When you arrive: settle in hotel or hit the parks right away?

[toonaspie]

I'm not sure what time I plan to arrive in Orlando when I plan my vacation. But my question is do you prefer getting to the hotel early like before 3pm and leaving your luggage at bell services then going straight to the parks? Or do you prefer getting there at nighttime so you can go to your room right away and settle in...perhaps waiting till the next morning to hit the parks? If you get there at nighttime, do you still try going to a park that night?

And how about when you depart? Do you prefer heading to the airport after checking out in the morning or do you check out leave your luggage at bell services and then hit the parks with a late flight?

I am considering probably cutting off one hotel night to save money though I'm not sure how to do it or if time would be compromised either way. Just looking for some ideas.

 

[disneymagicgirlsdd]

We've always gotten a late afternoon flight into Orlando and hit the parks the next morning. Very helpful with two toddlers because that morning we have enough time to double-check everything and get to the airport 2 hours before our flight. We usually get to the hotel around 5, eat dinner, tour the resort a little bit, and chill out.

Never tried going to the parks before flight on the last day. Would be too rushed and would be constantly checking the time so it probably wouldn't be very fun. Good luck!

 

[OThopeful35]

We like to arrive around noon, check into our resort and then go to downtown disney to eat. Then we hit MK

 

[fla4fun]

I usually check in after work, so I get there between 4-5pm. I like to just settle in the resort, have a nice dinner, unpack, and get to bed early so I can be ready for the next day. Even though I have an AP, I very rarely go to a park that first evening.

 

[married2mm]

we travel from the UK,have to be at airport at least 3 hours before flight,then flight time is around 9 hours,so we're generally wiped out by the time we arrive.
time for food,unpack,some entertaining tv- then sleep.

vacation starts early the next morning.

 

[nightshaderose]

I usually arrive in the early evening, so no using a park day on my ticket for just a few hours (the year I had an AP, I went straight to Epcot). My usual plan is to take a few minutes in the hotel room to wind down from the daily stresses and get into Disney! mode, then go find some non-park entertainment for the evening. This trip it's going to be drinking/snacking around the monorail loop with the friend who's accompanying me.

 

[kapoof]

I would like to arrive and go to dtd but dh must have out the first flight usually before 7:00a.m. So we arrive and head over to epcot to the cafe in France for lunch. Even though we are very tired it is a wonderful way to begin vacation.

 

[Mousemommy1]

I prefer to arrive early and hit the parks right away, but most of the time, because of the way we travel (including a couple of school days book ending a school vacation week), we do try to have our kids get a half day of school in on the travel day, so we usually end up arriving in the evening.

 

[tinkermommyof3]

We usally take the first non-stop morning flight to MCO. We normally travel Summer and look forward to getting to FL for the fun in sun--no matter how hot. We put our swimsuits, flip flops, etc. in carry on. We put on high SPF sunscreen before we leave and bring a 3oz in carryon in case our luggage is not there when we arrive. We check-in. If our room is not ready, we stop by CL lounge for some beverages or snacks, change into swimsuits, and head to the pool. We get lunch at Captain Cooks and fill mugs also. When room is ready, husband or my self will go up to request bell services bring up bags. We usually don't head out to parks until dinner for ADR and then spend the evening. Very relaxing (and fun) first day.

 

[Jasperann]

On our last trip we arrived at about 1:30 and checked out our room then headed to MK for 'lunch' we arrived at about 2:30 and grabbed Casey's watched the Dapper Dans and then the Parade, and took our time after that until about 7ish when we headed back to the room and went swimming. We loved it!! When we got tired we left the parks. On our last day our flight didn't leave until 6:30pm, so we checked our bags and checked out then headed to AK for the day. We got back to the resort at about 2pm and just hung out until our bus came to take us back to the airport.

We liked doing it this way last time so much that we will be doing something similar on our next trip, but we will be in a park on the first and last day.

On our first trip we drove and arrived at 9pm... we stayed at Fort Wilderness in a tent, so that was an adventure when we arrived it took about and hour to put up our tent in the dark. It was the first time we used the tent and there was a missing hook... So we had to figure out how to fix it in the dark. Then we woke up REALLY early and went to Epcot for the day. On our last day we packed up our car and went to DTD until about lunch time, then drove over to Daytona beach for a little bit before driving 20 hours home... We didn't enjoy doing it that way... which is why we fly in early, it isn't like I'm sleeping the night before anyway. lol Then we fly out late, because not going to the park on the last day felt like something was missing on the first trip.

