Cruise or WDW parks with young children?

[Garyjames220]

@Garyjames220 I used it numerous times and I don't have any complaints. I believe they will let you tour it on the first day. Living in Orlando I know a lot of people that have taken Disney cruises and no one has ever mentioned having to go and pick up their child early.

ok well that’s good news

we are from Scotland so long way, and I no the nursery will come in very handy for us

 

[MomOTwins]

@Garyjames220 I used it numerous times and I don't have any complaints. I believe they will let you tour it on the first day. Living in Orlando I know a lot of people that have taken Disney cruises and no one has ever mentioned having to go and pick up their child early.
[/QUOTE]
Well I can confirm it is not just me because I posted my experience in another thread on this board a few months back and there were others reporting similar issues with getting called to pick up kids repeatedly, after little time. Staff on cruises change so it doesn’t surprise me that there would be different experiences.

 

[Glenn3484]

I found the disney cruise WAY more enjoyable with my two younger kids. Really no lines to wait in, way more laid back. Overall a more enjoyable trip.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

If we did the cruise next year, we'd do WDW the following year when the kids are 3,6 and 9.

Oh, then I'd 100% do the cruise!

 

[pezgirlroy]

Can I ask what you think of the nursery ?

I was hoping to use it often but worried now they just want us back after 10 mins. Surly they try a bit more than that

We first cruised with our daughter on Disney when she was 2 and used the nursery. We had great luck with it. This was never an issue for us.One time she had a bit of a hard time settling down but it all worked out.

 

[Sleepyluke]

Count us in the cruise category with 2 kids having cruised at combined 9 months, 13 months, 18 months, 3 years, 4 years and 5 years, Magic, Wonder, and Fantasy, and hands down go on the cruise. Nursery folks are incredible, never got called from them. We got called from the kids club during the first of the week to com get the older one because she wanted to play with mom and dad. Cruise is much more relaxing for parents. As a grown man holding a toddler napping at dinner while my server cut up my food was one of the funniest/weirdest/best memories of my life. Carrying a 2 year old around after the shows while she is passed out asleep only to wake up after a good nap and play with Pluto in the atrium at midnight for 15 plus minutes is priceless that you will never get in the parks. We were debating on a park trip next fall with what will be a 3 and 7 year old and just cant get away from the cruises. We always take a little umbrella stroller with us. easy to fit under the beds, and never had an issue in the halls or shops if little ones were asleep. And anyone that tells you that a 1/2/3 year old is too young to remember, tell that to my kids, they both scream and tell us random things from our last cruise that they do remember, well the 2 year old just screams when he sees Mickey, but that is understood.

 

[Spork24]

My kids are 3 and 5 and have been on 2 cruises and made a handful of trips to Disney world with them. We live both trips, I think they are both a lot of fun but the cruise is for sure more relaxing. My vote is cruise this year and parks next year, but you can’t go wrong either way!

 

[Skylarr29]

I would choose Disney. Your 2 year old will be free and then the following year would be old enough for the kids clubs and pools.

We have 5 kids and we’ve sailed 4 times with our youngest since he was 6 months old, number 5 coming up next month. The nursery has been a big strike every single time and I will never even attempt it again after the last incident we had on the Magic. I’m sure tons of people have had acceptable experiences but we’ve yet to have one.

Does your toddler go to day care? At the nursery you basically just hand your child over to the worker. You can not go in, put them down, distract them and sneak out, you can’t place a toe over the line, you can’t stand at the door. For us, this meant our baby/toddler is left screaming from the very get go. It’s just not for us. And yes. We did get a text during brunch saying he was upset, they didn’t say we had to come, but I ate in 15 minutes and left, I’m not going to leave my baby screaming, personally.

Making dining reservations and fast pass reservations is not nearly as complicated and dramatic as many people make it seem. It’s pretty simple. For us it saves time running back and forth all over the park.

I think your kids are great ages for the park.

 

[88golf88]

No hotter topic than leaving kids in club and going on an excursion.

Different families, different rules.

Everyone just keep repeating that.

Cruise ship excursions are definitely a safe way to get adult activity time.

Nothing wrong with adults (or families with a caboose baby) getting what they need out of a vacation too.

Different families different rules. Different wants. Different needs. Different dynamics.

Cant like this or favorite it enough...families don't fit into little boxes. Everyone is different. All of our children are different. Most of our expectations are different. These boards can be great for information, but remember what they say about opinions...

 

[msmama]

I can't say for sure as I didn't cruise for the first time until my son was 8, but I would do WDW over a cruise for younger kids.

