For those who love The Parks and DCL...

[kkayluvsdis]

How do you get your Disney "Fix"?

We have been loyal WDW fans for years and have spent numerous vacations there. We have talked about "taking a break from the parks" for the past few years in order to try a Disney cruise and finally did so in February. We sailed on the Dream and LOVED it! We booked a placeholder on board and have since converted that to a 7-day sailing on the Fantasy for next February. However, I am missing my WDW! So, I was wondering..for those of you who love both (and I'm sure that's many since this is, afterall DISboards!) how do you typically divide up your time between DCL and WDW? Do you tend to do a shorter length cruise and combine with the parks? Do you do a cruise one year and WDW the next? I would love to hear your strategies of how you get your FULL Disney FIX!

 

[Dug720]

I am pretty much a solid cruise fan. But I love my park time too and have missed it since I changed to Taekwondo from running - not that I really got to enjoy them when I was doing the marathon or Goofy Challenge. So I ended up changing a cruise in August to a park visit. My guess is I'll probably try to do parks every other year or something and try to get in a cruise a year with onboard booking.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

How do you get your Disney "Fix"?

We have been loyal WDW fans for years and have spent numerous vacations there. We have talked about "taking a break from the parks" for the past few years in order to try a Disney cruise and finally did so in February. We sailed on the Dream and LOVED it! We booked a placeholder on board and have since converted that to a 7-day sailing on the Fantasy for next February. However, I am missing my WDW! So, I was wondering..for those of you who love both (and I'm sure that's many since this is, afterall DISboards!) how do you typically divide up your time between DCL and WDW? Do you tend to do a shorter length cruise and combine with the parks? Do you do a cruise one year and WDW the next? I would love to hear your strategies of how you get your FULL Disney FIX!

Well, coming from the west coast, anytime we book a DCL cruise from Port Canaveral, we try to add a couple of days ahead of time to visit WDW. We randomly pick which parks we go to each time, so it's not a "how much can I squeeze into 3 day?" thing. More dedicated to just one or two parks.

On our recent EBTA, we flew in the day before, arriving late afternoon. Got a rental car and headed over to the Magic Kingdom for the rest of the evening.

On our B2B Dream/Fantasy combo, we got off the Dream on Thursday, went to WDW for Thurs(MK & Studios)/Fri(EPCOT) and the got on the Fantasy for a B2B on Saturday. Then we went to Animal Kingdom the day we got off the second leg of the B2B (we had a late flight).

 

[MyDisWorld]

Because of the cost these days, we try and do "Something Disney" every other year. Whether it's a Cruise, Disney World, Disneyland, Aulani. Mind you, We don't live a lavish lifestyle, and don't try and "keep up with the Jones's", but when we visit Disney, we splurge a bit. So, we typically don't have the funds to spend more than a week. We are skipping Disney This year, and we are booked on the Fantasy in the Summer of 2018. We are however working on going to Disney World in 2019, so....fingers Crossed...I want to see Avatar land.

 

[mevelandry]

3 days WDW + 3 or 4 nights cruise.

 

[tlprice]

Our 1st cruise (4 day) we did 3 days at Universal before and 6 days at WDW after. Our 2nd cruise (7 day) we did MNSSHP before, 3 days at Universal and MVMCP after. I guess my daughter didn't think the 2 parties at WDW was enough because we are heading to WDW for 7 days plus SeaWorld and LegoLand for her 10th birthday in June. I figure if I'm flying all the way to Florida, I'm going to fit in everything I can while I'm there. It will be interesting because our 3rd cruise is out of San Juan, Puerto Rico so we will just do one day there before the cruise and fly straight home after. I wonder if it's going to seem like a let down.

 

[dragynally]

How do you get your Disney "Fix"?

We have been loyal WDW fans for years and have spent numerous vacations there. We have talked about "taking a break from the parks" for the past few years in order to try a Disney cruise and finally did so in February. We sailed on the Dream and LOVED it! We booked a placeholder on board and have since converted that to a 7-day sailing on the Fantasy for next February. However, I am missing my WDW! So, I was wondering..for those of you who love both (and I'm sure that's many since this is, afterall DISboards!) how do you typically divide up your time between DCL and WDW? Do you tend to do a shorter length cruise and combine with the parks? Do you do a cruise one year and WDW the next? I would love to hear your strategies of how you get your FULL Disney FIX!

NYC cruise with a WDW day.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

You could do both and take a cruise with a WDW excursion.

 

[Lisa F]

Because of the cost these days, we try and do "Something Disney" every other year. Whether it's a Cruise, Disney World, Disneyland, Aulani. Mind you, We don't live a lavish lifestyle, and don't try and "keep up with the Jones's", but when we visit Disney, we splurge a bit. So, we typically don't have the funds to spend more than a week. We are skipping Disney This year, and we are booked on the Fantasy in the Summer of 2018. We are however working on going to Disney World in 2019, so....fingers Crossed...I want to see Avatar land.

this is pretty much us too... every other year (or so). I ended up changing my 7 night fantasy to a 4 night dream for 3 reasons...

1) I own DVC so it is about half the cost of the difference between the 4 night and the 7 night to do a few days at WDW
2) I couldn't bear the thought of going 4 years without going to WDW at least a bit - we are doing 2 partial day and 2 full days in the park for an 8 day vacation
3) my parents were more inclined to come with us on the 4 night than the 7 night... due to cost and their schedules... my son doesn't see them much since we live a few states away so I really wanted to have that special time with them.

