Best time of day to arrive

[Corwin12]

Hi, Could use some advice. I have my trip all planned, Dec 9th - 19th. I am not arriving in Orlando until 5:10 pm. I cannot get an earlier flight in the day that works. However, I can fly out late the night before, stay at a hotel near Orlando airport that night, and arrive at Disney much earlier the next day than I would have. Do you think I am just adding unreasonable steps and expense to this trip or do you think it is worth it to arrive at Disney earlier in the day?

 

[Dan Murphy]

Welcome to the DIS, Corwin.

I always take a 7:30 AM CST flight down, arrive about 11:30 EST, get to the World about 1 PM, have a nice first day, not to rush rush, but pretty much a full day.

 

[vs0204]

i AM IN THE same boat as you. The available flight for me would have us arriveing at 830 pm and this seems to waste the whole day. I could take early flight day before and arrive to disney early. If you see any hotels near airport that are CHEAP, let me know. I don't want to spend more money than needed.

 

[I Love Pluto]

Earlier in the day sounds best to me. You want to have time to unpack, see the resort, have dinner, and maybe go to a park. Arriving earlier also gives you the better choice of room at your resort. The rooms aren't all "spoken for" yet.

 

[badblackpug]

We always arrive in the evening (we leave after school, and the flight is cheaper) on the 1st evening we check in, unpack, have a nice dinner, if time allows a swim at the pool, and get to bed early so we can get up early and spend our 1st full day in the park.

 

[Cory's Gal]

The last time we went we arrived at 5pm, took Magical Express, and were checked into out hotel by 6pm. It worked great for us, like the poster before, we checked out our room at POR, took the boat to DTD, had some dinner & walked around and shopped a bit, took the bus back and were in bed by 10pm. A nice evening and then we were able to get up for morning EMH! It was a nice way to start the vacation!!

 

[checkwriter]

We like to build in a 'cushion day' if we can, to arrive, stay outside the World, and take it easy. The next day we're out at the crack of dawn, check in to WDW, get our tix, and hit the parks. We don't get to our room until the afternoon, but by then we're ready for some down time.

 

[SnwflkCts]

I think I would want to take the extra day, stay outside of WDW for one night and arrive early the next day for an almost full day of park fun.

More time at "HOME" is always better!

 

[Cool-Beans]

Night before, or morning of? Totally depends on the person. I'm a night before kind of gal. Rather get where I'm going, settle in, and be well rested...wherever I'm going.

For WDW, I like to get there in the afternoon, get all my groceries, check-in, clean, unpack, unwind and go see the Hoop-Dee-Doo. The next morning we are up and at 'em!

I understand why some people prefer not to pay for a night in a hotel (and leave home a day earlier), though.