Extra Night on the Front or Back of Trip?

[TikiRob]

We are visiting for a short 3-night stay in March. We have a very early 8:00am flight arrival on our first day and a late 10:30pm departure on our last day. Curious if anyone would go as far to book an extra room to avoid the nomad feeling on travel days.

Would you rather have a room booked for the night before to have the room available when you arrive or book the night of departure to have a place before you head home?

 

[5kidsmommy]

I would book an extra night at the end so you have a home base at the end of the trip with such a late flight.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Neither but I am cheap.

 

[wdwfan94]

A room booked for the night before will allow you to book LL a day earlier if staying on property.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I would book it at the end so that I could get an early start at the parks on that last morning and not have to rush out of the room so early with all our bags.

I also agree with @CAPSLOCK too. I would check out and give my bags to bell services to hold. I guess it would depend on the cost of the resort stay. For the cost of a deluxe room, I don't think I'd pay for another night. I understand that it's not what you asked so I did answer your question before explaining what I would do.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I wouldn’t do either. We’ve had similar flight times and never felt the need to book an extra night but that’s us. Hundreds of dollars for a place to leave luggage when luggage services holds it, is not an expense we choose to pay.

We leave luggage with luggage services on check-in and check-out days.

 

[gottalovepluto]

End you can change and shower with ease before your flight and use the pool that afternoon.

I don’t see the point of having a room for a 9am arrival to WDW if you’re going to the park that day since the parks are open.

 

[TikiRob]

Thanks for all the votes. I considered an option for "neither" or "both" but that is such a budget question of worth. I think I agree with the current poll results of the departure day. Having a place to stretch out, relax, and shower before heading home seems most advantageous. We are at Animal Kingdom Lodge and there are plenty of places to do all that (besides showering) around the resort.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

If money is not an option, I would book an extra day at the end. I'd rather just drop my luggage off when I arrive and hit the parks when we still have a lot of energy than trying to pack up everything to by out of the room by 11am.

 

[IndyToThere]

I wouldn't book an extra room at the beginning just to park your bags - that's what bell services is for. However, you might consider flying in the night before and having the room to sleep in, so you can hit the parks in the morning and not possibly be held up with delayed flights. It doesn't even need to be a disney resort (if you are staying onsite for the regular part of the trip). Plenty of affordable hotels in the vicinity of the property that would put you very close to your actual disney resort for the next morning.

 

[brockash]

We are visiting for a short 3-night stay in March. We have a very early 8:00am flight arrival on our first day and a late 10:30pm departure on our last day. Curious if anyone would go as far to book an extra room to avoid the nomad feeling on travel days.

Would you rather have a room booked for the night before to have the room available when you arrive or book the night of departure to have a place before you head home?

If I was going to (I would not), I'd do day before. If you had a red eye and your landed at like 5am, then I might, but an 8am landing (assuming all goes smoothly), travel to resort, checkin, get food, swim and loumge/explore...decent chance your rooms ready early...I wouldn't waste the money.

On departure day; do a lunch and then go back and hang at the pool until time to shower and change.

If your doing parks on arrival/departure even less if a reason, in my opinion to pay extra).

 

[CarolynFH]

We fly from Texas, and to arrive at 8:00 AM Eastern would mean getting up around midnight or not going to bed at all. And I can’t sleep on a plane. So I would add the hotel room at the beginning, in order to guarantee myself a place to take the very much needed nap that morning or afternoon!

Of course, that’s why we don’t book flights that land before 11 or 12!

 

[disneychrista]

I would do neither. But of the two I would do the end, that way I could come back and nap before my flight.

I have a similar situation on a trip to Seattle. My flight gets in at 9am and departs at 10pm. It would be nice to have a room on departure day but not for an extra $250+.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I wouldn't book an extra room at the beginning just to park your bags - that's what bell services is for. However, you might consider flying in the night before and having the room to sleep in, so you can hit the parks in the morning and not possibly be held up with delayed flights. It doesn't even need to be a disney resort (if you are staying onsite for the regular part of the trip). Plenty of affordable hotels in the vicinity of the property that would put you very close to your actual disney resort for the next morning.

We did this 2 weekends ago. I don't have a lot of time off saved because I was out on medical leave for over 2 months, Oct-Dec. So I took a Monday off and we flew down late Friday night after work. Crashed at the Hyatt Place near MCO, free with cc points. It has a free shuttle to/from MCO and free breakfast in the am. So we got up early to Uber to WL, drop off our bags, then head to HS. Unfortunately, the road closures due to the marathon made our ride to WL take 1.5 hours with traffic just crawling along Disney property.
WL atmosphere just washes away all of our stress.
We really just wanted to ride Aerosmith Rockin Roller Coaster one or two more times before it closes. On Sunday, we visited MK and flew home Monday morning, getting home with still enough hours in the day to get laundry done and be ready for work the next day.
It's not the most economical use of RT airfare but we had great 80+ degree weather and it felt great to be back.

 

[saraheliz]

Beginning. My family has a strong dislike for arriving, changing in the hotel lobby bathroom and heading to the parks. Everyone is grumpy from the early morning and as much as we try to pack efficiently we’re always opening at least one suitcase looking for something.

That being said, we may do just this out next trip to get some extra time in but if we could come the night before, we would.