Do you get more magical experiences on a Disney Cruise than you would get at DisneyWorld/Land

[dtrain]

For maximum magic, we do a 3-4 day stay at WDW or DL followed by a 7 day DCL cruise.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Of my 23 years (later this month) of experience, I've had a lot of amazing experiences, especially being from Southern California

 

[mevelandry]

I think the type of WDW vacation you take makes a big difference. An offsite or value resort trip that's all about marathon days at the parks & eating counter service junk food or cooking for yourself can just be exhausting. I can see why people would much prefer DCL to that.

We prefer to stay in deluxe resorts & spend half days at the parks, half days at the pools, and eating good meals at themed table service restaurants. That's a totally different experience and is equal to or better than what we get on DCL. At least at the resorts we can actually swim in full-sized pools & the lines for waterslides are much shorter than on the ship. The food is typically better at the table service restaurants at WDW than at the MDRs on the ships. And when you add in the fun that can be had at the parks...a slow-paced deluxe WDW trip is hard to beat if you know how to do it right.

(...)

If I may add a nuance... The things you say you do in a Deluxe hotel, you could also do them in a value (spend half a day in the park, half a day at the pool and eat in nice table service restaurants --althought you'd have to visit another resort to do it--) while I agree that the comfort of the room is not exactly the same, when it comes to service from the staff (outside of the Club Level), I can't say I've seen much of a difference when we stayed at the Art of Animation (they were fantastic).

 

[Shanti]

If I may add a nuance... The things you say you do in a Deluxe hotel, you could also do them in a value (spend half a day in the park, half a day at the pool and eat in nice table service restaurants --althought you'd have to visit another resort to do it--) while I agree that the comfort of the room is not exactly the same, when it comes to service from the staff (outside of the Club Level), I can't say I've seen much of a difference when we stayed at the Art of Animation (they were fantastic).

I have stayed for a week at a value and would never choose to do so again, so no, I don't find the experiences at all similar. Our room was small, drab & uncomfortable- basically a motel room. Never wanted to hang out there at all. By contrast, deluxe resort rooms are comfortable and attractive, and a pleasure to return to midday. Value resorts have no waterslides or hot tubs, no good dining venues, no quick access to parks or other amenities.

The comfort, quality & amenities of deluxe resorts is what makes a relaxing vacation at them comparable (or better, when you add the entertainment available at the parks) to the DCL experience.

 

[Trera]

I have stayed for a week at a value and would never choose to do so again, so no, I don't find the experiences at all similar. Our room was small, drab & uncomfortable- basically a motel room. Never wanted to hang out there at all. By contrast, deluxe resort rooms are comfortable and attractive, and a pleasure to return to midday. Value resorts have no waterslides or hot tubs, no good dining venues, no quick access to parks or other amenities.

The comfort, quality & amenities of deluxe resorts is what makes a relaxing vacation at them comparable (or better, when you add the entertainment available at the parks) to the DCL experience.

I agree. We like the convenience of being able to jump on the Monorail to get to WDW or back to the hotel. I have grown to dislike the bus system over the years so we take uber if we need to get to another park. It costs us a little bit but much quicker.

 

[Pens Fan]

That word... "Magical". We all have our very own definition of what magic is.

You might not like or agree with mine. I do not tend to see things with rose-colored glasses.

To me, what is "magical" is what happens without being organized. Like having dolphins following your cruise ship...

Disney vacations are super organized. CMs/characters are humans being paid to be nice with you and your kids. I don't call it magic, I call it "good customer service".

That doesn't mean I can't appreciate what they do. Au contraire, since I don't expect it/"magic", it's very much appreciated when good things happen.

Perfectly said! I hesitated to reply to this thread because I, too, have a much different definition of "magical" than a lot of others on these boards and really couldn't think of a friendly way to express that. I think you nailed it.

Magic to me is watching the sun set over the Rocky Mountains, or seeing my son stick his foot in the ocean for the very first time (so many years ago) - those kinds of things. I certainly appreciate all of the things we experience on Disney properties, ship or parks, but they are manufactured fun - not magic (at least not to me).

