Do you visit a park on the day you're going home?

[Brian Noble]

We used to, but long experience has taught us that we are happier taking it easy while we are packing, and if time permits grabbing a late breakfast at Kona or maybe just hanging around the pool.

 

[LATJLP]

If you don't have to be at the airport until 5:30....and most hotels require you to check out by 11am....what would you do between 11am and 4:30 or so when you need to leave for the airport? That's a long time to just sit and wait to leave for the airport.

Our flight usually requires us to be at the airport by 4:30 or 5:00.....I typically like to add 30 minutes to return my rental car and check in my bags, and MCO is notorious for a long slow security line, so I aim for 4pm. That gives me time for a few rides, a nice filling lunch, and last wave before we head for the airport to sit and wait to get on an airplane and sit for 4+ hours. So, yeah, I want to get some body movement going before I sit and rot. Also helps me be tired enough that I might possibly doze off on the plane....not great sleep but considering we head west and go "back" in time, we get home and the clock says we shouldn't be ready for bed yet, but we are.

But....do what makes YOU feel comfortable......there is nothing more stressful to me than worrying that I didn't leave for the airport in enough time. I have flashbacks to 2013 when we got to MCO returned our rental, dropped off our bags and headed for security with 1:45minutes before our flight.....it look us over an hour to get through security and we were running for the gate and they'd already started lining up for boarding. The stress I felt lasted the entire plane ride home....nothing felt right. We made it obviously, but that's why I leave a 30 minute buffer.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

On one of our trips we did spend the day at MK until about 4pm, but we had a car that time and we were parked in the Contemporary parking lot. It was really hard to leave and we got stuck in a long line in the candy shop and almost didn't make our flight. This trip our flight isn't until 4:25 but Magical Express will get us by 1:30 so we will just pack, swim and have lunch. It will be really relaxing just to pack in the morning instead of the night before we leave. Our room is usually quite disorganized by the end of the week.

 

[Jessicavoet]

After many trips to WDW our little ones want to visit a park prior to leaving to airport. I've never planned for or done this, I always felt it would be too much. We have to be at airport by 5:30pm. Anyone do this, enjoy this and all went smoothly?

Thanks a bunch for any tips/ideas

We drive, and it's a 15 hour drive, so visiting the day we leave just isn't an option. If we flew, I'm not sure if we would try to go in the morning anyway because I feel like it would be a waste of a ticket, unless you have a late evening flight out

 

[GoingtoWDWagain]

Our flight departs at 7:45pm but I'd like to be at airport by 5:30pm. We also have a car rental reserved so that may be quicker then DME. We usually linger around resort, have lunch and leave. If all goes as planned we'll enjoy a ride or two and a lunch at Epcot, walk back the BC and depart to airport. Thanks a bunch for all your great ideas/tips

 

[bsiev1977]

When our kids were little, we had a family tradition that on departure day we'd book an ~8:30am character breakfast at Magic Kingdom, then each of us would choose our favorite ride to do one last time. When we did this, though, we were staying at the Contemporary and would walk back so there was no risk of a bus/boat/monorail delay that would jeopardize us catching our Magical Express bus.

You could still do this no matter what resort you stay at. Just valet park your car at the Contemporary, then you still can walk to MK.

 

[MrKnight]

It really depends on your flight departure time, you would have to take an evening flight to make it worth it and not feel rushed at the park. Also keep in mind that if you use DME you will be picked up at least three hours before your flight, so be sure to factor this in or plan to take a cab. In Orlando (MCO) you HAVE to be at the airport at least two hours prior for domestic flights and three hours for international as it is a very large and busy airport, lines for security can sometimes be lengthy and there are long walks to the gates, you do not want to risk running late and missing your flight..

 

[autkidd]

Our flight doesn't leave till after 8 on Dec 21st so we are going to squeeze a little extra park time into our honeymoon before the hectic Christmas week.

 

[Ladcassidy]

Every trip I make an in-park ADR for breakfast on our departure day. . . and every trip I cancel it. We spend our last morning getting the room packed up and then we head to the airport for our afternoon flight home. But arrival day? Just try to keep us out of the parks!

 

[pigletgirl]

I originally said no, but we now our flight doesn't leave till 5:30 so I'm not sure what we'll do. I'm sure we'll just pack, swim, eat a nice lunch and wait for ME.

 

[LumosQ102]

Yes, always. Next trip our flight departs at 8, we'll be picked up by ME around 4 from the Poly (Transatlantic flights means that ME loves for us to hang around at MCO), so we will spend most of the day at the Magic Kingdom. In December we were staying at the Boardwalk so we spent the day at Epcot, had lunch and walked back in time to grab our bags and enjoy the sunshine before we had to get on the motor coach. We always want to get every second out of our trip, and since we have AP's we don't worry about not having the days on our tickets.