DCL vs The World: Why Choose a Disney Cruise over Walt Disney World

Addicted to the Mouse: Disney Podcast | Disney World, Universal, & Cruise Vacation Planning

Hosts Dan and Leslie present a comparative debate between a four-night Disney Cruise Line vacation and a four-night Walt Disney World vacati

Key takeaways

• Disney Cruise Line offers 'rotational dining' where servers learn specific guest preferences like food allergies or favorites.
• A cost comparison shows a 4-night Disney Fantasy cruise ($6,641) can be significantly cheaper than a comparable 4-night stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge ($7,928) before adding food costs.
• Disney Cruise Line provides included youth clubs for children, whereas Walt Disney World lacks similar drop-off services for parents.
• The 'all-inclusive' nature of the cruise includes soft drinks, room service, and buffet meals, reducing the 'nickel and diming' felt at Disney World.
• Walt Disney World vacations are characterized by high physical fatigue due to walking 15,000 to 20,000 steps per day.

Main topics

• Disney Cruise Line vs Walt Disney World
• Vacation Cost Comparison
• Dining and Inclusions

Notable quotes

I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation.

Conclusion

The episode concludes that for families seeking relaxation and value t

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) I love a good showdown, and today we've got a good one. Hello and welcome to Addicted to the Mouse. Today is Sunday, September 27th. You're listening to episode number 836, and this is DCL vs. The World, why you should choose a Disney cruise over a Walt Disney World vacation. Speaker 2 (0:30) Hey, everybody. Dan and Leslie here. Thanks for joining us today. And before anybody starts sending us nasty grams. I Speaker 1 (0:35) was just about to say this. I Speaker 2 (0:37) was just Speaker 1 (0:38) about to clarify this. Or whatever. Speaker 2 (0:39) This is part one of two. And so the next podcast, we're actually going to talk about why you should pick a Disney World Trip over Disney Cruise Line. Because let's be honest. Both are absolutely fantastic. Yeah. Speaker 1 (0:52) So the reason she's saying that is about a year, maybe a little bit more ago, we did this idea. So we were doing two podcasts. So this is a part one of part two. And the next one, we will flip the point of view or the perspective and we'll argue why you should choose a Disney World vacation over a Disney Cruise vacation. We did this a year, a little bit more ago, and it was. Disney World versus Universal. And we started with Universal because we wanted to end with Disney World. But I don't think we said that. And we got some nasty comments. They were like, you've changed. You should change the name Speaker 2 (1:28) of the podcast. Yeah, you can Speaker 1 (1:30) no longer call yourselves addicted to the mouse because you hate Disney World now. Like, no, no, no. We're just like, it was a two-part series. So clearly we are trying to state it up front. This is a two-part series and both are fantastic. We love both. Speaker 2 (1:45) All right. Well, before we get into it, though, because I am excited to argue today on why Disney Cruise Line is better than Disney World, I'm going to read a quick review and I have a couple of teeny tiny pieces of news. So the first one is from Disney Lolo Bug. Okay. Speaker 1 (2:02) And Speaker 2 (2:02) it's titled Addicted to the Podcast. Speaker 1 (2:04) Okay. I like it. I like it already. Hi, Speaker 2 (2:05) Dan and Leslie. I am a new Disney adult as my husband's family has recently converted me. Good for them. Speaker 1 (2:10) Welcome to the club. Speaker 2 (2:12) However, I am the one to get everyone in the family hooked on your podcast. I look forward to your podcast each week and they help me kick off the day with a little Disney magic. My favorite podcasts are when you rank various topics. That's what those are actually my favorites too. I do Speaker 1 (2:25) like that. We just like, I personally feel like we have to put. distance between types of podcasts. I don't Speaker 2 (2:32) want Speaker 1 (2:32) to do like ranking podcasts one right after another because I feel like that would get old and boring. But yeah, that Speaker 2 (2:36) is true. All right. So she goes on to say, also, my husband and I love your kitty. She looks so much like ours. You two are the best Disney podcasters. I feel like I personally know you two. Love you. Speaker 1 (2:44) Well, we love our kitty, too. She's actually sitting right here on the couch in our studio as we record this. She did not Speaker 2 (2:51) like the intro. She was staring