Do you or do you not do the parks on the first day in?

[Tosha]

I am planning to do the parks ( MK ) on our first day.

Our flight is at 6:40 am. We get in shortly after 9 am. We plan to go to the resort, relax a bit and make our afternoon lunch ressie. Then hit the parks, as we will be too TOO excited to wait the day out at the resort, PLUS we want to enjoy every second of being in the Disney

 

[dogodisney]

No we do other things the first day since we drive down.

 

[bzzymom]

We like to fly early in the am too. The kids sleep the hour to the airport, and sleep on the plane and are ready to go into the park when we get there. I have learned not to schedule any ADR's that day. We have been caught on the last 2 trips having to call to cancel them because of flight delays.

 

[Tosha]

I never thought about the flight delays ( first time flyer, so it didn't occur to me)

so maybe I should change our 1pm ressie? I thought that would be more than enough time.

 

[Tosha]

Also, Our flight is a straight flight out, no stops, so I'm wondering ourchances of delays?

 

[marvali]

Most trips we don't do the parks the first day. That is mainly because we usually have the all day drive to get there (10-11 hours with stops for gas, food and potty) and it is too late to worry about it so we just try and get everything settled for our stay (grocery shopping, etc.), and ready for the next day.

This summer we are doing a few days at Vero Beach before we head to WDW, so we will be there much earlier in the day with the short drive over and therefore we plan to do one of the parks the day we arrive.

 

[Chkysbak]

Apparently we are on the same schedule, flight times, etc... We are also planning on being at the resort around 10am. So we are planning to go to MK as well. Of course we are going to be there the same times, but I knew that already...

I was just planning a day of shopping at DD Disney until my DW said oh NO... were going to MK. So I guess we will more than likely do tomorrow land and of course shop. My kids will enjoy that the first day.

 

[Chkysbak]

Also forgot to mention, if your flight is non-stop, odds are if it gets delayed it won't be for long. I have waited a maximum of 1.5 hours for the flight to leave from my airport. Of course that was because of mechanical issues. Once up though, unless there is bad weather you will touch down soon

 

[thegrimdwarf]

We never do the park on arrival day because we fly and we can't control our arrival time - if the flight's late, nothing we can do about it, and no need adding insult to injury by missing out on planned time in the parks.

We just settle in at the resort, maybe hit the pool, get the lay of the land, and then head to Downtown Disney for shopping and dinner. Then early to bed - we start our touring with the 8:05 ADR at MK the following morning.

 

[F1Julie]

We never go to the parks on arrival day. We leave the house around 6:00 to drive down to WDW. We get there in time for lunch and then head to the pool. Then we head to a resort for dinner.

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

We've always done a park on our first day. On our first trip with kids, we planned to go to DHS, primarily to catch the Playhouse Disney show first thing. Then the transponder on our plane wasn't working, and we pulled into MCO two and a half hours later than we thought. We went from a 10 a.m. arrival to a 12:30 p.m. arrival, and by the time we got to the hotel and checked in, had lunch, and got to the park, the last show for the day had already started. We ended up at Downtown Disney instead, and it was a wonderful, relaxing evening. We planned a trip to the parks again on our last (large group family) trip because it was a Sunday during Star Wars Weekends. My DH wasn't going to miss that! I was all for just swimming and shopping our first day this trip (we'll have an almost-five-month-old this time!), but my DH found out that it only cost about $8 each to add park tickets for that day because of the amount of time we're already staying. So we went ahead and added it on, and we plan on hitting one or two things in the MK before our 5:15 ADR at Chef Mickey's - the perfect place for dinner our first night, in our opinion. With the ticket price being that cheap, I figure that even if we end up only hitting one or two rides, it'll be worth it for a glimpse of the castle on our first day!

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

This was the first year we DIDN'T go to a park on the first day. I think we are going to do the same thing next year as it worked out really well for our family. We explored the resort, unpacked and went to bed early. Of course, it was nearly 5:00pm by the time we arrived.

 

[ObsessedwiththeMouse]

We never do the parks....we always spend our first day at Downtown Disney. It's nice, because during the week, we rarely get to DTD because we're so busy with the parks.

 

[kaleighmariesmom]

We got there at 4 PM after driving 12 hrs and STILL went to the park right away. We showered got ready and went... out DD2 would have it no other way. She asked when she could see Mickey for 12 hrs. My husband was too excited to wait until the next day too. He had never been there. We stayed until 11 and loved it.

 

[gracefor5]

This is our first trip, but we are not planning parks the first day. We are flying all night from CA and we get in at 6am. At some point my kids are going to crash. We figure we'll have pool time and DTD time.

Kim

 

[HelenePA]

Tosha.. dont do parks on the first day... We also had early flights (6:45 am getting in at 10am) which meant we left the house at 2:30am Hyper little kids did NOT sleep at all in the car for the 2 hr drive to the airport.. nor did they sleep in the airport, nor did they sleep on the plane... nor did they sleep on the ME... they did crash and burn at about noon when we finally checked in to our resort and were on the bus on the way to the parks.. the first day sucked... I regretted being there the whole first day... it was awful Now after some sleep that night and getting up early the next day disney rocked! Next year we'll either drive, or get a midday flight... Never again will I get on a plane at 6:30am with little kids... Have fun..

I like the idea of doing DTD the first day... If you doing the dinning plan I'd save the TS credit and do a 2credit place like the castle (if you can still get in I can't see your ticker)

Let me just mention the first day was horrible... never again will I get on a plane before 12 with the kids.. it was just awful.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Our 1st few trips we'd go to MK on our arrival day. Now we're more relaxed. We either fly down Fri night after work and crash near the airport, waking up well rested in Orlando or fly down Sat. am and rest by the pool, unpack, etc. Last Nov. we went to Cirque then had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. It was a busy day but not too stressful.
My dh doesn't like to use up a day off our park tix unless it's going to be a full day.

 

[raraloveseeyore]

We also have a 6:30 a.m. flight and are planning to do MK when we get to WDW. We have never done this before and are looking forward to it, but we are all adults so that makes it easier. When we go with our grandkids we don't do the parks the first day.

 

[princessesx2]

I am begining to question my decision to fly so early too....6:30 am depart and arrive 9:30am arrival in Fla.....plan is to go to resort and check in.....get a return time as to when rooms will be available and go to DTD to eat and shop.....even just walk around so dd can nap in stroller if she will.....then nap in resort and have dinner @ 8pm adr in MK....just to go in as 7 day tix 7 day trip.... luckly we only live about 10 min from airport.

 

[leagirl12]

We drove last time and got to the resort about 4 pm so we didn't do a park last time. This year we are flying leaving at 6:30 getting into Orlando at 9:30....we are planning to go to Epcot and tour World Showcase...just kind of take it easy but without missing anything, and then to bed early. Early to bed is something we NEVER do while at WDW so this will be a first but I have a feeling we will be ready after starting our day at 4 AM.