Best park for arrival day

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Should be able to arrive around 11amish (on Monday) with myself and 4yo daughter. Plan to buy genie plus but will be on airplane at 7am so don't know if I'll be able to get the first LL at 7am plus not checking into the resort until we get there so don't know if I can anyway. The max we can probably stay up is 9pmish.

We've only been to HS and MK before but plan to visit all parks this trip.

Any suggestions which park to choose for first day? Thanks!

 

[scrappinginontario]

AK is my first thought as it closes earlier and often doesn't take a full day. As your flight departs at 7AM it will be a VERY early morning for you so a shorter evening and a quieter park might be a great option to start with.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Do you have enough time on your trip that you could make that a sort of quiet, resort day? Then start fresh first thing in the morning wherever you decide to go? Just thinking that getting to any of the parks around noon it’s going to be busy then, and you’ll miss those early hours where you can get a lot accomplished. Unless you go to maybe World Showcase then. Just my thoughts. I always regret going in late, and I also love resort days. I agree your little one will probably be pretty tired on travel day, too. I know mine always were! If not, I agree that AK might be a good choice.

 

[GreatAuntie]

How many park days will you have over the course of the trip? That would influence my thoughts on a park for your first day. I would agree AK could be a good park for the first day, especially because you can enjoy the animal paths at a leisurely pace. Another option would be MK. We always spent the most time there when my kids were young. It's nice to be able to spend more than one day at MK if you have another day you could spend more time in that park.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Do you have enough time on your trip that you could make that a sort of quiet, resort day? Then start fresh first thing in the morning wherever you decide to go? Just thinking that getting to any of the parks around noon it’s going to be busy then, and you’ll miss those early hours where you can get a lot accomplished. Unless you go to maybe World Showcase then. Just my thoughts. I always regret going in late, and I also love resort days. I agree your little one will probably be pretty tired on travel day, too. I know mine always were! If not, I agree that AK might be a good choice.

Arrive on Monday and leave on Saturday afternoon and bought 4 days of park hopper tickets. I was first thinking of making the first day be a resort day but also was thinking it'd be nice to have a full resort day mid trip...

 

[MainMom]

Always Epcot for us. Do a few rides. Soak in the Disney vibe. Eat good food. Great way to start our vacation!

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Should be able to arrive around 11amish (on Monday) with myself and 4yo daughter. Plan to buy genie plus but will be on airplane at 7am so don't know if I'll be able to get the first LL at 7am plus not checking into the resort until we get there so don't know if I can anyway. The max we can probably stay up is 9pmish.

We've only been to HS and MK before but plan to visit all parks this trip.

Any suggestions which park to choose for first day? Thanks!

I always do AK because I don't need 12 hrs to be there and do what I want to do. I'm using booking ILL for Flights of Passage from the airplane, and then eating lunch in AK because they have the best QS in my opinion

 

[georgina]

Should be able to arrive around 11amish (on Monday) with myself and 4yo daughter. Plan to buy genie plus but will be on airplane at 7am so don't know if I'll be able to get the first LL at 7am plus not checking into the resort until we get there so don't know if I can anyway. The max we can probably stay up is 9pmish.

We've only been to HS and MK before but plan to visit all parks this trip.

Any suggestions which park to choose for first day? Thanks!

Just as a reminder for anyone reading this thread, you don't have to be a guest at a Disney resort to book a regular LL at 7 AM. It's the separate ILLs you need to be staying on property for, and it shouldn't matter if you've checked in yet.

As we are both adults, when we go we do HS as our arrival park because it is easiest to stack the G+ LL for later in the day. In April our flight doesn't leave until 8:30 AM so I am hoping to get a Slinky LL before we leave, that I can modify to later if needed.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Just as a reminder for anyone reading this thread, you don't have to be a guest at a Disney resort to book a regular LL at 7 AM. It's the separate ILLs you need to be staying on property for, and it shouldn't matter if you've checked in yet.