cautiously around the corner at Dan as he was. Speaker 1 (2:56) saying Speaker 2 (2:57) it like, like, why is he being so loud? I was a little too Speaker 1 (3:00) energetic on the intro apparently. And I had to, I kept tripping up on a couple of words and I had to record it like, I don't know, like five times. I didn't really record this thing. And she was just staring at me the whole time, which also didn't help me because that made me trip up on anyway. But anyway, thank you so much for that review. And I love that you, the non-Disney recently converted Disney adult is have been the one to get your family hooked on the podcast. Like that's, that's, that's amazing. Speaker 2 (3:27) I know that's fantastic. So, all right. Well, I I'm curious. I hopefully you guys have some great debates over these two podcasts too, on if Disney cruise line or Disney world is better. All right. So the next piece of news is that the turf club bar and grill has gotten a little revamp. So it is reopening its doors on September 30th and it has some new menu items and they look pretty fantastic. Speaker 1 (3:50) Yeah. So it's not like drastically different from what I remember going there for our dining review, but there are definitely some new menu items. The prime rib looks amazing. The chicken wings look great. The Speaker 2 (4:03) golden fried calamari with shishito peppers looks good. But they had that Speaker 1 (4:06) before. We got the calamari and mixed with something. They Speaker 2 (4:09) didn't have shishito peppers. I don't know if it had Speaker 1 (4:10) shishito peppers, but I remember getting like a fried. calamari something. The Speaker 2 (4:14) pappardelle looks good. Speaker 1 (4:16) We got to go back. So at some point in the next couple months, we will go back and update our dining review here. Speaker 2 (4:21) Yes, for sure. So did you see, because I perused the beverages down at the bottom too, they have a New York old fashioned. I Speaker 1 (4:29) did see that. Speaker 2 (4:30) So it's Hudson Bright Lights Big Bourbon, which I think that's an adorable name. Whoever created that name for... that company way to go. So, um, and then they also have a grandstand martini. So I'm like, that's like one of my favorite drinks. So yeah, we definitely need to go back and try these out. So, all right. And then the next little piece of news that I have is, uh, the airport luggage transfer at Disney is expanding to include jet blue. So beginning September 24th, which was a few days ago, um, it now includes jet blue as well as Southwest American and United. Speaker 1 (5:05) It's like, Speaker 2 (5:07) We're just creeping in. Speaker 1 (5:07) Yeah, just a little bit. I mean, hey, I'm not complaining because this is an amazing offering for free. I mean, you don't have to pay any extra for this. So if you are staying at a participating Disney resort and you are at one of those airlines, you don't have to drag your luggage with you onto the Mir shuttle or in your rental car or however you're getting back to MCO. You can just check it right there, right next to Bell Services. And we've done it before in the past, pre-COVID, when we were coming down here. We used it. It was great. Speaker 2 (5:34) Yeah, we loved it. All right. And that's all I got. That's Speaker 1 (5:37) all you got. Okay. Are you ready to jump into this? I'm kind of excited. So I love talking about Disney World. I love talking about Disney Cruise. Even better, I love going on vacations on both of those. And I like comparing the two of them. We don't get to do it very often. Actually, I'm not sure when the last time we compared the two because they're so totally different vacations. They really are. Speaker 2 (5:57) They're completely Speaker 1 (5:57) different. So it makes more sense to compare Disney Cruise to... Royal Caribbean and Disney World to Universal. That just makes more sense to me in my brain because it's theme park versus theme park, cruise versus cruise. But it's really fun because we often get asked, of course, we are the owners of Fantastical Vacations, a concierge at Disney and... overall vacation planning service, but we do focus a lot on Disney, Disney Cruise Line, and then similar types of vacations like Universal Orlando, Royal Caribbean, all of those. And so we do get asked a lot, like coming to Orlando, because we live here, we do these all the time. Like, how do you choose if you only have a week or less? Like, what if you want to do both? You can't do both. How do you choose? So I'm going to foreshadow like the end of part two here. And I'm going to say, It's best to do both. Of course it is. We have done a land and sea, so