Arrival Day Advice?

[TwoMisfits]

Ok, I'm going to estimate 90 min to 2 hours. We're not staying on resort

We went back and forth a lot with this decision. Originally we wanted to stay on a Disney resort and we were going to book Art of Animation. Their family suites would fit us but then we saw a hotel that's right outside of Disney. We booked a 2 bedroom villa that's twice the size of an art of animation suite and has a full kitchen. Since our kids are all under 4, we figured we'd be in the room here and there so the higher space would be nice and I like the idea of making breakfast and heading to the parks. We don't want this to be our only trip so we decided we'll stay on resort when the kids are older.
I also wanted the option of having a car because we need 3 car seats.
That was probably way too much information that you needed but I like to convince myself that staying off site was a good decision for us lol.

As an offsiter...check in, send one parent to get groceries while the other parent takes the 3 kids to check out all the wonders of the room and offsite resort. If it has a splash pad, I'd suggest the parent take the kids there...if not, jacuzzi tubs also open up a world of wonder for kids! Once the 1st spouse is back, take the time to put away groceries, unpack, head out for a nice offsite meal or get takeout, and then put the kids to bed while you and spouse enjoy a quiet evening with a bottle of wine on a balcony...

 

[MommaBerd]

As on offsiter...check in, send one parent to get groceries while the other parent takes the 3 kids to check out all the wonders of the room and offsite resort. If it has a splash pad, I'd suggest the parent take the kids there...if not, jacuzzi tubs also open up a world of wonder for kids! Once the 1st spouse is back, take the time to put away groceries, unpack, head out for a nice offsite meal or get takeout, and then put the kids to bed while you and spouse enjoy a quiet evening with a bottle of wine on a balcony...

Best advice yet!!!

 

[Mousemommy1]

Typically, we do visit a park on our arrival day, but if often leads to some sort of meltdown, because we've had travel (3 hour flight) and all of that excitement. So, this year, DH has insisted that we have no parks on the arrival day.

We have the 1st flight into Orlando on our day of arrival, so we will get checked into the Poly, have some pool time, explore the resort. Maybe take a monorail ride. Then we have early dinner reservations at 'Ohana so that we can have an early night and get a good jump on our 1st full day the next morning. I am actually looking forward to a relaxing arrival day.

 

[kboo]

Fellow NYCer as well. I think given that you're staying offsite and will have a full kitchen to stock, and 3 littles, it would be tough to go to a park on arrival day. I also wouldn't take a day off in the middle of a 5-day stay. It takes longer than you think to get the rental car and luggage and be on your way, and from an 11am flight (assuming it leaves on time!!) you'd be getting to your hotel by 3 if everything lined up well. I'd take the time to stock your kitchen, enjoy your resort, and maybe book an early dinner at one of the monorail resorts. You'll have free parking at the resort for the dinner and then you can look around the resort, its holiday decorations, and take the monorail to another resort and do the same, if you have time. For dinner, I'd recommend 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian, (Cinderella and her sisters, and Prince Charming, are there at dinner), Chef Mickey's at the CR (I'm not a fan of the food and it's loud, but you have Mickey and friends AND monorail! through! the! hotel!), Ohana at the Polynesian.... We love walking around the GF before and after dinner at 1900 Park Fare.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Ok, I'm going to estimate 90 min to 2 hours. We're not staying on resort

We went back and forth a lot with this decision. Originally we wanted to stay on a Disney resort and we were going to book Art of Animation. Their family suites would fit us but then we saw a hotel that's right outside of Disney. We booked a 2 bedroom villa that's twice the size of an art of animation suite and has a full kitchen. Since our kids are all under 4, we figured we'd be in the room here and there so the higher space would be nice and I like the idea of making breakfast and heading to the parks. We don't want this to be our only trip so we decided we'll stay on resort when the kids are older.
I also wanted the option of having a car because we need 3 car seats.
That was probably way too much information that you needed but I like to convince myself that staying off site was a good decision for us lol.