As for the OP's question - if you take "magic" of of the equation - to me the parks and the ships are just completely different experiences. I don't think you can really compare them. Both are terrific in their own way. I do appreciate the lack of planning involved in the cruises, though. We are heading to the parks for the first time in quite a while over Christmas and the planning involved is driving me nuts. Christmas party tickets to buy, Epcot processional dining package to buy, ADR's at 180 days, club level Fast Passes at 90 days, regular Fast Passes at 60 days - oy vey! Thank goodness for a great TA. I'm sure it will be worth it once we get there, though. Maybe not "magical", but a ton of fun!!!

 

[cruiser21]

I think the type of WDW vacation you take makes a big difference. An offsite or value resort trip that's all about marathon days at the parks & eating counter service junk food or cooking for yourself can just be exhausting. I can see why people would much prefer DCL to that.

We prefer to stay in deluxe resorts & spend half days at the parks, half days at the pools, and eating good meals at themed table service restaurants. That's a totally different experience and is equal to or better than what we get on DCL. At least at the resorts we can actually swim in full-sized pools & the lines for waterslides are much shorter than on the ship. The food is typically better at the table service restaurants at WDW than at the MDRs on the ships. And when you add in the fun that can be had at the parks...a slow-paced deluxe WDW trip is hard to beat if you know how to do it right.

But DCL is also awesome as we love being at sea, visiting Castaway Cay, seeing new places, feeling taken care of & far away from it all...

I agree with you on how to experience WDW. I go deluxe or not at all. I'm not sure I would use the word "magical" to describe anything. It's not a part of my everyday vocabulary. Given the choice of a week at a deluxe resort or a week on a generic DCL cruise to experience the "magic" of Disney I'd choose WDW.

I cruise for two reasons either to relax or see new destinations. The Disney part is irrelevant to me when I cruise.
The all inclusiveness of a cruise is nice, but that is not exclusive to Disney I can find that on any cruiseline.

 

[Masonmj84]

I think the type of WDW vacation you take makes a big difference. An offsite or value resort trip that's all about marathon days at the parks & eating counter service junk food or cooking for yourself can just be exhausting. I can see why people would much prefer DCL to that.

We prefer to stay in deluxe resorts & spend half days at the parks, half days at the pools, and eating good meals at themed table service restaurants. That's a totally different experience and is equal to or better than what we get on DCL. At least at the resorts we can actually swim in full-sized pools & the lines for waterslides are much shorter than on the ship. The food is typically better at the table service restaurants at WDW than at the MDRs on the ships. And when you add in the fun that can be had at the parks...a slow-paced deluxe WDW trip is hard to beat if you know how to do it right.

Yep, most people don't understand the vast difference between the experience described in your second paragraph (which is also how we experience WDW) versus that described in your first paragraph, particuarly from a relaxation standpoint.

I think most people never experience WDW as described in your second paragraph at least in part because they spend so much money on just getting to WDW and buying tickets. Consequently, they feel the need to get their "money's worth" for those expensive tickets, which often means going commando style. In that instance, the hotel simply becomes a place to sleep (and even if they don't go commando style, most people can't justify the cost of deluxe resorts and/or significant table service dining).

So for them, the contrast between WDW and DCL is pretty dramatic, particularly from a relaxation standpoint.

But if you visit WDW as described in your second paragraph, the difference between WDW and DCL, from an overall quality standpoint, is almost a coin flip (even though it's not apples to apples).

 

[MakiraMarlena]

No. I guess I expect different things from "customer service." A cruise is not the same thing as a land vacation.

although my WDW trips are now more about meeting friends and going to bars and restaurants. I can do entire weekends without going on a ride. It's about escaping, and I've perfected the WDW escape, at least for myself.

DCL has priced me out since I can't get an annual pass to the ship.

