Which should i do

[HappyLawyer]

Our next vacation is Dec 8-23rd, so i have been wondering about the following
Flying down the night of the 7th late flight, doing to stay at a hotel by port for 8th and 9th, just relaxxing and doing nothing at the hetel as cruise leaves on sun the 10th, so the 10th we would check out of the hotel early like 6 am and drive to port, i know it would be early but this would be to make sure everything would run smoothly that way we have used 2 days then go to 4 day cruise then head back to wdw
then i was thinking hey, we will have a rental car, so the night of the 7th, 8th and 9th, do someting like disney, universal or seaworld, make the best of those days, especially if they are nice weather days, this way after our cruise, we will have days to chill in case weather is bad and not feel the day was wasted, i already elected to stay away from wdw on sat and sun croweded no matter what.
any thoughts

 

[JennsBabySky]

I'm a little confused, why would you go to the port at 6 am? The ship is just docking from the cruise before and the parking lot will be totally crowded with everyone leaving the prior cruise. I thought the earliest that DCL would even let you into the vicinity (not the boat, just into the building to check in and wait in line) is 10 am or so. If you have kids, they will be soooo bored by sitting in the car from 6 am until 10 am and then waiting in line for a few more hours. Or has the times that they allow you in changed since my last cruise?

As far as for before the cruise, I can see wanting to stay at the hotel and relax. But then again, I don't know if I could stay away from WDW for those days before. Maybe plan a shorter trip to one of the parks or to Downtown Disney. We frequent Disneyland and I have found it so much more enjoyable now that we take more frequent, yet shorter trips. I like to keep the trips shorter, so once anyone starts to get tired, we leave. For us, it helps keep the magic alive -- Disney is always a happy place!

Have fun,
Jennifer

 

[soccerdad-Chris]

A "happy lawyer"??!!??

Just kidding, couldn't resist a little lawyer barb .

First, a couple of questions: Is this your first Disney cruise? Who's going with you (husband, sig othr, kids, etc.)? Sorry, I didn't bother to look at your profile, so I have no idea what your situation is!!

I ask because the kinds of things you might consider doing before/after your cruise depend upon who you're with.

The first bit of advice I'd offer, which you seem already to be taking, is to give yourself some time before and/or after the cruise to do stuff in the Orlando area, especially since you're on a 4-day cruise. If you have to choose between doing something before the cruise and doing something after, I would counsel you to do stuff before. On our first cruise, we arrived in FL the night before the cruise (travelling from CA), and it just seemed like such a rush and hassle to fly across the country, check into the hotel, check out of the hotel, then go to the cruise ship and, basically, "check in" again there.

This last October, we got to FL 3 days before the cruise, messed around WDW for a few days, and then leisurely headed out to Port Canveral for the cruise---a huge improvement!!!!

As for crowds and what to do about them, this is where things get a little more ambiguous. We have kids, and if you do too, our experience is that they would rather go to the "cool places" (i.e. MK, Epcot, and especially the water parks), no matter how crowded they are, than to other places they are unfamiliar with. As adults, we have to remember that kids love just being in these places, lines notwithstanding, even though we adults are driven nuts by the hassle and delays. This is really a judgement and philosophy call for you to make, but we basically go where the kids want to go, and just deal with the lines. A nice bottle of wine at dinner for mom & dad usually goes a long way towards setting things right, if you enjoy that sort of thing.

Hope this helps,
Chris

 

[TammiMcMan]

If you're wondering whether to do Disney before our after your cruise, I'd definitely do it before. We were just there at basically the same time (early December) and it really wasn't that crowded at all. In fact, there were very little waits during the day. It was more crowded at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party. I wouldn't mind staying at a resort closer to Christmas, I just don't think that I would plan on doing any parks. If you did want rides, I'd stay at one of the three Universal resorts. By showing your room key, you get express line privelages.

Are you planning on keeping your rental car at the port throught your cruise, or are you doing a drop off near the port? Having your own car to drive over from Disney, you could still get up and have a leisurely breakfast. It probably takes about an hour and boarding does not typically begin until close to noon time. You could leave a little earlier if you want and make a pit stop at Walmart for waters, sodas or any snacks that you want to bring on board.

 

[HappyLawyer]

I'm a little confused, why would you go to the port at 6 am? The ship is just docking from the cruise before and the parking lot will be totally crowded with everyone leaving the prior cruise. I thought the earliest that DCL would even let you into the vicinity (not the boat, just into the building to check in and wait in line) is 10 am or so. If you have kids, they will be soooo bored by sitting in the car from 6 am until 10 am and then waiting in line for a few more hours. Or has the times that they allow you in changed since my last cruise?

