Thoughts on trip plans (cruise+WDW)

[DisneyDoug85]

We have our first disney cruise planned for november 12th 2018, we're also going to stay 3-4 nights in WDW. At first I was planning on staying in WDW prior to the cruise based on most peoples suggestions, now I'm considering staying after instead. Reasons being-

1) My sons 4th bday is the 16th, which would be our travel day home if we do WDW first. If we do cruise first, he'd get to spend his bday in WDW.

2) I think we'll be staying at Wilderness Lodge and we're really looking forward to seeing the Christmas decor etc for the first time. I think theres a chance the tree won't be up if we stay before the cruise (Nov 8-12th), but it should be up if we stay after (Nov 16th-20th, Thanksgiving is the 22nd).

My questions- What are your thoughts and experiences of visiting WDW before vs after your cruise? Also, I know crowds are at their busiest around Thanksgiving, would i run into that a couple days prior? Or does it start getting real bad on Thanksgiving and last throughout the weekend etc?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[21stamps]

We have our first disney cruise planned for november 12th 2018, we're also going to stay 3-4 nights in WDW. At first I was planning on staying in WDW prior to the cruise based on most peoples suggestions, now I'm considering staying after instead. Reasons being-

1) My sons 4th bday is the 16th, which would be our travel day home if we do WDW first. If we do cruise first, he'd get to spend his bday in WDW.

2) I think we'll be staying at Wilderness Lodge and we're really looking forward to seeing the Christmas decor etc for the first time. I think theres a chance the tree won't be up if we stay before the cruise (Nov 8-12th), but it should be up if we stay after (Nov 16th-20th, Thanksgiving is the 22nd).

My questions- What are your thoughts and experiences of visiting WDW before vs after your cruise? Also, I know crowds are at their busiest around Thanksgiving, would i run into that a couple days prior? Or does it start getting real bad on Thanksgiving and last throughout the weekend etc?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

I would do it before.. then relax on your cruise

 

[Herdman]

We arrived the Friday before Thanksgiving week last year, and the crowds got progressively higher as the week went on. Friday - Monday were not too bad, but then they picked up pretty steady after that. It's still manageable if you have a plan though.

 

[englanddg]

I've done parks/cruises several times. Though, normally I bookend (do a few days at the parks, then the cruise, then come back to the parks).

But, leaving the "world" and finishing with a Cruise would be my, personal, preference.

But, based on the two things you indicated (birthday for your child, and christmas decor), I would do the Cruise first.

 

[DisneyDoug85]

We arrived the Friday before Thanksgiving week last year, and the crowds got progressively higher as the week went on. Friday - Monday were not too bad, but then they picked up pretty steady after that. It's still manageable if you have a plan though.

Our last full day in WDW would be Monday, then we'd wake up and have breakfast and head to the airport on Tuesday. So if what you say you experienced holds true, we should miss the heaviest of the crowds. Thanks for your input!

 

[DisneyDoug85]

I've done parks/cruises several times. Though, normally I bookend (do a few days at the parks, then the cruise, then come back to the parks).

But, leaving the "world" and finishing with a Cruise would be my, personal, preference.

But, based on the two things you indicated (birthday for your child, and christmas decor), I would do the Cruise first.

Yeah WDW then Cruise seems to be the most popular choice I've come across in my research. This will be our first visit during the Xmas season, usually go during the summer or halloween (twice). So we're really excited to see all the holiday decor etc, but would also really like to see the big tree in the lobby. I think we'd be a little bummed if we missed on that. Thanks for your help!

 

[englanddg]

Yeah WDW then Cruise seems to be the most popular choice I've come across in my research. This will be our first visit during the Xmas season, usually go during the summer or halloween (twice). So we're really excited to see all the holiday decor etc, but would also really like to see the big tree in the lobby. I think we'd be a little bummed if we missed on that. Thanks for your help!

I don't think one or the other is necessarily better or worse...but, I can explain my preference.

The "tone" of the experience, between the more hectic parks vs the more slow and relaxed cruise experience, is jolting. Therefore, it's better to hit the parks towards the early part of the trip, when you and your group have "more energy and excitement", and then mellow out with the cruise later on.

