12 Tips For a Land/Sea Disney Vacation

Ringing in 2011

Part 1 (lessons 1-6)

Lesson 1: What is a Land/Sea Vacation? Disney used to do “Land/Sea packages”. These packages would create a vacation that started at Disney World and ended with a sailing on the Disney Cruise Line or vice versa. From what I understand, they no longer offer this service. Which is fine because when I checked if I booked them separately I came out cheaper! So that's what I did. I just made sure that all of our times lined up. I was not automatically told this option was cheaper until I started chatting with the reservation specialist.

Lesson Learned: Always price out your options and look/ask for discounts/savings. Discounts/savings can come in the form of a Value hotel room instead of a Moderate, or on the Cruise Line a different cabin category such as a 4b instead of a 4a, or choosing deck 7 as opposed to deck 9 The only difference here is the location on the deck that you have chosen. For example 4a will be closer to midship and the elevators than 4b will. Just be honest with yourself and know if you are ok with possibly sacrificing.

Lesson 2: Know your Schedule Our Mega Vacation didn't start out that way...
if you read my other posts you know we started off with a five day cruise and it grew from there. Before we booked the land portion of the trip we sat down and decided is this going to fit our schedule? I mean that in several senses of the word. Do we have enough time off, what is the price for added days, what are our top priorities. If you have smaller kids, can they handle all the hustle and bustle of both legs of the trip or will you need to add in buffer days between the legs... etc. Having a bit of an older family and having been to Disney before we decided that we could handle 1 day for arrival before our 3 days at Disney Parks, and then finally straight off to the ship.

Lesson Learned: Know Your Schedule and Write it Down! Yes, I really do mean get out the calendar and put down the words on the days. For me there is something about seeing when you will be leaving and returning. Double check your dates for all reservations, school schedules, etc.

Lesson 3: Don't Over Do It! Lesson three stems off of lesson two, Don't over do it! Yes, we personally have problems with this lesson. Our trip began on January 30^th when we drove to Orlando. (About a 7 hour trip for us) The very next day we checked into Port Orleans at 7 am, got our park tickets and proceeded to make memories Ringing in the New Year. 18 hours later (seriously) we were on the bus headed back...needless to say we were beat, and had tickets for Animal Kingdom the next day, and Hollywood Studios the day after that.

Lesson Learned: Schedule in Rest This is a tip I heard over and over, but did not follow it. This made for a grumpy day at Animal Kingdom and nobody should be grumpy at “The Happiest Place on Earth” If I had it to do over I would have only done two parks and a pool day. This also goes for the “Sea” portion of the trip. Don't over schedule your time onboard. Leave time for ship exploration, the pool, or a stroll on the promenade.

Lesson 4: Packing Packing is tricky... Look back at your calendar and figure out how many days total you will be gone. Figure out what special items you will need, for example: formal wear, pirate gear, or hoodies. Everyone should have a rolling suitcase, and a travel backpack.

Lesson Learned: Don't Overpack, figure out what you can wear multiple times and do so. I learned to pack casual outfits for only half of the total days that we will be gone. Save room on dressy outfits for dinner by choosing one pair of shoes for all outfits, and choosing one/two dressy bottoms to coordinate with several tops.

Lesson 5: Laundry Lesson four and lesson 5 go hand in hand. Yes, I said Laundry in a post about vacation. On our last night at Port Orleans my awesome husband and I were up doing laundry until o'dark-thirty getting all of our clothes clean. It made all the difference in the world for our enjoyment of our upcoming cruise. Had we been a little more prepared we would have planned in some laundry time and brought our own detergent.

Lesson Learned: Be prepared to do laundry. Plan in a time for a bit of laundry between your land and sea portion of your trip. Doing laundry will cut down on the amount of luggage you will have to lug around or pay for if flying. Locate a box of detergent sheets and pack them in a baggie stuffed down into your luggage. This will save you time and money.

Lesson 6: Souvenirs As hard as we tried to cut down on souvenirs we still came out of “The World” with our fair share of items. What in the world are we going to do with all of this stuff and my gosh we are only half way through our trip! Even though we reminded ourselves that we had lots of shopping in front of us there were things we couldn't leave without, we were sure there wouldn't be a make-your-own-lightsaber station on DCL. Our plan for our swag was easy, lock it up in the bed of the truck. Problem solved right? Yes, for us, but I'm sure all you guys don't have a large truck to count on, or maybe you have flown to the Sunshine State.

Lesson Learned: Send Home your Souvenirs. If we had a small car I would have just boxed everything up and sent it home. No worries. If you do this make sure you remember to have your post office hold your mail for you until you return. This tip is also relevant if you find yourself with the same problem getting off the cruise ship.

NextPost.... Lessons 6-12