First night arrival.. Any ideas

[Iluvthemouse]

Our plane gets in about 7. I figure we may be in our room at All Star Music at roughly 830ish. Dinner at the food court there possibly or maybe somewhere else. Any ideas of what to do the first evening. Our passes start the next day so we cant go in a park. I was thinking maybe Wishes from the Poly or Contemporary? Would that be a hassle getting there and is that too late? I think its EMH at Magic Kingdom that night.

TIA

 

[jesse8931]

I would go to disney springs.

 

[OhThePain]

IF you make it to ASMu by 8:30 (which could be a bit of a stretch to begin with) by the time you are done eating it's going to be after 9PM, at which point it isn't really worth trying to get anywhere, especially after a day of traveling, IMO. I would just hang out at the resort for the evening, maybe pack bathing suites in carry-ons for an after dinner dip in the pool. Other than that I would just relax after traveling so you are rested for the adventure ahead.

 

[Hopefully]

Who is in your party? What are their ages?
Travel day is incredibly tiring. You will most likely arrive at your resort between 8:30 & 9:00. At that time of night I would collect my own luggage, making your hotel arrival even later.
By the time you eat I would just settle in & get a good nights sleep

 

[ZoZo]

IF you make it to ASMu by 8:30 (which could be a bit of a stretch to begin with) by the time you are done eating it's going to be after 9PM, at which point it isn't really worth trying to get anywhere, especially after a day of traveling, IMO. I would just hang out at the resort for the evening, maybe pack bathing suites in carry-ons for an after dinner dip in the pool. Other than that I would just relax after traveling so you are rested for the adventure ahead.

I second this idea. Even if all goes as planned and you don't have any delays, the earliest you're likely to get to your hotel is 8:30. I'd grab a quick bite at the food court, then chill and make it an early evening. If the weather cooperates, have a nice swim in the pool, then have an early night so you can it it hard (and early!) the next morning.

We live in Washington State, so getting to Orlando is an all-day jaunt. We have to get up so early (i.e. 4:00 am west coast time) to get to the airport, we're pretty exhausted when we arrive. Although we're all revved up mentally to start enjoying WDW ASAP, we've found that even traveling to Disney Springs for dinner adds to the exhaustion. Plus, if you go to Disney Springs for dinner, you're likely to not have your food until 9:30 or so - that would be way too late for me.

 

[AngiTN]

I'll buck the trend.
We arrive at 7:00 on Thursday night
I figure we are going to get to BW about 8:30-9:00.
We plan to walk straight to Epcot to enjoy a couple hours of EMH (They are open till 11:00)
We are not taking anything more in our carry ons than we plan to need to go to the park
Since we know we won't be back to the room for 3 hours, or more, we are letting Disney get our bags. We won't have any use for them and the #1 reason I use ME is so I do not have to get bags at MCO.
But, we only have a 90 min flight so it's not like it's a long day of travel either.
We are also in the same time zone as FL so no issues with that either

ETA - We will not be doing RD the next morning. We are heading to AK and that works great as a late start park.

 

[ericstac]

our plans of right now are to arrive around 3pm, we were going to eat at Chef Mickeys then hit °O° for a while but we have never enjoyed CM and reviews are still poor so we are going to cancel and do something we have never done before, well since our first trip, and that is to close down a park we will chill at the resort for a few hours till about 7:30pm then head to Magic Kingdom and snack on whatever food we feel like, ice cream bars, churros, etc.. and ride rides until the park closes at midnight.. pretty excited about doing this because the pictures of the nighttime parks are awesome and can't wait to see it again and ride the rides at night.. our first trip our youngest was only 18 months old so night time was more of dealing with a cranky baby that was not happy about the loud fireworks, crowds, or August heat!! lol

 

[NKHarris329]

I would explore the hotel and make it an early night. Travel (even a short flight) is exhausting and you are going to have a few days jam packed with activities.

 

[Amanda999]

I'd definitely just hang at the resort, either in the pool or, depending on what month you are going, you might make it in time to ASMu for the evening movie.

(Every Disney resort has a movie - not every night, though, during slow/cold months - usually near their feature pool (indoor spot if rain). The schedules (time and which movie) are easily found via google - to find the time just find the one for the correct month, prior year. The start times change a bit each month, so best to look it up. Its funny - my kids barely watch Disney movies at home, but love the evening movies at the resorts. And its free! At moderate and deluxe level resorts they also have a free campfire/marshmallow roast before the movie.)

 

[happymommy]

I agree that I would get your own bags and bring them with you on the bus. That will take some time, so it will likely be after 9:00pm before you arrive at the resort.
I'd plan on settling in.

 

[dsdeleon]

I would get a good nights sleep and plan for early RD.

 

[siskaren]

IF you make it to ASMu by 8:30 (which could be a bit of a stretch to begin with)

I disagree. With a 7:00 arrival, the OP should get to ASmu by 8:30, unless there's some issue with the bus.

 

[KimBean]

our plans of right now are to arrive around 3pm, we were going to eat at Chef Mickeys then hit °O° for a while but we have never enjoyed CM and reviews are still poor so we are going to cancel and do something we have never done before, well since our first trip, and that is to close down a park we will chill at the resort for a few hours till about 7:30pm then head to Magic Kingdom and snack on whatever food we feel like, ice cream bars, churros, etc.. and ride rides until the park closes at midnight.. pretty excited about doing this because the pictures of the nighttime parks are awesome and can't wait to see it again and ride the rides at night.. our first trip our youngest was only 18 months old so night time was more of dealing with a cranky baby that was not happy about the loud fireworks, crowds, or August heat!! lol

Listen to the reviews. We didn't for our 2014 trip and bad decision! It was worse than you can even imagine. My DH while at Disney always looks for the best in things and he could not hold in how bad it was even while we were there.

 

[mshanson3121]

Our plane gets in about 7. I figure we may be in our room at All Star Music at roughly 830ish. Dinner at the food court there possibly or maybe somewhere else. Any ideas of what to do the first evening. Our passes start the next day so we cant go in a park. I was thinking maybe Wishes from the Poly or Contemporary? Would that be a hassle getting there and is that too late? I think its EMH at Magic Kingdom that night.

TIA

You'll be lucky to be in your room by 8:30ish, IMO. I would guess that by the time you get checked in, up to the room to drop stuff off and then down to the food court and done eating, it'll definitely be well past 9, which isn't really worth trying to go anywhere and do anything. I would just go rest up and be ready for RD the next day!

 

[lustergirl]

I would just relax at the resort.

 

[Micca]

While I love the spirit of AngiTN, I'd chill out and hit the rack. Starting a full day on a good night's sleep is the best way to begin a WDW trip, even if you don't plan to do RD.

 

[anniemae]

Add me to the folks who say to stay at the resort. I would get dinner at the food court, go swimming, unpack.

 

[Barbanellie]

At the moment, our flight is scheduled to land around noon, and we've decide to eat lunch at the airport, get to the resort (POR) in the early afternoon, enjoy some relaxing time at the pool, maybe get a drink from the poolside bar, then hop on the boat to Disney Springs, and spend some of our evening there, have dinner, probably at Raglan Road, and get back for an early night to prepare for our pre-opening breakfast at Crystal Palace. Granted, we're still 152 days away, I might change my plans 4 or 5 times before then!