Would you do Land AND Sea or 7 day SEA?

[kath00]

I am so glad I found this forum. We have cruised 4 times without our children (with Princess) but would like to sail on Disney and take our 6 year old with us in January of 06. We live in San Diego so Disneyland, Sea World, etc are close by. But I thought it would be great to have our daughter come with us on a special trip (and leave our newborn behind) for some bonding time with mom and dad.

Anyway, we are trying to decide between a 4 day land and 3 day sea vacation versus a 7 day at sea vacation with Disney Cruises. We were thinking 4 days at the Grand Floridian (monorail access sounds great) and then the cruise. I wouldn't mind doing a 4 night cruise but I heard that doing the land portion after the cruise is a bad way to go.

Any thoughts on whether the land portion would be different enough from what we can get in CA to justify staying in Orlando? Also, is 7 days too long with a young child on her first cruise, if we decide to do sea only?

Any ideas and comments would be much appreciated! Katherine

Oh, I forgot, we also have Cat 3 8046 on hold for the cruise. Is this one of the famous mid-ship Cat 3 cabins?

 

[buster478]

My family has done both. We did the land sea first and had a great time. If was perfect for us because we hadn't cruised before and we didn't know how our kids would feel after. We went to Disney first on our land/sea. Magic Kingdom is very similair to CA but the rides are a little different. MGM, Epcot and Animal Kingdom are awesome. Can't get those in CA. However, 3 or 4 days isn't enough. I don't even think 7 days is enough for WDW.

After we found our kids LOVED the cruise we booked a 7 day. We just got back. 10/16. We ended up booking another 7 day when we were on the ship.

Anyway. I would suggest doing the land/sea to make sure your DD will be able to handle the motion. She will love the Kids clubs. I couldn't get my kids to leave. Disney cruising is nothing like you have ever experienced before. Our kids DD8 and DS10 loved the cruise and can't wait to go back. They don't think 7 days is too long. We almost considered the 14 day but it was sold out.

Good luck.

 

[lbgraves]

We did the 7 day eastern for our first cruise last November and my 3 yo DD & 5 yo DS hated to leave the ship on the last morning. We went to MK one day & DTD one day before the cruise to make it our own land/sea. We are doing the same thing in less than 2 weeks!!!

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Hi,

To me, you can't go to FL and not visit WDW.
I would recommend the Land/Sea. We have done both, Land/Sea and the 7 Day Disney cruise.

Next week, I am taking my 6 yo grandson on a land/sea. He has been to WDW in 2002 and 2003, but this will be his first cruise ever. I just couldn't imagine going to FL and not taking him to WDW, but I wanted him to experience a Disney cruise.

Like the other poster said, Magic Kingdom is similar to Disneyland, but you will love discovering the differences between the two, and you get to explore Epcot, MGM, and Animal Kingdom.

While 7 days never seems like enough, many times, that is all the time and/or money we have to spend.

Have a magical time!

Tink

 

[lrodptl]

We just did the land/sea with DD3 and DD4 and we would never do the land portion again. We stayed at the GF which was awesome,had a room facing MK and over the Lagoon which was awesome. We saw the fireworks every night which was awesome. The parades were awesome. We'll never do the land again. We walked 5,7,9,miles at the parks,endured massive lines in 88 degrees. We saw parents smacking toddlers out of frustration. Not worth it. The Passporter survey in the front of the book says that almost everyone feels the same way!

 

[wdwmom2]

We did the 4land/3 sea in April. We had never cruised before and thought this would be a great chance to see if we liked it. Well let me tell you, if I had it to do all over again, I would definately do the 7 day cruise. I have been to the parks many times, and while we had a great time, loved the Beach Club, the cruise was definately the highlight. We absolutely LOVED it. It is soooo relaxing. You can either keep busy all day or do nothing at all. It's up to you. The pampering that we received spoiled us. Everyone was great. My children, DD12 and DD17 throughly enjoyed it. DH and I rarely saw them. They made friends and off they went! Now when I watch my cruise video and the ship's horn sounds at the Sailaway party, I get tears in my eyes. I sure do miss that ship!!

Just my thoughts, for what they are worth!!!

 

[cristit14]

We did land/sea last July because I didn't know how we would like the cruise portion. Next time we are doing 7 day cruise with maybe a day or two at the parks. The cruise was so much more fun. Part of it was probably because we went in July and the parks were insanely crowded and hot. We were exhausted by the time we got on the ship.

 

[TootyJane]

Katherine,

Having done both, I'd say go with the 7-day cruise. Our first cruise was the land/sea. Our boys were 11, 8 and 4 and all of them (and the rest of us) pretty much decided that the 3-day cruise just wasn't enough time. I have to say that my kids didn't really care for WDW but they did love Blizzard Beach! We live in San Diego also and Disneyland is so close. They prefer going to Disneyland vs. WDW. HTH

 

[pooh luver]

We did the 3 day land and 4 day cruise the first time and had a great time. I am really glad we spent time at WDW, there is nothing like it. We are also from southern CA and have season passes to Disneyland so go several times a year but I think if you have never done WDW it is a must, at least once. I made sure that we had some down time planned into our WDW portion to avoid any melt downs (DS was 6 at the time). The next time we decided to do the seven day cruise with one extra day to do the Kennedy Space Center after the cruise. Somehow, one extra day turned into three days at WDW. I actually perferred WDW after the cruise for a couple of reasons. We were really tired after flying across the country and working right up til the flight left, so I liked being able to start my vacation relaxing. Also, even though the cruise my be relaxing the trip back across the country makes you tired anyways so I didn't come home relaxed.

