Disney Land and Sea package ?

[coastermom]

Does Disney still offer the land and sea package from Florida ? Looking to do a package next summer on the Fantasy or Dream . Not really too worried about the destionations of the ships as of yet. I would like to do a small cruise as it would be our first and we always love time in the parks .

Thanks for any info !

 

[sissy_ib]

Does Disney still offer the land and sea package from Florida ? Looking to do a package next summer on the Fantasy or Dream . Not really too worried about the destionations of the ships as of yet. I would like to do a small cruise as it would be our first and we always love time in the parks .

Thanks for any info !

There are no land/sea packages. You can book your resort stay with DCL but you will be paying rack rate. It is much better to book on your own and look for discounts for WDW.

 

[mickeynut1]

Disney stopped offering the land & sea packages a couple of years ago. If you want to stay at a Disney resort before and/or after the cruise, you can just make the resort reservation separate. We are taking a 3 night cruise in June 2013 and once the 2013 resort rates come out, I plan on booking our resort stay for before & after the cruise. Even with the land/sea packages that used to be offered, I found it was cheaper to book them separately anyway. HTH .

 

[DLW8]

No, they don't have the "package" anymore, and that means you have total flexibility!

As PP mentioned, book your stays separately (or have your TA do it) so you can take advantage of any discounts at WDW.

With the "packages" they used to offer, it was very restrictive. You could do 4 days land/3 night cruise or 3 nights land/4 night cruise. That was it. No other option. And, your cruise stateroom category was based on where you spent your time on land. Deluxe hotel = verandah and above categories. Moderate resort = oceanview and value resort = inside. Now, you could mix and match, but it actually cost even MORE!

Now you can go as many days as you want before or after the cruise, and you can choose your hotel level as well as stateroom category. My advice...do the parks BEFORE the cruise! It's more relaxing on the cruise, so that is how we like to end our vacation instead of being tired from the parks.

Enjoy!

 

[kcashner]

In addition to the flexibility of doing your land and sea separately, you can usually do it cheaper too! You can get your "best" rate on your cruise and then combine that with whatever specials WDW may be running at that time (free dining or whatever). Makes a lot more sense!

 

[Patrickprincess]

In addition to the flexibility of doing your land and sea separately, you can usually do it cheaper too! You can get your "best" rate on your cruise and then combine that with whatever specials WDW may be running at that time (free dining or whatever). Makes a lot more sense!

I did the land sea package back in 2002 and yes it had no flexibiity. I went to wdw for five nights and had to pay extra for the fifith night but i would go to wdw for the cruise espeically if you are a newbe. They parks are fun but they came be trieing

 

[mum1]

I'm seeing Land and Sea options online... has this package deal changed from what has been offered in the past? We are considering this option for a trip in 2014. Just wondering if anyone who has booked this in the past and how does it compare to the offers online now?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'm seeing Land and Sea options online... has this package deal changed from what has been offered in the past? We are considering this option for a trip in 2014. Just wondering if anyone who has booked this in the past and how does it compare to the offers online now?

AFAIK, they are not the full land & sea packages that were offered in the past, but just add a couple of days pre or post cruise hotel stays.

 

[KanataDad]

So I booked my cruise directly through Disney Cruise Line agent, and they had a deal for adding hotels and park tickets (which were a little cheaper than booking the same hotel nights and tickets through Disney World agent).
So I went ahead with that.
Few days later when I tried to add a dining plan and put a request early check in they said I have to call Disney World to do that since the Cruise agents can't do it. I called Disney World agent and they said they cannot access the info to do the change and to call the cruise agent again.
I've gone back and forth for over a week now with each Disney Cruise saying it can only be done by Disney world agent, and Disney world agent saying it can only be done by Disney Cruise agent.
Finally the agent last night said why don't I just cancel my reservation with Disney cruise and re-book it with Disney world. Well not only did the AoA Little Mermaid prices go up but now they're not even available to book via Disney world for those dates.

It's frustrating how to parts of the same company can't figure out how to add dining plan and request a 2 pm check in without me having to cancel my reservation and risk not getting the room for those dates.

Anyone have a similar experience, or anyone have any tips (without having me to cancel what I've already booked)?