Staying offsite with the extra space, full kitchen, & a rental car is such a better idea than staying onsite IMO!!!

 

[halfpintpeggy]

I just checked Mickey's BBQ and it doesn't run on a Wednesday when we get in, boo! I'll check out HddR. I like the idea of going to Fort Wilderness. We can explore the resort and maybe roast marshmallows with chip and dale after dinner. I haven't been to Disney since I was 16 and I am so excited for this trip. I've been planning it for months now lol

Yes, the Chip N Dale sing-a-long at Ft. Wilderness is terrific! And don't be sad about Mickey's Backyard BBQ, it has REALLY gone downhill...we will never do it again!

 

[BobbyDukes]

What time are you guys getting ready that first day? What I mean is how long is that first travel day?? What I have always planned on especially with the kids is trying to make it to the MK for the fireworks the first night especially if its a long travel day. Being that its almost a half day (but you can still see soo much in a half day) your expectations on what you have to do can be more relaxed when the only goal for that day/night is to see the fireworks. You can expect too have full loaded days the rest of the week and can honestly say trying to see the fireworks when you arrive at the park at 9-10am can sometimes be a stretch especially with younger kids.

 

[dreanat]

What time are you guys getting ready that first day? What I mean is how long is that first travel day?? What I have always planned on especially with the kids is trying to make it to the MK for the fireworks the first night especially if its a long travel day. Being that its almost a half day (but you can still see soo much in a half day) your expectations on what you have to do can be more relaxed when the only goal for that day/night is to see the fireworks. You can expect too have full loaded days the rest of the week and can honestly say trying to see the fireworks when you arrive at the park at 9-10am can sometimes be a stretch especially with younger kids.

If we take a 9 o clock flight, we'll land around 12 and then by the time we get our luggage and rent a car, I'm guessing we'll be ready to go around 1 or 2. Plus we need to eat lunch. We might not get to the parks until 3ish. That's also a great idea. We can unpack at the hotel and then go into the parks or one of the resorts for dinner and catch the fireworks somewhere.
I actually was thinking it might be easier to fly in the night before so we can have a full day the first day of our vacation. But if we fly in the day of, I'm sure there will be plenty to do!

 

[dreanat]

Fellow NYCer as well. I think given that you're staying offsite and will have a full kitchen to stock, and 3 littles, it would be tough to go to a park on arrival day. I also wouldn't take a day off in the middle of a 5-day stay. It takes longer than you think to get the rental car and luggage and be on your way, and from an 11am flight (assuming it leaves on time!!) you'd be getting to your hotel by 3 if everything lined up well. I'd take the time to stock your kitchen, enjoy your resort, and maybe book an early dinner at one of the monorail resorts. You'll have free parking at the resort for the dinner and then you can look around the resort, its holiday decorations, and take the monorail to another resort and do the same, if you have time. For dinner, I'd recommend 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian, (Cinderella and her sisters, and Prince Charming, are there at dinner), Chef Mickey's at the CR (I'm not a fan of the food and it's loud, but you have Mickey and friends AND monorail! through! the! hotel!), Ohana at the Polynesian.... We love walking around the GF before and after dinner at 1900 Park Fare.

Yes, I forgot that I have to get groceries for the kitchen. I was planning to do garden grocer and order before we get there. But I still have to put everything away. I think dinner at one of the resorts is a great idea!

 

[kboo]

Yes, I forgot that I have to get groceries for the kitchen. I was planning to do garden grocer and order before we get there. But I still have to put everything away. I think dinner at one of the resorts is a great idea!

ooh ooh ooh - and there are places to see MK fireworks from the Contemporary, GF and the Polynesian - you don't have to staying at the hotel to watch them.

 

[Jerzetta]

We took our daughter at 3 and 5 years old and I always thought arrival day should be rest day... got to get your bags. get to the hotel etc etc but I found both trips that there is so much excitement we spend just a few hours in MK. We started a tradition where the very first thing we do is "Check In" with the big guy.... MICKEY. Then we do some light rides and grab a counter service meal and get to the hotel by 9pm.

