Arrival and departure day

[mh1973]

Tell me what you do on arrival and departure day. Do you fly or drive and what time do you typically get there? Do you go straight to a park or hang out at resort or something else?

[ekmom]

If we fly we typically fly out Friday night after work. If we drive we don't arrive until late Saturday evening. So in either case we do nothing but check into the resort and go to bed. On departure day it has become a tradition to go to Downtown Disney and rent boats.

[RMulieri]

We fly and arrive by early afternoon.Usually we spend that day just hanging out or we walk over to Epcot, we have a nice dinner and an early bedtime to get an early start the next morning.Departure day we have a very early flight out( Usually 8am) so we are up and out the door before sunrise.

[Princess.Neve]

On our arrival day this trip we will be heading to DTD since our plane gets in around 11:00AM. We will be spending our departure day (I shudder to even think of it arriving) at the MK. Our plane home leaves at about 6:00PM.

[Missytara]

I usually arrive the Saturday after T-giving. I catch lunch at my resort and then head over and do the front part of Epcot. Since I get there around lunchtime, people are now mostly in the Countries, and the front part is pretty cleared out. With the exception of Soarin' - at Innoventions, Land and Sea area, there are all things that I don't mind if I don't get back the remainder of the week. I usually try to catch the boat over from Epcot to Boardwalk and catch dinner, then head back to my resort.

Usually I leave around 1:00 pm, so I just try to catch any resorts that I may have missed the christmas decorations or I head over to DTD and do some last minute shopping or do Disney Quest. This year, I am leaving at 3:00 pm, so I have a bit more flexibility in going to a park on that day.

[ppan77]

We drive four hours to get to Orlando. Usually try to check in or drop off our bags. Depending on our tix we either go to DTD or go to a park. This year our trip is only for 5 days/4nights. We are going to Epcot on arrival day. Normally we would head right for MK but my parents are coming in late on a red eye. We want to save the kids reaction to MK for them. So we will go to MK our first full day with grammy and pop pop!

[Nutty4Disney]

We fly in and usually arrive late morning. If our room is ready we check in, drop off our carry ons and head to the parks. On the first day we used go to the bus stop and catch the first bus that comes along. Now it seems most resorts have a separate stop for each park, so we head to MK for a few hours, have an early dinner at Tony's and head back to the resort. We try to fly out late so we have time to do anything we felt we missed or to do one of the rides "one last time". We go back to the resort, grab something to eat and wait for ME to take us to the airport.

[trac96]

we fly in and arrive usually late morning. we head to the resort and check in and usually head to which ever park my son wants to go to. i always try to book late flights home also so we can enjoy the day by going to do whatever we felt me missed or wanted to do again. coming in december without my son and husband, {just mom and me} so we are hitting magic kingdom first for lunch at liberty tree and then spending the rest of the day there. the last day i booked crystal palace breakfast and a half day at magic kingdom.

[dmonroe]

We drive and usually arrive mid to late afternoon. We usually check into our resort and then head over to DTD to walk around and have some dinner. (Typically at RFC or T-Rex). This year we are staying at Bonnet Creek (first time ever off site). If it's warm enough, we plan on just hanging around the resort and letting the boys swim and burn off all that energy from sitting in the car for 9 hours! Otherwise, we'll be heading to DTD.
On our departure day, we get really early and hit the road!

[teedee]

I always drive down the day before I check into my Disney resort and get an inexpensive room through Priceline or Hotwire. I get up early the next day and try to be at the Disney resort by 8am or so. That way I'm getting a full first day at Disneyworld. Sometimes my room is actually ready that early, if not I just drop off the bags and take off to a park.

Terri

[amyemann]

We arrive as early as we can and leave as late as we can...then it is a must that we start and end our vacation with The Magic Kingdom. We also start and end our vacation with character meals. This year we are doing Chef Mickey to start and Liberty Tree Tavern to end.

[ajpa]

The first time we flew in and got there mid-day. That was ok.
The second time we flew in and got there late at night. That was horrible (kids tired & want to sleep, and it's wait on the bus to move, wait in the POFQ lobby for more than an hour ... ugh).
This upcoming trip I am very happy that we have a morning flight and get there mid-day. We are leaving on a morning flight.

[aspen37]

I fly down. We don't have any direct flights to Orlando where I live, so I don't get in till late afternoon. I usually check-in to the resort then head over to the MK.

I fly out late afternoon most of the time. I am going to see my family in Las Vegas in December after my WDW trip so I will be flying out around noon.

[FigNewton]

Fly in as early as possible Sunday morning - used to manage to get to the parks by noon, but with the demise of our old non-stop it's now usually more like 3 before we get there.

Usually fly out around 3 o. 4 Saturday afternoon after a little last minute fun and shopping in the parks.

[KellyNY]

We usually land around 1PM, so we get into room around 3PM, chage, eat and off to MK.
We leave at 8PM so ME pick us at 5PM. We do not do parks on last day. We request lare check out and pack, then spend the rest of the time at the pool, eat, take shower at the pool change room and change. We also do last minute shopping at hotel store and play arcade.