Best thing to do on flight day?

[michael85]

So me and my wife are leaving Orlando and our flight is at 10:30 at night. We can, I assume, leave our small carry on bags with our hotel. My question is: what can we do the entire day within Disney? What's the most economical park ticket? Water park? Or do most recommend to stay in the hotel all day?

 

[disneygolfer1985]

We usually leave Orlando around 6-8 pm depending on the flight and we try to get one more park in before we go, but we do take it leisurely. We usually stay close to our resort so we don't miss Magical Express.

 

[michael85]

For magical express (and I believe that's the bus that takes us to the Orlando airport) do they leave at set times from our hotel, or we schedule the pickup? For instance, if our flight is at 10:30pm, do they set a pickup for us let's say at 7:30pm? Something along those lines?

 

[angierae]

Magical Express will LEAVE three hours before your flight, so you should aim to be out there waiting a half hour before that. So around 7.

On our departure day we usually head to DTD (Disney Springs) and do any last minute shopping, have lunch, etc.

 

[gatorlisa]

Kind of depends on the situation. If you are taking the ME to the airport, you'll have to be back at your hotel ready to leave about 3 hours before your flight, so factor that, along with transit back to your hotel into the plans. If you are there long enough that the additional day on a ticket is only $10 or $15, then it might be worth going to a park. Any park would be fine...wherever there is something else you want to see/do again, or hit something you might have missed. Personally, I wouldn't do a water park or swim because I wouldn't want to have to pack wet swimwear into my luggage. If you are on a shorter trip, where the extra cost is more significant and you don't feel it's worth it, I would probably recommend either wandering around Disney Springs and having lunch and/or early dinner. Or going and visiting the Boardwalk area (I haven't done this, but would like to...it looks nice to me). Or going over to MK and using the Monorail to visit the deluxe resorts along that.

 

[michael85]

Yeah that's possible. I was thinking maybe typhoon lagoon. We can leave our stuff in a locker, it's closes at 5pm anyway, and we can be back in our hotel for pickup by 6,630 the latest. We can grab our carry on bags from the hotel, change in the lobby bathroom and get ready to go to the airport. Does that sound like a decent plan?

 

[michael85]

Magical Express will LEAVE three hours before your flight, so you should aim to be out there waiting a half hour before that. So around 7.

On our departure day we usually head to DTD (Disney Springs) and do any last minute shopping, have lunch, etc.

Yeah that sounds like a good time to wait. I guess worst case scenario is we miss the bus, but can still take a taxi to the airport. But the bus makes more sense and we definitely won't miss it.

 

[Accident]

I love doing a late departure and most of mine have been timed where I need to leave around 6pmish (which is roughly when you may leave for your flight)..

1: yes, you can store your bags with the resort. Just call bell services from your phone when your ready to depart the room and they will generally show up in under 10 minutes to get your bags, give you the tags and move them to storage for you. you can also take them to the storage area, usually located near the front desk if you prefer. certain resorts like pofq, it's on the way to the bus so we just bring them as it's a tiny resort. values are basically the same but we're also tired and like letting someone else deal with getting it to storage.
2: depending on what my night before looks like (we tend to stay out until the park closes) we sometimes request a 1pm checkout (free) but you have to do it a few days ahead of time and disney might say no. We just sleep in a little more.. just call front desk from your phone if you decide you want to do this.

So what we do on the last day we generally know the day before. In the past we've done..
- hang around the resort and be lazy resting (sometimes this works best for me to get back into work mode when I get home).
- did the vip ultimate thrills tour and got rides on most of the best rides around 3 of the parks (pricey, but great way to end a trip if you like doing 1 more ride on things). We did this a year we had an injury, very crowded, very rainy and lost most of the trip to those things.
- springs for lunch, wander around, then dinner at the resort when we are picking up our luggage.
- hit 1 or more parks for some specific things or to just say goodbye and look around.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Some trips we go to a park, some trips we hang out at the hotels.

Exploring the resorts is great fun. Just taking the shuttle boats between resorts is relaxing and enjoyable. If you are going any time between Thanksgiving and NYD, they are all decked out in holiday décor. And I mean VERY decked out in all kinds of surprises. In some ways the gift shops are all similar but each offers some unique items. The Boardwalk has a nice art gallery. The Grand Floridian has live music every afternoon. Most have a nice place to enjoy adult beverages, or a leisurely meal. You'll also see art, nice walkways, and ideas for a return trip.

If the weather favors swimming, most resorts have nice locker rooms for storing items, showering and getting ready. You might want to keep your hairdryer/brushes/toiletries handy. I don't relish wet suits, but we ALWAYS travel with some oversized Ziploc bags, so it is very easy to stow them.