As we are both adults, when we go we do HS as our arrival park because it is easiest to stack the G+ LL for later in the day. In April our flight doesn't leave until 8:30 AM so I am hoping to get a Slinky LL before we leave, that I can modify to later if needed.

I didn't know about the 7am LL being fir everyone thank you

 

[kanerf]

I never do a park on arrival day. Just wander around the resort a bit. Might go into a park for dinner, but that is about it.

 

[loves to dive]

We always do Epcot on arrival day but it might depend upon what resort you are staying at. Since you only have 4 days tickets I'm not sure I'd do a partial day on arrival day. I know you said you wanted to do a rest day in the middle of the trip but it seems a waste of a day ticket to do a half day. You say you will arrive around 11ish. Is that arrive at the airport? If so, depending on where you are staying and how you are getting to your resort it's entirely possible you aren't going to get to your resort until after 12. You are going to want to check in and have them store you bags so add some time for that. Then maybe eat lunch at the resort. How early are you getting up to get to the airport? Only you know your daughter but if you have to get to the airport early and arrive at your resort around noon, she is going to be tired. Is she really going to enjoy a park?

Having said all that, as I said earlier we always do Epcot and we usually arrive between 1 and 3. We drive down from Georgia, 7 to 7 1/2 hour drive. We have been going since my son was 3 and he was fine with a half day in a park on arrival day. But, we always had park hoppers for length of stay so would always spend part of every day in a park.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

We always do Epcot on arrival day but it might depend upon what resort you are staying at. Since you only have 4 days tickets I'm not sure I'd do a partial day on arrival day. I know you said you wanted to do a rest day in the middle of the trip but it seems a waste of a day ticket to do a half day. You say you will arrive around 11ish. Is that arrive at the airport? If so, depending on where you are staying and how you are getting to your resort it's entirely possible you aren't going to get to your resort until after 12. You are going to want to check in and have them store you bags so add some time for that. Then maybe eat lunch at the resort. How early are you getting up to get to the airport? Only you know your daughter but if you have to get to the airport early and arrive at your resort around noon, she is going to be tired. Is she really going to enjoy a park?

Having said all that, as I said earlier we always do Epcot and we usually arrive between 1 and 3. We drive down from Georgia, 7 to 7 1/2 hour drive. We have been going since my son was 3 and he was fine with a half day in a park on arrival day. But, we always had park hoppers for length of stay so would always spend part of every day in a park.

Plane arrives 820am and plan to Uber to hotel CBR so maybe HS or Epcot since on the skyliner...

 

[snowwite]

Should be able to arrive around 11amish (on Monday) with myself and 4yo daughter. Plan to buy genie plus but will be on airplane at 7am so don't know if I'll be able to get the first LL at 7am plus not checking into the resort until we get there so don't know if I can anyway. The max we can probably stay up is 9pmish.

We've only been to HS and MK before but plan to visit all parks this trip.

Any suggestions which park to choose for first day? Thanks!

I have done the park the first day with littles and it’s not usually a good time for anyone. They are tired and cranky and pretty soon everyone just needs a nap.
We found spending the first day enjoying the pool and napping to be a great way to unwind. We used to go to Chef Mickey or Ohana for dinner so the kiddos got to see characters then come back in the morning to a park. We’ve even stayed up a little to see fireworks or the boat parade or watched the movie by the pool. It is a much less stressful way to start the trip. If you are crunched for time AK is probably your best bet.

 

[frannn]

We usually do Epcot on arrival day. It's more laid back and there's usually a festival on our trips, so we can grab a great snack. If we're delayed, it won't matter as much, and if we are staying at POP its an easy ride.

 

[PollyannaMom]

...but also was thinking it'd be nice to have a full resort day mid trip...

It definitely is! We used to call it the "Day 3 Curse" - If we tried to do 3 park days in a row, someone would inevitably melt down (and it wasn't always a kid )

 

[snowwite]

It definitely is! We used to call it the "Day 3 Curse" - If we tried to do 3 park days in a row, someone would inevitably melt down (and it wasn't always a kid )

So true. I’m doing a solo trip and I have already planned a no park day for day 3!