First Day Traditions

[Spork24]

It's MK and a walk down Main Street for us. We prefer to ride splash mountain and watch wishes as well if possible.

 

[jsrj21]

We have a tradition for the first 4 days of every trip. Day one however goeas as follows - early morning flight out of NYC.....check-in to CBR [whether room is ready or not].....and head straight to EPCOT. Lunch at Katsura Grill, ride Soarin', Living With The Land, and Spaceship Earth. Back to resort, settle in, freshen up, and off to MK for dinner [wherever], CoP, and Wishes. Good times.....just thinking about it makes me itchy to get back.

GREAT QUESTION!!!!! Please be bored at work more often...just kidding....not really.

 

[PirateD]

It's fun to read about everyone's traditions!

Our first park is always MK! That walk down Main Street starts the magic for us! We used to always go to Tomorrowland first to get Space Mountain FP's for thrill seekers and Buzz for the rest of the family. Our first ride would often be Buzz. With FP + the plan is changing a bit, and we will be going to Fantasyland and enjoy PP as our first ride.

Since most in my family travel from the West Coast, we don't always make it to the park on our first day. We have tried taking a red-eye and then going to the MK, but actually find that it works better for us to take an early morning flight and arrive late afternoon or evening. After a long travel day, we usually just settle in and try to go to bed early so we are rested and good to go in the morning.

 

[kmb584]

In the past, we've arrived in Orlando at 1:20p and were settled into our resort by 5:00. We'd then go to MK for a bit, followed by dinner at either 1900 PF or Crystal Palace. Next week our flight arrives at 9:00a and we'll spend a longer time at MK that day than we're used to followed by dinner at 1900 PF.

 

[margot31]

Not so much a first day thing but at least have my fish and chips and a pint in England.

 

[pooh2001]

When our DS & DD were young 1st day was MK to see the castle and do some rides

Now everyone is older - room ready - we unpack and relax - dinner is where ever we can get it - or we go to EPCOT

I think it depends on the age of your family

 

[amberg93]

We do MK the first park day. However, lately we've been getting in late, so our first day is usually all travel and then checking into the resort, grabbing a food court meal and then heading to bed.

 

[tinkertaz]

Usually try to go to Magic our first day. Nothing like walking down Main Stree

 

[fbarker]

We usually arrive mid-morning, check in to our hotel and relax for a bit, and then we throw caution to the wind and take the very 1st theme park bus that arrives at the resort! Great to be so carefree!!

That is such a great idea so random and exciting. I bet you all are betting on which park bus will show up!!

 

[fairy oma]

We arrive about noon so we may go into MK while waiting for the remaining party of 3 to arrive at the resort sometime around 3:30. We are going to dinner at T-Rex and an easy early evening at DS.

 

[Ocean]

My first day tradition is practically a thing of the past, but I always enjoyed it. I used to always stop at Guest Relations in whatever park we visited to get Disney Dollars. Since Walt Disney World is a special world unto itself, it was always kind of like going through currency exchange for international travel. I prefer to go to the Magic Kingdom the first day, so my usual (and favorite) Guest Relations stop was usually at Main Street U.S.A. With Magic Band purchases, I don't know if you can even get Disney Dollars anymore, but that was our tradition for almost two decades.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

We always arrive early enough to make it a pretty good day at the Magic Kingdom. I'm no good until I see the Castle, I feel like the trip hasn't started yet until I'm walking under the breezeway onto Town Square-the smell of popcorn, the music, the colorful balloons. I *have* to be there!

 

[KSR0330]

First day is MK and first ride is HM!

Us, too! That was our first ride on our first family trip (kids were teens). I also can't imagine being in Disney on the first night without seeing Wishes!

 

[anniemae]

we never do a park. We usually arrive late morning and check in. Then we have lunch at the resort, CBR, then buy our mugs. We then unpack, settle in and head over to DTD. We usually eat at Pucks Express, then walk around. We always hit the big Disney store, then head over to Ghiradelli's. Then back to the resort so we can be rested for our first park day!

 

[jdh008]

This is one of my favorite topics! I love reading everyone else's first-day traditions because it makes me even more excited to get back.

We generally arrive around midday, and we always head straight to Epcot. The next part is somewhat negotiable. We ride a handful of rides, usually some combination of Spaceship Earth, Test Track, and The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Then, we get to our dinner reservation at Via Napoli, which isn't negotiable. It doesn't truly feel like we've arrived until we've eaten far too much pizza.

 

[jlsmith376]

We always head to Magic Kingdom on our first day.

 

[apwagner]

Our first day changes but it typically DTD/Disney Springs since we drive 13 hours and typically arrive in Orlando around 3 pm. We do have a last day tradition though. One final walk thru MK followed by pics in the Main Street Train Station on our way out. Im usually in tears by then but its a great way to say "See ya real soon!"

 

[rushing]

We will arrive at Fort Wilderness and then head to the Hoop dee Doo with all five grand babies!

 

[fbarker]

We normally arrive around midday,by car. Before online check in we would check into the resort and then head over to MK with no specific plan except to immerse us into Disney. Talking the Monorail, going through the Contemporary arriving at the main gate. Seeing the train station walking under the tunnel taking in the smells and seeing the castle. All of this taking us from our real world to the magic of Disney. Then we just wander around and play it by ear. With on line check in we make sure every thing is in order as we are completing our drive to Disney which allows us to head right to MK, except last year due to the Crowd Calendar we went to EPCOT and while very nice it was out of the norm and just did not feel right.

 

[jmenjes]

My Amtrak train usually arrives in Orlando about 1:30 pm, and I reach my resort a little after 2. After checking in, my first visit is to Disney Springs to do some shopping.