GF or AKL CL 1st?

[Mousemommy1]

We are doing our 1st Disney cruise in April (a 4 nighter on the Dream).

We are doing a two night stay before and after the cruise.

Our resorts will be GF (but just garden view) and AKL CL.

Which resort would you put first?

I think it would be nice getting off the ship and heading to GF, but at the same time, that won't be club level...

Maybe CL first to really get I to vacation mode....or last to relax more?!?!

I can't decide!!! Help!!

 

[vinotinto]

Do CL first. After 4 days in the cruise, you may be less likely to partake in the food and beverage offered in CL.

 

[happymommy]

Are you going to visit any parks?
That would be tough for me, as I'd hate to move three times during a vacation.
If you're set on this, I'd say do CL last. Relaxation time! I loved AKL club level!

 

[Mousemommy1]

Yes, we are doing parks. We have no choice because of the cruise dates.

 

[TeamSy]

Maybe it's just me but I don't think CL is really that big of a deal, especially after going on a cruise. Instead I would base my decision based on the parks/restaurants (with AKL you have no choice but to bus it, where as with GF you have monorail access as well as easy access to restaurants in 3 different hotels). GF might be more relaxing just because you don't have to deal with a bus as much.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We really enjoy CL. We had 3 trips with it and then stayed at CR without it on our last trip and missed it very much. It's just our personal preference. I realize it's not for everyone.

 

[mmmears]

We've done something really similar. We stayed at AKL CL first... For one thing, at the beginning of the trip we are really excited and don't mind the buses at all, but after a week it gets old and I appreciate staying at a MK or Epcot resort. Also, as a PP suggested, after a Disney Cruise we are kind of "over" food for a while, so it's not a waste to stay CL first.

 

[Alfiegeorgina]

We have sort of the same decision to make, we haven't gone club level purely because we are spending all day and night out and about, we will have a deluxe dining plan and quite simply no time at all to make use of it, so for us it is not the 'cheap' or less deluxe option, it is just the practical choice. Also AKL is the lowest of all the deluxe resorts to CL GF is not equal to CL AKL.

I'd do GF first, not based on club level or not, but based upon the fact that MK is the most tiring of the park days and therefore I would want to do it pre-cruise so I could relax on board and recover. GF obviously is the one to stay at to access MK.

We are doing AKL CL after our cruise because we feel that we just want to relax and have no park time (different situation though as we have 16 nights of parks before our cruise) so the further out location doesn't matter to us in terms of access. We have chosen CL because in these circumstances we will actually have a chance to take advantage of it.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We've done something really similar. We stayed at AKL CL first... For one thing, at the beginning of the trip we are really excited and don't mind the buses at all, but after a week it gets old and I appreciate staying at a MK or Epcot resort. Also, as a PP suggested, after a Disney Cruise we are kind of "over" food for a while, so it's not a waste to stay CL first.

This makes a lot of sense. Plus, if we do GF last, and don't really feel like going to the parks (we have annual passes, so it doesn't matter if we go or not), we could still watch Wishes from the Poly Beach, etc....