arriving late at night vs early in day-flight with children

[yankeeslover]

going to the world this august... probably flying out of bradley as albany is way more expensive....we have reservations for a friday morning..flight leaves aprox 7am.. we were gonna do the park and fly package at a local hotel....arrive in orlando before 10am...all star movies.... two DD will be 5 and 13... i am now considering flying out the thursday night before as they have a flight at 7:25pm that arrives in orlando around 10pmish..... im just wondering if im better off this route and then starting off my first day nice and fresh.. only issue i have with a 10pm arrivial is i know that my kids will not go right to the hotel and sleep..gonna be wound up.... will there be anything for them to do at movies at 11pm? maybe pool? any suggestions? i think the first day there is gonna be a busy one as we would like to go to the light parade at MK and do the fireworks..im not sure how much my little one will have left in her if we were flying out early that same morning as im sure for a 7am flight we need to get up at 3am-4am....(even though she has more energy then dad)...any one w/kids have any suggestions? any experience either way? thank you

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

I prefer early morning. We have taken at least 6-8 flights this way and if i wake my kids up early like 3-4am, they fall asleep on the plane. This works best for us, then when we get to Disney we can immediately go to pool or parks and they aren't cranky, I bring their blankets and movies.

 

[Greysword]

On a 10PM arrival, you would probably be in your room about midnight (or so), depending on transportation (ME could drag a bit waiting for other late flights, stopping at other resorts, etc). Also, you would probably need to collect your bags at the airport, if you were using ME, which adds time.

Another option, you could stay in a hotel at/near MCO for the night, instead. The lack of the Disney environment may help them get to sleep earlier, and you could then wake-up whenever, get ready, eat, then take ME to WDW sometime in the morning.