That said, I still think, based on your other considerations, you should strongly consider doing the cruise first.

Have a great trip!

 

[DisneyDoug85]

I would do it before.. then relax on your cruise

Thanks, its definitely tempting to do it that way. Although i will say, we felt bad booking a trip in which our travel day home was our sons bday...but it just happened to be the best cruise for us for other reasons. My other thought is, we have two young kids, the will be 4 year old i mentioned, and my daughter who will be 7. So while a cruise will be a bit more relaxing than WDW, I assume it'll still be mostly running around and exploring with the kids anyway. We'll have to weigh our options and see whats best

 

[jimbojones]

I would do it before.. then relax on your cruise

yeah definitely before, we have done a number of trips that started or ended at disney land or world and it is always better to start there rather than end there. WDW or DL is frankly less fun when you have just done something else as a vacation and we often feel like we need to relax after a few days of disney crowds and the go go go pace of WDW. We spent a few days in the keysbefore heading to WDW and after my kids had seen a real live shark while snorkeling and driven an actual powerboat they had a lot less interest in animatronic creatures and rides with tracks. However we have also done the reverse and the synthetic reality of Disney got everyone really excited to see the real things and made both parts of the trip extra fun and special. I think for your cruise you would end up feeling the same way.

Although as a counterpoint, a one or two day quick visit rather than a 4+ day visit at the end of another trip doesn't seem to suffer from the same effects, we stopped at DL for just one day during a two week trip through CA national parks and that was a whole lot of fun. But we did it very spur of the moment with no reservations or anything whicht is harder to do at WDW than it is at DL I think.

 

[DisneyDoug85]

Thank you all for your help. While it seems most people recommend doing WDW before, i think with our wants/needs it may be better for us to stay after the cruise. I'm trying to piece together the transportation aspect of everything, listed below is how I'm thinking it would work...Please give me any ideas that you think would be easier/better etc. This is my first time cruising and obviously first time doing both, so the planning is more than I'm used to.

Fly in to orlando (from Philly) the afternoon prior to the Cruise departure.
Take Cruise transportation to the port.
Take hotel shuttle from port to hotel.
Stay at hotel near port the night before.
Take hotel shuttle to port.
*Cruise*
Take Cruise line transportation to WDW.

This sound like a decent plan?

 

[Dave B]

Your child will NEVER forget spending their bday at Magic Kingdom, that would really rank high #1 to me. Regardless of the experience and how fun you have spending their bday on a plane will NOT be fun

 

[21stamps]

Thank you all for your help. While it seems most people recommend doing WDW before, i think with our wants/needs it may be better for us to stay after the cruise. I'm trying to piece together the transportation aspect of everything, listed below is how I'm thinking it would work...Please give me any ideas that you think would be easier/better etc. This is my first time cruising and obviously first time doing both, so the planning is more than I'm used to.

Fly in to orlando (from Philly) the afternoon prior to the Cruise departure.
Take Cruise transportation to the port.
Take hotel shuttle from port to hotel.
Stay at hotel near port the night before.
Take hotel shuttle to port.
*Cruise*
Take Cruise line transportation to WDW.

This sound like a decent plan?

Yep. Sounds like a great plan! I would recommend to look at a car service or Uber or Lyft from Port to Disney, it will probably come out much less money wise, and get you to wdw much quicker.

 

[NelleBelle]

We've cruised and stayed at WDW after. We loved doing it that way for a couple of reasons. The big reason is that we fly in from the west coast (I know you will not be)--we have a really hard time getting ourselves and kids up early to make it to the parks before noon. On our last cruise, we stayed at WDW the night before and took Disney transportation to the port. On our very first cruise, we loved our cruise so much that we were not ready for our vacation to end and it sucked to see everyone loading up on the resort buses and heading to WDW to continue on with their vacations. We swore we surprise our kids with a trip to WDW after our next cruise, which we did! We all had a great time! We were at WDW on Halloween at MNSSHP and a few days later got to see the tree up at MK (if I had been able to convince my DH, would've booked one of the first MVMCP they had). I'd totally give it a shot, especially if your little one is having an actual b-day at the parks! We've been lucky and had our oldest have a b-day at DL and on one of the cruises. Very special!!

