Parks before and after cruise?

[elle21]

We are doing our first cruise next May - 7 nights out of PC. We will have to pull kids from school, but I want to take them out one extra day and go to MK the day before the cruise starts. Is one day at MK and a cruise plenty? I'm tempted to do something on debarkation day - (Saturday) - either HS or a water park, then drive back home on Sunday. Or are most people tired, satisfied and just wanting to head home when they get off the cruise?

 

[magrudersmakes3]

We usually just do a day or two before, but are doing 4 days before our cruise next June. If you can do it, I think it would be a great way to end your vacation. It would definitely delay the Disney blues a little .

 

[jdb in AZ]

Visiting the parks after DOES delay the Disney blues a bit, but you'll be spoiled -- the lines in the parks will be longer than on the ship, and you have to pay extra for all the food you buy.

After a cruise our grandson (8 yrs old at the time) ordered counter service at our WDW hotel then asked, "What do you mean I have to pay for that?"

 

[bbn1122]

We have always done before. Rest on the cruise.

The other place we love going is Disney’s Vero Beach Resort. We have taken trips where we fly into Orlando, rent a car, go to WDW 3 nights then off to VB for 4 nights and then a 3 night cruise. We are DVC members so that makes it easy.
3 night cruise are so affordable and adding WDW or VB on before extends he vacation.

Good luck

 

[Kaleidodad]

We stayed at BLT for a couple park days after our spring break cruise on the Dream, and I was feeling especially glad to be in Epcot that afternoon when my parents' flight got delayed and they spent their whole debarkation day at MCO.

Of course, my later flight home was delayed by, oh, 30 hours, but that just turned into an unexpected extra day at MK! And then, our cruise was only 4 nights, so I might have felt more ready to just get home after a 7-nighter.

 

[SmileEar2Ear]

The main issue we had was trying to do it all. We did the parks for 2 days ahead and 4 days after a 3 day cruise. It was our first cruise and wanted to enjoy everything, but I also knew we had 4 more park days where we “play hard”. So we pretty much went to bed after dinner and our show so the kids wouldn’t be exhausted for the parks portion. I’m excited for our cruise-only trip this time because I plan on enjoying the late evening activities (especially since it will just be me and DH this trip!)

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We usually do one full day at MK or AK before the cruise. Makes us appreciate the the relax mode of cruising from the marathon mode the day before. Going on a family cruise with my nephew and family (DW, 7,5,4 yo). This is a first for their family. Plan one full day at MK then 3 day Bahama cruise. They get a taste of both WDW logistics (booking, FP+, dining resv, walking, walking, walking) and DCL logistics (booking, online check in, adventures, kid clubs, relaxing). Then we wave good bye because we're on a B2B and heading for the western caribbean for 5 more days.

 

[Lisa F]

I'm doing the parks for one day before my cruise because we got 1 day parkhoppers as compensation for something that went wrong on our last trip. I would not want to do the parks after a 7 day cruise, I like to return home saturday so I have all day sunday to rest/recover/do laundry/grocery shop/meal prep and get ready for life. I like to return from vacation rested, not in the hole for household chores.

 

[Mango7100]

We did the Halloween party the night before our cruise in September and one day in Magic Kingdom the day after we returned—on disembarkation day we just stayed at our hotel and used the pool and then went to Disney Springs for dinner. It was nice to have a day after the cruise as a “wait the fun of vacation isn’t completely over yet!”

 

[elle21]

Thanks for the feedback and ideas! I'm still torn between ending the trip in relaxation mode/ getting home to recover, and "wait, the fun isn't over yet!" I know in my head that it's wiser to make the drive home on Saturday because it's during the school year...but...

 

[FigmentSpark]

The problem now with doing a day before and a day after is you will be paying for 2 one day tickets, not a 2 day ticket with a break in between. Another option would be to do a DAH, if one is available, either before or after your cruise and then one day at a park on the other leg of your trip.

 

[pixiedustedme]

We are doing our first cruise next May - 7 nights out of PC. We will have to pull kids from school, but I want to take them out one extra day and go to MK the day before the cruise starts. Is one day at MK and a cruise plenty? I'm tempted to do something on debarkation day - (Saturday) - either HS or a water park, then drive back home on Sunday. Or are most people tired, satisfied and just wanting to head home when they get off the cruise?

I'm satisfied and want to head home after a cruise. The parks require a lot of energy, and after getting myself well relaxed on a cruise, I typically don't want to get revved up at the parks right away. A one-day visit is pricey, too.

