Favorite Arrival Day Strategies?

[JungleCruiser]

Does anyone have any favorite strategies for the arrival day? Usually you are allowed to check in at 4:00 pm. What are your favorite things to do the evening of your arrival?

 

[AimeeM]

We always get to our resort around noon, and they have always had our room ready. Then, we typically head over to Epcot since its open the latest in January ( except on certain weekends). This trip, we are going to check in and head to MK since its the Friday before Martin Luther King weekend. I know the rest of the weekend will be crowded at MK so we are trying this instead!

 

[yecats]

It depends on if you have tickets you want to use for your first day there. If you have tickets visit your favorite park and ride what you can. If you don't want to waste a ticket for that day there are a couple of things you can do without a ticket. Go swimming at your resort. Go have dinner at a sitdown restaurant at another resort. Last year we did this at AKL. We ate at the rest. then went out on the observation decks and watched the animals for a bit ( and we weren't staying at AKL) then walked around and made observations about the hotel (eventually we will stay there). If you have kids, you may want to check out the sing-along with Chip and Dale (then watch Disney film out in the open) at Ft Wilderness. It usually starts around 6pm but you will need to check with them and you also need to be staying on Disney property to do this. You can always eat out and explore DTD or Boardwalk. You can go to the beach at the Poly or observation deck (4th floor) at the Contemporary and watch Wishes at MK. I always like to tour one of the resorts that I haven't seen yet. Obviously, all those can be done without having to use one days ticket and most for free (with exception of eating out).

 

[CAP56]

We have been going to Disney World since 1973 when I was four years old. Now that I am Thirty-Four and have a wife and three young girls (8,5 & 2) I love sharing all my memories of my family trips. On our arrival day we have a tradition no matter where on property we are staying or what time we arrive.

We check-in, unpack and head for the Magic Kingdom Monorial loop. We start at the Polynesian and do what we call "hotel hop" from the Polynesian to The Grand Floridian and end up at the Contemporary. We walk around each resort, check out what's new, ride up front in the monorail and end up at Chef Mickey's for Dinner. Since we usually drive from Michigan, this is the perfect beginning to our trip. The kids, mom (and Dad as well) love to see Mickey and have a great family dinner to start the vacation.

By the way, we will be there Jan 31 Feb 7.

We Can't Wait

 

[becka]

On our past trips we always arrived about noon and checked in. If the room was ready we spent a little time getting luggage to the room, etc. or if the room was not ready we had them hold it. We then went out to the bus stop and the first park bus that pulled up we hopped on and let it take us wherever. It is kind of a fun and spotaneous way to start your trip.

This trip however we will not get to the resort until about 5 PM (and we will have a toddler in tow for the first time) so we are just going to check-in, stash our stuff in our room and then head over to 1900 Park Fare for a character dinner followed by a monorail ride or two before heading back to the resort for the night so we can get an early start the next morning.

 

[cindyfan]

Some of the details depend on where we are staying...
But this is what we enjoy most.........
Fly in (usually arrive between 11am and 3pm), pick up car, stop at Super Target for snacks, drinks, etc.
Then check in and just a quick unpack.
If it's early, head to the pool for an hour.
Otherwise, we head to MK. Depending on the time of year and the park hours.....
we will have PS for Ohana's at 5pm then headed to MK for the evening (park closed at 9).
Or we head straight to MK so we can ride BTMRR and Space Mtn, then see the fireworks.

We have APs, but if anyone in our group does not have an AP, then we just do Ohana's for dinner and watch the fireworks from the beach. If no fireworks, then we just watch the Water Pageant and enjoy the wonderful view of the castle.

CAP56.....we did the same monorail ride, end up at Chef Mickey's once too. Got to watch the fireworks from the Contemporary.

However we end up doing it.....we still get to feel the Magic by enjoying the wonderful view of the Castle and MK at night.

 

[TreeOfLife]

We normally left in teh first flight of the day and headed straight out to the parks. This time we tried something new: We arrived late, went to sleep and the next day hit the parks and MVMCP. The difference was amazing! We felt refreshed and rested.

 

[cindyfan]

We arrived late, went to sleep and the next day hit the parks and MVMCP. The difference was amazing! We felt refreshed and rested.

