What are your first day traditions?

[Canuck16]

We always hang out at the resort and hit DTD on our first day and then hit the parks at RD the following day.

 

[sullyfam]

Arrival day for us is like a lot of people, we spend it getting settled at the resort. We travel from the North East so by the time we get there and check in, there's no point in wasting a park day. Once settled, we do the pool and then do dinner at either DTD or take a bus to a monorail resort for dinner since you don't need park passes to do either of those. Our first "real" day is always MK no matter what! Lunch varies but we've done BOG, Liberty Tree or Tony's (limited sit down options at MK) and we typically do Hoop Dee Doo for Dinner that night!

 

[BarbieGal457]

We always take the 650am flight in from Philly, so we end up at our resort by about 11am. From there, we have always left our bags and headed right for Epcot! There is no real reason for Epcot - we did it once and it just stuck! It's the perfect amount of classic WDW, but without jumping right into the insanity that is MK. This year, we are changing it up and heading to DHS for SWW, since we have never done that and my boyfriend is eager to try it out. He's only been twice, and with me, and both times were in January so this will be new for him (Disney in the summer) and SWW will be new for us both! I love arrival day!!

 

[PSUGuy]

We always arrive mid-week, always before 9:30 am and our goal is to be at the Rose&Crown by the time the taps open at 11:30. It used to be that TT and Soarin' were pretty much out of the question due to long lines and late FP- times, now with FP+ we'll have one of those guaranteed on arrival at a time of our choosing.

Bill From PA

 

[Ismo]

When we travel with my brother and family we usually get the morning flight to Orlando which has us checking in to our resort around 11am. Then we head straight to Epcot to have lunch w/margaritas in Mexico!

DH and I are going by ourselves this year so we're going to have to come up with a new tradition, it won't be the same without the rest of the family!

 

[disneyseniors]

Love reading all these comments! Really gets me in the Disney mood! Thanks OP'
We live in N.Mn. so our flight times are limited. We get up at 3am and have an early am flight of 5am, with layover in Minneapolis of usually under and hour. We get to WDW resort at about noon. Check in and leave bags, and head to MK no matter what the crowd levels are. As with many others, we love MK and it feels like we've finally arrived after we walk down Main street. The sights and smells are WDW to us! We ride a few rides with fp+'s, walk around taking it all in, and have dinner reservations, always, at Liberty Tree Tavern. It's our welcome to Disney meal tradition and we love it. Then it's back to our resort when we get tired. That varies, but we have been up and ready since 3am, so rarely make it to 9pm! The next day, it's MK again with fp's in am, rest at noon, then another park later in the day. We always get park hoppers so we can be flexible in the pm's. Wow, can't wait for November now!

 

[Maleficent Dragon]

Why Tortuga? Just curious because it's never open when we go so never had eaten there. I have never heard anyone make it any type of priority.

We like the nachos.

 

[princessesandpascal]

We usually catch a flight that gets us to Orlando around 11, so for the last few trips we've done a park on our arrival day: always MK. Our tradition is to do a dinner at Chef Mickey's and go back to the hotel right after dinner after having some park fun in the afternoon. FP+ is actually really helpful for that because now we can do a couple headliners in that time!

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

We take a very early flight (5 or 6 AM, usually) and get there usually a little before noon. We check in, wander around the resort, relax, nap, and then head to DTD for the night and eat dinner at T-Rex. That way, we're fresh and ready to go the next day and can utilize our park time better.

 

[poeticdiabetic]

Our first day ritual actually starts at midnight. That's when we hit the local Walmart in Kennesaw GA. We would get driving snacks, breakfast snacks, bottled water, sunflower seeds and other last minute items. Before we get to the resort, we always brush our teeth and freshen up in a restroom. Then we get to the resort, check in and get on the bus to MK for rope drop.

 

[JennyHall]

Most of the flights that leave from Seattle that are non stop leaves at 8-9 in the morning or later. ( I wish they were the 6 am flights!) We land in Florida around 6 so we do not waste a park day. We get to our resort to check into our room and unpack, by that time it's around 7. We make it a tradition to go to Downtown Disney for dinner, a movie at the AMC Theatre, and a Ghiradelli sundae. As we are leaving we stop at Goofy's Candy CO to stock up on Disney treats for when we return to our hotel rooms after a long park day!

 

[AllieBoo]

It varies for us. We normally get in around lunchtime. We hang out at the resort and swim for a few hours, then either head to DTD that night for dinner and shopping or go to MK to do a few rides and maybe catch Wishes. We always head back to the room early so we can get a full nights sleep before our trip "officially" begins.

 

[kaetra]

First day at MK as soon as we step onto Main Street I am traditionally given a tissue, with much fanfaire, to sniffle into and wipe my happy joy tears!

First day at Epcot we get our traditional photo of daughter doing the Victory! pose in front of Spaceship Earth. On our very first trip Epcot was the first park, and this was her organic reaction to arriving at Disney World for the first time ever.

 

[marinahendrix]

Reviving this thread!

I love hearing everyone's traditions! I've only actually had my first trip to Disney World in 2007 and then a college program in 2010 so I haven't made any arrival day traditions yet! I do like the idea of catching a mid morning flight so we can check in, unpack a bit and head into MK in the late afternoon/early evening. I'm hoping to just take it easy, snag a Wishes FP+ and watch MSEP with Dole Whip in hand! Perhaps a sunset train ride around the park too!