Today I want to tell you about my recent land and sea trip, including my first time staying at The Contemporary and taking a DCL cruise.
I also have a quick tip if you plan to visit a park later in the day rather than at park opening.
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Land and sea trip
I have details of my recent trip with Key to the World Travel. Find out how I liked my stay at the Contemporary and if I plan to sail on DCL again.
Quick tip of the day
Sleeping in (or arriving later in the day) and parks with tiered FastPass+ reservations don’t go together. Hollywood Studios and Epcot use tiered FastPass+ reservations, while Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom do not.
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My family has decided that for our second trip, sleeping in (till 8 for an approximate 11 am park arrival) is a requirement. If we have 2 days at both EPCOT and HS, will it alleviate some of the challenge of sleeping in and using tiered FP+’say’?
Thanks! Love your podcasts!
Hey, Shannon! LOVE the podcast! I, too, have been on several WDW vacations, as well as 1 DCL 4-night vacation on the Magic to the Bahamas. My family loved the cruise line itself, and we adored Castaway Cay, Although I found DCL to be much nicer than other lines, I, too, much prefer WDW over cruising. There are several reasons that I prefer the land option. 1) Because I’m such a “planner”, I miss much of that aspect with planning a cruise. 2) I like having the option to make my own schedule and do as much as I want to. I found that, with cruising, if I didn’t get to a particular activity when it was offered, I was just out of luck. 3) I can check in at WDW any day/time that I choose, which I can make work around school schedules. One is not as fortunate with cruising – you take the dates that are offered, or miss out. 4) I can look out for discounts to help alleviate the expense of a WDW vacation. However, I find it very difficult to do that with DCL. I’m by no means saying that DCL is not awesome. I’m simply saying that, I, too, feel that I’m more of a WDW gal, rather than a cruiser. Thanks for all you do!
Love your shoes in this picture, do you mind sharing who makes them?
Thanks! Bernie Mev is the brand. They come in lots of colors and patterns. Easiest to order them online.
Does it make any difference walking to MK if stay at bay tower, main tower or garden wing? I will assume it will take longer to walk to MK from garden wing. Thinking about taking my 2 girls, 4 and 2 to WDW, trying to figure out if it will be easier to go back to hotel during the day. Thank you.
They’re all really convenient and use the same path to MK.
I’ve also done a Land and Sea trip with the parks first and the cruise second. I don’t think I heard you mention how you got from WDW to the port. Did you use Magical Express or your own transportation? Curious because when we used Magical Express I regretted my choice. They took so long to pick us up and get us to the port that we didn’t get to enjoy any time in the parks and felt like we had a wasted travel day in the middle of our vacation. Wondering if others have had a better experience. If I do it again I would definitely do Sea first and Land second.
I got to ride with somebody that I know, and many people in our group used private car services. Definitely seems to be a more efficient way to get there.
I just returned from a land and sea trip too (I did sea then land). I used your website to plan most of the land part! We absolutely loved DCL (I will never cruise with anyone else again!) Looking forward to hearing about your experiences.
Hi I will be going to Disney World in December, my husband and I have been there 6 times. This time its only him and I. We will be taking two tours. Backstage tour and D lights tour. they are pricey, but we decided to splurge. My question is how much do you tip the guide for two?