Grand Floridian Vs Disney Fantasy

[auntlynne]

@Clarkson U Did you pose us a question? Or a topic for discussion?

Or are you a benign leader who is just enjoying us being us?

 

[Erica1016]

The one thing missing from your cost is excursions. I would consider them similar to needing park tickets staying at a Disney World resort..

Depends on if you do them. We've done 7 cruises with number 8 & 9 coming up in May. I think we've done 3 excursions, total and they've not been expensive.

 

[AquaDame]

To the DVC owners in the room - I don't think anyone is doubting the value in using your points as intended over cruising DCL. The whole point of your purchase was to make that trip more afforable!

 

[Cfabar1]

To the DVC owners in the room - I don't think anyone is doubting the value in using your points as intended over cruising DCL. The whole point of your purchase was to make that trip more afforable!

Yes, it was to make the trip more affordable in our case, and also to stay in more spacious accommodations....

We will likely never sail concierge and have those spacious accommodations on DCL, but DVC does afford that to us....

 

[LAS2AMS]

Honestly, I don't view a WDW trip as being equivalent to a Disney cruise. It'd be like trying to compare and Adventures By Disney trip to the Grand Canyon. Obviously a Disney cruise better replicates the Disney ambiance, but they're still very much two completely different experiences.

 

[Clarkson U]

@Clarkson U Did you pose us a question? Or a topic for discussion?

Or are you a benign leader who is just enjoying us being us?

@auntlynne a topic for discussion and I enjoy being me - which is the leader who is enjoying the boards being the boards as well.

Honestly, I was fascinated at what I was pricing out and wanted to share it with others to stimulate discussion. I do appreciate that someone mentioned port excursions cost which I had not considered and that DVC members have less cost than I would for a hotel room. Also, comparing WL instead of GF to a DCL stateroom is a valid point as well. On the other side, I do get to visit more places/countries on a cruise than at the theme park (no Epcot does not count!)

Many have stated that the vacations are different and hard to compare - which is likely true - for me personally, the cruise is more relaxing than a WDW or DL trip so that has some inherent value added to it.

I appreciate everyone keeping it positive and hope that this discussion continues. It is a good thread so far so keep it up folks. Thanks.

 

[DCLMP]

The better value is whatever you want to do. A luxury theme park vacation or a luxury cruise. Only you can decide that.

I don't think your adding in all the cost on the cruise unless you plan on doing nothing at the ports and spending nothing onboard.

I personally would never spend that much on a Caribbean cruise. I'd probably go with WDW in that situation. If it's a cruise with a better itinerary than I'd pick the cruise.

 

[Clarkson U]

The better value is whatever you want to do. A luxury theme park vacation or a luxury cruise. Only you can decide that.

I don't think your adding in all the cost on the cruise unless you plan on doing nothing at the ports and spending nothing onboard.

I personally would never spend that much on a Caribbean cruise. I'd probably go with WDW in that situation. If it's a cruise with a better itinerary than I'd pick the cruise.

For all the costs - you are right - but there are additional costs at both the resorts and cruises in my mind. The dining plan will not be enough food for many in any one day and people will buy stuff at the parks as well as on cruises so to me that is a wash. Port adventures would be additional costs for sure as would buying park hopper tickets, mini golf or water park tickets at WDW - none of which I priced.

The exact science of this turns into a very long finance excel document and if you are DVC then you would have to calculate the opportunity costs of DVC membership into the cost of the vacation as well - so this can go down many rabbit holes quickly.

Agree with you that the better value is always in the eye of the beholder.

 

[sadiecatie]

Throwing another expense into the mix - Genie+/Individual Lighting Lanes. That may make things a bit of a wash with excursions (obviously depends on the itinerary/excursion, but we don't do WDW without Genie+, so that would be an expense we'd have to factor in).

I love both! But at that price point, the cruise would be a no-brainer to me. Lately, we've been planning more on cruises with long weekends at WDW thrown in to scratch our theme park itch. We will come back for another week-long WDW trip at some point, but we have big cruises planned that are taking up the majority of our vacation budget for the next few years.

 

[Louise97]

Our maths is a little different because we're in the UK and need to add transatlantic flights for the US but can get cheap flights to Europe (also we say "maths" which I guess also makes it different ).

