If you've booked a "land and sea" share here!

[Linc82]

We are going on Disney cruise #2 in January. Considering booking a resort stay with some time at the parks either before or after. We have been to WDW many times but never in Jan... crowd levels for the two weekends (MLK and Marathon) seem about the same. I imagine weather will be the same too.. so now it's down to number crunching and looking at which way is less stressful!

I was curious for those of you that have done this (either the land/sea package with Disney or by booking separately), can you share your experience - especially if you had younger kids? Details about which resort and how you got from/to the port much appreciated!

 

[jdb in AZ]

A lot of people have been to WDW either before and/or after their cruise. Most book the land and sea separately because it's cheaper, especially if there's a special offer for the land portion which won't be available through DCL. And you can choose any WDW resort you want.

Getting to/from the port, the cheapest way is usually renting a car. If you don't want the hassle of picking up or dropping off a car, you can book DCL transfers for $35 per person each way, to take the bus from any of the WDW resorts, or from the ship to MCO. Depending on how many are in your family/travel group, it can be cheaper to book a private car service, such as Happy Limo, with a coupon from Mouse Savers.

 

[mmouse37]

As mentioned thousands of people over the years have done WDW either before or after their cruise.

WDW Before: take ME from MCO to your Disney resort. On day of cruise you can either take DCL transfers from your resort to the port for a fee of $35 pp each way. Or, you could do a one-way rental from resort to port or take limo service. Usually the break even point between DCL transfers or other options is 3-4 people. Note: if you take DCL transfers to the port you won't get to the port between 12:30-2:00. Other options will get you to the port earlier (rental car or private transfer). Main pros for using DCL transfers is that DCL will pick up your luggage from your resort room and transport it to the ship. You board the bus with just your carry ons. You won't see your luggage until it is delivered to your stateroom later in the day.

WDW After cruise: you would put your luggage out in the hallway the last night of the cruise and then claim it next morning in the luggage hall. You will bring it through customs with you and proceed to the buses. There will be a cast member directing you to the correct bus for the resort you are going to. You could stop at up to 3 resorts before you can to yours. There are porters there to help with luggage to the buses (gratuity expected but worth it). DCL DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY transfer your bags to the resort like they do on the way to the port. You claim your luggage and bring it through customs and out to the buses.

Many people like to do WDW before the cruise and there is more go go go at WDW then on board. Depending on how active you are at the parks may determine which way you want to do it...WDW first or cruise first. The cruise is way more relaxing. We prefer doing WDW before but there is no right or wrong answer.

Another reason we like to do WDW first is that we take advantage of the Onboard Airline Check in program with DCL where if we book DCL transfers back to MCO they will print and deliver or boarding passes to us, provide us with your airline luggage tags and take our bags to the airport. We just leave the ship with our carry ons to the bus to the airport. Makes the end of the cruise less stressful.

Here is the info on the Onboard Airline Check In program:

Disney's Convenient Onboard Airline Check-In

Enjoy the comfort and convenience of Onboard Airline Check-In* when you purchase air or ground transportation through Disney Cruise Line, such as:
•Receive your boarding passes ahead of time.
•Check your luggage for your return flight before disembarking the ship.
•Skip luggage claim at the port terminal.
•Bypass the airline check-in counter at the airport.

Here's how it works:
1.Reserve air or ground transportation through Disney Cruise Line, then request to sign up for Onboard Airline Check-In when you check in at the cruise port.
2.On the day prior to disembarkation, your airline boarding passes and valet luggage tags will be delivered to your stateroom.
3.Attach the tags to your luggage and leave your bags outside your stateroom on the evening prior to disembarkation. Your luggage will be collected and delivered to your airline for you.
4. Upon arrival at Orlando International Airport, you can proceed to security and continue to your departure gate.

*This service is available to Guests flying out of Orlando International Airport on domestic flights (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) on Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, United Airlines.

Pre-registration is required and scheduled flights must be after 11:30 a.m. on the day your cruise ends. Airline specific baggage fee may apply and can vary by airline. Each luggage piece can weigh no more than 50lbs. Additionally, some Guests may be selected to check in at the airport and will be unable to use this service.

Hope this helps

MJ

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

We have a land/sea booked for next month. We are staying at the Contemporary for three days, followed by a three day Dream cruise. We booked them separately, not as a package. We are taking DCL transfers. I can give you more details about how it goes when we get back if you'd like!

 

[bumbershoot]

If you go on the Dream the Minday following the Marathon weekend, you'll have many runners with uou. They are having the Castaway Challenge again and that's the cruise. I guess the main way it changed things for the non run-weekend participants on board this year was that we docked at CC at midnight. When you have a couple hundred people who paid another $75 or so to do a 5k on the island, you want to get to that island.

