay. Now of course we weren't going to hunt down any characters, but I thought we would of seen them a lot more during our cruise than what we did. It seems to me that there are more character interactions at a park than on a cruise ship. I could be wrong. She will be turning five so being able to have a good opportunity to see and meet characters is going to be big part of the trip. @TrySomethingNew & Tiprice y'all have convinced me to take her to disney world. And then we can do a non-celebratory cruise!

 

[Dug720]

We were on the disney dream last year, and honestly we didn't see any characters besides in the terminal on embarkation day and when we were walking to the beach on Castaway Cay. Now of course we weren't going to hunt down any characters, but I thought we would of seen them a lot more during our cruise than what we did. It seems to me that there are more character interactions at a park than on a cruise ship. I could be wrong. She will be turning five so being able to have a good opportunity to see and meet characters is going to be big part of the trip. @TrySomethingNew & Tiprice y'all have convinced me to take her to disney world. And then we can do a non-celebratory cruise!

The character meet and greets are listed in the Navigator. They are around the lobby before and between both dinner seatings, etc. Do they just roam around? No. But then it's been a while since I saw them just freely roaming in the parks too.

 

[TrySomethingNew]

Have fun! Just so you know, I've seen numerous times during the WDW parades where a child (or adult) will be singled out by a parade character and mouthed "Happy Birthday" or called to by the characters, especially the princesses. So on bday button, make sure her name is easy to read - if a long name maybe make it a short nickname. If the characters on the float can read it and see it, there is a greater chance of attention.

Sometimes though, timing can be off - you're on the side that character is not looking at or whatever. Youngest loved Jesse. We tried 4 different locations in MK on parade route over different days when she was 6 - she was even holding up her Jesse doll and dancing to the music. Every.single.time Jesse went past she was moving towards/facing other side of street and she never saw DD. So another day we are watching parade at HS, daughter is tired sitting on curb next to trash can, Jesse doll on lap, not really paying attention. Jesse character sees her ... makes an OMG theatrical expression and run over to my child. Luckily I saw this and got my daughter to look. Jesse runs over and gives her a huge hug and runs back to parade route and waves, etc while continuing her dancing. Anyway, sometimes it's just a matter of timing too with parades. Daughter talked about parade Jesse for another couple of years!

Check out Disboards for WDW and you can search for bday ideas and cake information.

 

[PurplePencil]

I've experienced both, we actually did at WDW stay sandwiched around a cruise with a birthday on the last full day, and a birthday on debarkation day; at formerly Downtown Disney (Now Disney Springs), the birthday button was noticed by the server and we received a free gelato at Portobello. Soon after checking in at AKV, we left to get an annual pass for a member of our party, and awaiting for us in the room was a small package of goodies and a birthday card. Onboard the ship (note: we upgraded at port to concierge) was a birthday card, pixie dust, and a toy for the birthday kid

 

[bobgobblin15]

@TrySomethingNew, OMG I bet she LOVED that! That would make anyone's day. And that will be a day that she will always remember! This is awesome, y'all have some wonderful memories from these experiences.