For me, I was really nervous about being stuck on a ship if things went south with the kid. There's only so many things you can do (don't get me wrong, there are a lot of them and a lot of ways to have fun on the ship) to keep a kid happy. You're literally stuck on a floating tin can. At WDW I felt like I had more options. There's always another ride, another show, another park, another...whatever.

Now that he's older and somewhat reasonable (are kids ever really reasonable?) and could have real conversations, we LOVE Disney cruising. In fact we're leaving next week for the Panama canal cruise. What he has always said is that it's the best vacation because he can find something fun he wants to do, I can find something fun I want to do and then we can meet up and do fun stuff together, too"!

We never pushed hard at WDW. We would usually open the parks (not on purpose, we're early risers) and stay until about 3-4, maybe push it until dinner time at the parks, and then we'd leave. Did we miss out on evening entertainment? Yes, but we stayed sane and worked within our schedules. My feeling was always a little bit of WDW while happy is always going to be better than as-much-as-you-cram-in WDW while miserable.

 

[bananapepper]

Thank you all so much for your responses! Everyone is making good points...I'm still so torn!

 

[sullivan.kscott]

Cruise! It was the inaugural year of the Dream, on a 4 night Bahamian, that got our kids hooked on Disney at all.
In fact, we did 2 DCL trips before ever setting foot in a park with them. All these years later, we’re all still hooked!
For all the reasons you mentioned, the cruises are soooo much easier with little littles, and no Magic is lost, at all, in my opinion.

 

[mousefan73]

We are trying to plan our family trip for next fall/winter and are trying to decide between a cruise or WDW at AKL.

What is making me lean towards the cruise is 1) We can drive to Galveston so that saves money and hassle of not having to fly 2) Not having to plan so much in advance. Just the thought of having to work out fast passes and dinner reservations months in advance with three young children has me stressed. 3) Kid's clubs and childcare so that my husband and I can get a break and relax too.

My husband is leaning more towards the parks because our two older kids are really the perfect age to go. They'd be 5 and 8 and we worry if we don't go then, a lot of the "magic" of the characters and castles, etc will not be the same. On the other hand, the thought of WDW with a 2-year-old seems really hard with dealing with nap times and tantrums and picky eating and such.

What do you think? What would you choose? With the plane tickets and food, they'd end up costing us about the same.

For your sanity I would go with a cruise. We didn't start taking our kids to WDW until they were 5/6. To each there own, but taking an infant or toddler to WDW for me would be torture. Unless it was an only child. Maybe I like things easy but that would be too much work for me while on vacation. A cruise is so much more relaxing... and convenient. Your room is right there. and the kid's club give you a break.

Benefit also in waiting for the kids to be able to ride more rides when older. to enjoy more of WDW.

 

[tee11]

Replying to your original question: Cruise 100%. Wouldn't worry about the magic of the parks visit "lost", don't think that applies. Parks are taxing with little kids. That said we've done both at all ages you list.
I still say cruise 100%, especially if Galveston is an easy drive for you and saves money! And yes, there is nearly no planning for the cruise, and you can remain very flexible throughout. For the parks, at that age, I had to cancel my hard fought for dining reservations, including character dining, several times.... and we missed fast pass windows left and right. Cruise is much easier. Nursery on board is excellent in our experiences, and the booked ahead times can be modified. Ask as many more questions, as you like, I'll try to answer!

We are trying to plan our family trip for next fall/winter and are trying to decide between a cruise or WDW at AKL.

What is making me lean towards the cruise is 1) We can drive to Galveston so that saves money and hassle of not having to fly 2) Not having to plan so much in advance. Just the thought of having to work out fast passes and dinner reservations months in advance with three young children has me stressed. 3) Kid's clubs and childcare so that my husband and I can get a break and relax too.

My husband is leaning more towards the parks because our two older kids are really the perfect age to go. They'd be 5 and 8 and we worry if we don't go then, a lot of the "magic" of the characters and castles, etc will not be the same. On the other hand, the thought of WDW with a 2-year-old seems really hard with dealing with nap times and tantrums and picky eating and such.

What do you think? What would you choose? With the plane tickets and food, they'd end up costing us about the same.

Thanks

 

[Dunshie23]

Haven't done a cruise with our daughter yet but we took her to WDW for her 2nd birthday in May and are going back in December. She had a great time and seeing the magic through her eyes was priceless.

That being said all kids are different and all kids will tolerate different things. She is a pretty easy going kid and napped in her stroller if she was tired.