Short cruise

We live in California. We want to go Disneyworld. But we also want to take a cruise. I’m pretty sure I need to spend at least 4 days at Disney world. So that means my cruise should be about 4 days. I don’t have a ton of vacation. So what cruise ship and ports would you recommend. We are thinking we need to leave out of Miami or somewhere close since we will more than likely fly into Miami. We are in the planning stages.

Thanks

Since Disneyworld is in Orlando, why not fly to Orlando and cruise out of Cape Canaveral?

Since you live in California, why not skip the flying, do the Disneyland parks in Anaheim, then cruise on either Carnival or Princess out of Long Beach/San Pedro? I don't think Disneyland and Disneyworld are all that different. There are lots of short cruises to choose from, depending on the time of year. With the money you'll save on flights, you could probably splurge on a Family Suite or other nice cabins.

Disney Land and Disney World are different.

The basic Magic Kingdom parks are similar, but not the same. Disney World is larger. Things are further apart. There are different rides in each (No Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in FL). Even the same ride in the different parks are different. Some are minor differences, some are significant.

Disney CA has the California Adventure park.

Disney FL has EPCOT, Disney Studios Park, Animal Kingdom park, and the two water parks. And because of the more parks, more rides and shows and things to do.

Depending on when you do (school holidays), 4 days may not be enough to do all 4 parks in FL. Plus, there are the Universal Parks (two parks, plus a water park), and Sea World (park, water park, and Discovery Cove).

Over Xmas/New Years, we used 7 days of our 8 day tickets, plus 4 days at Universal, and did the 3 Sea World parks (doing Discovery gives you 7 consecutive days of access to the other parks) .

I agree that you could spend 10 days in Orlando, doing all the Disneyworld parks AND Universal. The "Magic Kingdom" requires 2 days...easy....the other parks will take a day in each.

I would skip the cruises, and do an immersive Park vacation!

I disagree about Disneyland being like Disney World. Disney World is vastly bigger and will require considerable more time to navigate completely. If you’re pressed for time, there’s no way that you’ll see everything that Disney World has to offer. I would select 1-2 parks that you’re interested in and combine that with a 3 or 4 night cruise.

Combining a cruise while trying to pack as much Disney as possible in a one week time frame can be exhausting. We did a week long vacation where we combined a land stay in Orlando where we only hit one park followed by a 4 night cruise. That was more than enough and we were busy without being completely drained.

Last year we went “all Disney” and spent 5 days at the parks. We visited Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom, and we spent one “no park” day just relaxing at the pool at our hotel (The Polynesian). We then spent 7 nights aboard the Disney Fantasy to the Western Caribbean. In my opinion, that’s the way to combine a Disney vacation with a cruise, but this option not only required almost two weeks but it was also very expensive.

With all of that said, I do agree that sailing from Port Canaveral will be your best bet if you are planning on combining a cruise with a land vacation. All 3 and 4 night cruises from there will visit the Bahamas, so the itineraries aren’t that exciting. Look at you budget and decide how much you want to do in the amount of time you have.

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Last October, I did a 4 day vacation in Orlando. Magic Kingdom, Aquatica, Sea World, and Universal (amazing haunted houses btw). Then we did a 4 day cruise out of Canaveral on the Liberty. Absolutely fantastic vacation. I thought it I would be more exhausted than I was. My 7 night cruise on the Fascination was actually more demanding. I don't think I could ever again book only a 4 night cruise, unless I was doing a sizable vacation before or after it, like we did here.

If you want to go to WDW, why would you fly into Miami? Fly into Orlando. Don't think for a minute that you can see all 4 parks in 4 days. You can't. You'd need at least 6 to come close to seeing everything in the parks. We typically stay for 10, so we can have a couple of days to do other things.

Since you want a short cruise, it makes sense to pick one sailing out of Port Canaveral. Disney, RCI, Norwegian, and Carnival sail from there. Pick one that fits your interests and budget. But do it AFTER WDW. You'll need the rest.

Well you gave me a lot to think about. I think we will just stick with the Walt Disney World vacation. I would like to do a cruise out of Florida but I also like Disney World We go to Disneyland about once a month and love it. We have been to Disney World once and I know it requires a lot of days. So I am thinking Disney World and Universal Studios would be the best bet

A number of years ago we spent 10 days at Disney World. And we didn't get to see everything -- and that was before all the new extensions.

Heck, last time I checked, the wait for the Pandora ride was running 4 hours by itself. Last summer, it was over 7 hours.

And in Dec, we could not get FAST passes for it for over a 2 week period, checking every morning, 30 days in advance

Have you checked out Disney's World and Disney cruise vacation combination. I believe it's a 4 night cruise and 3 nights in the park and round trip air from California.

Well our friends convinced us to do a 4 day Bahama cruise out of Miami in April. So we may rent car and stay in Orlando after the cruise. We will have to do some research

Since you'll be in Orlando for Disney World, it might be easier to take a cruise out of Port Canaveral. ;)

Since you'll be in Orlando for Disney World, it might be easier to take a cruise out of Port Canaveral. ;)

Yes but it’s about five couples and they want to do the Bahamas. I have little say.

Yes but it’s about five couples and they want to do the Bahamas. I have little say.

Perhaps you should tell them that of the 141 cruises of 3-6 nights out of Port Canaveral from now through the end of September, 110 (78%) are to the Bahamas!