We made the trip 5 years ago with a 3 day cruise followed by 3 days in the parks staying at the Wilderness Lodge. We were living in North Carolina at the time and made yearly trips to the World. It was our first Disney Cruise. Don't get me wrong - we love the Parks but it was somehwat of a letdown in the Parks after the cruise. All we could think about was getting back on the ship. If I had to do it over I would have done the parks first followed by the cruise. Just my opinion.
From what I've seen online so far when looking into the cruise, that's the way they're doing it now. It looks to me like the land part is always first, followed by the cruise.
After thinking about it, I think it would be best to save the cruise for another year and do another week at WDW next year...if the budget allows for it. And here's why...let me know if there is a flaw in my logic...
We have 5 days left on our 10 Day parkhopper from this past trip. And, if I understand correctly, children under 3 don't need any ticket to get into the parks. That means that if we go next year and bring our son (which we don't currently plan to do, but plans can change in 11 months or so), we could get the magic your way plus dining package by purchasing a one day ticket for each of us to use on top of the 5 left on this ticket and we wouldn't need to buy a ticket for our son. However, I remember reading that in order to book a package, everyone in the room must be on the same ticket plan. So, if I understand correctly, once our son turns 3, then if we take him with us, in order to get a dining plan package, we would have to buy ourselves the same kind of ticket that we get our son, so we would be in a situation where we always have extra tickets and never a chance to use them. Granted, nothing says we HAVE to buy a package. We could always book a room only and just buy our son the tickets he needs to match what we have, but last month's trip spoiled me to where I MUST have a table service meal every day, so the DDP is a must. So, whether we bring him next year or not, we can burn that 5 day pass with a dining plan package. The following year, he will turn 3, but we plan to start trying for our next child next year, so he/she would probably be born in 2009 and all our vacation time and money would go towards that. So, the following year, Lord willing, we could take our son (who would then be going on 4 years old) and already have those other 5 days used up, and then we would all be getting the same ticket, without having extra ones lingering around.
Does that make sense?