They still held the free 5k after the paid one, so apart from getting there mega early, it seemed minimal in terms of changes.

 

[Carie Baker]

We have done a land/sea before and have another booked in March 2016. Our first trip was in Oct 2011. We stayed before and after our first cruise on the Dream to the Bahamas. We stayed at Pop Century prior did the four day cruise and then we stayed at Wilderness Lodge. It was great. We had the fun of the parks and then 4 days of relaxation on the boat and then came back to the Not So Scary Halloween party. We had such a good time. We booked separately. It ended up less expensive that way. We used all the Disney transports that just made everything easier. Like I said we are doing this again in March. We are coming in two days prior to our cruise and have 3 days of tkts. We are doing 2 days in the park before the cruise and then the 7 day Star Wars Cruise. Then we will be back for one day and use the other tkt.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

We have only added a day or two, after a DCL cruise at the most twice - strange I know. We are mixing it up and in December we are headed to WDW for 3 nights and then doing the Dream for 3 nights right before Xmas so we're excited. We still aren't 100% sure how we will get from the resort (will be Coronado Springs in December) to Port Canaveral but we won't be using the DCL transfers as they simply get there too late for us especially for a 3 night sailing we want to maximize our time on board. Still trying to balance out cost, convenience, etc. and considering our options.

Heather

 

[mmmears]

We booked a land/sea vacation (separately) a few years ago, and stayed at WDW a few days before and after our cruise. And we are booking something similar for this spring as well. Everyone looked so sad leaving the ship, but we were excited since we still had a couple of days to enjoy WDW.

 

[anricat]

We booked a land/sea vacation (separately) a few years ago, and stayed at WDW a few days before and after our cruise. And we are booking something similar for this spring as well. Everyone looked so sad leaving the ship, but we were excited since we still had a couple of days to enjoy WDW.

Same! It was great having something else to look forward to after getting off (though we only did WDW after the cruise, not before). We booked the WDW portion on our own but used DCL transfers (we stayed at the Hyatt MCO prior to the cruise). We had second seating so we had the later breakfast which was nice. We got off the ship, collected our luggage, went through customs and headed to Port Orleans Riverside on the DCL bus. I think we were the second stop. Our room wasn't ready so we left our bags with bell services and we were at Epcot around 11:30 that day. We had a great WDW vacation, even though it was June and pretty busy (but I'm a planner). I think Epcot was a good choice for starting a little later, especially with FP+ it makes it a lot easier to actually enjoy a park without rope dropping (although we did rope drop MK the next day).

It was a great vacation and the perfect way to try cruising for the first time (we only did a three day on the Dream). I think AK would also be a good bet for a park to visit after getting off the cruise, since it can be pretty much done in a day and not even a full day at that.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We booked a land/sea vacation (separately) a few years ago, and stayed at WDW a few days before and after our cruise. And we are booking something similar for this spring as well. Everyone looked so sad leaving the ship, but we were excited since we still had a couple of days to enjoy WDW.

That is what we are doing in April!
We have 2 nights at Disney, 4 nights on the Dream and then 2 more nights at Disney.
I can't imagine getting off the ship and just going home...that would be sooo sad!

 

[Ofinn]

We always do before and after. We haven't been to WDW in a few years we've switched to Universal, but I like the before and after. A car is a must for us I wouldn't vacation in Orlando without one.

 

[mmmears]

That is what we are doing in April!
We have 2 nights at Disney, 4 nights on the Dream and then 2 more nights at Disney.
I can't imagine getting off the ship and just going home...that would be sooo sad!

Yes, everyone looked so sad and miserable that morning, so I knew we had made the right decision in going back to WDW for just a couple more days.

 

[chunkymonkey]

I did a sea/land in May on the Magic (TR in my signature). I booked them separately but through the same travel agent because like everyone said, it is much cheaper. I had my TA schedule my ME transfers from MCO to our resort, AoA for AFTER the cruise. Here's what we did:

Since I was with a group of 8 people we booked a private round-trip van service from the MCO Hyatt to Port Canaveral. We used Happy Limo. We saved over 200 dollars that way than purchasing transfers through DCL. Plus we got to stop at a supermarket and get some wine/snacks before we got to the ship. After the cruise was over we did the regular disembarkation process, picked up our luggage from the terminal and had the return trip from Happy Limo take us back to the airport. Since it was only myself and DH going to WDW, and everyone else was heading on a plane back home, it made sense for us to just go back to MCO and then take ME from there since we had already prepaid for the round trip transfers on Happy Limo.

