Do you go to the parks the day you travel?

[mom2AidanAndEli]

We don't ... not on check in day or check out day.

I don't consider it to be a good use of a ticket, and I only buy enough ticket days for what we actually need.

We're rope droppers, so arrival day is never ideal.

On check-out day, I'm ready to GO.

I had thought that way until I realized an extra day is only $10 per person.

 

[Steakgoddess]

We usually try to take the first flight out-about 6 AM. We usually arrive at the hotel via Magical Express around 10-11 AM.

Then, we head straight to a park. No set park-it is different every time.

 

[Toadlover]

We fly in in the morning, get our things settled at the hotel, then go straight to MK and straight over to Pirates. That's just the way we roll. On the way out, we get a late flight out and spend the day at the MK once again doing our favorites, if we can.

 

[bluezy]

I had thought that way until I realized an extra day is only $10 per person.

Ditto. Some trips we only spend 3 or 4 hours at Epcot that first day other times we've spent as much as 6 hours. Either way, it's a bargain.

 

[DCLbrideSept2009]

It depends but most of the time we do. Our trip last month, we drove from Dallas to New Orleans, stayed the night and day at my BIL's house, drove through the night the next night and went straight to DHS. Kids, SIL and I had all slept at least some in the car. Hubby and BIL had not. But we still managed to get a few rides in.

 

[ThisIsJason]

So far; Check-in day: yes. We have taken a flight that is earlier in the morning and have gotten to the resort by 1:30pm. In a park by 3:30pm. Check-out day: no. ME pickup time has normally been around 1pm. Don't see the point of hitting a park for only two, maybe three hours.

Now that we own DVC we are talking about adding a day at the start of our vacation and staying at POP or AoA and just swimming and going to Downtown Disney. We will see once rack rate is released at the end of the month.

 

[dramadrew]

We did, but we had an early morning flight. Surprisingly we did two parks on our first day. We did the same for departure day, but did half day at one park and early evening flight.

 

[cattywampus]

We are coming from the Westcoast so won't land until 6:00 pm but still considering going to MK for few hours. Figure we will be checked in by 8 at GF and could get FPP for MSEP and two attractions since park open until midnight, which will be 9:00 pm our time. We have a 7 yo with us and don't plan to try to make RD or early mornings. We will likely stay pretty close to Westcoast time.

Probably won't do parks last day but might!

 

[beedee12]

We are going to the magic kingdom the day we arrive. Our flight lands at 1 PM and MK is open til midnight that night. The magic really starts for me when I see the castle! But it's just my husband and I, no kids to worry about. If we have kids it might be another story.

 

[MeanestMomEver]

Our tradition has become to visit MK on the first and last days if time allows. Usually, this means arrive anywhere from 12-4 and stay late on arrival and super early CP breakfast, staying until early afternoon on departure day. We prefer to have a non-park day in the middle for pool time and a movie to give our feet a rest.

 

[MeanestMomEver]

We once arrived on Thanksgiving Day at 5 pm after driving Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. Our plan was to just get dinner, get organized and rest and do MK the next day.

However, seeing that big welcome sign gave us all a second wind and by the time we checked into the hotel, we were way too excited to just have dinner and go to bed early. We hit MK, which was open late and had one of the best park days ever!

 

[Disney_Princess83]

No. We some on an International Flight that takes 25 hours from take off to touch down. We arrive at MCO at 5:30pm. We check in and head to DTD to pin trade, Goofys Candy, dinner and back to the resort.

 

[nooneshome]

generally we would get to our resort around 5 or 6 in the afternoon after driving around 10.5 hours. We would unpack and head to DTD for a sandwich at the Earl. Rarely have we gone to the park but we did a couple times when we had APs. This next trip we plan on getting to our resort around 3 or 4 and plan on going to MK. Hopefully we can snag some FPs for Anna and Elsa and the Mine ride. Also MK has late EMH that day.

 

[jovicat]

When we stayed at POR/POFQ, we usually went to DTD on arrival night. Easy boat ride. But we're staying at Pop this time. I'll get in around 1pm, DD arrives around 6:30. I thought I'd spend my solo afternoon at MK. It's the last day that Carousel of Progress is open during our stay, and I'd hate to miss it, corny as that sounds. DD doesn't care about CoP like I do.

DD hasn't seen AoA yet, so we plan to eat dinner there and walk around. That's a nice, relaxing start to our trip. We'll probably skip DTD this time, b/c of heavy construction.

Hi Poohsie! Is Carousel of Progress closing? we love that ride!

 

[ThE FuTuRe ImAgInEeR]

We normally book a dinner reservation at the park closest to our resort on the day we check in. After dinner sometimes we walk around or ride rides but most of the time w go back to the resort and go to the pool. On our checkout day we always go to a water park before leaving to go stay at our family's house.

 

[Toadlover]

Hi Poohsie! Is Carousel of Progress closing? we love that ride!

It might just be a seasonal thing? I love it too!

 

[siskaren]

Hi Poohsie! Is Carousel of Progress closing? we love that ride!

It might just be a seasonal thing? I love it too!

It's closing from Sept 22-27, so it must just be a brief refurbishment.

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

We usually swim and go to DTD the day we arrive.
We drive in since we are in FL.

 

[MinnieMe129]

It depends.

Last year DD was 2 (almost 3) and we arrived in time for the 3:00 parade at MK. We stayed at WL, so it was just a quick boat ride. I thought it would be a "magical" way to start the trip and we ended up staying at the park for a few rides. DD fell asleep in the room right before dinner and we ended up waking her up for our ADR at whispering Canyon.

In hind site, we should of let her nap when we arrived at the hotel and shouldn't of made dinner plans. She was EXHAUSTED the entire 5 days we were there. It was almost like she was too tired to enjoy anything - we went back for naps in the afternoon but always ended up having to wake her for dinner ADRs.

We are going back this fall and DH only agreed to go if we had more down time, sleep in days, and only ADR's for when we know we will already be in the parks. We arrive Saturday night and our first park will be on Monday.

But, if I were going with older children or all adults we would probably go straight to a park.

 

[supergoofy]

Flying out of Portland Oregon at 5am our time and land in Orlando at 4pm local time. Staying offsite so have to get a rental car but even if we were onsite by the time we got on the bus and got to our resort it would be dinner time.

After a 6 hour flight and an hour and half lay over we will be tired. And since its August the hours will be shorter.


The flight home I took the latest flight out we could. We will leave the parks about 130.


I don't see being able to fly off the west coast and do the parks very easily on arrival day. Yes it can be done but I don't know if I want to do it.