We've tried that too.....but found ourselves to be too excited to really go right to sleep. So ended up staying up later just at the resort. Then felt we paid for an extra night that wasn't worth it.
So if we don't catch too early of a flight, we can still get a good night's sleep before we leave. Get there early enough to enjoy a few hours, then content to get to sleep early, or by 11pm.

 

[Kteacher]

We always take the first flight down, stow our luggage if our room isn't ready, and head to MK.

 

[sdamico71]

We only visit Disney in October and December.
Therefore, we are able to attend either the Halloween party or Christmas party as our first night in the park.
My kids love it, we get to ride a ton of rides, experience an awesome parade, and the overall holiday atmosphere.

 

[GarrettJD]

We arrived this year at ASMu at about 1:30. Our room was ready, so we checked in, got settled, and hopped on a bus over to Downtown Disney to look around. It was a fun couple of hours, and gave us enough "Disney" to tide us over til the next day at the parks. We got back to our room around 5:00 and relaxed at the pool, then turned in early for our early PS the next morning at Crystal Palace. Well, we tried to turn in anyway, sleeping was pretty hard that night

 

[01Sweetpea]

Our game plan is to land at MCO at 2pm, and hopefully be in Epcot by 4pm. Gives us a few hours to wander around, and really get into our vacation. Then in the room asleep by 10, so we can start nice and early the next morn.

 

[tink&cinderella]

Hi Cap56

We'll also be there from Jan. 31 - Feb.7, 2004 - Where are you staying??

Our kids are 5 and 21 months and we have also been wondering how best to use the initial day. I have noticed that MK has the Fireworks on that night and the Electric Parade. Thought we might head over there for that as it looks as though it is not available often and on the following Saturday we are off to Port Canaveral to board the Disney Magic.

The Monorail loop sounds like fun. We are staying at POR and I am wondering where we would pick up the Monorail.

Thanks,

Tink&Cinderella

 

[Ducky4Disney]

I'm not sure we have one yet, DH and I have only been there twice! But we look forward to years of tradition now that we are DVC members.

On our last trip - I had planned for a day at the parks, but after schlepping through the airports all morning, I was too pooped to park hop. We stowed our stuff, ate lunch, made an unexpected trip to the DVC office, checked in, and went to DTD and DQ. It was a really fun day!

I look forward to having new traditions arise as we settle in to our "new home" at SSR and when we have kids.

We only visit Disney in October and December.

This is our new game plan! We loved MNSSHP and we are planning to attend MVMCP this year - buy AP's, then go Oct '05 for MNSSHP - repeat process.

D4D

 

[CAP56]

TINK & Cinderella

Sent you a PM

CAP56

 

[topcat011]

We are going in February when the parks close at 7 or so. Not arriving until after 3 so going to a park is not reallyworth it. I like the idea of going over and checking out the hotels and riding the monorail. (do you need to have a pass or something)
we will have a 5 day park hopper.

 

[HGD24]

My husband and I usually arrive in the late afternoon (3ish), check in at the hotel, walk around the resort grounds (which, no matter what resort you are at are always either beautiful or just plain fun!), grab some dinner and head over to Downtown Disney. We tend to go at the off-peak times of year, so the parks close early and it's not worth using a day of our passes to only get a few hours of a park....walking the resort and visiting Downtown Disney are usually enough to tide us over until morning.....when the real fun begins!!!!

Heidi

 

[gardendame]

We are driving there in October and tentatively plan on arriving around 5:00 p.m. (have lots of time to change plans!). IF WE ARRIVE THIS LATE, I want to find Disney-type activities to tie the kids over without knocking a day off of our hopper. So far it looks like we will be going somewhere to watch the fireworks (ideas anyone?). We will be staying at POR and want to take the boat to Downtown Disney that night also. Haven't decided what order we will do this, or where we will have dinner. There is also the Electrical Water Pageant. Don't know where or what time this is, or if it is do-able on the same night as the fireworks.

If we manage to get there earlier, and if there is a MNSSHP scheduled for that same night, we will definitely go there! It requires a seperate ticket anyhow, so going there will get the kids into Disney without using up a day off of our hopper.

First full day there will hit the MK bright and early!!!

 

[renessa]

gardendame- The fireworks and electrical water pageant can be seen from CR, Poly, GF, FW, and WL. You can have a nice dinner at any of these and then watch from the beach area!!! Have a great trip!!

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

For the past two trips we have headed over to Downtown Disney after checking into resort.