WDW before or after?

[lenshanem]

Thinking about adding a 3 night cruise onto a 4 night WDW stay. What is better - before or after WDW?

Thanks!

 

[belle41379]

We are going to do WDW before the cruise. The cruise is so relaxing, and we don't want to "mess it up" by going to the parks after! Of course, doing the parks after does lessen the blow a bit when you have to get off the ship. You may be leaving the paradise of the ship, but at least you get to go to WDW and not home! Either way, have a terrific time!

 

[Roemama1]

We just had our trip in Feb. We spent 5 days at WDW and then 4 day cruise. At first when we booked I thought, I don't want to do the cruise after it's going to be boring that way after all the exciting stuff at WDW. Boy, was I wrong!!! I was so glad not to be running around like a chicken with my head cut off and so glad we did it that way. Do WDW first and then you'll have some R&R floating with the mouse!!! :0)

 

[CAMICKEY]

We did the land portion first and then were able to relax on the cruise. If I had to do it again this would be our choice. - Mike

 

[ktglads]

We have actually decided to do the cruise at the start of the vacation and then do the parks. There were a couple of reasons for this, one being that we would save ourselves almost a full park day. We also are very large shoppers at WDW and all expand into 2 suitcases at that point in time. Put those extra bags and stuff into a cruise ship room and you are quite crowded.

Also, there is the issue of breakable items being out of your sight for quite some time. I know that they do not purposely manhandle the luggage, but things are dropped and there is a distinct possibility of something that would be carried onto a plane could be broken. As people who go to the parks a couple of times a year and travelling without children, our days in the parks are quite relaxed. At Universal, for example, there were days that we didn't get to the parks until 1 and with the FOTL, we could still get everything that we wanted done. Just another view on this situation...

 

[DCLADDICT]

WE ARE GOING TO DO 2 DAYS OF WDW BEFORE OUR CRUISE AND THEN 2 DAYS AFTER WE GET BACK. WE THOUGHT THAT THIS MIGHT KEEP OUR TRIP BALANCED. THIS WAY WE DON'T GET WORN OUT BY THE PARKS BEFORE OR AFTER THE CRUISE. I WILL REPORT BACK HOW THIS WORKS WHEN WE GET BACK. WE LEAVE ON MAY 21ST, AND ARRIVE HOME ON MAY 31ST. DOING A LITTLE SITE SEEING ON THE WAY HOME.

 

[CheapMom]

We are doing 1 day before and 4 days after- With the 3 day cruise it is easy to do the parks 1st- then cruise- but with the 4 day cruise you have to do the parks after unless you want to take time off during 2 work weeks.

 

[2tinksmom]

We are spending four days after our 7-day cruise in May. This is our first cruise. We decided that it would lesson the blow of having to leave the ship if we knew we would be going to Mickey's house!!
Michele

 

[mketting]

Definitely before if you are the type of family that will enjoy every minute of the cruise to its fullest. We loved it and were on the go until our heads hit the pillows at night.

On our last morning on the ship my DD fell asleep in my lap at breakfast! We were all pooped, there was no way we could have rushed over to WDW and really enjoyed it. I think we all fell asleep on the plane.

We did MK before the cruise and it was a perfect start to the vacation. We had lots of energy to see the park.

 

[Fizban257]

We're doing the cruise first mainly so we can be on-board for our anniversary. We honeymooned at WDW, and celebrated our anniversary last year at WDW, so we want to celebrate it next year on the cruise. But we couldn't go to Florida and NOT go to WDW, so we'll do that after!

 

[OnTheRocks]

We've done two cruises with WDW first. The great thing about this is just when your dissapointed that your WDW trip is over, you still have a whole cruise to look forward to.
Also with kids, you do all the running around first at WDW then you get to relax on the ship.

 

[WldWcnWmn]

We (my daughter and I) are planning on doing our first 7 days at the parks, then the 7 day cruise. (We have to induct ourselves at the Magic Kingdom - to feel like we're "home") <home of course, would be at Mickey's place, that's really home for us> then, cause we're big shoppers, we can ship our souvenier stuff from the parks home via the Post Office in Orlando before we head to Port Canaveral, (we live in the NorthWest, for us this makes sense) and then start "fresh" for our cruise. Plus, on the seven day cruise we're taking, the first two days are at sea, so there's some "downtime" before the island excursions and whatnot. It's a great way to start a WDW vacation by going to the Magic Kingdom...kinda' starts the whole thing off right.

 

[faithmagicmickey]

We booked for 3 days before our 7 day cruise at the Swan then 2 days after at the Grand Floridian. CAN'T WAIT CAN'T CAN'T WAIT!


Faith