our comparison cruise v parks About This Page:

[chefmur]

We just got back from a week at Disneyworld and did a seven night cruise on the Magic in October and thought it would interest some on our comparison on the two trips. I will post on both the cruise and park boards.On both trips were my wife and two boys 13 & 10.
The cruise was awesome, this was our second cruise on the Magic, the previous was the Western three years ago and last year was the Eastern. The ship is beautiful , clean , well organized with great food and service. The best thing for us about DCL are the kids programs, they kept the kids busy from morning till midnight and my boys loved it. They made friends with the counselors and other passengers from around the country and world. My wife and I enjoyed a little down time alone laying by the pool and then all four of us explored the islands, our favorite being Trunk Bay in St John. We loved our servers and the food was great, the shows are fantastic also done in true Disney style.Both cruises were in October and we were very lucky with the weather it was perfect on both trips. We live in Alabama so to save on airfare we drove down the day before and stayed in Ocala which took us about 8 hours then we got up Saturday and had only a two hour drive to the Port and we parked there which was great especially for coming home. We were off the ship and on the road in less than thirty minutes. While on board we booked again for this year just in case we wanted to do it again to get the best deal and the shipboard credit.

At the first of the year my wife and I were deciding what to do about our vacation for this year and since we had already done both east and west trips we thought it would be fun to do the parks. We had not visited Disneyworld in 5 years and thought it would be a lot cheaper than the cruise. The cruise in Oct in a cat 9 which was fine for us was around $3500 plus insurance which is about $150.00 at insuremytrip.com, tips another $300.00 plus we spent another $1200 on shore excursions and other stuff. All toll it cost approx $5500 including gas, parking and hotel the night before. We reckoned we could do the parks and save a couple of grand.
So I cancelled our cruise and booked our Disneyworld trip instead., deciding on Port Orleans Riverside.We decided to go as soon as the kids got out of school to try and beat the summer rush so we left on Memorial day weekend, I figured that most kids would not get out of school until after June first and it would not be as busy WRONG. It was crazy, we drove down on Saturday and did Seaworld on Sunday , it was busy but we had a fun day and enjoyed the park, especially the Shamu show. That night was extra magic hours in the Magic Kingdom until 2.00am so we came back to the hotel and cooled off at the pool and headed to the park. It was crazy busy, you could not move, eat or do anything, so we left after a couple of miserable hours and went back to the hotel. Thinking it was just because of the holiday weekend and knowing we still had 5 full days we thought it would slow down after Monday WRONG.
The whole week every park every day was packed, we would go for a few hours in the morning do the pool in the afternoon and then took advantage of the extra magic hours in the evening which still was busy but at least the waits were bearable. Overall we had a good time but nothing in comparison to the cruise. We had to wait in line for everything, sometimes thirty minutes just to get an overpriced hamburger. The food is just okay and very pricy, it was nothing to drop $100 on a fast food lunch and some drinks and ice cream in the afternoon. The best food we had was at the French restaurant in Paris although it was $250 incl tax and tip for 2 soups, 4 entrees 2 of which were chicken and 3 desserts.
The quality of food and service did not compare to the cruise for us.We loved POR riverside, nice clean room, great theming and pool but the bus service was not that great,long waits and the bus has to hit every depot in the complex and it seemed like we were always last. Also since it is one of the largest resorts if you leave when the park closes you sometimes have so many people waiting for a bus it takes 3 or 4 buses before you get on.

Overall we had a good trip not a great one, we did not come back relaxed or refreshed but tired and with sore feet . My boys thought it was just okay and were ready to come home by the end of the week. Disneyworld is still a magical place, there is nothing like standing on main street watching the fireworks over the castle, however I don’t think we will return any time soon, our next Disney trip will defiantly be another cruise.As far as the numbers go we ended up spending about $4500 for the week about a thousand dollars less than the cruise( that is going off season though). For us there is no comparison on the two and it is well worth the extra money to do the cruise. I know I have seen a couple of posts on these boards with queations about if you had a choice which one would you do and thought this report would be of interest.

[DrDolphin]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and impressions.

[NanaTink]

Thanks for your opinions! I'm sure they will be of use to someone trying to choose between the two options!

[DyanKJ130]

for sharing your summaries comparing the two! Very insightful!!!

[Kenny]

Thanks for sharing your opinions here.

[lauriep]

Thanks for posting your impressions.

It's still a hard choice for me. I just returned from the long Repo cruise and agree, it was the most relaxing, refreshing vacation I'd ever taken. I've never been so well-rested in my life! But I still miss WDW! They're very different kinds of vacations, but both wonderful.

[HansenFam]

Thanks for taking the time to log all of this. It's really helpful to read, because we're in kind of the same situation, but on the west coast. We're a day's drive from Disneyland, and really, really prefer to stay at one of the Resort facilities, which is getting really pricey! I'm thinking that - especially if they port one or both of the new ships out here - the cruise will be our regular Disney fix, as opposed to going down and "park-hopping". Even tho' we've only done one of the 4-day cruises to Nassau and Castaway Cay, I feel like you do get more vacation for your buck on a cruise, and the pace is so much easier! There is still so much to do that you don't get to do everything that you wanted to! But it just doesn't feel as pressured. We're over-the-moon about our upcoming West Coast cruise in early August, and I can't wait to confirm that this is the way that we want to "Disney" it from now on!

[JackiePsarianos]

Thank you for your report and I do agree that Disney World and the cruise are two different experiences. How can you miss one or the other though? That's why we always hook into the land and sea package and then we tack on a land package after the cruise....it's that difficult going home :-(

If I were to recommend a particular length of cruise with Disney, it would be a four day or longer. In 2007 we double dipped on the Wonder (December 2-6 and then December 6-9). We were really glad we did the four day before the three day because the three day FLEW. No sooner did the cruise begin, it was time to get off. My advice is to spend more for the extra day, it's REALLY worth it, and if you can financially handle a seven day or longer then kuddos to you.