 

[Coconuts]

We have done most of these options.


Last few trips we have left a few days before a school break, so in order for the kids to get another day of school in, we leave in late afternoon. Those days we just eat at the resort food court, unpack, and go to bed. Then on our departure day, we get a late afternoon or evening flight and tour a park or DTD that day.

We have arrived on the first morning flight a few times and I just feel so tired that day. We are usually up at 4am to catch the flight so by dinner we are done. Since you don't really get to the parks until@11, it doesn't make for a long park day anyway.

I prefer the first scenario.

We have never left WDW on an early morning flight. 3pm has been our earliest.

Hope this helps.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[dawnhaze]

I always do early flight in, late flight out, to maximize the time I get for my vacation money.

When I arrive at the resort, it's usually before noon. If my room's ready, I unpack and settle in for an hour or so, and then head out to a park. I can't imagine not going to a park on my arrival day unless I had a significantly longer flight to recover from.

When I'm leaving, I wake up early, leave my bags with bell services, and hit a park. Again, unless I had a much longer flight, I can't imagine not going to a park on the last day.

 

[polly p]

We always leave first thing in the morning and arrive around 11:30-12. If our room is ready we go up with our luggage and then leave for the parks, if not then we store luggage with bell services and hit the park. I don't want to miss a minute!

 

[saintfan]

8AM? flight out get to hotel around 11-12 leave bags (last time got to go to room drop off bags). Then it is off to MK most of the time depending on EMH. DD(15) so no problem doing a park first day. Last day get the latest flight out we can so we have at least half a day in 1 more park. With the late flight home we stay at hotel then we drive home next day. Learned from previous trips not to drive home at 1 AM to tired. ME DW DD

 

[Missytara]

I always arrive very early, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The parks are usually still very crowded that day.

I stay at POR, check-in around 10:30 am and then proceed on the water taxi to DTD. I hang out at the bar at Rainforest Cafe, have a nice meal and watch a college football game. Then I walk around the shops until I get the call regarding my room being ready; usually between 1 and 2 pm. Then I leisurely take the water taxi back to POR and go to my room and unpack.

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

We have done both. Staying at BC last Feb., we just walked over to Epcot and had a late lunch. Managed to get in a couple of rides and watched Illuminations. At AKL in June, we ate dinner and went swimming, then hit MK the next morning.

 

[mickeynut1]

We usually arrive late at night, check in and get settled, get a good night's sleep and then hit the parks the next day. We have done the early morning flights, afternoon flights, and evening flights and have found that adding the extra night at the beginning and arriving late works better for us than getting up early and spending half of the day traveling and being tired the rest of the day. We don't go to a park our last day as we do a TS breakfast at our resort, check out, then head to the airport for an afternoon flight. Our first few trips to Disney we took the 8:00 or 9:00 pm flight home and spent that last day at the parks or DTD, but after many trips and trying different senarios, we like to take the afternoon flight out so we aren't getting back home so late.

 

[sydneysmom]

Our last trip we got to the GF at 1:00 pm, and our room wasn't ready.... we put our stuff w/ bell services, got our tickets and hit the MK ! We were too excited to get there, I don't think it would have mattered if our room was ready! For our last day, we booked the latest flight out that we could. We took our bags to bell services, went to the MK for the day and were back at GF at 3 pm to get the Magical Express bus to the airport.

This trip we're driving, so we'll probably get there about 10 am. We'll do the same thing only this trip, we're going right to Epcot. Part of why we try to get there early is so we don't miss out on a park day. On our last day, we'll probably do the same thing....leave as late in the day as we can and just get home in the middle of the night. (and then go pick up our dogs the next day from boarding)

 

[Sphinx610]

I vote for hitting the parks!

 

[artemis908]

I prefer to arrive early before 12 since I am super excited and could hardly wait the entire day to go! Drop off luggage, head to lunch, go to Epcot and take it easy, have a nice dinner and then turn in earlyish for bed (like 9).

Then on the last day wake up, get breakfast (this time it'll be in room service), check out, grab lunch, walk around the boardwalk and then catch the bus back to the airport (should be around 5).