As far as for before the cruise, I can see wanting to stay at the hotel and relax. But then again, I don't know if I could stay away from WDW for those days before. Maybe plan a shorter trip to one of the parks or to Downtown Disney. We frequent Disneyland and I have found it so much more enjoyable now that we take more frequent, yet shorter trips. I like to keep the trips shorter, so once anyone starts to get tired, we leave. For us, it helps keep the magic alive -- Disney is always a happy place!

Have fun,
Jennifer

my post said leave for the port at 6am and it also explained why

 

[aprilgail2]

my post said leave for the port at 6am and it also explained why

The port doesn't open until 10:30 so unless you drive REALLY slow then you would be driving in circles at the port waiting for it to open....we stay at a hotel by the port and leave at 10am to get there.

 

[jel0511]

my post said leave for the port at 6am and it also explained why

I also have to agree with why you'd leave your hotel at 6AM, unless you're staying inthe Fort Lauderdale/Miami area. If you plan on staying in the Port Canavaral/Cocoa Beach area, the drive will be NO MORE than 30 minutes, giving you about 3 1/2 hours to kill. DCL won't even allow you INTO the parking lot before 10AM, so you'll be driving around for 3 1/2 hours? I think we're all just trying to tell you that you're leaving TOO MUCH time. If you're worried, than leave your hotel at 9AM, you'll still have plenty of time, and will probably still end up sitting in your car for a LONG time before being allowed to park.

 

[april riddle]

If you are worried about the crowding at Disney, I would highly recommend Royal Pacific Resort at Universal studios. When staying onsite at universal you get Front of the line privileges and you do not wait for any rides. We were there the week of Thanksgiving and even though it was alot more crowded the previous year when we were there in January, we did not wait for a single ride. There was one time that we were told that the wait for Jimmy Neutron would be ten minutes and the kids said that was too long of a wait! We had spent the Sunday before in Magic Kingdom and waited at least hour for each ride. RPR is a very beautiful hotel and the pool is a wonderfully relaxing place to be. We spent Monday thru Friday morning there the week of Thanksgiving. We chose to go to Kennedy Space Center on Friday before the cruise and it was very nice and not crowded. The drive from universal to Kennedy Space center was just over an hour. I understand you wanting to leave Orlando by 6 but you may want to wait until at least 730 or 8am. If you get up too early you will all be tired when you get on the ship and you won't be able to fully enjoy everything the first day. Any way you do it you will have a great time.

 

[JennsBabySky]

my post said leave for the port at 6am and it also explained why

I am a compulsive planner and I always like to allow a ton of extra time. I thought that if it was your first cruise you might think you needed the extra time to get to the port from a local hotel. But if you are staying in the area, all you will be doing is driving in circles for at least 3 hours. Even the compulsive planner in me hasn't started doing that (yet -- I'm getting more neurotic every year).

Anyway, I was thinking it might be fun to plan a character dinner for one of the nights before your cruise. Some of the disney hotels have these and you would not need to pay admission to the park for the day. I love these! Plus you can make advance reservations, so you could minimize the wait time (an added advantage in my opinion).

Also, the decorations in the park are incredible. I could look at these all day and not get bored. The night is especially amazing. It might be fun to spend an evening in the park before the cruise and check out all the lights and decorations. That would put me in the holiday state of mind before the cruise.

I think December would be a wonderful time to visit WDW (and DCL). Have fun, I'm a little envious. It should be a wonderful trip!

Jennifer

 

[cruisin'Mike]

The last time we cruised, we stayed at WDW before the cruise. On our last morning, we had an early PS for the character breakfast at Cape May Cafe. We had a great, filling breakfast and lots of fun. Since it was so early and it was off season, there was hardly anybody else there. We had tons of character interaction. My daughter had a small princess pillow with her, and Dale stole it. Then he laid down next to her on the bench seat and went to sleep in her lap.
We left the Beach Club and made it to the port around 10:30 AM and it was still pretty deserted. No problems at all getting checked in. We then waited in the terminal for quite a while until we were finally allowed to board. So if we cruise again (and I've got the cruise bug BAD!), we'll probably do the same sort of thing.

Have a great trip. Early December is a fantastic time to go.

Mike