 

[mevelandry]

I have stayed for a week at a value and would never choose to do so again, so no, I don't find the experiences at all similar. Our room was small, drab & uncomfortable- basically a motel room. Never wanted to hang out there at all. By contrast, deluxe resort rooms are comfortable and attractive, and a pleasure to return to midday. Value resorts have no waterslides or hot tubs, no good dining venues, no quick access to parks or other amenities.

The comfort, quality & amenities of deluxe resorts is what makes a relaxing vacation at them comparable (or better, when you add the entertainment available at the parks) to the DCL experience.

Okay so our opinion is different, like I said, yes there is a difference when it comes to comfort but I really don't think the Art of Animation is that bad. (Can't compare with rooms as we were in a suite...)

I've mostly stayed at Deluxe resorts (AKL x2, YC Club Level, Poly x2, GF Club Level + all the moderates). We do not use slides and hot tubs are always full anyway so not very inviting... And we use transportation a lot when it comes to restaurants as we like to dine in different resorts and not always "home".

My only bug with value hotels is that there is too much concrete, which is not the case with Art of Animation. AOA is much much more inviting than the others. I would stay there again especially on a pre-cruise stay.

I think asking 500-600$ for 24 hours in a Deluxe is complete insanity. They better have a great promo or make it Club Level for this price if they want to see me again. LOL

All I can say is that when we stayed there, the CMs treated us just as well as CMs do when we are staying in Deluxe hotels which is something I could appreciate.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We go to WDW twice a year but out of a week stay go to parks maybe once. We love the dvc resorts like wilderness or old key west and find the staff to be consistently helpful and pleasant. Also I havent run into unpleasant servers at restaurants, guest service, etc.

All that said we also do at least one or two cruises a year. Nothing beats the service, patience and kindness of the DCL staff. From the servers to guest services to the room attendant. Yes there might be an occasional lapse but it is rare. We have an adult daughter with Down syndrome. We always bring her best friend. Within hours of being on the ship, many of the staff know them by name. They are safe to wander on their own. The staff is loving and sweet to them. They love the characters way more than rides so they can fill up their autograph book and take lots of pictures on the ship with relatively short lines compared to the parks. Every time we end a cruise we think this could be our last but know in our hearts we will never give them up as long as our daughter loves it. My husband is never happier than watching our daughter interact with the characters on the ship or dance and laugh during the welcome show on pool deck.

We usually end up signing for another cruise while we are still onboard. We have done all the itineraries so it doesn’t matter where it goes. We like long cruises so if they have a10 day cruise we usually sign up so we can tell our daughter and her friend and watch them hug each other in joy.

 

[Masonmj84]

I think asking 500-600$ for 24 hours in a Deluxe is complete insanity. They better have a great promo or make it Club Level for this price if they want to see me again. LOL

I'm trying to talk some of my extended family into staying at the Poly the night before our DCL cruise and then staying at the Wilderness Lodge the night after. None of them want to visit theme parks on this trip so they think my plan is, as you say, complete insanity (their basic position is: why would we want to spend a ton of money to go out of our way to stay at WDW if we're not even going to go into the parks).

The thing is, not only have none of them ever sailed with DCL but none of them have ever stayed at the deluxe level at WDW. In addition, the two resorts I've picked provide some really awesome perks that I believe make them worth the exorbitant price tag, even under the conditions of a one night stay with no theme parks.

For example, these resorts either include or are very close to two of the best group dinner experiences at WDW: 'Ohana and HDDR, which I'd like to do with my extended family before and after the cruise. Most of them have never experienced either (and they both provide experiences that are very different, but I think at least as good from an overall experience standpoint, as the rotational dinners on the cruise).

Both resorts also provide elements that add a lot of value to even a one night stay. For example, for the pre-cruise Poly portion, we can watch fireworks from the beach after 'Ohana and then have a relaxing breakfast at Kona the next morning before going to the port. For the post-cruise WL portion, there's all of the stuff around WL and Ft. Wilderness.

