Comparison of DCL vs WDW purely on price?

[Sleepyluke]

I know there are 500 threads on here and on the WDW budget board of when is the best time to go, cheapest, whatever, but has anyone compared week to week and found one to be cheaper than the other, or usually pretty close? Fall, winter, spring? I know summer is insane on both. Trying to decide whether our next Disney fix is going to be back on the cruise or if we go see the castle. If comparing lodging, food, tickets and whatever for the same time?

If this exists, please direct me, but I am going nuts trying to figure out how to add everything to a spreadsheet and go back and build multiple trips on each website.


Thanks for playing

 

[FigmentSpark]

For me, WDW was cheaper, but I think that's because we like to have 2 verandah rooms on the ship. For WDW, we rent a house, which comes out cheaper than staying on site.

I would suggest you look at a previous WDW trip you've taken, use those numbers as a start, then update them with what those same costs would be today. Then look at what the cruise will cost (include tips and excursions, as well as transportation to port).

 

[lanejudy]

I think there are too many variables to do a definitive comparison for all.

• WDW - length of stay, onsite vs offsite and "level" of resort/hotel, number of park days and hopping or waterparks, dining preferences, etc.
• DCL - length of cruise and destination, stateroom category, port excursions, spa, adult dining, etc.

For us, the way we travel and like to enjoy each (parks vs cruise), the parks is less expensive.

Enjoy your vacation -- cruise or parks or both!

 

[CaLuCa]

I have been going to the parks for a long time (almost 40 years), but only paying for them for 20. I am very adept at seeking out discounts on dining, tickets, and hotels. Now, we are local and AP. What we will spend this year at the parks is a fraction of our 7 night next January. And we go ALOT. And we even stay over night once or twice a month. I find the cruises to be vastly more expensive. With 4 kids, we have to have two rooms. At the parks, I can utilize off property hotels to minimize the cost. On the cruise, we book 2 verandahs.

Avoid Spring Break and Christmas Holidays. When I was playing around with pricing, those were upwards of $2K more per room. I think you would find more variability with cruise pricing than parks pricing. However, there are so many more "things" you can add into park pricing which would fluctuate the price...choice or value/mod/deluxe, paying for dining plan or OOP, hard ticket events like MNSSHP or EMM, or even totally spluring and getting a plaid (which if I didn't live close and could go often, AND money was free flowing, I'd definitely spring for). Yes, you have excursions too for the cruise and Palo to factor in.

If you do end up making an in depth spread sheet, please share. I'd be interested in hearing your numbers.

 

[cadien]

Based on how we travel, the cruise is the cheaper of the two. Not least because it's deluxe resort and the deluxe dining plan vs an oceanview cabin.

 

[monarchsfan16]

For us (2 adults), when we play with hypothetical numbers, the price comes out to be equal, if not slightly cheaper on DCL. And we stay at value resorts and don't do a ton of table service restaurants.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I agree too many variables. We also rent a house at WDW b/c it's so much more spacious, and we don't get a dining plan. Arguably, being on DCL is more comparable to staying onsite at WDW in at least a moderate or perhaps a deluxe and having the full dining plan. We just do the two vacations very differently. On land, it's easy to go off site and find some cheaper food or perhaps to eat less, on a cruise all food and most of the stuff I drink is included. It's such a different experience that I would consider more of what you want to get out of it than what you want to spend.

 

[mousefan73]

So our August fantasy cruise is about 6400. For a family of four veranda. We normally stay at least a week at Walt Disney World and have never spent that much for a week there. We usually stay a split stay either at POP BC with partial FRee Dining. for one week still never get to 6400.6400 is maybe a 9/10 night WDW stay. Plus that 6400 cruise fare is not the final cost us at another grand to that and we are way beyond what we spent at one week at Disney.

Of course staying at WDW can also get insanely expensive, so someone staying at concierge level deluxe resorts then you’re going to be really high up there and beyond what a standard veranda state room would cost for a family

 

[Lisa F]

WDW can be done more cheaply than a cruise because there are so many more options to save money at WDW. A cruise is what it is and then you have to spend extra for entertainment in ports if you want to do that. But you are also traveling around and eating 3 sit down meals a day - if you were on the deluxe DDP and stayed on site at a moderate or higher it would probably be a bit more equivalent.

But honestly when I was on a budget in Feb 2018, I did half WDW + a 4 day cruise because adding on the few days at WDW was less expensive than bumping up to a 7 day cruise. But now I WANT to do a 7 day cruise so I am transferring my onboard booking to a Feb 2020 7 night Fantasy cruise. The 10% and on board credit helps ease the pain a bit.

 

[gotomu212]

Last October we did a 4 night WDW (1 night delux, 3 nights moderate) with park tickets and dining plan and then did a 4 night cruise. Even with our onboard charges our WDW portion was more than our cruise.

When I priced out a Feb WDW (6 night) against a 7 night cruise same week the cruise was more before pricing in onboard costs.

Soooo I think you have to build each trip and then compare. For us the WDW price was pretty inclusive with the dining plan. I don’t think we spent anything more except hotel tips. For DCL price I had to add in gratuity and the excursions and then added $50/day in miscellaneous which evened out for us between mixology, drinks, and a photo.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

For 2 adults currently without APs the cruises tend to be cheaper for us than staying onsite.