When we were planning our 2023 trips, we realised the cost of going back to WDW (based on the 9 night trip we took in 2022) could get us a 7 night DCL Med cruise out of Barcelona plus annual passes to Disneyland Paris!

Okay, so the multiple trips to Disneyland Paris that we then took to get the best value out of the passes then took us over the cost of a trip to WDW, but we don't count that...

 

[brentm77]

Our maths is a little different because we're in the UK and need to add transatlantic flights for the US but can get cheap flights to Europe (also we say "maths" which I guess also makes it different ).

When we were planning our 2023 trips, we realised the cost of going back to WDW (based on the 9 night trip we took in 2022) could get us a 7 night DCL Med cruise out of Barcelona plus annual passes to Disneyland Paris!

Okay, so the multiple trips to Disneyland Paris that we then took to get the best value out of the passes then took us over the cost of a trip to WDW, but we don't count that...

As someone who hasn't been to Disneyland Paris yet, I am curious, how do you feel it stacks up to WDW? I am often surprised so many people come from the UK to WDW when they have another park so close.

As for the main topic here, yes, they are very different vacations, but comparing costs and experiences makes sense to me, given they are two options for people who like the overall vacation experience Disney offers. I will pick cruising over WDW 9 out of 10 times. Cruising always costs us more, simply because we don't usually do long vacations at the parks anymore, mostly due to Disney's various changes that make park trips feel more workish than a vacationish, and diminishing value for our money at the parks. We are at a place in life where a long weekend at WDW at our two favorite parks (Epcot and Animal Kingdom) or at Disneyland resort will usually be enough for us in any given year. In the end, cruising is more of what I am looking for in vacation than the current theme park experience and it seems like the cruise product is very close to what it was ten years ago, which I can't say for the parks.

 

[Louise97]

As someone who hasn't been to Disneyland Paris yet, I am curious, how do you feel it stacks up to WDW? I am often surprised so many people come from the UK to WDW when they have another park so close.

As for the main topic here, yes, they are very different vacations, but comparing costs and experiences makes sense to me, given they are two options for people who like the overall vacation experience Disney offers. I will pick cruising over WDW 9 out of 10 times. Cruising always costs us more, simply because we don't usually do long vacations at the parks anymore, mostly due to Disney's various changes that make park trips feel more workish than a vacationish, and diminishing value for our money at the parks. We are at a place in life where a long weekend at WDW at our two favorite parks (Epcot and Animal Kingdom) or at Disneyland resort will usually be enough for us in any given year. In the end, cruising is more of what I am looking for in vacation than the current theme park experience and it seems like the cruise product is very close to what it was ten years ago, which I can't say for the parks.

They're definitely two very different trips. I think Paris is more like Anaheim before DCA had a makeover. One gorgeous castle park, one cheap second gate. They're in the middle of a massive overhaul of Walt Disney Studios Park so there's hope!

I love that I can get a cheap 90 minute flight and pop over for a weekend, and the lower wait times are a definite plus. But I grew up going to WDW, it will always be my favourite because nowhere else has Epcot. For people from the UK, Florida has the advantage of better weather and you can easily spend a couple of weeks there. DLP is great for a few days but it's more of a short break destination. Perfect for getting the parks fix that we didn't get on the cruise though.

Next year we've got the Treasure booked for our first PC cruise but flights aren't out yet, so I'm still in denial over the total cost for that trip This thread has helped me feel better about the cruise costing roughly the same as staying onsite once you add park tickets and food costs!

 

[brentm77]

They're definitely two very different trips. I think Paris is more like Anaheim before DCA had a makeover. One gorgeous castle park, one cheap second gate. They're in the middle of a massive overhaul of Walt Disney Studios Park so there's hope!

I love that I can get a cheap 90 minute flight and pop over for a weekend, and the lower wait times are a definite plus. But I grew up going to WDW, it will always be my favourite because nowhere else has Epcot. For people from the UK, Florida has the advantage of better weather and you can easily spend a couple of weeks there. DLP is great for a few days but it's more of a short break destination. Perfect for getting the parks fix that we didn't get on the cruise though.

