Arrival day Downtown Disney or Epcot

[shana398]

We are arriving at the airport in FL at 10:50 a.m. On Sat. Nov. 30th. It will be myself DH and DS2. We will be staying at POFQ until Dec. 8. I was thinking about going to Garden Grill at 5:30 for dinner so DS can start off the trip with Mickey. We've done GG before and enjoy it. The other idea is just to go to Downtown Disney for dinner, maybe QS and just relax that day. We are attending MVMCP on The following day Sun. 1st, so we may just relax at our resort the next morning. Advice, thoughts would be appreciated. BTW this is DS's third trip.

 

[Fire14]

We are arriving at the airport in FL at 10:50 a.m. On Sat. Nov. 30th. It will be myself DH and DS2. We will be staying at POFQ until Dec. 8. I was thinking about going to Garden Grill at 5:30 for dinner so DS can start off the trip with Mickey. We've done GG before and enjoy it. The other idea is just to go to Downtown Disney for dinner, maybe QS and just relax that day. We are attending MVMCP on The following day Sun. 1st, so we may just relax at our resort the next morning. Advice, thoughts would be appreciated. BTW this is DS's third trip.

Not sure where you are flying from/thru but I had a trip planned for around this time of year and because of weather issues my arrival was delayed and I would have missed my adr if I'd had one booked, and by time we got to resort all we wanted to do is veg. and we were adults. I'd personally book a ADR without CC hold or better yet just do DTD that day and grab food at resort or DTD, That way LO can run around and burn off some energy and you don't feel rushed to get to a reservation. Even if you book a meal at RFC or TREX you can always call and cancel without penalty, if you see u will be late.

 

[aaarcher86]

I usually head to DTD, save the money on a park ticket for less than half a day, go shopping, and grab a bite to eat. I head back early and rest up for the next day!

 

[Irishlisa]

DTD, same reason as the above poster aaarcher86.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

I would not do either. We went to DTD on our arrival day (a Friday). Weekends during the Christmas season are crazy busy! We could barely walk. If you still want to, you could eat there (with an ADR), but I would do something else for fun afterwards--putt putt or pool time at the resort.

 

[Polybound]

We are arriving at the airport in FL at 10:50 a.m. On Sat. Nov. 30th. It will be myself DH and DS2. We will be staying at POFQ until Dec. 8. I was thinking about going to Garden Grill at 5:30 for dinner so DS can start off the trip with Mickey. We've done GG before and enjoy it. The other idea is just to go to Downtown Disney for dinner, maybe QS and just relax that day. We are attending MVMCP on The following day Sun. 1st, so we may just relax at our resort the next morning. Advice, thoughts would be appreciated. BTW this is DS's third trip.

EPCOT is normally our first day park. We normally don't get there until after 1:00 or so, and we pretty much can do just about everything we want to, except for Soarin and maybe Test trac. Sometimes we even get lucky and get FP's for one of those as well.

There's just nothing to do at DTD. A complete waste of time for us. FP+ is going to be great for first days at WDW. Most people normally don't arive until later in the day on first days and having 3 FP's reserved will be incredible.

 

[siskaren]

I usually head to DTD, save the money on a park ticket for less than half a day, go shopping, and grab a bite to eat. I head back early and rest up for the next day!

The OP is going for 9 days. After 4 days, it only costs $10 per day, so it doesn't cost that much for an additional day. I will say though that it's really going to depend on the 2 year old whether it's better to go to DTD or Epcot or just crash at the resort. I always take flights that get me there about 10:30 and I go straight to Epcot after checking in, but I'm an adult traveling solo. I think the best option for the OP is to play it by ear, but that would mean not doing an ADR.

 

[Sp8s09]

We always do DTD on our arrival day. We are only around 8 hours away, so we always drive. We get checked in and settled in our resort and then head to DTD to eat and just take it easy. Then we are ready to hit the ground running the next morning! It just makes the drive down less stressful to not have to worry about getting there at a specific time.

 

[drgnfly30]

We are lounging around the pool at the resort then to DTD for some dinner & shopping, then rest up for RD the next morning!

 

[luvallprincesses]

If that is the Saturday right after Thanksgiving, the parks are going to be crowded that afternoon. The morning, not so much, but afternoon and evening will be really crowded, and so will DTD. We've arrived the day after Thanksgiving for the past few years. I vote for pool/pool games/resort/movie on the lawn. If you really want a sit-down, you could do Boatwright's at POR very easily and it won't be a tough ADR to get. The crowds will be cut in half on Sunday and mostly disappear by Monday and then smooth sailing!

 

[honeybunches]

We like to go to Epcot on our first day, even if its only an hour. We usually just walk around with the kids, then get dinner. Last time we walked up to GG and they took us right away. Have fun!

 

[shana398]

Thanks for all the tips! We really just wanted to do Garden Grill for the character meal for our son to start out our trip. If the parks are really crowded that Sat. After Thanksgiving, I think we may just hang around the resort. Thanks for that tip about Thanksgiving weekend! We would love to get a Chef Mickeys for that night, but haven't been able to get an ADR. We've never tried CM. Is there anything else we could do for our two-year-old o start off the trip in a special way without going to the parks?

BTW Have you done MVMCP the Sun. After Thanksgiving? Is it a good time to attend? Thanks again!