 

[jtntx34]

Here is my thinking:

First, you cannot compare off site WDW prices to DCL cruise. Off site would be more like doing RCL instead of DCL.

Inside room vs Value resort room
Ocean view vs Moderate
Verandah vs Deluxe
Concierge vs Concierge
(If you need two rooms on board, while able to just use one at the parks, that would skew results.)

You would have to price WDW package with dining plan since sit down meals are included on DCL.

Probable excursions/activities on DCL vs Tickets at WDW

So, that’s one way to set it up for a side by side comparison or at least a place to start.

 

[Lisa F]

You would have to price WDW package with dining plan since sit down meals are included on DCL.

yes and no. I can be fed at WDW and even OVERFED at WDW paying much less than the dining plan. You are paying for much more food than most people can eat on the DDP and also on the cruise. That's why I say that a WDW vacation is much more flexible. If my son and I share an entree and I get an app salad and the kid gets a milkshake at the plaza, we leave there STUFFED and it's about $40 with tip for both of us, which is way less than 2TS on the DDP is valued at. You can mix and match your experiences and save money without compromising vacation fun too much at the parks. The cruise is what it is, you can go light on excursions and booze but beyond that the cost is much more fixed and you are paying for the all inclusive gluttonous nature of it whether you use it all or not. That is part of what is great about it!

 

[cutigerlady]

I’ve only been on 1 DCL Cruise, but I constantly was thinking about the cost and if I got my money’s worth. I’ve been to WDW more times than I want to admit, and I’ve never felt like that. We’ve done expensive trips at GF and Poly, moderate trips at POR/CR, and value trips at AOA/Pop/All Stars, not to mention many at the Swan/Dolphin.

 

[elaine amj]

I have done cruising with DCL and RCCL and WDW. The World is always cheaper for me especially since we like long 10-14 day trips during free dining. My DS prefers cruising, I prefer WDW. My DH and DD like both.

 

[squirk]

I know there are 500 threads on here and on the WDW budget board of when is the best time to go, cheapest, whatever, but has anyone compared week to week and found one to be cheaper than the other, or usually pretty close? Fall, winter, spring? I know summer is insane on both. Trying to decide whether our next Disney fix is going to be back on the cruise or if we go see the castle. If comparing lodging, food, tickets and whatever for the same time?

If this exists, please direct me, but I am going nuts trying to figure out how to add everything to a spreadsheet and go back and build multiple trips on each website.

The way we cruise and vacation, an “all-in” WDW trip works out to be cheaper, but not by a huge margin whereby a WDW vacation is a slam-dunk over a DCL vacation.

I used to try and spreadsheet stuff like this as well, but eventually I concluded that life is too short, and we just go with whichever trip “calls to us”.

Honestly, the experiences are so different, it’s a classic example of an “apples-to-oranges” comparison. Are oranges generally more expensive than apples? Yes, but if you’re really in the mood for an orange, the price difference is inconsequential.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Are you looking for the value for each or what it will cost you? If you're looking for the value, you have to compare apples to apples (as pp suggested). But if you're just trying to figure out how much it would cost you to do each vacation, then that shouldn't be too difficult. List where you'd stay, where you'd eat, include tickets and other expenses. Compare to the cost of the room you'd book on the cruise you want. After all that, if you find out one is cheaper than the other, but you're disappointed, do the one you really want, not the one that's looking cheaper.

 

[FSU Girl]

It would be hard for us to figure out what would be cheaper. For a cruise we like the longer ones and if we go to WDW it's typically over a weekend. I like the expensive deluxe hotels though so Disney Cruises are probably cheaper in the end, especially since the food is included. I think your best bet is to price it out yourself of what you want exactly. Pick the ship and cabin and see how much that'll be and then pick the hotel at Disney, calculate the food costs you think you'd spend and see which is cheaper.

 

[Sleepyluke]

Well all of you have added to my brain, and things I had not thought about, so thank you. I know there are a ton of variables and that makes ti harder, but as some of you pointed out there are a few comparables that can make it doable for a comparison as room on DCL vs WDW. We have not been to the world in 10 years now other than a party the night before we leave on a cruise, but really thinking it is time for the kids to experience the world too, but it is hard to stray too far from the cruise, even though it is getting more pricey every time I log in it seems. It is hard to beat the combination of relaxation and Disney fix of a cruise. But if we could do the parks for 1/2 we would do it, yes I know that is not possible. Just trying to stretch vacation dollar as far as we can. We have to fly so each would be a week, and I know a week at WDW can be tiring, so that is a consideration as well. The mouse is going to get it, it is just a matter of how much for each trip and how many trips!

 

[braysmommy]

Also with DCL the variable of booking on opening day vs. later is a huge factor. We usually can go to WDW for cheaper with value resort and quick service meals which we share along with bringing breakfast stuff. On DCL we will typically get an oceanview room for 2A/1C. My son would rather go to the parks during low attendance times. This past January we actually saved money by not getting free dining and going with a room discount and paying for food out of pocket.