Can anyone offer itinerary suggestions for me? read on...

[LittleMermaid04]

We have an early morning flight that will arrive mid morning..and I am trying to figure out the best thing to do on the first day. Am I correct that most hotels don't allow check in until 3 pm or so?
We have Park hopper tickets, also. (Children are 4 and 7)

Same thing goes for the day we leave. We have a late afternoon flight. We plan to go to Sea World, would that be a smart choice for the arrival/departing day??

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[Amirah95]

If you are staying on Disney I read that you can leave your luggage with Guest Services (check in desk) at your resort. If you are staying offsite then you would have to ask those check in people if you can leave your things.

I think SeaWorld would be perfect to do on the first day because it's not stressful (according to my DH, I've never been) and I have also read a trip report where a couple did Epcot on their first day and I also think Epcot is not as stressful as the other parks.

 

[vicb]

Hello LittleMermaid04, welcome to the DIS boards!

I'll offer some advice, I've been to several Sea Worlds (including Orlando) and been to WDW 3 times in the past 6 years.

Twice we have taken an early morning flight to WDW and been able to check into our resort (Poly and BWI) around noon with no problems. If you are unable to check in they will store your luggage for you so you can go off to the parks.

With a park hopper pass I would only go into a park on arrival or departure day if you knew you could get your money's worth out of it because you will burn a full day off your park hopper. Both times we checked in at noon we had the old "length of stay" type passes now called Ultimate Park Hoppers (I think?). Last trip we had regular Park Hoppers and didn't want to burn a half day, actually less and we didn't get to our resort until 4pm. So we swam at the resort pool, we went out for a nice dinner at the BW and hung out there. My DD got her hair wrapped and DS and DH rented a surrey bike. We got to bed early and off to the parks the next morning.

Personally I wouldn't do a shortened day at Sea World because the trick there is getting the timing just right so you can see all the shows you want to. The Shamu show only runs a few times a day so you sort of plan around that show. If you didn't get there until noon you might have trouble with scheduling.

If you do go into a park for half a day with the age of your kids I would do MK. It is what the kids really want to see and do first. You could do some rides, see the afternoon parade (which would get that out of the way) and maybe have a nice dinner there.

That is my .02 ! It really is just a personal decision. Oh yea, some people like to do Downtown Disney on a half day. The Lego Store is great, so is World of Disney, and the Toy store with the Mr. Potato Heads. You can eat at Rainforest Cafe too.

Good Luck.

 

[Amirah95]

We drive in so there is no way that we will be doing any parks. We get into our swim suits and hit the pool to get ready for the next day at one of the parks. If we flew in and got there early we would do a park indeed because I know my DD would be excited and would want to go. I agree with vicb...see what the kids want to do.

 

[2dogmom]

I agree, if you don't want to burn a day, do some swimming at your pool and go to downtown disney. The kids will enjoy that. Between the stores and the water shooting out of the sidewalk in certain areas, they will have a ball. If you choose to use a day, then I would take the kids to MK.

 

[swilshire]

I'm not sure how much you'll want to do on your departure day. Orlando has the longest airport check-in lines I have ever seen. It's been a couple of years since I've flown out of there, but back then, I was trying to arrive 2 1/2 - 3 hours before my flight. One thing to your advantage, most of the rental car places are right at the airport, so you don't have to allow time for a shuttle from some distant location.

It's also the best place I've ever found to get a bump if that interests you, though I've had to turn them down a couple of times because it meant flying out the next day.

We spent an extended period of time working on the Mr Potato boxes at DTD. A cast member finally took pity on us and packed our two boxes. She was amazing. We got one for ourselves and one for my son's preschool class.

Sheila