Like a PP said to add one day to the tickets was worth it to get a tradition started and not to have to wait one more day to go to the park

 

[Gracie09]

We have done the rush to the park thing on arrival day and it usually leads to someone having a meltdown (usually me ) So now we don't get the very first flight out. We plan to get in around lunch time. Have been known to grab a bite at the airport. Get to the resort. Unpack. and explore a bit. Then head to dinner either at disney springs or a restaurant at the hotel. Bed is pretty early because we will be up early the next day to hit the parks running.

 

[morrik5]

From my own perspective, we don't go to a park on the first day only because of the cost factor when not available for the full day of fun.

 

[4leobeans]

Interesting to hear the variety of suggestions .
We've been with kids twice now (both times, travelling with a 2 year old), and neither time did we do a park on arrival day. We did do an ADR at a resort each time though...it was a great way to get into the vacation, but in a laid back kind of way.

Last time, we flew out of Minneapolis, on the earliest flight (departing sometime around 6 am). I thought we'd be able to have almost a full day in a park. By the time we landed, took ME (which took forever), got checked in (we arrived at resort around lunch, and ended up waiting nearly 3 hours before we could get into our room), it was 3:30. Everyone (including the adults) was hot, tired and grumpy....and we would not have been in any mood to go to a park. We wanted to stay in our nice air conditioned room and decompress . We also didn't want to get on another Disney bus for a while.....

Travelling, especially with little ones can be stressful. You'll have luggage and kids to wrangle to and from airports, drive in a new city, haul everyone around to the resort you're at......if it was me, I'd skip the park, and check out your resort. Have a nap, then see the pool, check out the grounds..... we loved looking for armadillos when we stayed off property

 

[dreanat]

Interesting to hear the variety of suggestions .
We've been with kids twice now (both times, travelling with a 2 year old), and neither time did we do a park on arrival day. We did do an ADR at a resort each time though...it was a great way to get into the vacation, but in a laid back kind of way.

Last time, we flew out of Minneapolis, on the earliest flight (departing sometime around 6 am). I thought we'd be able to have almost a full day in a park. By the time we landed, took ME (which took forever), got checked in (we arrived at resort around lunch, and ended up waiting nearly 3 hours before we could get into our room), it was 3:30. Everyone (including the adults) was hot, tired and grumpy....and we would not have been in any mood to go to a park. We wanted to stay in our nice air conditioned room and decompress . We also didn't want to get on another Disney bus for a while.....

Travelling, especially with little ones can be stressful. You'll have luggage and kids to wrangle to and from airports, drive in a new city, haul everyone around to the resort you're at......if it was me, I'd skip the park, and check out your resort. Have a nap, then see the pool, check out the grounds..... we loved looking for armadillos when we stayed off property

That is a really long travel time. I read that Disney transportation could delay things and I decided we need to rent a car because I can't imagine my kids waiting more than half an hour for transportation, or just being at the mercy of the transportation system. When they're older- sure. I'm sure I'll have meltdowns if it I don't have a car. But yes, a very laid back and flexible arrival day is the way to go.

We've actually been thinking to maybe fly in the night before so the first day of our trip is free of all that traveling. I've never done a late flight with young kids before so I'm wondering if that's a recipe for disaster. I guess I'll find out, if we go that route!

 

[ryankski]

We are going the beginning of May with our 2.5 year old. Flying in Sunday morning and flying out Saturday night. So we have 5 days at the park with two being at MK. We discussed going to a park on our arrival day, but figured even for a total of $27 more it probably wasn't worth it after all the traveling.

Our plan is to have a more relaxed day that includes Disney Springs with dinner (Rain forest most likely), take a ride on the monorail, and then the Fort Wilderness Chip & Dale sing a long. Figure it's a good day to get our son excited and in bed at a reasonable time for breakfast at Chef Mickey's the next day at 7:00 am. Too much initially with little ones could throw off the entire week.