Disney announced two new deals to help bring the realms of Walt Disney World and Disney Cruise Line closer together. While I like both of these deals, I think it’s a good example of over-engineering an area where goodwill might go pretty far. Let’s talk about these deals and what I’d like to see more of when it comes to Walt Disney World and Disney Cruise Line!
Let’s start with the new room deal available at Disney World for people who are sailing on Disney Cruise Line this spring:
The offer is only available to Disney Cruise Line guests who disembark (have their final day of cruise) February 18 through May 17, 2026
You must book within 14 days of disembarking
The offer has stay dates that exclude major holidays / peak times, but it’s most days March 3 to December 24, with the bulk of October being the major surprising exclusion.
The offer can be combined with Kids Dine Free
Savings range from up to 25% to up to 35% off at deluxe resorts.
Room categories and availability may be limited.
Keep in mind there may be other Walt Disney World offers available.
If we flip this around, there’s another deal available on Disney Cruise Line for select Walt Disney World guests:
The offer is available only to guests staying at Deluxe hotels (or DVC resorts) at Walt Disney World
Guests must book within 7 days of checking out
Discount is up to 25% off select itineraries
Category restrictions and other limitations may apply
Keep in mind there may be other Disney Cruise Line offers available.
Commentary
I really love this synergy, and I hope Disney finds a way to make it a permanent fixture. With deals at Disney World already quite frequent (and deals at Disney Cruise Line becoming increasingly frequent), it makes sense to use deals more aggressively when “upsell” opportunities present themselves.
Personally, I’d like to see a bit more goodwill on this combination, though. A few weeks ago, Disney removed the ability to book Disney hotels and park tickets as part of a cruise package. That’s fine, but it highlights the point where this relationship really matters—before and after cruises.
Of course, as evidenced in our cruise reports, it’s common for us to stay at Disney hotels before or after cruises. And since plenty of Disney Cruise Line guests are probably doing this with little regard to price, I get why Disney doesn’t want to just discount pre- or post-cruise stays (i.e., if they discount all of these stays they lose 20% on a bunch of bookings that would have been made anyways, and overall pre/post bookings only go up a few percent, making for a net loss).
But these new deals concede that Disney would like to see more Disney World guests become cruisers and more cruisers become Disney World guests. There are people on the margin who don’t do pre- and post-cruise Disney World stays because of cost, and there’s a lot of potential longterm value in expanding these guests’ horizons.
There’s also a lot of people who haven’t done either a Disney World trip or a Disney cruise and could be lured to both by an offer that saved them on, say, one day at a park before a cruise. Let them see one park, and they’ll be hooked into a longer trip down the road. Of course, if a lot of guests are already buying a single day ticket for the day before a cruise, this concept still faces challenges.
But there’s already a more direct lever Disney could pull in this regard—they could offer free transportation between their hotels and Port Canaveral. That currently costs something like $45 per person per way, and it’s quite honestly a ridiculous charge given what people are already paying for Disney cruises. There’s a lot less to lose with this option than some of what I proposed above, as we’re not talking about 30% of a $600 hotel or some substantial portion of a one-day ticket.
Maybe there’s something to be said about the potential over-planner (me) who would just stay at a value resort every time to get the free transportation, but this is (1) probably not a big deal and (2) probably something that could be fixed by restricting the offering to certain hotels. Restricting it to certain hotels—you might even include Art of Animation from the value tier, since it’s mostly family suites—might also improve the efficiency of the service.
Disney Cruise Line is growing. Walt Disney World is growing. These deals show that Disney already sees potential in getting fans of one to try the other. I get why they don’t want to give away the farm to make it happen, but I think both Disney and guests would be better served if they focused more on the on the point where these brands already crossover—hotel stays before and after cruises.
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