East Coast Visitors

[wdhinn89]

How do you East Coasters handle the time change? I am assuming your body wakes you up pretty early in the morning considering the 3 hour time difference. This is the reason we picked the DL portion of our trip first. We figured it would be easier to get up early and go, especially for MM which should be at 7am in July. (with a tween and teen, this is usually pretty difficult)

What was your experience? How long did it take you to get used to the time difference?

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

I used to be from the Midwest before I moved out here - 2 hrs difference. I also travelled for work once I moved out here and had to commute out to the East Coast from LA on a regular basis. (We also go to Hawaii - which is a 3 hour difference from here during Daylight Savings.)

I offer this advice -
How your body springs back to adapt to a time change is something very individual. No matter how tired you are, I would try to stay up later on the first day you arrive. This will help your body rythmn continue keep it's cycle of # of hours it normally rests. That means if you usually sleep a 7 hour night, going to bed at 9pm would wake you up at 4. If you push it to your normal 10:30 - 11, then you would achieve your 6 - 6:30 give or take.

This might work for you, but it may not work for your spouse. We had friends come in from Orlando a few weeks ago and they were exhausted and crashed, but their kids (4 & 6) were like little Energizer Bunnies! Their dad slept over 6 hours when they got to the DLH. The kids crashed hard after Fantasmic. They were fine the next day, but their parents were still exhausted and woke up early.

Just some thoughts...

 

[ukstitch]

I'll be making this very time change next month as part of my NYC/Vegas trip, so I'll try to remember to report back as to how I coped.

Granted, the "results" may be tainted depending on how well I adjust to the initial 5 hour time difference (UK - NYC) but it may still be useful to you.

As an aside - I really struggled with the 8 hour change (UK - Seattle / SoCal) last time and it took me the best part of 5 days to adjust properly. Luckily, 5 days was exactly the amount of time I was in Seattle so I was ready in time for DLR

 

[bonofreak]

For me, I am usually tired the first day I arrive and try to get to bed early. After that I don't seem to notice the difference. Even when we went to Europe I found that to be true for us, the first night, we were really exhausted but the next day we felt pretty adjusted. I think the body can just do that, or maybe it's because I was so darned excited to be there and did not want to waste anytime sleeping!

 

[ukstitch]

For me, I am usually tired the first day I arrive and try to get to bed early. After that I don't seem to notice the difference. Even when we went to Europe I found that to be true for us, the first night, we were really exhausted but the next day we felt pretty adjusted. I think the body can just do that, or maybe it's because I was so darned excited to be there and did not want to waste anytime sleeping!

I find it much harder when travelling west - it took my almost 5 days to fully adjust when visiting Seattle / DLR, but I was adjusted back again within 24 hours of my return to the UK.

I also think your flight time can make a huge difference - I had a late evening flight going west, so slept, but of course I landed in Seattle at about 8 - 10pm, meaning that I was then supposed to be going straight back to sleep again. Going east, I had another night flight, so left LA at about 9pm, hit the UK mid afternoon and then had enough time to feel a little sleepy and backto bed at my normal time.

 

[Haunted Man-Shane]

I just love the fact that I can catch an early flight and be in L.A. before noon, so I don't feel like I lose a day just to travel. Going back, not so much. As many others have said, I'm usually fairly tired in the early evening, but I adjust by the next day.

 

[wdhinn89]

Thanks for all the replies.

We have an 8am flight out of NY and arrive at LGB at 10:45am so it will definitely be a LONG first day for us. As the week goes on, we are definitely going to need those mid afternoon breaks we keep reading about

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

With the morning arrival time, I think you'll have the whole excitement factor propelling you to stay up the first day.

After all, who can sleep if you know you have a Disney theme park waiting for you when you get there? Not me!