When we got to the airport we just went straight to ME. I thought it would take a long time but in all honestly we got from port to MCO, got on ME and got to our resort, AoA in under 2 hours. Most likely we're doing the same thing next February 2016! We're booked on the Fantasy for my birthday and then going to do the parks after. The DCL transfers aren't cheap regardless and with our own private transportation we can schedule a stop on the way. After our land portion of our trip we just took ME back to MCO.

Hope this helps! You'll just have to see what option works best for your family but definitely book separate land and sea portions because you can take advantage of resort discounts and things like free dining which you can't do if you book the land and sea together. As to whether to do the land or the sea first...it's up to you. I see the advantage in both, but for me, doing the sea first was great because after a crazy week at work and hours of traveling, sometimes waking up at the crack of dawn the next day to be at MK for rope drop and doing power Disney is not exactly relaxing (although we still do it!). Having the cruise first was wonderful as we got to fully relax and get into vacation mode. Getting off the ship was hard but looking forward to a week at the parks made it a LOT easier.

 

[Ravenne]

We did land/sea and my advice is to book everything separate if you want control over your reservations. I booked our WDW package separate from DCL, and thank goodness! But our night before cruise stay was booked through DCL and that was so frustrating. I wanted to make some simple requests like a bed rail, and no one between DCL and WDW could figure out what to do. DCL couldn't put in the request because it's a WDW stay. WDW didn't have control or access to my reservation because DCL booked it and DCL was considered the TA so I should've gone through them, according to WDW. It was so frustrating! Oh, and the MagicBands. Neither DCL nor WDW could help me figure out how to customize the MBs for that portion of the trip, because since it was booked through DCL, it didn't show up on My Disney Experience automatically. It took me a good 5 different calls bouncing back and forth before someone knew what number to give me to link it into MDE. Good thing I didn't try to have them apply discounts or anything. I can't imagine how frustrating that would've been if they could even do it. I won't do that again. This time, I'm booking DCL separately, and everything WDW related separately, then I'll contact DCL to give them the resort info for transport. It's just easier that way.

 

[Fuzzywuzzy]

We started our DCL cruising with the land/sea combos. It's a great way to start/check it out. It's also a great way to get hooked on it!

 

[Linc82]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experience! We are planning to come in a few days before just due to weather (flying from Chicago in Jan..ugh). We are booked GTY so I won't know room for awhile, and I was hoping to get to the terminal early to check for upgrades. Sounds like that would be out if we did ME from the resort.
Do the ME buses from the resorts to port go directly to the port or do you go to the airport first? (we'd be at the Poly)

We are second seating... anyone remember what time you get off the boat? Trying to decide if it's worth paying for a day of MK on the way out.

 

[fairytalelover]

We are going on Disney cruise #2 in January. Considering booking a resort stay with some time at the parks either before or after. We have been to WDW many times but never in Jan... crowd levels for the two weekends (MLK and Marathon) seem about the same. I imagine weather will be the same too.. so now it's down to number crunching and looking at which way is less stressful!

I was curious for those of you that have done this (either the land/sea package with Disney or by booking separately), can you share your experience - especially if you had younger kids? Details about which resort and how you got from/to the port much appreciated!

We always book our land and sea together. We have found that going to WDW before the cruise is the best way to go. One time we switched and went to the cruise prior to our week's stay at WDW and were not very happy with our decision because, on the cruise you get to relax, de-stress etc... no running around. But then you get to WDW and spend the week going on rides, walking a lot, getting blisters or just tired feet, running around. Anyway by the end of it we needed another cruise to decompress. So now, we go to WDW first and do all of our running around and fun then get on the ship, unpack, get a Bahama Mama and decompress. We have done this with our little one and it works really well.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experience! We are planning to come in a few days before just due to weather (flying from Chicago in Jan..ugh). We are booked GTY so I won't know room for awhile, and I was hoping to get to the terminal early to check for upgrades. Sounds like that would be out if we did ME from the resort.
Do the ME buses from the resorts to port go directly to the port or do you go to the airport first? (we'd be at the Poly)

We are second seating... anyone remember what time you get off the boat? Trying to decide if it's worth paying for a day of MK on the way out.

Magical Express is the free shuttle service between MCO and WDW resorts. For travel from resorts or MCO to the port you use DCL transfers ($35.00 per person each way).

DCL transfers from the resorts pick up anywhere in the 10:45-12:30 window, arriving at the port (directly) between12:00-3:00. DCL transfers from MCO start at 9:00, departing every 20 minutes, or when the bus is full, whichever is first.