Very Merrytime cruise in November

[Jadeey]

We are planning to do (our first ever) cruise in late 2018 and thought a Very Merrytime 4 night would be perfect for us and our then 3.5 year old daughter. Looking at 2017, the cruise over Thanksgiving is far more expensive than the ones after that which makes sense.

That has given us some indecision though. We can travel anytime in November or December, but want to do 3-4 days at Disneyland (coming from New Zealand so travelling via LA anyway) and 5 or 6 days at WDW, hopefully including the Christmas party, before our cruise. We had thought that we would do the DL and WDW days first followed by the cruise, but don't want to pay extra for a cruise over Thanksgiving since this is already going to be an expensive holiday. But also don't want to be at WDW or DL during that super crowded Thanksgiving week.

My question for you experienced cruisers is, would you do the last November cruise (around 27 November if dates stay similar to 2017) and then do the park days after the cruise instead of before? Or would you do a December cruise and do the parks before the cruise? We plan to stay on the ship in Nassau, but definitely want to go to Castaway Cay and are our Summer highs over here are 80 on a great day, usually more like mid-70s so cold to a lot of you will probably still feel warm to us.

 

[timrousbeastie]

I would do the November 27 cruise and stay at WDW afterwards, or do a December cruise and visit WDW at either end. Thanksgiving in WDW is not as bad as it sounds, but I'd avoid for a few reasons it if I had the choice (aside from the price).

We went on the November 26 Fantasy cruise last year. The week before, we stayed at the Grand Floridian and Boardwalk Inn after flying in from Europe. We've been to WDW earlier in November the two prior years and I didn't notice a big difference in terms of crowds. For the prior trips, we first stayed a week in New York and then flew down to Orlando the morning of the day before the cruise. That allowed us to attend the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party in Magic Kingdom the evening before which is highly recommended. Note that the party did not take place the whole week of Thanksgiving last year, so that is one thing to keep in mind.

In terms of crowd sizes, I didn't notice a big difference compared to earlier in November. There were a few times in the earlier years where we had to leave MK early because the crowds were uncomfortable, but that didn't happen during our Thanksgiving trip, although we spent a lot of time there during our 4 days at the GF.

As for advanced dining reservations, getting a table at the nicer restaurants was the most difficult part of the planning for each of our trips. You can easily get a table somewhere, but if it is important for you to visit the more popular restaurants, it is crucial to do it when the 180 day window opens. Even though I did that for all our trips, I ended up checking daily to get good dinner reservations each evening. Last year, I got so fed up with that that I booked a Club Level room at our hotels so that they could do all the work. Club Level also eliminates a lot of stress for breakfast and lunch since you can go to the lounge any time. It was expensive, but it worked very well for us and was worth the cost.

Whenever you go, make sure to make fastpass reservations as early as possible. That is more important than crowd sizes in terms of making your park days successful.

The long flight home can make the end of the vacation a little sad. That's why it has worked better for us to stay at WDW after the cruise (plus a day before). Last year, we didn't have a choice, but I wouldn't fly back right after returning from the cruise if I could avoid it. Other people feel the other way, so just consider what is best for your family.

Anyway, I hope some of this might help you a little. The Merritime cruises are fantastic, btw., it is definitely my own favorite time of year to do a Disney cruise!

 

[kathi]

This will be our 8th year sailing right after Thanksgiving (7-nights on the Fantasy). It's a great time to sail since most American families will go home to get their kids back in school. Castaway Cay water is a little cool, but you will still have an amazing time. Make sure to sign up for the gingerbread house making family activity. WDW will definitely be more crowded over Thanksgiving week, but the month of December is now more crowded than it used to be, so crowds will still probably be pretty high. If you can arrange to be in WDW during the week rather than a weekend in early December I think you will make out much better.

 

[AussieNSW]

Last year 2016 we did a similar thing from Australia. My children are a lot older. We went to Disneyland first and last in our trip but did not go WDW this time. In 2015 we went to WDW just after Christmas Boxing Day till just after New Years when we left for a Disney cruise and stayed at GF which was magical.
This time we arrived on the 9th nov ready for the offical start of the Disney Christmas season. The worst time for us was Veterans Day 11/11 which was a Friday. That whole weekend it was packed. On the sat we flew to Orlando and on the Monday we went on the second merry time cruise of the season the dream for 4 nights. I loved it make sure if you can to keep your little one up for the tree lighting, give them a nap during the day whatever you need to do so they can stay up. It was a highlight. We stopped at Nassau and went to Atlantis for the day which our children loved. But they are teenagers and I found the river Rapids or what we called lazy river ride very rough. I actually thought it would have been dangerous for young children. Our kids ended up with cuts and bruises and one them got a nasty knock to their head. But in saying that they loved it and went on it 5 times. So just be aware.
Castaway was beautiful vey festive and the water temperature and weather was perfect.
After the cruise we flew back to lax and went back to Disneyland for a few more days for thanksgiving and the Black Friday sales. I was concerned about thankshiving being busy but I was pleasantly surprised. We went on some rides first thing in the morning then we went to the Disneyland hotel for there thanksgiving buffet. After lunch we went to the movies in dtd to see Moana and ended our day at the parks. I figured that the Friday was going to be busy so we spent the day at the Anaheim Ducks ice hockey game then off to do some Black Friday shopping. The Americans really know how to do sales. We then went to Disneyland on the sat and sun before flying home that night.

 

[tlprice]

If you want to do Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at WDW, they don't do it during Thanksgiving week. Not sure if you were planning on that or not, but just a thought.

 

[Jadeey]

Thanks everyone, I think we will go for the last November cruise with the parks afterwards. I definitely agree it will be nice to have something to look forward to as we get off the ship. Plus, on the off chance we hate cruising, it still gives us something to look forward to.

I hadn't realised that Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party isn't offered during Thanksgiving week, so thank you for that! We definitely want to do the party since we will be over at that time of year.