This is turning into a book, sorry. In short, the first time I would do both and do the land portion second. You will become addicted,like my family, and end on the seven day after.

 

[tweetsie]

We have done the sea/land two times and it has worked out wonderfully. The first time we went on the three-day cruise and spent the following week at our time share. The second time we did the four day and spent the night before the cruise at the time share and spent two nights after the cruise there. It gave us something to look forward to other than getting off of the ship and going straight home. My DD who is now 10 says they were the best vacations we have ever taken. We have another 3-day planned in June 2005 and plan to spend the week after the cruise at our timeshare which is only six miles from disney.

 

[sweet angel]

We did the land/sea last week and we've been to WDW before. My BF and son had never cruised so my thinking was that they'd get the best of both worlds. We/they really enjoyed it, but truthfully, we felt rushed on both portions.

We rebooked a 7-day while onboard now that I'm confident they enjoy the cruising.

 

[jenjersnap]

I am no expert because we still haven't cruised yet (or had a family vacation at WDW for that matter) so take it with a grain of salt. I researched this until my eyeballs burned and decided that the 7 day cruise was the way to go. My kids will be 5-1/2 and 2 when we sail. For us, the 3 day is just too short to get a good feel for it and we didn't like the 4 day schedule - our land time included Sat and we'd prefer to avoid that. Since we would prefer visiting parks midweek, we are taking the 7 day since it leaves on Sat. and doing the parks for 4 days before that. Yeah, 11 days is a long vacation for us but it will be our only one of 2005.

Either way, I am sure your family will have a wonderful time! Good luck!

 

[bekkiz]

As a fellow CA resident, I can assure you WDW is different enough to warrent the trip. I prefer WDW, due simply to the wide variety of options (parks, mini-golf, water parks etc), and the atmosphere is just different.

However, you should examine what your goal out of a vaction is. I like to be busy some days, and very relaxed other days. Some people want to relax everyday. Can you go to the parks for part of the day, leave when your daughter gets tired, and not feel like you're wasting money? I think most parents who get frustrated are trying to stretch their vacation dollar, instead of making sure their kids are happy.

We did a trip where we spent 3 days at Universal, a 3 night Disney cruise and then 6 days at WDW. The cruise in the middle was nice, but I was really glad we did it before WDW and not the end of the trip. For us, it would have been a little anti-climactic to get of the ship and get on a plane. During the 6 days, we took it easy (although it was December, so not many crowds, and no hot weatheR), and felt totally relaxed and content when we got on the plane.

If you feel up to doing both, do both. During the land portion, do not push yourself to see and do everything--just remind yourself, you can come back. Be in tune with your daughters feelings, and keep her rested enough to enjoy everything

 

[BellHop]

Now this is just my
presonal opinion but I
wuold rather do a 7 day cruise
at sea not land and see

 

[crisi]

Personally -

either a 7 day cruise or 7 days at WDW - which is very different from Disneyland (as was said, Disneyland doesn't have MGM, Epcot or AK).

3 days of cruising is not enough. 3 days at WDW is a joke (unless you've been many times before and will go many times again).

 

[wide awake]

I too am a CA resident, and have never been to WDW...but have a very close friend who has visited DL with her family many times...as has my family...my friend's family took their first trip to WDW last July...she said they'd never go again. They hated the crowds, the emphasis on shopping, and the fact that WDW is much harder to navigate than DL...of course it IS much bigger. We do the 7 day cruise...after our first Magic cruise DH said we were never going to DL again...WDW wasn't even in the running...sorry, even in October the humidity is too much for me to walk around a Florida theme park. I think it depends on what type of vacation you want...if I want to see foreign countries I'll go to the actual countries, not the mockups at WDW...if I want to stay in a forest/national park type of lodge I'll stay at Old Faithful Inn or the Ahwanee. I can understand people wanting the familiar of Disney, particularly with kids, but I HATE a manufactured experience...which is why CC is my least favorite port...but DS loves CC so am toying with the idea of booking one of the special itineraries in 2006. Anyway, at this point in my life I go on vacation to relax and the 7 day is great for that.

 

[Otisp]

We're another neighbor of DL (I'll leave a comparison to another thread). We did the 3 land/4 sea and like others, we ended up feeling like it was a rushed sampler of each. It did, however, lead to a couple of resolutions: 1) NEVER do WDW in the summer, and 2) NEVER do a Disney Cruise less than 7 days (our next will be the 14-day repo - maybe a little overkill? Nah!!!!!).