Poll - 4 nights on the Dream - before or after WDW?

We're adding a 4 night Disney Dream cruise to our WDW visit. Should it be before or after WDW?

  • Before

    Votes: 7 10.9%
  • After

    Votes: 57 89.1%

  • Total voters
    64

disneyholic family

disney on my mind....
Joined
Jan 31, 2002
We're adding a 4 night Disney Dream cruise to our WDW visit.
But we can't decide whether to start or finish with the cruise.
What's your opinion?
 
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The majority of info I read seems to say go to the parks before and use the cruise to unwind but then there are those (fewer but still there) who say they like to use the parks to ease back into reality...so they don't have to go right from the ship back to the real world. We are actually doing both, a few park days before then a couple of park days after so we are really going to get the full experience. Yes, we will be exhausted but this is a once in a lifetime trip to celebrate my twins graduating from high school so we are going all out!
 
I'd do whatever worked best for finances and schedule. I've done both and have no preference either way. We stay deluxe at WDW, so it's just as nice to be at WDW as it is onboard for us. If you're staying moderate or value, that would feel like a step down and is better done before the cruise, imo. One advantage of WDW after the cruise is that it can dovetail better with a variety of flight departure times.
 
If you live in cold country and there's a chance of snow (or other weather) delaying your flight, it's better to have the WDW days built into the beginning of your vacation so you won't miss the cruise.

A few years ago we did WDW before our Panama Canal cruise, then DLR after.
 


We usually have a little before and after - but if I had to pick I’d probably go cruise first. We love the ships so much, we are so terribly sad disembarking! Having a few days at the parks after eases the blow! We also find we then take the parks less “commando” style, slow down more, and build in pool time to keep relaxing!
 
We did WDW followed by the Fantasy for our first cruise. Since then, they have been one or the other. Next cruise we will be flying into Florida from Korea again, so we plan another Disney Surf and Turf Vacation to make the long flights worth it. I like the exhausting days in the parks followed by relaxing days at sea, but it will really come down to how cruise dates and school dates line up. I'll start planning the Turf portion after the late 2021 dates are announced.
 
We did WDW after and loved it. Our kids got all the character interaction they wanted on the cruise. So we didn’t have to look for or worry about finding princesses or characters at the park. We were able to use our time to enjoy the park.
 
thanks everyone for your comments!
i'm still not sure what we're going to do, but given that you all made really good points, i see that i'm ok with both before and after..
last summer, we did 7 nights on the disney magic before we went to disneyland paris...
it was great that way, and it would probably have been great in reverse, so i can see it's ok either way..
what i'd really like to do is cruise before AND after LOL....
but unless i win the lottery, i don't think that option is in the cards!!!

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We are doing 3 days at Universal, 2 days at WDW, a 3 day cruise, then a one night stay at POFQ after our cruise ( no park that day). We wanted to get the parks "out of the way" so we could enjoy the cruise ☺️
 
I vote after. We've done it both ways. I have two reasons.

First, I hate flying back on disembarkation day--we either have an early flight that we are rushing to meet, or a later flight and are stuck at MCO all day (I know some people do rental cars and drive to disney springs, but I hate renting cars too--too many shuttles to/from the rental place with kids and luggage to wrangle, and I'm tired after disembarkation and don't want to do all that driving). Plus the whole time I am feeling sad because the vacation is over. Going from a resort to the airport is so much less stressful--I can book a character breakfast, take a dip in the resort pool, rely on disney resort bag check in (available at resorts for Southwest, not available for Southwest from cruise), and visit Disney Springs with bus transportation before heading to the airport for an evening flight home.

Second, after my DH got quarantined on our first cruise after the parks, going to the parks before the cruise is one big stress-inducing germ-avoidance exercise for me. I have noticed that we always seem to get sick shortly after the parks, especially in cold and flu season--there are just too many people all in one place, and I'd rather be sick at home than on the cruise where it gets you locked down or worse, denied boarding if you get sick before the cruise starts.
 
We really liked the old schedule for the Dream where the 4night sailings were Sun-Thurs. It made it easier to fly down on Sat, cruise 4nights then have 3 days at the parks Thurs, Fri, Sat before flying home on Sun. We got the best of both worlds with 3 full days at the parks and a 4 night cruise while only using a week of vacation. It seems to be harder for us with the new schedule.

One reason for parks after I've experienced is that I've experienced post-cruise motion sensations for a few days. When I go straight back to work, I get the feeling of swaying with the seas while trying to focus. If I go to the parks afterwards, I'm still active and don't really notice it.
 
We really liked the old schedule for the Dream where the 4night sailings were Sun-Thurs. It made it easier to fly down on Sat, cruise 4nights then have 3 days at the parks Thurs, Fri, Sat before flying home on Sun. We got the best of both worlds with 3 full days at the parks and a 4 night cruise while only using a week of vacation. It seems to be harder for us with the new schedule.

One reason for parks after I've experienced is that I've experienced post-cruise motion sensations for a few days. When I go straight back to work, I get the feeling of swaying with the seas while trying to focus. If I go to the parks afterwards, I'm still active and don't really notice it.

what's the new schedule?

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The Dream's typical schedule is Friday - Monday for 3-night cruises, and Monday - Friday for 4-night cruises. There are occasional variations to this pattern, however.

i didn't realize that...
i remember the sun-thurs schedule..
hmmm..
if we want to do a 4 night, then we might have to start with the cruise, as we can't fly home on a friday...
i'll have to do some fast figuring when the itineraries come out, which i think is in about a month?
.
 

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