WDW vs DisneyCruise

[whenuwishuponastarr]

We are doing Disney one way or the other next year. It has been a few years since our last trip to Disney World. We have not seen the upgrades to fantasy land but we also have not ever been on the cruise. My kids are 12,10,and 7. I wanted to try something different. Do you think my kids(as well as me) will be disheartened if we choose cruise over world? Will there be enough to do for them not to miss the parks?

 

[Woodmnky]

Our vacation of choice is a cruise. I think that there is a lot to do. We sailed Fantasy Dec 2012 & May 2013. We did not do any shore excursions on either trip and we still do not feel like we were able to do everything on the ship that we wanted to.
Some examples of activities:
Kids Clubs & various activities there
Pools, Aquaduck & Mickey slide
Movies
Character meet & greets
Dance parties
Live theater shows each evening
(many many more, this is just what I can think of).

You can also plan a shore excursion while in port and those can be as simple as some shopping or intense like zip lining.

I recommend checking out some of the Disney Cruise Line Personal Navigators (these are the daily schedule of activities that you are given each night) to see what all there is to do. That should give you a better idea of whether or not a cruise may be for you.

http://disneycruiselineblog.com/201...uise-itinerary-b-costa-maya-april-13-19-2013/

 

[patzor]

I want to do a Disney cruise. I'm thinking maybe a 4 day cruise, and possibly 3 days at the park.

I think it comes out to about the same in price if you were book a 7 day trip.

 

[amym2]

We loved the Disney cruise, but in no way did it replace WDW. I'd suggest a few days in the parks and a 4 night cruise (we did the 3 day and it was too short).

 

[whenuwishuponastarr]

I want to do a Disney cruise. I'm thinking maybe a 4 day cruise, and possibly 3 days at the park.

I think it comes out to about the same in price if you were book a 7 day trip.

I did look into that and yes it does come out pretty much the same price!

 

[whenuwishuponastarr]

We loved the Disney cruise, but in no way did it replace WDW. I'd suggest a few days in the parks and a 4 night cruise (we did the 3 day and it was too short).

Amym2- that's what im afraid of! So I think I will look into a split direction.

 

[trara1375]

If my kids were those ages, we'd definitely forgo the parks for a cruise. We loved our last cruise and can't wait for the next one. There was plenty to do on the ship. But if the parks are what makes the trip for you...you can just add a day on either end of you trip. We did a 7-day, went to mmnshp before the trip and one day at the end if the trip.

One glitch...my then 9 year old tried ordering food at every resturant outside of the ship the way he did on the ship...and that added up quickly.

 

[Jennifer124]

We loved the Disney cruise, but in no way did it replace WDW. I'd suggest a few days in the parks and a 4 night cruise (we did the 3 day and it was too short).

This is kinda how I felt about it. I enjoyed the cruise, but I highly doubt we'll ever do it again. We wanted to try out a different kind of Disney vacation after visiting the parks twice in six months (the second trip was last-minute and unexpected). The cruise is nice - nothing Disney does is second-rate - but to me it really lacked that magical feeling of WDW.

Part of the problem was not Disney's fault at all - turns out cruising makes my husband feel sort of panicky, plus my daughter, who was 4 at the time, refused to stay in the kids' club, and then I got some sort of short-lived but hellacious Bahamian stomach virus that caused me to miss the Villians stage show as well as pirate night/fireworks on the deck. The cruddy thing that WAS their fault is that the only day we could ride the Aquaduck was the day the boat was docked in Nassau. Otherwise it was too crowded. We are a pool-loving family, so the insane crowds at the pool were a real turnoff. (I have a picture somewhere that really captures the madness.) For everything that Disney does right, it boggled my mind that they would build a ship that holds that many people and not build more or bigger pools.

But I will say this: CASTAWAY CAY IS AWESOME. The evening stage shows are spectacular. But other than that, it just didn't feel magical to me.

 

[Jennifer124]

We loved the Disney cruise, but in no way did it replace WDW. I'd suggest a few days in the parks and a 4 night cruise (we did the 3 day and it was too short).

This is kinda how I felt about it. I enjoyed the cruise, but I highly doubt we'll ever do it again. We wanted to try out a different kind of Disney vacation after visiting the parks twice in six months (the second trip was last-minute and unexpected). The cruise is nice - nothing Disney does is second-rate - but to me it really lacked that magical feeling of WDW.

Part of the problem was not Disney's fault at all - turns out cruising makes my husband feel sort of panicky, plus my daughter, who was 4 at the time, refused to stay in the kids' club, and then I got some sort of short-lived but hellacious Bahamian stomach virus that caused me to miss the Villians stage show as well as pirate night/fireworks on the deck. The cruddy thing that WAS their fault is that the only day we could ride the Aquaduck was the day the boat was docked in Nassau. Otherwise it was too crowded. We are a pool-loving family, so the insane crowds at the pool were a real turnoff. (I have a picture somewhere that really captures the madness.) For everything that Disney does right, it boggled my mind that they would build a ship that holds that many people and not build more or bigger pools.

But I will say this: CASTAWAY CAY IS AWESOME. The evening stage shows are spectacular. But other than that, it just didn't feel magical to me.