Long Park Stay or Split Park/Cruise?

[5stljayhawks]

Hi All,

looking to get thoughts and a few cents of wisdom - the good, bad and others 2Cents worth about upcoming trip. I currently have a split stay booked at Art of amination 5 nghts /Poly Club 5 nights. The wife and I are talking about doing a disney cruise instead of the poly. Art of animation leg stays the same if we cruise or not.


Family specs 2-A DD9,DS6,DD4.

prevouis history -
Been to parks befores, love the parks.
Never been Crusing. Wife has tendicney to get sea sick. Honeymoon fishing , another day for that story.

If you have split stayed and cruise - how was logistics. If you opted not to split stay /cruise why not ?

Thanks

 

[OurMinnieFamily]

I cant believe you posted this ... I was just about to come here and post something very similar

Our trip is 10 days also, all at the AOA. I just looked online and there is a 4 day cruise leaving from FL and coming back there. I was thinking of flying down to FL, doing the 4 day cruise and then our 10 days at WDW. But I dont know if that's Disney burn out. Its total 14 days so I guess that's not way too much.


As for what you're thinking, I would go for it. Then you get 5 days of park time and you get to do something new and go on the cruise.

 

[blueferral]

Do the cruise!

Have the wife go see her physician and get a prescription for Scopolamine patch (you put it behind your ear and it is good for three days to prevent motion sickness). While there also get a script for Zofran ODT (oral dissolving tablet). These are for "just in case" she still gets a bit nauseousness.

FYI the scopolamine is cheap, the zofran is not. So, you can skip the zofran if your insurance doesn't help much.

You won't regret going on the cruise (until you try to get into your pants after all that food).

 

[hpsalb]

We've done the park/cruise trip twice, although both were before DS was in the picture. We are planning to do WDW/DCL with him in the spring. We really enjoy a Disney Cruise and I think they have a lot to offer.

As for logistics, we are a half-day drive from there, so we always have our car. The drive to Port Canaveral is easy and we even did the parks for a few hours before going over there on embarkation day, although that might be more challenging with kids. If you are flying in, the ME can take you over and I hear it is very easy.

If you decide to go for it, I recommend WDW first and then the cruise. They are both fun in different ways, but WDW is more planning and getting around. There's tons to do on the cruise as well, but it is easier to switch gears and generally more relaxing. More alone time for the adults too, since the kids clubs are available. Might as well hit the ground running and then have a few days at an easier pace after that.

As for seasickness, some people do still have issues on cruise ships, but the tendency for it on large boats is much less, IMO. Definitely different than on a fishing boat.

 

[Mr. Green]

My wife and I did this back around 2005ish when Disney offered the land and sea package. We did 4 days in the park and 3 on the boat. What a wonderful time. We hit the parks hard having only 3.5 days to enjoy and the cruise was the perfect ending. Also gave us some time to relax. I would recommend it if you can make it work.

Cruise ships today are not that bad as far as movement and sea sickness. They have stabilizers that keep the motion down to a minimum. Now, a storm or high seas may make it rock a bit, but half the time you don't even know you are moving since the ships are so big.

 

[Tommys Mommy]

We just did a cruise & park visit this June. We actually cruised first (4 nights on the Dream) then 4 days at the parks, staying at CSR. We had been to the parks many times but this was our first cruise. I liked the cruise first because I felt that we were all rested up for walking around the parks and the mental relaxation stayed with us during our park visit.

The logistics for us: flight from Indianapolis into MCO the night before the cruise, stayed at the MCO Hyatt. Used the Disney Cruise check-in center to get all of our boarding paperwork, KTTW, etc. Then we used the Disney bus transfer to get from MCO to Port Canaveral.

The cruise was truly fabulous - you need to seriously consider booking it. All of you will love it!!

 

[mjkacmom]

We did it (6 nights BCV, 3 night cruise), and wouldn't do it again. I will never go on a cruise that short again - total tease!

 

[Deffenm]

I too was going to post exact same thing. We can do 4 night cruise and 4 nights at WDW or 8 nights at WDW. The 8 nights at WDW is quite a bit cheaper but we have never done a Disney cruise and it is something I have always wanted to do. We have cruised before but not on Disney because it is significantly more then other cruise lines. Decisions.. Decisions...

 

[5stljayhawks]

Thank you all for responding. We are still up in the air, well I am. Wife is in but I am not just feeling the love for the boat. Not sure why.