 

[lanejudy]

So I booked my cruise directly through Disney Cruise Line agent, and they had a deal for adding hotels and park tickets (which were a little cheaper than booking the same hotel nights and tickets through Disney World agent).
So I went ahead with that.
Few days later when I tried to add a dining plan and put a request early check in they said I have to call Disney World to do that since the Cruise agents can't do it. I called Disney World agent and they said they cannot access the info to do the change and to call the cruise agent again.
I've gone back and forth for over a week now with each Disney Cruise saying it can only be done by Disney world agent, and Disney world agent saying it can only be done by Disney Cruise agent.
Finally the agent last night said why don't I just cancel my reservation with Disney cruise and re-book it with Disney world. Well not only did the AoA Little Mermaid prices go up but now they're not even available to book via Disney world for those dates.

It's frustrating how to parts of the same company can't figure out how to add dining plan and request a 2 pm check in without me having to cancel my reservation and risk not getting the room for those dates.

Anyone have a similar experience, or anyone have any tips (without having me to cancel what I've already booked)?

They are actually 2 entirely separate companies and entities. Yes, under the Disney umbrella, but otherwise no connections. Separate booking systems, separate financials, etc. It's sort of like calling ABC and asking them to book your WDW vacation - they really are that separate. That's why most of us recommend booking the 2 parts separately. Plus, most WDW offers don't come out until closer and by having the 2 separate reservations you can modify WDW to take advantage of possibly free dining or room-only or whatever.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

 

[mmouse37]

They are actually 2 entirely separate companies and entities. Yes, under the Disney umbrella, but otherwise no connections. Separate booking systems, separate financials, etc. It's sort of like calling ABC and asking them to book your WDW vacation - they really are that separate. That's why most of us recommend booking the 2 parts separately. Plus, most WDW offers don't come out until closer and by having the 2 separate reservations you can modify WDW to take advantage of possibly free dining or room-only or whatever.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

Yep...much better to book them separately. While some may find it convenient to initially book WDW days either pre or post cruise through DCL...it turns out not to be convenient when free dining comes out or discount codes for the WDW part.

MJ

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I like no more than 2 or so park days before the cruise and a park day or two after the cruise. A WDW DCL sandwich! That's what we have planned for May.

 

[robhawk]

Does Disney still offer the land and sea package from Florida ? Looking to do a package next summer on the Fantasy or Dream . Not really too worried about the destionations of the ships as of yet. I would like to do a small cruise as it would be our first and we always love time in the parks .

Thanks for any info !

Dream cruises are 3 or 4 day which might work better for you. Of course a 7 day Fantasy cruise with WDW would be incredible!!!

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Our Magic in May is also offering 3 and 4 days. We did the Dream this year and are on the 'new' Magic next year. Just FYI that you can add that to the Land trips as well depending on when you go...

 

[KanataDad]

With Disney World, we didn't qualify for any discounts or free dining because it's 4 day land before our 7 night cruise, and start date of the land portion is outside the free dining window. We wanted to keep costs down and Little Mermaid room at AoA was the best choice. DCL was able to offer AoA Little mermaid room + 3 day park hopper tickets for less the Disney World (few weeks back). It seemed like the best choice at the time, and I think we'll keep it because even if we cancelled with DCL and rebooked with DW (say Pop Century since AoA isn't available) it would be much more expensive now (just calculated it ... $700 more for the same dates if I rebooked today).

It's strange that even though these are completely 2 different companies (as you mention), I can see my hotel and park tickets booked through DCL on "Disney World My Experience" website along side all dining reservations I've made through Disney World Dining.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

If the Dining plan is the only thing you are missing, I think you are good to save the money. It's only 4 park days, and you are going on basically an all you can eat cruise. I found that I could happily order off the kids menu if I had to eat something at the park. There were only 2 times, I won't. Pizzafari is our fave place to eat at AK, (its tradition! and normally good, but last time, service was soso) and at EP where we ordered our fav traditional mid east food at Morrocco.

Otherwise, I was happy with the kids menu and we didn't have to spend a WHOLE lot on food. I think it's better to pay less for the package you have than to worry about rebooking for the dining plan. This allows you to control your own budget, or at least I'm trying to be positive!

 

[KanataDad]

Besides the dining plan the only other thing we can't do is request an earlier check in ahead of time, and won't be even able do online pre-checkin. DCL agent told us last night we would just have to checkin at resort and see if they can get a us a room earlier at the time.

