What would you do?

[jjohnson]

Ok...I feel like I haven't left my computer for days
I've narrowed it down to a week in disney at Beach club w/7 day park hopper plus for $3840 or land/sea combo (beach club) for $4859. We have never been to WDW only DL. Should we stay at the parks? or spend an extra $1,000 for the cruise. I should mention the one resisting the cruise is me, the rest of the family voted against me.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Well, to point out the obvious, your asking a forum about Disney Cruise Lines if you should go on a cruise. I don't think you're going to find anyone here suggesting that you shouldn't go on a cruise.

But since you asked,

Take the Cruise!!!

 

[TheWog]

You've come to the right place to be convinced to go on the cruise. Visit different countries (in your case - country), be waited on hand and foot, as much food as you can eat, relaxation and enjoyment. I would choose the cruise over the parks any day. But that's just me....good luck deciding.

 

[Stimpy]

If you've never been to WDW, I would go the full week. 3-4 days is never going to be enough to see everything the first time. 3-4 days seems like a tease to me. But, the cruise is a great time too! It's a tough decision....good luck!

 

[Michelemouse]

If you've never been to WDW before I'd skip the cruise and do a full week at the parks. Even 7 days isn't enough time to see everything WDW has to offer and if you do a land/sea you'd only have 3 or 4 days there...nowhere near long enough if it's your first time. WDW is so very different than DL. Things are much more spread out. There are 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, Downtown Disney, etc.

If your family really wants to cruise I'd do a 7-day cruise and save WDW for a time when you can stay longer.

Just my opinion...have fun whatever you decide to do!

 

[thevolcanogod]

I would suggest doing the 4 day land/ 3 day sea package. You can see most of all 4 of the big parks in 4 days with some preparation. You can also plan your flight/drive home later in the day that you disembark from the cruise and hit one of the water parks or DTD before you leave.

 

[jjohnson]

Well, to point out the obvious, your asking a forum about Disney Cruise Lines if you should go on a cruise. I don't think you're going to find anyone here suggesting that you shouldn't go on a cruise.

Good point. I asked my DH last night what to do & he's for the cruise so I said "well..I'm just going to have to ask the Disney professionals for their opinion" so here I am.

 

[JC Butterfly]

You mentioned that it would cost you an "extra $1000" to do the cruise although that's not an entirely acurate way to look at it. For the cruise portion of your vacation your meals are covered. If you do land only, you will have to budget a certain amount to eat.

If you take the cruise, you may be more likely to want to do excursions in Nassau that would be an additional expense that you wouldn't have land only . . . of course souvies do add up at Disney World too.

Is this a "once in a lifetime" type of vacation? If so, you are somewhat short-changing both experiences by only having 3-4 days each.

What ages are the rest of your family?

I have to echo that Disneyland is similar to the Magic Kingdom at WDW. If your family enjoyed that experience they will want 1-2 days to see the Magic Kingdom.

Animal Kingdom can be done in a half day if you just want to hit the major attractions. But if you're a stop and smell the roses kind of person, nothing less than a day will do.

Staying at the Beach Club puts you right in EPCOT's backyard where some of the most amazing dining awaits you. I couldn't spend less than 2 days here as there is so much to soak in.

You might enjoy an afternoon of just the pool area at the Beach Club, it's a destination to itself.

Then there's MGM with one of the best nighttime shows ever.

I love cruising and can't wait to get back on the ship, but I would definitely want to be able to experience WDW the first time with at least a week (I'll be visiting for my 12 visit this fall for 2 weeks).

Is the rest of your family anxious to experience cruising? Have you done it on another line before? Maybe it's best to put WDW on the back burner for another time and just enjoy the 7 day cruise.

My vote? Devote the week to one vacation or the other, don't try to combine the two when you've never done either one.

Unless of course, you have the option to repeat one the other or both within two years . . .then it's just a great "taster" of a vacation for you.

 

[mickeyboat]

We have small children (3 and 4) and we decided to save WDW for when they were older. But we cruised DCL to have a more relaxing trip AND to get the Disney experience.

Good luck in your decision.

Denae

 

[music777.com]

We always add a couple of days onto our land and sea package and spend 5 days at WDW and 4 on the cruise.

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

Originally posted by jjohnson
I've narrowed it down to a week in disney at Beach club w/7 day park hopper plus for $3840 or land/sea combo (beach club) for $4859. We have never been to WDW only DL. Should we stay at the parks? or spend an extra $1,000 for the cruise.

I, personally, think the land and sea packages sound exhausting! But it's such a personal preference, I guess, and I'm spoiled by Disney outings in our back yard.

I could do a week at the Beach Club easily, and never bore of it. Their pool is awesome, their dinner buffet is amazing (we're eating there tomorrow night), and you can easily fill 7 days at the parks. It just seems that with only 7 days, you lose three of them -- the day you travel there, the day you travel home, and the day you travel from the resort to the cruise.

Of course, there is the 7 day cruise option, too.

 

[jjohnson]

It is a "once in a lifetime" vacation for us. Always not enough $$$.
My kids are now 11,9 & 8 and I've been talking about going to WDW since they were babies. My DH & I have cruised 2x with Norweign (before they came along) loved it. Luckily I won a trip to DL last year but now I can't get rid of that "Disney Fever".