There are also many shops at MCO. If you have time, I suggest McCoy's (up in Hyatt) for great food.

We usually have our own car, so we often like to have a meal offsite on our last day. (better food, lower prices!) In addition to WDW options, you could easily drop by Citywalk to explore. (Universal is closer to the MCO airport than WDW.)

If you are at a hotel with a marina, and even if you aren't, you can also rent a boat. Some also have carriage rides.

If you really want, the area has plenty of taxis to get around.

Water parks are okay, but remember winter weather an be downright CHILLY. I've even had to scrape hard FROST off our windshield! In winter, WDW closes one of the water parks and the water rides, because so few folks want to get wet. Some folks will swim in any weather, and the WDW pools are heated. Hot tubs can be okay if your hotel has one.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I should add, the luggage areas/bell services even had a fridge if you need to keep/store anything cold. Somehow we always end up bringing home chocolate, which melts quickly most of the year in FL. You don't want to spend a premium on chocolate Mickeys only to end up with melted blobs.

 

[ktlm]

We always do a park on departure day and we are usually picked up by ME between 2 and 4 pm depending on our flight. I would not want to do a water park because I would not want to deal with wet suits in our carry ons, and usually I have our toiletries packed in our checked bags. What park we do, often depends on where we are staying. We just left Sunday and ME picked us up at 2. We were staying in an EPCOT area resort, so we did both DHS and EPCOT that day before we left. If were are not in resort in that area, then we usually do MK. If you aren't getting picked up by ME until 7:00 p.m. you can have a good park day that day. How many days are you already going to be in the parks? The more days you have already, the cheaper it gets to add an extra day.

 

[Mousetopia]

I get up early and head to a park for 1-3 hours ish depending on flight then come back and head for the resort pool to swim and float around..I did this at AK Lodge ! I put big suitcases with bell service kept a small bag for pool (my carryon) stashed that in a locker and headed for the parks. Then came back to spend a couple hours at the pool. The Health club lets you use the showers and a locker there for no charge. You just check in at the club desk. Check at your resort front desk for what they offer.

 

[lustergirl]

With late flights I like to go to a park that day.

 

[SuperPreparo]

That gives you quite a bit of time. I would go to a park or Disney Springs for the day.

 

[gap2368]

So me and my wife are leaving Orlando and our flight is at 10:30 at night. We can, I assume, leave our small carry on bags with our hotel. My question is: what can we do the entire day within Disney? What's the most economical park ticket? Water park? Or do most recommend to stay in the hotel all day?

if your flight is that late I would do another park day ( they more you play the more you save) so it may not be that much more money.

but I would make sure you leave the park in plenty of time maybe have dinner at the hotel food court and take one last look around the gift shop/ hotel.

 

[lroger01]

I like the waterpark idea. It's something different to end the trip, it opens later than the parks allowing you more time to pack up and drop off luggage, and you have the option to just relax or be busy and enjoy the slides. I wouldn't buy a ticket for it until that day though, just in case one of your park days got messed up (rain, illness, crowds) and a make up park day is the better option.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

I would hit the parks one more time. If you already have a multi-day ticket, the cost to add one more day is small. Our flight is usually pretty early in the day, so we haven't done that... yet. But personally, I think I would decide that morning what park we want to go to - whatever park we felt we didn't get the most out of on that trip. FPs would be tricky, but I wouldn't plan a typical, full day. I would take it leisurely, just getting that one last taste of magic.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I toss a change of clothes in the carryon that I check with Bell Services and go to MK usually. Then about two hours before DME pick up time, I go back to the resort and clean up before getting picked up - I go when it's hot so I normally need a quick shower or wipe down and change of clothes.

 

[DizDaD7]

So me and my wife are leaving Orlando and our flight is at 10:30 at night. We can, I assume, leave our small carry on bags with our hotel. My question is: what can we do the entire day within Disney? What's the most economical park ticket? Water park? Or do most recommend to stay in the hotel all day?

We usually do a 7 p.m. flight or shortly after....

We wake up early & grab breakfast, then bring the luggage to the baggage check in... Scope out a nice spot at the main pool ( where we're staying @ ) & have a nice relaxing resort day before ME picks us up.....Not before a nice late lunch though..Of course..

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

This is one of the many reasons why I prefer to stay at one of the Epcot resorts. I frantically pack up my stuff, and then bring it all over to Bell Services. Then I just walk over to Epcot and enjoy the day. I keep a very close eye on the time, and I walk back to my resort to get there about 45 minutes before ME is scheduled to pick me up.