But thanks for all the advice.

We're going to attempt to do 4 parks with the 3 day park hopper, Epcot just for dinner at Tangierine Café (yes - love Moroccan food --- will bring back memories from our Honeymoon). Pizzafari is also on our list, and we managed to get reservations at Sanaa, Chef Mickey's & Royal Table (lucked out with this one as I grabbed a cancellation).

 

[lanejudy]

With Disney World, we didn't qualify for any discounts or free dining because it's 4 day land before our 7 night cruise, and start date of the land portion is outside the free dining window. We wanted to keep costs down and Little Mermaid room at AoA was the best choice. DCL was able to offer AoA Little mermaid room + 3 day park hopper tickets for less the Disney World (few weeks back). It seemed like the best choice at the time, and I think we'll keep it because even if we cancelled with DCL and rebooked with DW (say Pop Century since AoA isn't available) it would be much more expensive now (just calculated it ... $700 more for the same dates if I rebooked today).

It's strange that even though these are completely 2 different companies (as you mention), I can see my hotel and park tickets booked through DCL on "Disney World My Experience" website along side all dining reservations I've made through Disney World Dining.

Bolded part is interesting...mainly because other than with a special offer (free dining, room-only discount) WDW pricing is set. It doesn't fluctuate like cruise pricing. Of course, changing resorts will change the price, and I'm surprised POP is more than AoA-LM since that has been so popular. But I'm really not at all familiar with whatever discounts DCL was able to give you, so it must be a good deal. Don't worry about the dining plan -- we only take that if it's free. Convenient to have it "pre-paid" but otherwise it doesn't save us money. If you like the "pre-paid" concept, put some money onto gift cards (we usually use Disney Visa Reward dollars) equal to what the DP would cost.

Even online check-in doesn't guarantee a room will be ready before 3:00pm. Early room availability depends on how many rooms were occupied at that resort the prior night and how many guests are checking out the day you check-in.

Enjoy your land/sea vacation!

 

[KanataDad]

We wrote down the prices of the hotels since early August, and even though it may seem they aren't supposed to change they have. In August we had noted Pop Century and AoA prices on DW website for December vacation, and I looked last night and again few minutes ago (for Pop as AoA little mermaid no longer available).
The pop century DW website prices for same nights are more now than they were just over a month ago for same dates, and they're now even more than what AOA was.
But DCL gave us a better deal on AoA, but the significant part of the savings came from 3 day Park Hopper tickets.

I think we'll just pay for meals and checkin at hotel ... Hopefully line and wait to get room won't be too long ... We have a 2 year old that naps from 2 to 4 pm.

 

[kmedina]

Besides the dining plan the only other thing we can't do is request an earlier check in ahead of time, and won't be even able do online pre-checkin. DCL agent told us last night we would just have to checkin at resort and see if they can get a us a room earlier at the time. But thanks for all the advice. We're going to attempt to do 4 parks with the 3 day park hopper, Epcot just for dinner at Tangierine Café (yes - love Moroccan food --- will bring back memories from our Honeymoon). Pizzafari is also on our list, and we managed to get reservations at Sanaa, Chef Mickey's & Royal Table (lucked out with this one as I grabbed a cancellation).

You can arrive whenever you want and do not need to request an early check in. Even if you request it, there is no guarantee you'll get it. If you arrive before your room is ready, they can hold your bags at bells while you explore the resort, go to the parks, etc. They will text or call you when the room is ready. We arrived just after 7am (red eye) once. We went to the food court for breakfast and got the call that our room was ready before we even finished eating. We've never requested an early check in either.

As far as online check in goes, you are probably better off not doing it. The first time we did online check in, it worked well. Now, everyone does it. The online check in line is ALWAYS long while the walk up lines are short. Plus, online check in probably saves less than 5 minutes once you get to the window. Also, you have a better chance of getting an early check in if you're not pre-assigned to a specific room.

As far as the cost going up by $700, I believe you. If you cancelled and rescheduled, you pay today's prices for the cruise rather than the price when you booked. The costs raise regularly as time moves on.

When it comes to hotel rooms, they do raise the prices a little if demand increases. However, $700 for 4 nights does seem excessive. My guess is the $700 is coming from something else, like being forced into a suite rather than a regular room.