Finally, both resorts have awesome, immersive themeing and less crowded pool areas than what they'll experience on the ship.

And Disney makes it really easy to go from MCO to your resort, from your resort to the ship, then after the cruise, from the ship to your resort, and from your resort to MCO. Basically, I think my plan is way more fun and relaxing than they imagine.

All that being said, I can totally understand why they think my plan makes no sense (if I were in their shoes, I'd probably think the same thing).

And I do wish the service level at the deluxe resorts was more commensurate in scope with the price. For example, if we end up following my plan, I'm afraid my family will be disappointed with the WL (after getting over the wow factor of the lobby) after experiencing the much higher service level on the cruise.

 

[YawningDodo]

Yep, most people don't understand the vast difference between the experience described in your second paragraph (which is also how we experience WDW) versus that described in your first paragraph, particuarly from a relaxation standpoint.

I think most people never experience WDW as described in your second paragraph at least in part because they spend so much money on just getting to WDW and buying tickets. Consequently, they feel the need to get their "money's worth" for those expensive tickets, which often means going commando style. In that instance, the hotel simply becomes a place to sleep (and even if they don't go commando style, most people can't justify the cost of deluxe resorts and/or significant table service dining).

So for them, the contrast between WDW and DCL is pretty dramatic, particularly from a relaxation standpoint.

But if you visit WDW as described in your second paragraph, the difference between WDW and DCL, from an overall quality standpoint, is almost a coin flip (even though it's not apples to apples).

Thank you for saying this. Deluxe resorts are wildly outside my budget and I expect them to remain so, so WDW-as-luxury-stay is not at all an attainable vacation goal for me. With that in mind, I and I’m sure many others are completely unable to replicate the cruise-level relaxation so described. It’s just not a thing. Neither is eating at one of the higher-end restaurants on a daily basis.

For me, “magic” is in discovery and in being able to leave my normal life and responsibilities behind. Both the parks and the cruise line offer those in various measures. Others have already said it, though: familiarity breeds...if not contempt, at least a feeling of meh. I can still leave my life behind at WDW, but the discovery aspect isn’t really there for me anymore. It still is with DCL since I’ve done it only once, so it shouldn’t be surprising that DCL is currently more exciting a prospect to me. I really do think that’s the main difference in my level of preference, in no small part because my first visit to Disneyland last fall was MUCH more subjectively “magical” than my more recent visit to WDW. It’s just the newness of it.

In terms of whether one is better, that’s really apples to oranges. DCL feels more intimate because you see the same people for days on end and because it’s so much smaller and more contained. WDW’s magic is in the parks and rides themselves. DCL’s magic is in the interactions. It’s just a different kind of vacation.

One thing I will say, though, is that I did find WDW jarring when I went there directly after a cruise. I was too accustomed to calm and quiet and not having to pay for my meals and it felt hectic in comparison. I think I’d enjoy it much more the other way around.

 

[cruiser21]

I'm trying to talk some of my extended family into staying at the Poly the night before our DCL cruise and then staying at the Wilderness Lodge the night after. None of them want to visit theme parks on this trip so they think my plan is, as you say, complete insanity (their basic position is: why would we want to spend a ton of money to go out of our way to stay at WDW if we're not even going to go into the parks).

The thing is, not only have none of them ever sailed with DCL but none of them have ever stayed at the deluxe level at WDW. In addition, the two resorts I've picked provide some really awesome perks that I believe make them worth the exorbitant price tag, even under the conditions of a one night stay with no theme parks.

For example, these resorts either include or are very close to two of the best group dinner experiences at WDW: 'Ohana and HDDR, which I'd like to do with my extended family before and after the cruise. Most of them have never experienced either (and they both provide experiences that are very different, but I think at least as good from an overall experience standpoint, as the rotational dinners on the cruise).

Both resorts also provide elements that add a lot of value to even a one night stay. For example, for the pre-cruise Poly portion, we can watch fireworks from the beach after 'Ohana and then have a relaxing breakfast at Kona the next morning before going to the port. For the post-cruise WL portion, there's all of the stuff around WL and Ft. Wilderness.