 

[Mikamarii]

We're doing 2 days at Universal pre 7 night cruise and 10 days WDW post cruise. Normally I would suggest park days happen before the cruise so the vacation ends on a relaxing note but in our case we wanted Easter Caribbean which was early January. Any longer pre cruise and we'd be in to New Year's time which is crazy flight costs and crazy busy.

If your post cruise plan only gives disembarkation day to hit up the parks keep in mind you could lose about half the morning. I've found its best to not rush off the ship if you don't have to. It can be crazy in the morning with people trying to get to the airport. Take your time in the morning, go for breakfast, and disembark when the mass crowds have already exited. It is a lot less stressful that way. Factor in the late disembarkation, travel time to WDW, parking, etc and you can easily be in to late morning/lunch time. Between the two days you were planning my suggestion would be a park day pre cruise. If you want to extend that Disney experience a little post cruise maybe a day at Downtown D...I mean Disney Springs.

 

[cadien]

We just did three days at the parks after our cruise. I really wanted to be able to do the parks first, but our schedules made that impossible. But we actually ended up very happy with it. Getting off a cruise all relaxed, it's hard to go back home and to work/school/housework. But after wearing ourselves out at the parks, we were much more willing!

 

[Husker Mike]

With a Monday-Friday Dream cruise, we're going to start with 2 days at Disney before the cruise and 2 days at Universal afterwards. Going to pull the kids out of school most of the Friday before spring break and then fly back on Sunday.

 

[YawningDodo]

I did one day at WDW after my five night cruise and while I had a good time, it's not something I'm likely to do again. Part of that was the drive up from Miami (just coming from Port Canaveral would be a lot less to deal with, I think), but in general I found it weirdly stressful compared to previous WDW trips. Having one last day before I had to go back to the real world made me feel like I had to cram everything in and I overtaxed myself (though I suppose I might have done that if I had just one day pre-cruise, too). And then, too, WDW just felt very loud, crowded, and chaotic after the cruise, and there was major sticker shock when it came time to pay for meals. I was dealing with sea legs/dock rock the whole time I was in WDW, and I think I delayed my recovery from it by not getting enough sleep.

Had a great day despite all that, but I'm not doing it again. I think it'd be much better to go a day or two ahead of the cruise and then just head home afterward. To be quite honest, when I got off the ship I was perfectly ready to board a plane and go home and it was only the fact that I'd already paid for everything that got me in the car to head to Orlando--and that's coming from a total WDW nut.

 

[GeneralTso]

We like to do it before because parks are hectic and it's a completely different energy. The cruise is relaxing and chill. I don't want to go from that vibe into a crazy park.

 

[RamblingMad]

I did Universal the day before my cruise. I fall into the last minute traveler category, so I found WDW too difficult to do last minute. I find it easier to get onto rides in Universal than WDW if you travel last minute. If you're a planner, then it shouldn't make a difference.

Now, I did plan to go to Kennedy Space Center after my cruise. However, two things happened. First, the weather turned, and it was cold. I had done a 5 day Christmas cruise in Dec, and FL got hit with a cold spell while GA got snow. Second, both myself and significant other caught the flu on the last day of our cruise. So we ended up seeing a movie at Disney Springs and resting up in our hotel before heading back. Our original plan was to hit the Space Center and then go to the Poly for dinner to watch fireworks.

In other words, figure out what type of traveler you are and plan contingencies for when things don't work out. If you're not going to book rides in advance, I suggest Universal over WDW.

 

[NAB]

Cruises are so expensive. We have done both ways and prefer a day or two before.

When we did two days after and tried to do a lot at the parks it felt like the cruise was not just a few days before because the park itself is a vacation to us. Believe me we want to be talking about our cruise not WDW when we got home.

Plus we stay up late on the ship so we are pretty tired getting off the ship to go racing around the parks.

 

[ForMyBoys]

We just got off the Disney Dream today We did one looong day in the parks pre cruise and are doing 4 days in the parks post cruise. We spent all morning at Hollywood Studios today and I'm in our room for a break at the moment. We are heading out to MK in an hour or so.

We have always tried to fit in something the last day of a cruise. Either a trip to WDW, Universal or once we did the Kennedy Space Center. I enjoy a trip on the last day as leaving the cruise isn't so sad and I like our vacations to be as long as possible. I figure I may as well pull the bandaid off and get to work right after we get back.