WDW & Cruise Combo Trip Best Practices

So fun! We’ve only done the combination (Land & Sea) once. We spent a weekend at WDW before a 4 night cruise on the Disney Wish. Used DCL Transportation to get from resort to Port Canaveral.

Theme parks before cruise worked well. Long days followed by relaxation. 😎

I’ve only sailed one other cruise line (well before we tried DCL) so I can’t give any comparisons or suggestions. Our family is pretty well DCL addicted now. I’d like to do another WDW + DCL trip at some point. It was fun. We just haven’t had the right timing (and vacation days) to make it work again.

We did one DCL in 2024. We stayed 2 nights at WDW before and after the cruise because that is what worked best with kids spring break schedule. Both work, but I think doing the parks before the cruise is better. I am also a fan of the DCL transportation, especially if you are new to DCL, it just makes everything simpler and less stressful (especially when traveling with kids).

We love DCL too! Also, really excited for another WDW and cruise combo. Can’t come quick enough!

I think the park/cruise/park sandwich sounds great! I’m on that next time!

A part of me loves cruising and then going to WDW because after a cruise I’m primed for more, but after some going hard park days, I might be a little (emphasis on a little) more ready for home.

We have done land/sea vacations a few times. It is our favorite! We cruise out of Port Canaveral and stay at WDW for 2-3 days before and 5-6 days after. So far we have always used the DCL bus to and from the cruise, but we are thinking of trying something different on our next trip. Not sure what yet, hoping to get suggestions from the forum 😄

It is probably more relaxing to do the parks first and cruise after, but I get land sickness after a cruise and the best cure is going to the theme parks, so we save our WDW park days until after the cruise.

In 2027 we are going to the park 4 days prior, then a 4 & 5 night B2B on the Fantasy, then ending back in parks for a few days! (35th Anniversary gift to ourselves.)

So far we have done one combo last summer. We did a long weekend in the parks, then a 4 nighter on the Wish, and then 2 more days in the parks.

We were super tired though the day we got off the ship and went back to the parks (having been in the sun all day at Castaway the day prior). Overall I’d recommend parks first and then cruise.

Next month, we are doing a resort day, a park day and then 5 nights on the Fantasy and heading home after that.

There is no wrong way to do it though - it’s all wonderful, haha. For us though I think we will continue to do parks first.

Only ever sailed DCL minus yeeeeears ago one Royal sailing out of CA back when we lived on the left coast (in SC now though).

Hi all

We did this combo in 2024, and will do it again this year in June. In 2024 we stayed a night at Boardwalk, then DCL for a week, then spent a week at AKV (home resort).

This year, we are doing Poly, DCL, then AKV.

We like to cruise, then go to the parks. After cruising, we just feel like we are getting started, and want to do more!

Our extended family has a week long DVC stay in July so we decided to tack on a cruise beforehand with just our family of 4. We’ll be docking a day before the rest of the family arrive, so we’re planning to do 1 night in AKL as a resort stay to relax at the pool, watch animals, and eat good food. It will be our first land/sea combo and I am excited to not be bummed getting off a ship for once! Gotta keep the magic going ✨

This is a different question but on the same subject. We are doing a WDW DVC stay, then back to back cruises, then back to WDW in early 2027. Has anyone left luggage at the resort while on a cruise or is it possible? I am thinking we will not need our clothing for colder weather while on the ship to the 2 WDW islands , Bahamas & Caribbean. We would rather not deal with an extra suitcase with outer & colder weather apparel. Has anyone done this before?

We stayed at boardwalk and left our luggage at bell services and had them switch it to beach club for our stay after our cruise. We were a family of 5 and we left a case with our winter clothes for staying at xmas after the parks, worked perfectly.

We are doing 16 nights at beach club then 7 nights on the tresure then back to beach club for 1 night before we head to universal for 3 nights at portifinos. Last trip we did it in the reverse and done the cruise first. To be honest we enjoy both ways and just book which ever dates work best for the cruise.

Tips would be if you sandwich your stay then you can leave luggage at bell services so you dont need to take all your bags, perfect to leave behind your soveniers etc.

We have done land/sea and sea/land. We preferred sea/land. Our first was land/sea. We were not ready 😅 to come home after we got off the ship. From then on, we did sea/land for most of our 8 DCL cruises.

We have also done both land/sea and sea/land. If either option fits your travel schedule, I also much prefered the sea/land. It's so hard to go from a day at a fun port to disembarking the ship and flying back home all in a 24-hour span. Adding just a night or two on the back-end of a cruise definitly softens the blow.

I'm a huge fan of combining a Disney cruise with a trip to Vero Beach. This fall we are taking a five night on the Dream out of Fort Lauderdale followed by three nights at Vero Beach and then since our flight home is out of Orlando, one night in the Poly Tower before we head to the airport the next morning.