Cruise before or after WDW?

[maui2k5]

We will be on the July 6-13, 2024 cruise on the Fantasy and are debating on going to WDW before or after the cruise for 3 or 4 nights. The concern about going before is simply the crowds around the 4th of July holiday plus the prices are higher. If we went after, I would imagine the crowds would be lower? From what I saw this year though it was opposite with crowds lower than expected over 4th of July.

I can also see a benefit of going after in the sense you get to extend your vacation by a few more days once you are back on land. What would you do?

Thoughts?

 

[sjuncfan]

We have never done it but what I have heard is it's nice to relax on a cruise after running around in the parks... the parks are a lot more hectic. But that's probably personal preference.

 

[NephieRN]

I prefer after. I’m always super sad getting off the cruise and going to Disney World makes it tolerable. I also would avoid 4th of July at WDW at all costs. I know this year was “slow” but that’s not the norm.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We will be on the July 6-13, 2023 cruise on the Fantasy and are debating on going to WDW before or after the cruise for 3 or 4 nights. The concern about going before is simply the crowds around the 4th of July holiday plus the prices are higher. If we went after, I would imagine the crowds would be lower? From what I saw this year though it was opposite with crowds lower than expected over 4th of July.

I can also see a benefit of going after in the sense you get to extend your vacation by a few more days once you are back on land. What would you do?

Thoughts?

My preference is WDW before, then the cruise. Going to the parks is go, go, go all the time, lots of walking, and being outdoors all the time. The cruise is great for recovering from all that.

I think in the summertime, that 4th of July or not, it's going to be busy.

 

[auntlynne]

I do not enjoy getting off the ship and then sitting at the airport until the flight time I picked (based on price and adding in a time cushion).

Early morning flights (too early for disembarkation day) are usually less expensive and are more likely to fly. But you have to spend the night to get one.

Solution - stay in Orlando for a day or two and then go home. We have old $5 per visit Disney water park tickets and some older non-expiry cheaper park tickets. It helps balance out the budget. For those purchasing current pricing tickets, you need to decide if arriving to WDW in late morning/ midday is a good use of a park ticket. With late closing hours, it seems you can still end up with a long day in the FL heat.

Sometimes, the cruise is my focus and I just want to be home afterwards. And I have never gone to WDW in the summer due to the heat. Even a Halloween Party in mid September and a week in early November were hotter than I enjoyed.

I would not chose to do 3-4 park days after a 7-night cruise, even under low crowds. Maybe 1-2. (But I will go on other vacations, even B2B cruises, for more days than that). I also do not typically spend more than a few days at the parks.

It could also be a good opportunity to try Universal for a day or two.

 

[lilmc]

We will be on the July 6-13, 2023 cruise on the Fantasy

Psst…time traveling to the past?

 

[o&smom]

We prefer WDW first. When we have gone after the cruise, we ended up feeling like we never went on a cruise.

 

[maui2k5]

Psst…time traveling to the past?

LOL - I fixed it. We are going next summer. Oops…

 

[Bunkie1979]

Time in WDW parks is always fun when you're recovering from sea legs, and WDW meal sizes will suddenly seem reasonable on an expanded stomach!

 

[JM_97]

Never tried it but I would do Disney World and then a cruise. Having done both separately, Disney World is a lot busier in general so I would do that first so that you can really relax on your cruise.

 

[grantclaire]

We have done both ways, I prefer parks first. It is hard going to the airport from a cruise!

 

[ehh]

We like to do a week(ish) in the parks, then 4-7 nights on cruise(s) to relax, then the weekend in the parks to wrap up our trip, returning home late Sunday.

 

[Husker Mike]

We just did this in July... 5 night cruise on the Fantasy, leaving the Saturday after July 4, then going to Disney World for 3 days before returning home on Sunday. Doing the parks in the July heat sapped any relaxation from the cruise...we needed another vacation when we got home.

That being said, the park crowds were really light, so with Genie+, we pretty much did everything we wanted and then hopped to Magic Kingdom at night. So it was a busy and productive trip, but super expensive. If I had to do it over, I'd do the parks and then the cruise...but it seemed like such a waste to fly home on Thursday instead of taking an extra day and doing the parks. But we paid for that in terms of exhaustion afterwards.

 

[AquaDame]

I prefer to cruise then parks but mostly the recommendation is the opposite from folk on here.

We are typically tired from work and in need of a vacation… then I’m ready to hit the parks instead of go home right after debarking! We’ve done it both ways. My ideal is fly in a day early in case of travel delays, go to Epcot if there is a festival on or MK that night, go on the cruise and then do however many days at the park we like. We skipped the pre cruise night this year as hotels were higher than normal and just stayed out at Port Canaveral.

 

[SeanSD]

We did parks then cruise. Had the energy at beginning for rope drop and all the steps and then relax on cruise.

 

[mkh531]

We’ve done parks after cruise, but just one day. Going from the cruise to the airport stinks, much better to have a day at a WDW resort. We managed to time our cruises when there were Xmas or Halloween parties, so we would relax at resort all day then head to party at 4. And then the next morning a character breakfast and then we go home. But it’s just one day, w lots of rest. If you want to visit all 4 parks and see everything, Id do them first. We just got back from 6 days in the parks and I’ve barely moved since I got home..these feet are TIRED.

 

[Anna131517]

I really think either way is good. It just depends on what works for your schedule. I wouldn’t do the parks the day of debarkation though just because you will lose time traveling from the cruise terminal. The last cruise we stayed in a hotel on the beach, then cruised, then went to WDW. Debarkation day was a pool day and dinner at AKL. The next day we did EP and MK. Then the next day we woke up and drove home. We’ve also gone to WDW for 3-4 days before hopping on a cruise ship, and that was also fun.

 

[MamaMermaid]

I'd opt for cruise after!

 

[sponica]

I've done the parks after, but only because it was our honeymoon and there was NO way we would have had the energy for a parks trip before the cruise. We needed the break of a cruise before hitting the parks.

Going forward we'd probably do parks then cruise.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

We’ve done it both ways, and with our WBPC in 2019, we did both on the one trip, WDW pre-cruise and DL post-cruise. We prefer to cruise first then do WDW. We also have done anywhere from one to three nights at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort pre-cruise, with the longer stay in January when there’s more risk of weather travel delays in our travel from the Chicago area to Florida.