Has anyone been crazy enough to do this???

[goofy4tink]

A year ago we flew into Sanford, rented a car and spent the night at US/IoA. Then we drove over to Cocoa Beach and spent Fri/Sat nights at the Doubletree, right on the beach. Then, Sunday morning, got up, parked at the port terminal, and had a fantastic 4 night DCL cruise. Got off the ship, drove to AKL..spent 2 nights there...drove to Tampa, spent Sat and Sat night with ds, and went back to MK on Sunday..Easter morning, had breakfast at CP, and then drove back to Sanford to fly home.
It was fantastic!!!!

 

[amym2]

We've never done a split stay with a cruise, but it sounds like a good plan to me. And I agree that you should do the 4 night cruise. We did the 3 night and wished we had that extra night on the ship.

It sounds like in your original post you are concerned about getting to the airport for a 2pm flight if you do the cruise portion last? I don't think that would be an issue at all since you can typically disembark starting at 7am. You could easily be at the airport by 11am.

 

[Feckless]

One of the downsides to doing a WDW/DCL/WDW trip is the loss of close to 2 days in the parks due to travel from/to WDW. Since you are doing a 14 days it may not matter much, however.

If you put the cruise at either the beginning or the end you would only lose 1 day of travel - assuming your arrival and departure times remained the same.

OK, I'm thinking this through now. LOL If you do the cruise at the beginning, say, you would get transport to Canaveral directly, and then head back to WDW after the cruise. 3 bus trips instead of 4, I can see that!! (excuse me for being thick!)

I was thinking that we would check out from the resort at 11, and get Disney transport (do you have to pay extra for resort to Canaveral?) to the cruise and you sail by about 4, right? Then on the way back you get your transport in the morning and check in to your new resort. Does Disney transport deal with your bags like they would with ME from the airport?

There is no advantage for bag packing either.

I think I would like to just add the cruise at the end, but I would find it stressful to be worried about making my flight, and I don't want to stay overnight anywhere just for the sake of a flight, KWIM?

OMG I'm confusing myself for no reason!!

Keep the comments/suggestions coming!

 

[princessgrace13]

It is definitely possible. But instead of booking online like my family usually does, I would personally call disney and get an agent to help you though the whole process. At the end of this month, our family will be going to disney once again but we will be splitting our stay at two different hotels. Its not hard to book that at all. They do have some packages where you have a split stay at disney and on a cruise. Like I said, you should personally call though and get an agent to book this.

 

[gr8vthsfam]

For us, (2A, 2C) we found private town car service to be cheaper than DCL transfers and they run on your schedule, not DCL. We also wanted to get to the port earlier in the day and enjoy the ship a few hours more. This of course all depends upon our boarding time, which cannot be determined until 75 days out for first time cruisers like us!
Also, like someone else already said, you debark early in the morning and can easily get to a resort in time to be in the parks mid to late morning.
If you are doing a resort-cruise -resort stay, we found it more affordable to have three separate reservations than 2. The way we did it: 3 nights at the GF with 7 day park hopper tickets; DCL; Three nights YC room only res. This saved a lot of money. The park tickets are good for 14 days from first use, thus you can use them on the other end. You should know though that you will not have a package for the second resort and thus cannot add the dining plan unless you purchase park tickets for two days for all members of your party.

For us; if free dining comes out - we will save on our first leg. If a room only discount comes out, we will save on our second leg. (to save on the cruise, just book as soon as he sail dates are released) if free dining comes out for our second resort then we could add on park tickets and just not use them until our next trip. They are good for 14 days from first use...
I have tried to think of everything and I am a hard core bargain hunter - yet want all the luxury too!

 

[Feckless]

For us, (2A, 2C) we found private town car service to be cheaper than DCL transfers and they run on your schedule, not DCL. We also wanted to get to the port earlier in the day and enjoy the ship a few hours more. This of course all depends upon our boarding time, which cannot be determined until 75 days out for first time cruisers like us!
Also, like someone else already said, you debark early in the morning and can easily get to a resort in time to be in the parks mid to late morning.
If you are doing a resort-cruise -resort stay, we found it more affordable to have three separate reservations than 2. The way we did it: 3 nights at the GF with 7 day park hopper tickets; DCL; Three nights YC room only res. This saved a lot of money. The park tickets are good for 14 days from first use, thus you can use them on the other end. You should know though that you will not have a package for the second resort and thus cannot add the dining plan unless you purchase park tickets for two days for all members of your party.

For us; if free dining comes out - we will save on our first leg. If a room only discount comes out, we will save on our second leg. (to save on the cruise, just book as soon as he sail dates are released) if free dining comes out for our second resort then we could add on park tickets and just not use them until our next trip. They are good for 14 days from first use...
I have tried to think of everything and I am a hard core bargain hunter - yet want all the luxury too!

Thanks for the tips! I enjoy hunting for the best deal to be sure. Staying CL, I found the room only discount to be the better deal (IF you get it early enough for CL availability of course!) Plus I found that with non-adult Disney adults you can be a bit of a slave to the DDP to get the best deal. We ended up ordering kids' meals for both our kids OOP for all but one of our meals (of course paying full adult prices for our oldest for buffets). With a 4 day cruise and a 10 day ticket on the first leg we'll be cutting it close for park tickets on our last day with a 3 day AKL/4 day DCL/7 day BC holiday!!!

Honestly, the only thing freaking me out is the packing/luggage issue. I will have to be a total clothes nazi if this is going to work.