Do you go to the parks on check-in day? Do you plan anything for the last day?

[VP037388]

We will be flying into Orlando and arriving midday. We have 3 kids under 8 and will be traveling with my parents and inlaws. I hate to use tickets for only a partial day. What else do you do on check in day? I am assuming our rooms won't be ready before 3PM, they never are!! We will pack extra clothes, bathing suits, etc in carry ons because Magical Express will have our "real" bags. Is that necessary?
For check out day, do you do any character meals or last minute shopping? DH and I have been to WDW many times, only once with kids so far, and are looking for ideas.

 

[saraheliz]

Yes, last trip we did and this trip we will. My reasoning is this:
-It's only a few dollars to add another day onto a ticket.
-It gets the anticipation over and the kids settle a little for a better night's sleep.
-But we don't schedule any ADRs or really plan specifically on getting any rides done, it's more of a "bonus" time so we can see the castle, have a treat, ride a couple of short lines rides (carousel, IASW) that are big deals to the kids.
-So if we don't make it b/c we're too tired or flights are late, no biggie.

We're not planning anything for our last day, even though our flight doesn't leave until almost 6pm. I don't want to be stressed about rushing back, plus we'll be at MK late the night before- so we'll sleep in a bit, then just swim/lounge around the resort, etc, until it's time to go. If we were staying somewhere with a character meal, we might have scheduled one for our last day, but we're not.

 

[dopey2]

We always go into a park on the arrival day as we have annual passes. We always have ADR's for the day based on what park we plan on going into. Since we drive we never go into a park on the last day as we leave early in the day.

 

[MissionWDW]

We do plan a nice sit down dinner on arrival day. Not always a character dinner, but that would be a nice way to jump right in to the Disney magic! Last time, we headed to DTD and had a birthday dinner at T-rex for my one son. After that, we walked around, shopped and then played at Disney Quest for a bit. If you have your swimsuits, you could take a dip in the hotel pool and maybe get lunch in the food court. That would especially be nice if you are exhausted from traveling.

Then night before departure day, I like to pack as much as possible. Maybe send DH to the pool with the kids so it can get done quickly. Or do this the morning of? Last time we went, the kids hadn't spent any of their spending money, so we headed to DTD. We made a point to stop in Goofy's candy store so they could buy gummies for the flight home.

 

[henry72]

We have always gone to a park on arrival day. It is so cheap to add a day to our tickets that it is totally worth it -even for just a few hours of fun. On our next trip our flight lands at 1:15 and I expect to be in the Magic Kingdom later that day!

I usually pack a change of clothes for the kids in our carry on - or did in the past because they were younger. We don't pack swim suits since we will be going to the parks.

On departure day we don't typically go to a park or a breakfast. We usually leave mid-morning or noonish which means we need to leave our hotel around 8:30 or 9:00 to catch ME back to the airport.

 

[DisneyStoryMania]

We have never went to a park on arrival day, but i really want to think about goping to MK this time on arrival I think this would be a great way to jump into the magic.

What we do on the norm is goto DTD on arrival day we love to eat at PH and love to go to the shops, oh yea and DQ is a must. It seems real relaxing to go to DTD and then back to the resort get the room and swim till bed time....hmmm maybe I will do that again...

But we never never never have any extensive planning for the first day....

 

[ceemys]

It depends on when we arrive and when we leave. I have gone to the parks if I arrive at or before 1, but I have also gone to DTD. I have never gone to the parks on the day we leave, but we always leave by noon.

 

[debrapagliasotti]

During our last trip we did not go to the parks on arrival or departure days. For arrival day we spent time at the pool and had a leisurely dinner at the hotel. For departure day we had a leisurely lunch, did some shopping, let the kids go to the arcade.

For our Oct trip we will not be going to a park on arrival day. We plan on letting the kids swim until dinner time and then after dinner watch Wishes from our balcony (staying at CR). Departure day will be late bkfst, swimming.

For our Dec we will be HOPEFULLY attending the last MVMCP of the year. If for some reason they do not have MVMCP on our arrival night, we will still head over to MK or perhaps HS to see Osbourne lighs. Departure day we will not be going to a park.

 

[CupcakeLisa]

We are arriving around 1pm and plan to leave my bags at the hotel and take a trip to dtd. I think it depends on how long you are staying if its worth adding an extra day

 

[.:allisonr:.]

We'll be there in June, and have decided not to go to a park on arrival day. We'll be getting in (driving) mid-afternoon, so we'll just hang out at the resort (swim, rest, unpack), and then we're heading to Downtown Disney that night, as we have an ADR at Rainforest Cafe.

As for the last day, we've decided to make it a beach day, so when we get checked out of the hotel, we're heading for Daytona, so no park for us.

