Cruise before or after WDW land visit?

[WDWDecember]

What is your opinion on the order of taking a 3 or 4 day cruise and visiting WDW parks for 7 days. Should the cruise be before or after? We would be flying from Boston.

 

[JimmyV]

STRONG preference for doing WDW first and then the cruise. How many times have I gotten back from WDW and said: "Whew! I need a vacation from my vacation!"? Oh....about every time we return! The cruise portion of the trip provides that chance to relax that I always dream I am going to have at WDW, but never do. There are no Rope Drops, FP+s or ADRs to hurry up and catch while on the cruise. (Except perhaps for dinner at Palio, but that is a far cry from trying to make that 6:30 ADR at Chef Mickey's).

 

[summermac]

I agree - cruise last.

 

[TXHauntedMansionFan]

Ditto for us - cruise after is much better than cruising before for our family.

 

[rolltide13]

I'm going to say cruise last also, but for another reason.. We went for a 10 day land/sea/land wedding in october, and I will tell you that riding rides after the cruise made me very sick.

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

Parks first, cruise last.

 

[Reizo]

Having done both before and after, I will also vote for going to WDW first and then the cruise last. It works out better not only because you get to relax from your vacation to WDW but the service is far different.

At WDW you would worry about ADRs and usually are dealt with what's given to you when you arrive, on the cruise you've got a team ready to do what they can to satisfy you. Again, it's just a nicer retreat after the mayhem of the parks

 

[Itinkso]

As rolltide said, it sometimes takes a day or two to get accustomed to being back on land.

Definitely do parks and then the longest cruise you can fit in. DCL is Disney at its best if that is the cruiseline you are considering.

 

[mjl1969]

I think an important question is this a "starter" cruise to see if you like it? If so u might want to do cruise first in case you don't like it which would give you parks to look forward to. We just came back from our first cruise, a 3 night on magic, and for us we all agreed the cruise was not what we had hoped , just not much to do other than eat and sit around unless you like the activities on the ship, none of which we would ever spend money on in any other place. the entire top deck is pure chaos, nothing relaxing about it. One exception was the nighttime broadway shows which were excellent. Good luck with whatever you choose

 

[pixarmom]

We're the opposite! I'd say cruise first, and then parks. Here's why: it's tough to leave a cruise - very tough. Leaving the ship and heading straight to the airport is a significant downer . . . unless you're heading to WDW! We are much happier cruising first and then spending time at WDW afterwards. Helps us ease out of cruise mode and have something to look forward to when we step off the ship!

Also, we have three very active boys - neither WDW nor a cruise is relaxing - both are just really fun!

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

We're the opposite! I'd say cruise first, and then parks. Here's why: it's tough to leave a cruise - very tough. Leaving the ship and heading straight to the airport is a significant downer . . . unless you're heading to WDW! We are much happier cruising first and then spending time at WDW afterwards. Helps us ease out of cruise mode and have something to look forward to when we step off the ship!

Also, we have three very active boys - neither WDW nor a cruise is relaxing - both are just really fun!

Ditto to this for us, except we have 2 DD's instead of active boys but all the same reasons we love to cruise first and WDW second.

 

[WDWDecember]

I think an important question is this a "starter" cruise to see if you like it? If so u might want to do cruise first in case you don't like it which would give you parks to look forward to. We just came back from our first cruise, a 3 night on magic, and for us we all agreed the cruise was not what we had hoped , just not much to do other than eat and sit around unless you like the activities on the ship, none of which we would ever spend money on in any other place. the entire top deck is pure chaos, nothing relaxing about it. One exception was the nighttime broadway shows which were excellent. Good luck with whatever you choose

This would be the first cruise for all of us so this gives us something to consider. We have been to WDW three times.

 

[Desnik]

We will be cruising for the first time this weekend and we are doing the 4 night cruise first, then WDW.

We don't know how we will like a cruise, but whether we love it or hate it, we will still have a Disney vacation to look forward to afterwards!!

 

[mjl1969]

This would be the first cruise for all of us so this gives us something to consider. We have been to WDW three times.

Definitely consider leaving the sure thing for last assuming you already love WDW, if you love the cruise it will just be a bonus. One other thing we liked about the cruise part of vacation was castaway cay, a very nice day at the beach.

 

[Crystal824]

Cruise last. Cruising is way more relaxing than the parks. It will you a chance to relax before going home.

 

[jmkrat]

The last two cruises we went on were before the parks and we did enjoy it. This time I decided to go to the parks first and then the Cruise. My main concern was a flight delay. This way I'll be assured to get to the ship on time.

 

[Iowajes]

Cruise second. I don't get sea sick but can be "land sick" for a week or more when I get back so I'm usually a but miserable.

Cruising is exhausting though so I'm not sure I'd want to do both in one trip.

 

[abidale]

Cruise first. The cruise goes by in a flash, and once you've gotten accustomed to being completely surrounded by Disney and gotten to know your servers at dinner, etc., it's kind of a reality shock to come straight back home. We love knowing we have WDW to fall back on after the cruise, and it makes it much easier to leave the cruise when you have the parks to look forward to!

 

[herb102211]

We prefer to cruise after we hit the parks. The cruise is definitely a more relaxing way to end the week!