Next year we've got the Treasure booked for our first PC cruise but flights aren't out yet, so I'm still in denial over the total cost for that trip This thread has helped me feel better about the cruise costing roughly the same as staying onsite once you add park tickets and food costs!

That makes sense. Epcot is amazing! Easily my favorite park at WDW.

 

[auntlynne]

As someone who hasn't been to Disneyland Paris yet, I am curious, how do you feel it stacks up to WDW? I am often surprised so many people come from the UK to WDW when they have another park so close.

As for the main topic here, yes, they are very different vacations, but comparing costs and experiences makes sense to me, given they are two options for people who like the overall vacation experience Disney offers. I will pick cruising over WDW 9 out of 10 times. Cruising always costs us more, simply because we don't usually do long vacations at the parks anymore, mostly due to Disney's various changes that make park trips feel more workish than a vacationish, and diminishing value for our money at the parks. We are at a place in life where a long weekend at WDW at our two favorite parks (Epcot and Animal Kingdom) or at Disneyland resort will usually be enough for us in any given year. In the end, cruising is more of what I am looking for in vacation than the current theme park experience and it seems like the cruise product is very close to what it was ten years ago, which I can't say for the parks.

My take is similar to @Louise97 - I immediately thought, it’s a Disneyland. Whether California or France. WDW is such a large campus, even if each park has to be contained to allow pedestrian use. DLP also does not have the surrounding auxiliary food and shopping.

 

[Erica1016]

For all the costs - you are right - but there are additional costs at both the resorts and cruises in my mind. The dining plan will not be enough food for many in any one day and people will buy stuff at the parks as well as on cruises so to me that is a wash. Port adventures would be additional costs for sure as would buying park hopper tickets, mini golf or water park tickets at WDW - none of which I priced.

Maybe that's why I liked your comparison so much...we don't do much at ports and we don't spend extra on board. I think I've purchased two souveniers in 7 cruises. We've done a total 3 excursions at less than $100 per person and rented bikes at Castaway a few times.. We haven't done spectialty dining, drink tastings or spa anything. It's not that we're opposed, we just don't need them to enjoy ourselves.
When we've had the dining plan, we didn't buy extra food and we don't typically buy souveniers there either. We haven't spent extra on minigolf or water parks...we still love it!
It goes to show that we can all opt to do what we like and enjoy and we will all be at different spending levels. It's what makes the comparing "is it worth it?" so difficult. We don't all have the same values of "worth it".

 

[dreamer17555]

I still stand by the point that excursions aren't in the mix with these numbers. I understand the OP doesn't go on excursions but it is pretty rare not to spend any money at any of the ports. To me cruising without excursions is a lot like a Disney resort staycation where you don't visit the parks.

I am not staying there isn't value in a Disney cruise but comparing the summer rates with the discounted tickets and inflated cruise prices would tell a different story...

 

[LAS2AMS]

I still stand by the point that excursions aren't in the mix with these numbers. I understand the OP doesn't go on excursions but it is pretty rare not to spend any money at any of the ports. To me cruising without excursions is a lot like a Disney resort staycation where you don't visit the parks.

I am not staying there isn't value in a Disney cruise but comparing the summer rates with the discounted tickets and inflated cruise prices would tell a different story...

I don't think it's rare at all. There's a significant number of people who never leave the ship and an even larger number that briefly leave the ship to merely walk around the port.

The ships maintain a full slate of activities even when in port. Personally, if I'm pay $600 - $1000/day for a Disney cruise, I'm not going to waste 1/2 a day touring Nassau. We may get off the ship for an hour or two, but I can explore Nassau when I'm on a Carnival cruise and paying $150 - $300/day.

 

[Clarkson U]

I still stand by the point that excursions aren't in the mix with these numbers. I understand the OP doesn't go on excursions but it is pretty rare not to spend any money at any of the ports. To me cruising without excursions is a lot like a Disney resort staycation where you don't visit the parks.

I am not staying there isn't value in a Disney cruise but comparing the summer rates with the discounted tickets and inflated cruise prices would tell a different story...

As the OP - I did not say I don’t go on excursions I was just comparing some basics costs.

Almost every sailing except for 3 nighters we have almost always done some excursion and on other sailings multiple excursions.