 

[bobsuzla]

This is definately a very hard choice. My family spent 5 days at Disney in October 2003. I felt like there was not enough time, we got to do what we wanted to do mostly, but we did not get to do anything twice. One of the best days we had was at Typhoon Lagoon, the wave pool was the greatest!, but we missed alot of animal kingdom, and there were definately things I want to see again. We cannot afford a huge vacation every year, so next year we are taking the cruise, then hopefully in 2006 or early 2007 I will get to go back to Magic Kingdom.
Now that I have been of absolutely no help, maybe your family could brainstorm on ways to save money to do a cruise the following year. Magic Kingdom will soon lose some of its magic for your kids, that is why we took our DD at 8. I was afraid if we waited any longer I would miss out on those much cherished moments of AWE!

 

[momof3luvs2run]

We are doing the 3 night land/4 night sea pacakage. Personally I like Disney World, but not enough to spend a week there. That is why the land/sea combo is perfect for our family. I don't feel it is necessary to do every park in one trip. Why not save a few for a return trip?

We've been searching for a vacation for quite some time. I've always leaned more towards a week long beach type vacation with RELAXATION as the main focus. But I know the kids would prefer something like DW. I'm hoping doing both will make all of us happy.

I'm really excited about the whole trip. We are staying at the Beach Club. Also we have decided to fly down the night before our Disney package starts. That way we aren't spending the first half of the first day traveling.

 

[TaraBelle1069]

Originally posted by jjohnson
It is a "once in a lifetime" vacation for us. Always not enough $$$.
My kids are now 11,9 & 8 and I've been talking about going to WDW since they were babies. My DH & I have cruised 2x with Norweign (before they came along) loved it. Luckily I won a trip to DL last year but now I can't get rid of that "Disney Fever".

You have been given a lot of good opinions so I almost wasn't going to chime in. However, here you say that you have been talking about going to WDW since they were babies. I think you have to go and devote the entire time to it. I go about once a year and still find it hard to spend less than a week!

I haven't been on the Disney cruise yet but was bitten by the cruise bug this year. I have wanted to go since before they started sailing (Disney...not cruise ships in general!!) but I still opted to go to WDW several times in that time. Not to mention, that I'm still tacking on a day at the Magic Kingdom (and probably squeezing in some Epcot) because the concept of going to Florida and not going is foreign to me!

I think the cruise sounds great (and obviously there are a lot of fans on this board) but I'd still go with WDW!

Hope that helps.

P.S. Two of your kids are still kids...saves you money on WDW versus waiting until they are all 10 and over!

 

[RKB]

It is a hard decision. We live in Arizona so we had never been to DW. We did the land/sea. I studied the guide books that give you a game plan - what rides to go on and what order to see the most each day. My family laughed at me for "overplanning". Well they weren't laughing when we were there because we saw everything we wanted to see and hardly waited in any lines (July 2002). We covered the parks (all 4 in 3 days). The last day there was the option to go back to Animal Kingdom for the morning and catch your DCL bus there which is what we did. We then did the 4 day cruise. We became so addicted that we have already done a 7 day Western (Jan 2004). We are now saving money to go on another DCL when we can. So anyway we did succesfully see the parks and enjoy the cruise. I would say the only downfall for the land/sea is that you don't get all of the wonderful ports. But at least you will get Castaway Cay! Hope this helps.... Be ready to become addicted to DCL.... Once may not be enough.

 

[jjohnson]

Thanks for all the help. I still can't make up my mind & had a hard time falling asleep last night. My DH thinks its going to be too hot & exhausting (he works outside all day) to stay in the parks all week so I'm leaning toward the cruise. I was looking thru the books last night & really don't think we'll need as much time in MK since we did the "kiddie rides" in DL last year. We have to do Space & Splash mountain since those rides were closed in DL.
Think, think, think, think....

 

[cattycat]

I wouldn't let money be the deciding factor, since the extra $1000 for the cruise will probably be put towards food in WDW!!

Having gone to WDW 5-6 times, and just gotten off a Magic cruise, I'd pick WDW since your family hasn't been before. The Beach Club is a GREAT hotel and within walking distance of Epcot. It also have an incredible pool! And needless to say, the parks are so diverse and so much fun you'd easily fill a week with things to do.

 

[jerry112]

I'll add my 2 cents by voting for WDW only this time. Your kids are getting older and the magic will be lost on them soon as someone else suggested. The BC is a great resort and you'll probably want to spend a day just enjoying storm-along bay. The resorts, as well as the parks, make up the whole WDW experience.

This being your 1st time, I would pick one over the other and not combine them. Whichever you choose, you'll have a magical time!

 

[bbowers]

If you just want to hit the main parks, you could do it in 4 days and take the cruise. However, there is also Disney Quest (your kids seem to be a great age for that), the water parks, other activites like mini-golf, water mice, horseback riding, doing the Hoop-Dee-Doo show...

BUT, do you have the type of family where, since you are the only one who does NOT want to do the cruise, you would hear about it every single day that they're not sailing the Caribbean???

IMHO, I would never combine the two on a first trip to WDW. I've been there about 15 times and just this year finally decided to take the cruise - and we're hitting Hilton Head for the first time, as well. But in 2005 - it's back to WDW for a week!