CM first night or MK for a few hours?

[rusty4]

Just looked into adding another park day. We will arrive late afternoon (2:30pm) on Jan.12th. We had planned to just relax and go to CM for dinner that first night. Now I am wondering about skipping CM for another park day and spending a few hours at MK instead. Right now we only have one day for MK so this would give us a few more hours there. We are staying at the GF so travel time to the Park would not be a problem. I figure it would be 4pm or even 5pm before we get there though because of checkin. So what would you do? Never been to CM but am okay with skipping it or making breakfast reservations for another morning.

 

[rusty4]

DS6 was dying to go to CM. After talking to him he feels it is just food and would rather go straight to the park. I will keep the reservations for awhile to make sure this is the right plan.

 

[Sweet Melissa]

Personally, I think there's no better way to begin a Disney vacation than by heading directly to the Magic Kingdom. As long as everybody is awake and energetic enough to do it, I would definitely try to work in at least a little time at the park that day, even if you do go to Chef Mickey's as well.

 

[OhThePain]

Remember, it's Disney, so DS6 is the boss! Hang on to the dinner ADR and try to see if you can get something for breakfast on another day. If you do, keep it a secret from him. It will make it that much more special for him.

 

[MamaJessie]

We're doing CM that first night because we're driving straight down and I think we won't have that much energy for MK. I'd rather wait until we would get more out of it. I think CM dinner is a special enough way to start the vacation.

If your sonw ants to hit the park though, then have a good time

 

[rusty4]

Remember, it's Disney, so DS6 is the boss! Hang on to the dinner ADR and try to see if you can get something for breakfast on another day. If you do, keep it a secret from him. It will make it that much more special for him.

Haha! DS would agree with you. I am looking into CM for breakfast for another morning. I have not cancelled anything yet. Still weighing the options.

MamaJesse, we only have a 2 to 2 1/2 hour flight. It leaves late morning so I don't think we will be too tired. That is why I am considering it. It is suppose to be a very very light crowd day then too.

 

[3boys4me]

I say toss CM and go to Magic Kingdom.

 

[corky441]

Just looked into adding another park day. We will arrive late afternoon (2:30pm) on Jan.12th. We had planned to just relax and go to CM for dinner that first night. Now I am wondering about skipping CM for another park day and spending a few hours at MK instead. Right now we only have one day for MK so this would give us a few more hours there. We are staying at the GF so travel time to the Park would not be a problem. I figure it would be 4pm or even 5pm before we get there though because of checkin. So what would you do? Never been to CM but am okay with skipping it or making breakfast reservations for another morning.

I'm going to buck the trend here -

Eventhough MK is open until 11pm on Jan 12th, I would suggest NOT going.
First off - it's a shame to use a ticket for what could at most be 7 hours in the park. Remember you'll still be taking away "ride" time to have a counter service meal.
Also, even without knowing what your plans are for the next day, I think after a day of traveling and getting settled in, staying in the park til closing and then the travel back to the resort and then getting to bed for the night - you'll be lucky to be turning out the lights at midnight.

I would suggest giving yourselves time to rest that first day - enjoy your meal at CM, then take the monorail over to the Poly and watch the water parade from the beach. Have a dole whip and then head back to the GF and get a good nights rest ...

 

[lucyem]

Either way will be fun

I would recommend to keep the ADR and see how you all feel when you arrive and what time it is once you are settled. Don't forget to factor in the cost of that extra day for tickets. Also what is your plan for the next day - possibly rope drop?

 

[rusty4]

Either way will be fun

I would recommend to keep the ADR and see how you all feel when you arrive and what time it is once you are settled. Don't forget to factor in the cost of that extra day for tickets. Also what is your plan for the next day - possibly rope drop?

The next day my DH is going to the International Builders Show. DS6 and I have the day to do whatever we want. I am considering either AK or Epcot and doing the Kidcot in Epcot and not focusing on anything crazy. Just a relaxing day. We are having breakfast together that morning at 1900 Park Fare before we go our separate ways.

If we go to Epcot that day we will skip AK completely and go to Epcot another day with DH for all of the rides. Another reason for Epcot that day is if we decide to do a park that night together( after he is done with the show) it is open later than AK.

Oh and to go from 3 day tickets to 5 days is only about $25 for all 3 of us. We are getting convention rates on the tickets. Worth it to have the option I think.

Corky441, from everything I can see MK closes at 8pm that. So it would give us a few hours in the park and then wishes is at 8pm. So it would not be a real late night. We would not stay to close even if it was open till 11pm.

 

[sydneysmom]

skip CM and head to the park !!!! You can always eat inside the park but if you run into an experience like we had last week at CM, we were there almost 2 hours because the characters were running behind. It was awful and loud. You had to take marathon pictures because the handlers were shooing the characters to the next table.

When we got there our first day, we grabbed our tickets and headed right to the MK. It was fantastic. You could always make a reservation at Crystal Palace if you want a character meal your first night...then you're already in the park.

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

We did the "striaght to the park" on the first day thing in November and it was GREAT. The cost difference between days on park tickets is negligible - IIRC, the difference between a 6 day and a 7 day ticket was around $5 per person. It's really NOT that much in the grand scheme of themes. Anyhow, we rode a few rides, had a CS dinner while waiting for Spectro, saw Spectromagic and Wishes and headed home. With little kids, 7 hours in the park is FINE. It was a very magical start to our vacation and I planned to do it again this way.

In March, I am planning to do it differently just because of the MSEP schedule - it was the only way I could do both CM and Ohana for dinner. CM for breakfast doesn't make sense as we aren't big breakfast people. We are going to Downtown Disney (I've been there, but DH and the kids haven't) and then we're doing Chef Mickey's. We're doing a 1/2 day in the parks on our last day.

You really can't go wrong either way.