Disney Cruise, Disney World Vacation in the past. It's amazing. So if you did a three or four night cruise and then a three or four night Disney World Vacation, that is the perfect week right there. It's just fantastic. But that's not what we're talking about here. We got to choose one. Speaker 2 (7:02) Yes. So think of this as like, you just have a limited period of time and basically you're wanting to take a... four night vacation somewhere, right? So, so we're wanting to do either a four night Disney cruise. Uh, we're going to look at like a Disney fantasy sailing out of Port Canaveral, um, going to Castaway and lookout and Nassau versus doing four days at Disney world, staying like moderate deluxe resort with four day tickets. Yeah. Speaker 1 (7:30) Um, so I was. And if you're wondering why we're not doing the wish, it was because when we get to the cost section, I didn't want to. So I wanted to compare like a popular time to travel. So I just chose June. Of course, June 2026 is past us. And next June, the wish. ain't going to be here. So, so it's going to be in, in Europe. So, so we are going, so that's why we chose the fantasy. Um, and I think that actually, I think the cruise that I priced it on the fantasy, uh, went to Nassau and look out key at latest point. Um, but yes, I think like we're going to compare that to staying at the, one of the least expensive deluxe resorts on property. And We'll talk about this more when we get to the cost section, but I know you can argue, well, you can stay cheaper at a cheaper resort. Well, you could also stay in a cheaper stateroom category. So we'll get to that when we get there. But where do you want to start? Speaker 2 (8:18) All right. Well, I think we should start with the stress factor, right? And just the overall style of the vacation. Because, I mean, as you previously said, these are two very different vacations. Speaker 1 (8:28) That's right. So we'll start with Disney World because this... type of vacation and don't get me wrong don't hear me i love this type of vacation i love going to disney world i love staying there a week or longer it's amazing we like short trips we would come down all the time But it is a stressful vacation. And I mean, everything from pre-planning, trying to figure out where you're going to eat 60 days prior to check-in. And oh, by the way, if you don't know, too bad. It's probably going to be sold out whenever you get closer to knowing, right? Like that is a little bit of a stressful, like it's Speaker 2 (9:03) a Speaker 1 (9:03) stress point. The ride situation. So you can, I mean, trying to figure out how to skip the line. So you've got single. pass. Uh, you've got premier pass. You've got a multi-pass you've got a VIP tour. So you've got all the lightning lane options. You've got VIP tours. Then you have DAS, but like all these ways that are out there to skip the line that you've got to kind of sift through. And by the way, those all cost extra money and decide Speaker 2 (9:27) if it's in your budget to sift through them, or if you need to figure out how to stand in line. Like, I mean, that's, and then those lines are just so long. A lot of times, like depending on when you're going and, um, how popular the ride is and all of that. And if, you're coming in June it's going to be real hot it's Speaker 1 (9:43) going to be real hot from honestly from like April through October I mean yeah Speaker 2 (9:49) it's just starting to like we get little we're just now getting little glimmers of like oh oh it kind of feels like fall it's like 80 degrees I know it was 85 Speaker 1 (9:58) on our walk today I'm like I look kind of chilly out here that's what you know you've been here too long um then I mean let's we haven't even talked about the uh the hiring fatigue that just ensues in a Disney World vacation, okay? So you have got, I mean, I'm talking 15,000 steps a day, 18,000, maybe 20,000 steps in a day, and you're not doing it once. You're doing it over and over. And I mean, if you're coming for four days, if you're doing four theme parks, you're doing that times four. That's a lot of walking. And after the first day, you're all gung-ho to get into the parks. And you're like, yes, I want to do Disney World. We're going to ride all the rides. And by the end of that day, you just want your bed. You collapse in it that night and your alarm goes off the next morning. You're like, why? Speaker 2 (10:43) Absolutely. So, I mean, oftentimes, like I remember whenever we would come for a Disney World vacation and at the end of it, I was like, I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. Like I just, I need to go home and