For those who have done a land & sea trip...question.

[ThisIsJason]

I know this comes down to personal preference, but I would like to know what you have done.

Was planning an October cruise trip but ended up deciding not to do it because of work for myself. So decided to do a land and sea trip this coming May (2018). As of right now nothing has been booked but want to get the cruise booked by Wednesday and then DVC when it becomes available to do so in June.

Right now to plan is to do WDW before the cruise and once that is done head back home. Which I believe would be more relaxing just coming off a cruise. My wife on the other hand wants to switch it around, do the cruise first then WDW, because "it would be a bit depressing leaving MCO without being in the parks once more."

Those who have done it, which way did you do it? Or if you have done it both ways, which do you prefer? My sister said to make both of us happy I should add on a few days after the cruise and be done with it, which could be doable. Any one do it that way?

EDIT: trip would just be myself and my wife.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I know this comes down to personal preference, but I would like to know what you have done.

Was planning an October cruise trip but ended up deciding not to do it because of work for myself. So decided to do a land and sea trip this coming May (2018). As of right now nothing has been booked but want to get the cruise booked by Wednesday and then DVC when it becomes available to do so in June.

Right now to plan is to do WDW before the cruise and once that is done head back home. Which I believe would be more relaxing just coming off a cruise. My wife on the other hand wants to switch it around, do the cruise first then WDW, because "it would be a bit depressing leaving MCO without being in the parks once more."

Those who have done it, which way did you do it? Or if you have done it both ways, which do you prefer? My sister said to make both of us happy I should add on a few days after the cruise and be done with it, which could be doable. Any one do it that way?

EDIT: trip would just be myself and my wife.

My preference is WDW first, cruise second.

That said, our upcoming cruise is being followed by 3 days at WDW. Because that's how it worked out.

We've done mostly WDW first. But have stopped at one of the parks on debarkation day a couple of times when we had a late flight that day.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We've done both and prefer WDW then DCL then home. We just prefer to unwind on the cruise then go home all relaxed. But we also now greatly prefer DCL to the parks.

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

We just did WDW then cruise. We were so glad we had cruise to relax and rest after the parks.

 

[msb578]

.

 

[Dug720]

I have not done land/sea, but that is exactly the order I'd do it in. Land first, then sea so I've got chill time.

 

[nycdisneygal]

We have done both ways. When we did parks after, we tried not to over do it and still had a great time and did a lot. We actually even did MNSSHP after our cruise..
It will be amazing either way!

 

[jaiminee krikit]

Our first Disney cruise, we did the cruise first, then the parks for 2 days. The morning you get off the cruise, you have to have breakfast right around 6am (for early dinner seating) if you want to eat with the servers you had the entire trip. I had to get up at 430 that morning to allow everyone bathroom time before breakfast. We had a group of 10, mostly little kids, and we were all thoroughly exhausted at HS. We barely made it 5 hours before we all headed back to the hotel for the night. Luckily that meant we were early to bed that night and up early for our MK day. I felt like we wasted a whole park day and I was very disappointed but simply couldn't function any more.

Last summer we pretty much flipped it. We did 4 days at WDW, 4 day cruise, but then we squeezed in one more day at MK (I couldn't imagine not seeing the castle one last time before we left). It was much better that way. We did all we wanted to do before the cruise at the parks, had a relaxing cruise, then came back and leisurely enjoyed MK before going home. I will never do full blown park days after a cruise ever again.

 

[Laundress]

My first choice would be Land then Sea. Prefer to end relaxed and throughly spoiled.

 

[DLM1980]

Let's just say your answer to your question is in your question. They were not called sea and land packages, but rather land and sea

WDW is go go go
DCL is eat relax repeat

End your vacation stress free

 

[3fish]

Having recently done a 3 night cruise/ Dream, we decided to do WDW (on site) before and after the cruise. We like to end our vacation with Epcot and D-Luxe Burger. It's very sad to have to disembark and head home.

 

[mum2fourkids]

On our 2015 trip we done both in the same trip lol. Few days at AoA and the MK Xmas party, then cruised for 4 nights, then back to WDW for 10'days but had offsite accomm at WBC. Looking back I would do the cruise first as the first night and into the next day of the cruise we were still tired from last nights at Disney. Yes the cruise is supposed to be relaxing, but u don't want to waste your precious time being exhausted from big days at the parks

 

[phinz]

We do Sea-Land because my wife needs a couple of days walking around after a cruise or she ends up with Mal de Debarquement that can last months. By keeping physically moving instead of sitting in a car for 10 hours she has found she doesn't have near the long term effects.

 

[mevelandry]

I've tried both ways and I definitely vote for WDW first, then cruise.

In our case, going back to WDW after the cruise kinda killed the wow effect of WDW (which we loved but were already used to visit).

 

[hanscarlet]

We did land before sea and didn't like it at all and I think probably because we discovered we could take our leave the parks, having said that, I'm always super depressed and not ready to leave when it's debarkation day... I also hate the whole process because you're up so early and you know you just have lines and waiting for the plane ahead of you so if that experience was replaced with a trip to the parks then I can see that being more appealing... I would want to plan to take it relatively easy though in the parks... maybe just lounge by the pool and go to epcot or something...

 

[buzzrelly]

We did a cruise sandwich between two DVC stays last April…four days before and two after. We would definitely not do the two days after again. I just booked a cruise for DH and I for next November and we will go to the Poly for 4-5 night before the cruise.

 

[JWG]

We've done both and prefer WDW then cruise. After a relaxing cruise the hustle bustle and crowds of WDW felt exacerbated. You also immediately notice the price gouging of Disney once you start paying for meals again
Either are fine, but mark us as WDW then cruise as well.

 

[BruinEd03]

Just to throw out an alternate suggestion- have you thought about just a land or just a sea option? The reason I say this is because we did 3 days at wdw and a 4 day cruise. We felt both were too short and thought we we wasted a lot of time/effort packing and traveling. We probably wouldn't do it again.

 

[RedSox68]

We have done both, including Universal first and WDW after and vice versa -- and I have to say doing the parks first is now our priority. After coming off the relaxing and laid back feeling of the cruise, and jumping right into the madness of the parks and hustle and bustle, it was a downer (for us). I'd prefer a week of parks, the cruise and then just go home.

 

[Belle-adonna]

I have somebody a few land and sea trips mostly because I find it hard to do a disney trip without the parks But I always chose to do the parks first because they were the more exhausting part of the trip. Save the pampering and relaxing for the end. Just one girls opinion though. Do whatever makes you happy.