 

[scrapquitler]

We will be flying into Orlando and arriving midday. We have 3 kids under 8 and will be traveling with my parents and inlaws. I hate to use tickets for only a partial day. What else do you do on check in day? I am assuming our rooms won't be ready before 3PM, they never are!! We will pack extra clothes, bathing suits, etc in carry ons because Magical Express will have our "real" bags. Is that necessary?
For check out day, do you do any character meals or last minute shopping? DH and I have been to WDW many times, only once with kids so far, and are looking for ideas.

When we went last September, we arrived at 10:30 AM and our room was ready, so it does sometimes work out.

We went to MNSSHP on our check in day (we actually went to DHS for a few hours before that, too)

On our check out day, we had to take ME back to the airport at 3PM, so we went to MK until about 1:00.

If you don't want to do a park on your first or last day, you could go to DTD, swim in the resort pool, do some mini-golf, resort hop, just relax and have a character dinner.... lots and lots of choices.

 

[Grendalynn]

Hi!

We try to get to WDW as early in the day as possible. We check in and leave our bags at the resort (we stay on site) and head for a park... generally Animal Kingdom or MGM.

Our last day we generally get a nice breakfast at the foodcourt and hit the road. We always drive to FL from NH so we want to get headed home... we take that into consideration though when we pick the # of days we buy park tickets for.

This year we have also considered going to our resort, check in and head to the pool for the afternoon... eat at our resort or close to it and take time to check things out and get a good nights sleep for rope drop the next day.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We have the WPFM add-on & I think we'll try DQ on our arrival day (mid-day arrival, or thereabouts).

 

[bjscheel]

We found that we love doing a park on arrival day if we can get there by supper time. It's such a rush to be in Iowa in the morning and MK or Epcot by afternoon. We don't make a lot of plans or an ADR to stress over, just go and do whatever.

Our other option is DTD or swimming, but it's more fun to ride rides in the dark!

Departure day I try to get mid to late morning flights out so that ME doesn't pick us up at an awful hour, but that we get home at a decent time so there is time to unwind at home before the day is over. So, ME is picking us up usually 7-8 am and there is no time to do anything.

 

[DisneyWorldPlanner]

Yes we do go to the parks on arrival day! So true the kids sleep to much better and we are all so anxious to get to see Mickey! We try and hit magic kingdom for as long as we can and watch the fireworks then head back! Then we don't usually watch the fireworks again when we head back to magic kingdom and make reservations to eat a nice dinner that night! Oh geez got me all excited!!, can't wait for my trip!,,

 

[Mom23Disneybelievers]

It depends on our flight times.

On our last trip we made it to our resort by 11:00am, so we headed to Epcot and enjoyed the day! But, boy were we exhausted! We had a really late flight home, so we spent our last day in the MK. We sure squeezed in as much park time as possible this last trip!

 

[MommaPooh]

We always go during Christmas when the parks are open later. We drive in (7.5 hour drive) and typically arrive between 7-8 pm. Once we check-in, DH, DD and DS do hit a park while I stay in the room and organize everything (unpack, put up the Christmas decorations, etc...). Typically the night we arrive MK is open really late and they shut the park down.

Departure day is called "my must do day". The kids each pick two things they really must do again. It may be a show, a ride, or eating at a certain place. The night before DH and I stay in the room and pack everything while the kids go do their thing at the parks so we can leave the room bright and early. We have been known to hit all four parks in one day, but not often. A lot of times the kids will use the night before to hit a park or two and get a must do or two in, leaving us having to hit only two parks on departure day.

 

[disney*mom*82]

We drive to WDW, which is about 16 hours. We usually get to wdw by 10am and we check-in. Only 1 time have we had to wait very long. If our room is not ready, we will let the kids swim and we usually eat a QS at the resort. For the rest of the day, we unpack, get situated, sometimes DH and I may laydown for a rest for an hour or two and then everyone showers and gets around and we head to DTD for the evening. We shop and look around and we always eat at Planet Hollywood our first night.

Our last day, usually similar, we get around and finish packing the car (usually start the day before) and if time the kids may swim a little while. Then walk around the resort, eat a QS and head to DTD. Do any last minute shopping, get some snacks, etc and then head home by 3-4pm.

We usually get 10 day no expire tickets, so we dont have to buy them each trip and I dont want to waste a day when we arent up for it. Now, if you dont have expire and it is only a few bucks t stick another day on there, Ide probably go to the park on arrival day.

 

[shopgirl78]

Our plan is to be at the parks ASAP on arrival day : ) We get in at 11am.

Nothing on departure day as we have an early flight : (

 

[mommy2_3]

me and my friend are driving and my hubby is flying from his job site. me and my friend will get there sometime in the morning/early afternoon and i have hubby flying in a little bit later (since im picking him up at the airport i want to make sure that i get to orlando before he does lol). we plan on unpacking and getting everything settled in, putting the cribs up and all that good stuff. after i get back to the hotel with hubby we will go eat somewhere and then go walk around DTD. the next day we are starting off with breakfast with Mickey! then off to MK! the day we leave we have to leave early so no park that day.