 

[DisneyDoug85]

Yep. Sounds like a great plan! I would recommend to look at a car service or Uber or Lyft from Port to Disney, it will probably come out much less money wise, and get you to wdw much quicker.

Ive never used uber or left before....that might be worth looking into. Are the car services you speak of something you have to call ahead and book?

 

[DisneyDoug85]

We've cruised and stayed at WDW after. We loved doing it that way for a couple of reasons. The big reason is that we fly in from the west coast (I know you will not be)--we have a really hard time getting ourselves and kids up early to make it to the parks before noon. On our last cruise, we stayed at WDW the night before and took Disney transportation to the port. On our very first cruise, we loved our cruise so much that we were not ready for our vacation to end and it sucked to see everyone loading up on the resort buses and heading to WDW to continue on with their vacations. We swore we surprise our kids with a trip to WDW after our next cruise, which we did! We all had a great time! We were at WDW on Halloween at MNSSHP and a few days later got to see the tree up at MK (if I had been able to convince my DH, would've booked one of the first MVMCP they had). I'd totally give it a shot, especially if your little one is having an actual b-day at the parks! We've been lucky and had our oldest have a b-day at DL and on one of the cruises. Very special!!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! Yeah all along we were kinda bummed (and felt bad) that my sons bday would be on our travel day home. He'll only be 4 so I think it would have bothered us more than it would bother him...but this was a way to avoid that altogether and hopefully see the resort trees as well!

 

[21stamps]

Ive never used uber or left before....that might be worth looking into. Are the car services you speak of something you have to call ahead and book?

Yes, you can book ahead thru any of them.
If you’ve never used Uber then I think you get $20 off of your first ride. You can go to Uber and Lyft websites, put in the exact day, time, start, and end point.. then find out what the pricing would be.
Be aware that both do have flex pricing depending on day.. i.e. my fare from Ft Lauderdale to Port of Miami for a Thanksgiving cruise was nearly double the regular rate.. because of the popularity of that morning. But like I said, you will know that beforehand, and comparison shop accordingly.

With a car service you can just check their rate for that day/route.

 

[DisneyDoug85]

So it seems as though you can only use magical express on the day of embarkation or debarkation. Can anyone confirm that? We're planning on flying in the night before and staying at a hotel at port canaveral, but i guess now we'll have to plan on a different type of transfer.

 

[NelleBelle]

You can only take Magical Express (which is free from MCO) when staying at a WDW resort is available from MCO to the resorts any day. A Disney transport from resort to cruise terminal (or MCO to cruise terminal) is only available day of embarkation (or disembarkation) and costs per person. If you want to stay at a Port Canaveral hotel, you'll need to find other transportation (taxi, uber, town car, shuttle, etc). But Disney does not provide any transportation to any PC hotels from MCO or from the PC hotels to the cruise terminal.

 

[LAKid53]

Ditto what @21stamps (Merry Christmas, my friend....yeah, I know, I still owe you that drink, lol) and everyone else said. WDW first, then cruise. We did that our first Disney cruise. And we've done it for every cruise, but one. After a 4 night cruise, we stopped at WDW overnight on our way home for our meeting with the wedding planner for my daughter's wedding. All we really wanted to do was get home. Disney wants you off that ship by 9am the morning you return to port.

Yes, WL should be decorated by then. The Christmas party starts around that time, also.

 

[DisneyDoug85]

You can only take Magical Express (which is free from MCO) when staying at a WDW resort is available from MCO to the resorts any day. A Disney transport from resort to cruise terminal (or MCO to cruise terminal) is only available day of embarkation (or disembarkation) and costs per person. If you want to stay at a Port Canaveral hotel, you'll need to find other transportation (taxi, uber, town car, shuttle, etc). But Disney does not provide any transportation to any PC hotels from MCO or from the PC hotels to the cruise terminal.

Ok so if we fly in to MCO fairly late the day before, we'd probably be best off staying at a hotel at MCO and then jumping on Disney transport or some other type of transport from MCO to port. Then to get from port to WDW after the cruise, we'll again need Disney transport or taxi/uber/shuttle etc. Does the disney transport from port to WDW work the same as Magical express whereas it'll take us directly to our hotel (wilderness lodge)?