Finally, both resorts have awesome, immersive themeing and less crowded pool areas than what they'll experience on the ship.

And Disney makes it really easy to go from MCO to your resort, from your resort to the ship, then after the cruise, from the ship to your resort, and from your resort to MCO. Basically, I think my plan is way more fun and relaxing than they imagine.

All that being said, I can totally understand why they think my plan makes no sense (if I were in their shoes, I'd probably think the same thing).

And I do wish the service level at the deluxe resorts was more commensurate in scope with the price. For example, if we end up following my plan, I'm afraid my family will be disappointed with the WL (after getting over the wow factor of the lobby) after experiencing the much higher service level on the cruise.

I like your plan. Although I'd probably spend two nights before cruise and fly home after cruise. Our last cruise out of MCO we spent two nights at AKL pre cruise. We arrived around 4pm the first day. We spent the next day at Disney Springs and had dinner in the Boardwalk area. We did not miss going to the park.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

As a solo traveller I find the difference between WDW and DCL HUGE (less with DL, TDR and HKDL) WDW pretty much seems to ignore solo travellers... I mean, when you go dining they try to rush you out cause hey that 4 top they ve given you could have been filled with 4 people leaving more tip. CMs usually don't seem to care to start a conversation with a solo traveller etc.
Not to mention the 'magical moments' In WDW I had two different occasions where they had something special for the first family of the day where I was the first 'family' but they grabbed the family behind me that did have kids. On the cruise I feel it really makes no difference, whether you travel alone or with a family of 20.
I love characters and it's nice to have the love returned. At WDW the little extras characters are allowed to do (way more rules than at DCL) pretty much always go to families with kids. Where on DCL on the majority of my cruises I've been blessed with extra pixiedust coming from the characters.

 

[cruiser21]

Okay so our opinion is different, like I said, yes there is a difference when it comes to comfort but I really don't think the Art of Animation is that bad. (Can't compare with rooms as we were in a suite...)

I've mostly stayed at Deluxe resorts (AKL x2, YC Club Level, Poly x2, GF Club Level + all the moderates). We do not use slides and hot tubs are always full anyway so not very inviting... And we use transportation a lot when it comes to restaurants as we like to dine in different resorts and not always "home".

My only bug with value hotels is that there is too much concrete, which is not the case with Art of Animation. AOA is much much more inviting than the others. I would stay there again especially on a pre-cruise stay.

I think asking 500-600$ for 24 hours in a Deluxe is complete insanity. They better have a great promo or make it Club Level for this price if they want to see me again. LOL

All I can say is that when we stayed there, the CMs treated us just as well as CMs do when we are staying in Deluxe hotels which is something I could appreciate.

I like the suites at AOA, but they're about the same price these days as a deluxe because they're never discounted. Our last three visits I've managed to book to book a deluxe resort for a little under 300.00 per night taxes included. It's still kind of ridiculous, but I certainly wouldn't pay 500-600 a night not even for club level.

 

[undertheradar]

Part of the difference is that at the theme parks you are in constant motion. Crowds change and flow, there are so many more people.

On a cruise, you see the same faces for several days in a row. This allows for a more relaxed atmosphere and tends to increase the encounters that some call "magical" or "pixie dust."

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We always arrive two days ahead of the cruise departure and stay at SS (DVC). Flying in from New Mexico takes the better part of the first day so we just relax, take the boat shuttle, and walk around DS and have dinner and some intertainment. On our full day at WDW we are doing Epcot most of the day. Not much on rides anymore. Just want to get to the port on time and finally relax on DCL. Our definition of magical is the fantastic service we experience without asking.

 

[bethy]

My preferences in order:

Level of Pure Disney Magic:
1. DL
2. DCL
3. WDW

Relaxation:
1. DCL
2. DL
3. WDW

Service
1. DCL
2. Tie between DL and WDW

It just depends on what we want for any given trip