Land/Sea or 7 Day? East or West?

[ksumom]

We started out wanting the land/sea package, now we're wondering with 5 adults & 7 kids (15,13,11,3,3 & 1) if the 7 day would be better? This will by my kids 1st time in Florida (we live in KS) and I don't want to cheat them with a 3 day DW trip then a 4 day cruise, because from what I read here that just isn't enough time for either. We're thinking of possibly doing just the 7 day cruise this time around (Sept. 2005), then after our 3 year old is old enough to ride most of the rides in DW return to FL for the parks. My sister's youngest two are 3 & 1 and my mom will be the only adult who doesn't like riding the "big rides", seems like she'd be stuck with two 3 year olds, a 1 year old and a 6 year old in the "kiddie" area while the rest of us go off and ride rides?

Opinions needed.. what would you do? It's actually a bit cheaper to do the 7 day vs the land/sea, and we wouldn't have to pay for food... I hate making decisions! We were also torn on which resort to stay at before.. Now we just have to decide East or West if we do the 7 day.

You guys here are such a help on this whole thing.. since I'm obsessing over it and it's way over a year away! I really enjoy reading the posts on this board. Thanks!

 

[hilltopfamily]

We're from Nebraska---hello there neighbor! We had never been to the parks before & we debated the same thing as you! We finally decided on the 7 day eastern for us and added 1 day post-cruise at Universal, since we thought we'd get the disney "fix' while on board. This worked great for us (stayed onsite at Universal so we had awesome priority access in all lines for rides, never hardly waited! But with you having such youngsters (ours were 12, 9, and 6), I'd really wonder about the fun of even going to the parks yet. Maybe others here with experience at WDW can give you more input.

Just got back from Western so have now done both eastern and western. I'd say I loved both but found eastern to be more picturesque & and with a tropical feel due to volcanic mountain terrain (mexico was great also but "flat" in terrain). We loved the western for snorkeling (2nd largest reef in the world, so is a BIG scuba & snorkeling area) and the Mayan ruins of Tuluum were so awe-inspiring, amazing, & unforgetable, that for us we liked the western better. We will NEVER forget the sites with both itineraries, and will gladly go back to both! Good luck deciding~

 

[ksumom]

Thanks for your input! The ironic thing is my mom's name is Penny! She'll be going with us on the cruise.

Hi neighbor!