Do you always do a land-based portion to your cruise? Why/why not? Pros/cons?

[Peggytc]

We did WDW before our cruise. If that were to be an option for anyone, I would recommend doing it that way! The parks can take a lot of energy/running around if you want to make the most of it. Then the cruise is so relaxing and wonderful! Perfect way to decompress. Doing the reverse feels to me a little like wasting some of the nice relaxation and zen you walk off the cruise with by then ramping back up to full speed to do the parks! Just my feeling of course.
However if you don't have time before, and can spare the time to stay afterward WDW is really nice during the holidays. More $$ of course, but beautiful! If you only have time for a couple of parks, Epcot and MK would be my top pics. And enjoy the resort and some great restos of course!

 

[darkwing818]

We always do a few days at the parks both before & after our cruise. For the last 2 years we cruised with DCL over NYE. Spending the holidays with Disney (parks & ship) was a different experience, but a lot of fun.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Our 1st cruise is next year, but we are doing Disney before and after the cruise. We can't go to Orlando and not go to Disney.

 

[BelleWannabe4]

Christmas at Disney can be great - all of the decorations are incredible and it's such a fun atmosphere - but go in prepared for crowds. The week between Christmas and New Year's is the most crowded week of the year. I don't say this to deter you but just to keep this in mind as you plan. I was a CM one year and the line for Kilimanjaro Safaris was 4 hours long. Some guests were extremely unhappy and downright rude to the CMs. However, if you plan for the crowds, I think that you can have a great time.

Also, I think you mentioned this, but be sure to stay on-property over the holidays. If they close the parks due to capacity issues, they will still let the resort guests in. People staying off-property are not so lucky.

 

[lbgraves]

We only have one cruise under our belt and did a significant land-based trip (5 days in Copenhagen) after our cruise. Since we had flown over there and could spare the time, we thought we might as well take advantage. We did a lot in Copenhagen and since it was a novel city to us, it was an easy decision.

Our second cruise disembarks on Christmas Eve. We cannot come in more than one night early, so we are trying to decide if we should spend a few days in WDW over Christmas with the rest of America or fly home on disembarkation day. Neither idea scares me terribly, but I am interested in hearing others' perspectives and experiences.

We always add days before our cruise. If it's out of PC, we drive 12 hours to get there. If I'm that close to WDW after being in the car for that long, I'm going to stop and see the mouse at least one day. We did the same thing before the EBPC and Alaska cruises, staying in each area a week before the cruise. The expense of traveling there and the fact we hadn't been there before just made sense.

 

[teenal100]

Christmas is a great time of year to be at Disney. The atmosphere is amazing. Crowds are nuts, but if you go with the flow and don't try to do everything in one day, you should enjoy your time. The nice thing about Disney is there are so many other things to do besides the parks. If you stay after the cruise, you might want to look into the "non park" options, like Disney Springs, water and land based sports and touring the various resorts to look at the festive decore. I really enjoy looking at the different themes at the various resorts. Have Fun!

 

[SwimMom2]

Thanks everyone! I appreciate your perspectives.

I think a few days at Walt Disney World over the Christmas holiday is nice, although I would have no desire at all to go to the parks! But, the resorts are beautiful that time of year.

I am thinking this exact thing. Or perhaps going to a park for a few hours in the morning.

Yes because it takes 6.5 hours and costs a fortune to fly our family of five to florida. My rule is that any family trip involving airplanes needs to last for at least 9 nights or it's not really worth all the effort and expense to us.

I agree!

Our 1st cruise is next year, but we are doing Disney before and after the cruise. We can't go to Orlando and not go to Disney.

I have never been to Orlando without going to WDW.

Christmas at Disney can be great - all of the decorations are incredible and it's such a fun atmosphere - but go in prepared for crowds. The week between Christmas and New Year's is the most crowded week of the year. I don't say this to deter you but just to keep this in mind as you plan. I was a CM one year and the line for Kilimanjaro Safaris was 4 hours long. Some guests were extremely unhappy and downright rude to the CMs. However, if you plan for the crowds, I think that you can have a great time.

Also, I think you mentioned this, but be sure to stay on-property over the holidays. If they close the parks due to capacity issues, they will still let the resort guests in. People staying off-property are not so lucky.

When I was a kid (in the 90s) we did several extended family trips to WDW over Christmas. I remember the crowds, but I bet they are much worse now. We did Easter at WDW in 2013 and found smart planning to be the key. I am thinking about AKL because we love it there and it is kind of out-of-the-way for WDW.

I am glad I have a while to think about this.

 

[JW9DVC]

We always take time before and after any length of cruise from Florida. As we have already made the flight for the cruise. We might as well spend some extra time. Sometimes it has been 7 days before and 5 days after for time spent after cruise.

Everyone has different times they can do for vacation. Vacation requests may only allow a certain amount of time. Luckily the wife and I get about 8 weeks per year for vacation.

JW

 

[tvguy]

We never have, just because we don't have enough vacation time available to do more than the week long cruise. I'm finally up to 4 weeks now, but DW likes to have a week off every three months......so she doesn't kill any of her co-workers.

 

[EastCoastCdn]

We're going on our first cruise (Disney) next year and we're planning to stay at WDW for a week prior. It is both expensive and time consuming to travel to FL from where we live, so when we go we like to stay for 10 - 14 days. As much as we're looking forward to the cruise, we love the parks and I'd like to have at least 6 full days in them.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

We ALWAYS fly in at least one night before the cruise, have never stayed after the cruise is over. I think we have planned all of our DCL vacations over a year and a half out and always include the extra day/s at the front end. Just don't feel comfortable enough to fly in the day of. If it's a short cruise we will stay longer in one of the WDW resorts. We like the vacation to be all Disney all the time when we cruise. Hit a park/s, DTD, make reservations at one of our favorite Disney resort restaurants, mini-golf. We just have no interest in extending the vacation after the cruise, for us it's more relaxing to do the cruise last.

 

[Lorajo]

We come from Canada and 1 week vacation is too short - we always do a second week in Florida. On or off site.