I am flying in early friday and doing friday, saturday and sunday at the parks then the friday we get off the ship, then back home on saturday. I think this will be the best of both worlds.

 

[rcchello]

I find I do not enjoy a mixed Disneyworld /DCL trip as well as each separately, so I alternate Disneyworld and cruises. If the cost of getting to Florida was greater, I might lean the other way. The actual frequency is 2 trips to Disneyworld to each cruise and a Disneyland trip every 10 years.
This year was a cruise year, so next will be Disneyworld.

 

[kkayluvsdis]

Thanks for all the responses! Our WDW trips have always been at least a week so I'm hesitant to try the "few days" at WDW philosophy. I'm thinking the every other year strategy might be the best fit for us-that's if I can convince my dh to trade the cruise for the parks!

 

[dtrain]

I'm on the west coast, and have been to WDW, sailed on The Fantasy and spent lots of time at DL. However, we have never combined both cruising and parks but are finally doing it this year!

We'll be doing DL Oct 12-15th with Mickey's Halloween Party, followed by Halloween on the High Seas Mexican Riviera on The Wonder from 15-22nd.

Being able to avoid airline expenses, use our placeholder and drive from Phoenix made this easier for us to plan on a 'budget' (I use this word loosely since it's Disney pricing )

Our next goal is for a WDW / Dream combo once Star Wars Land opens. We'll need a couple years to save for that one.

I look forward to the experience of not being sad to finish up our time at the parks for once!

 

[Shanti]

How do you get your Disney "Fix"?

We have been loyal WDW fans for years and have spent numerous vacations there. We have talked about "taking a break from the parks" for the past few years in order to try a Disney cruise and finally did so in February. We sailed on the Dream and LOVED it! We booked a placeholder on board and have since converted that to a 7-day sailing on the Fantasy for next February. However, I am missing my WDW! So, I was wondering..for those of you who love both (and I'm sure that's many since this is, afterall DISboards!) how do you typically divide up your time between DCL and WDW? Do you tend to do a shorter length cruise and combine with the parks? Do you do a cruise one year and WDW the next? I would love to hear your strategies of how you get your FULL Disney FIX!

We alternate. We spent Christmas week on the Fantasy, and will spend Easter at Disney World. We like them both for different reasons: one is relaxing & takes us far away, and the other offers nonstop fun. I also like them both for some of the same reasons: the Disney magic, availability of gluten-free food, and the good service.

 

[lovetotraveltx]

We tend to do more parks then cruises. Our last disney cruise left from here in tx but did include a one day park hopper to WDW. We took a vacation with our whole family to WDW this past november. My husband and I bought an annual pass to go back this year. I am craving a cruise and wanting to get to Gold already, lol. So, we are doing a week in the parks and then trying the Dream for 4 nights. We are DVC and we are driving down from Texas so saves some money!

I think doing a few days before your cruise absolutely fills your fix, but depends on your family and your schedules.

 

[Lisa F]

I think doing a few days before your cruise absolutely fills your fix, but depends on your family and your schedules.

Yup, if taking a cruise in 2018 means that it will be from 2016 to 2020 before I can go back to the parks again, I wasn't willing to wait.

I have gone to WDW a ton of times in my life... more before having son and getting divorced, but I definitely have my favorites things to do and a "highlights" trip will be fun. We love everything at Disney but some more than others. A full day at Epcot. A full day at MK. and partial days at both to pick up stuff we couldn't hit. Considering trading the partial day at Epcot for partial day at AK with RoL and Pandora now but waiting for more reviews of Pandora. AK is not my favorite and might just save that for a full WDW trip. If I knew I could go every year it would be a no brainer, I go 2 years between trips so I could go 2 years without Disney. My son is also 8 right now so he is in prime magic time, I don't want to give that up entirely for a cruise and have him be 13 by the time he goes back. So we are doing "both/and" vacation. If he loves the cruise at that point he will be a bit older and I might forgo disney for a 7 day, esp with the onboard discount and new stuff coming to the Fantasy.

 

[phinz]

We always stay and do park for about 3-4 days after a cruise. It's easier on my wife, because if she gets in a car and rides or drives for 10 hours back to the house then she's miserable with land sickness. Swaying, nausea, etc. If we get out and move around for at least a couple of days after getting off the boat she doesn't have those issues. Good enough excuse for me!

 

[Dug720]

I should probably say up front that my August park trip is a "ok, do you really like them that much" experiment. Since starting cruising I'm not sure. So we shall see.

I know Studios is completely off my radar. Two rides (TOT and RnRC) plus a nighttime show (Fantasmic!) is not enough to make me waste a ticket. Had they gone with Pixar-land instead of limiting themselves to Toy Story-land I might reconsider when all their mess is done. But while I liked Toy Story I didn't like it enough to want a whole land of it. So that park is "dead" to me.

DAK and Epcot are my favorites.

 

[phinz]

The Studios feel like a waste of time right now anyway. There's so much construction and the foot traffic gets so congested at various pinch points that it's a bit frustrating. You used to be able to go to the Streets to get a breath of fresh air and less traffic, but that's gone, so...

 

[Dug720]

Right. But even when the new lands open it would be a waste of time for me.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

Our situation is a little different since we want to start having kids soon, but our plan once we have kids and they're out of babyhood is 1year DCL, 1year WDW, 1 year DLR. for the next few years we plan to cruise, since that will be easier with babies (but we will have to wait till they're older than six months).