Flight home JUST changed - what would you do with an unexpected "extra" day?

[olive]

We were supposed to fly out early afternoon for our return home in July. Now we leave around 730 pm. Not sure yet if we will take MDE or a cab, but we are staying at the CR and are right by MK. We already have 8 day park tix. Adding another day on is easy enough and there is still availability in all parks.

Obviously getting to Magic Kingdom would be the easiest - we can just walk over. We can spend time at the pool. Monorail hop to the other loop resorts for snacks. Maybe mini golf over by the Boardwalk. (Not all of these things - I just mean these are options. ) I am kind of lost! We had been set to basically sleep in a little, check out after a late breakfast/early lunch and head to the airport. We have never had such a long day available. What would you do? Our kids are 8 and 13, if that would influence your choices.

Thanks for the ideas!

 

[Farro]

Get an earlier flight? The days we are flying home, I just want to go! I hate hanging out waiting for a flight, even if we go to a park.

But....I guess I would do a brunch type situation (or just a late lunch) and then just hang at MK. I assume you'll be leaving your luggage with bell services at CR and it's just so easy to go back and forth.

 

[coolbrook]

No contest for me, I would be in Magic Kingdom! Maybe a "favorites" day where we split up a bit, kids get a little freedom and go ride one or two rides while Mom and Dad sit and enjoy a morning pastry (Gaston's.) Do some shopping, sit on the un-parade route and catch all the cavaclades, re-ride Splash, find the Dapper Dan's, visit attractions you didn't have time for before like Tiki Room, and just soad up the atmosphere and music of the park. I love that place! Enjoy your bonus time!

 

[Marthasor]

You could go to Ft. W for part of the day - visit the stables and do the archery experience. You could also schedule a fishing excursion leaving from CR. You could go to MK, again, if it holds interest. Or, consider making that day a MK day and adding a different activity to one of your currently planned MK days.

 

[keishashadow]

Consider the later flight ‘a gift’ i.e. extra park day! Although, the flights could easily change again.

Couldn’t be any easier to walk over to MK for rope drop

Just not a fan of lounging by pool on checkout day

Not sure if boat is back up & running to FW yet. Last i checked none from WL either

 

[olive]

Get an earlier flight?

We live near a smaller airport. There are only two flights in and out a day to and from MCO on the airline we booked on (Jetblue)! Big change since we used to live in NYC. Our other choice is pretty early, and I didn't want to have to get the kids up super early on their last morning. Lesser of evils.

 

[olive]

Consider the later flight ‘a gift’ i.e. extra park day!

Couldn’t be any easier to walk over to MK for rope drop

Just not a fan of lounging by pool on checkout day

I am definitely considering it a gift! So funny about the pool - my 8 year old asked if we can go straight to the pool when we get to Florida INSTEAD of going to Disney. I was so confused. WHO IS THIS CHILD?! I know kids love hotels and pools but...

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Get an earlier flight? The days we are flying home, I just want to go! I hate hanging out waiting for a flight, even if we go to a park

Same. I can never seem to relax on travel days...always worried about missing our flight or just dreading the airport and the whole process.

OP - if an earlier flight isn't an option I think I would just leave the day open and play it be ear. After 8 park days your kids may be over the parks. You could do lunch and last minute shopping at DS, mini golf, or anything else you may not have had time to fit in.

 

[LiveLifeLoud]

We always get a late flight and do a park. We get up around 8-9, finish packing, check out at 11 am and store our bags. We usually hit MK but last trip we did DHS (pre covid). We got there around 11:30ish, left around 4, ate dinner near our resort and got on DME at 7. It was a great day.

We aren’t DS people (haven’t been in 14 or so years) so we don’t do that and I can’t do a pool day without my own room to shower and change afterwards. I won’t feel clean. So a park day works for us.

 

[Marionnette]

I just got home Sunday night after taking a 7:30 flight out of MCO. We slept in, got packed up by 10:00, had brunch at The Boathouse and then headed to Epcot. By the time we parked, trekked across the parking lot and made our way into the heart of the park, we had time for 2 attractions (SE and TT), walked to the Germany Pavillion where we purchased caramel corn and then had to leave in order to make our flight. I would have been happy if we had gone to the airport after breakfast and been on an earlier flight home.

If you decide to make it a park day, then I suggest the MK because it's the closest. Do most of your packing the night before, take your luggage to bell services instead of waiting for them to pick up from your room, and hit the park early. You will deal with long wait times for attractions if you do the leisure morning approach and you will not get a lot done before you have to leave.

 

[DisneyFive]

We just had a very similar situation happen this week. Our departing flight was moved later. We weren’t planning on going to a park on our departure day.

Due to how parks need to be reserved now, I went ahead and added an extra day of tickets for the minimal cost and reserved Magic Kingdom just in case we want to go there. I would rather have it reserved and paid for, rather than waiting to purchase tickets but end up shut out because MK is all booked up. (We are at the Polynesian so in a similar situation as you)

Part of the reason we added Magic Kingdom for our departure day was to de-risk the potential that MK would have bad weather on our last full day. We always like to have MK as our last full day, but if something went awry, at least we have our departure day now to say goodbye to our favorite park.

Dan

 

[DisneyFive]

I would also like to add, in our experience, departure day park days don’t feel anything like a normal Park day.

You are thinking about getting back to the resort in time to catch the magical express, you already have everything packed up, you’ve checked out of your room... Typically we have now chosen not to do park days on our departure day. It’s better than nothing but it definitely doesn’t feel the same.

We purchased our departure day tickets as a “just in case...”

Dan

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

I would also like to add, in our experience, departure day park days don’t feel anything like a normal Park day.

You are thinking about getting back to the resort in time to catch the magical express, you already have everything packed up, you’ve checked out of your room... Typically we have now chosen not to do park days on our departure day. It’s better than nothing but it definitely doesn’t feel the same.

Maybe we're strange for this, but I could never fully enjoy being in a park on a travel day (as others alluded to, there's too much stress about leaving on time for me).

We have only flown a few times over the years, but even when driving and having more flexibility in the schedule, we prefer to check out at 11am and then meander over to DS or somewhere for lunch before getting on the road.

Similarly, we never visit a park on arrival day. We prefer to check-in and relax, then hit a park the next morning. In fact, on our last trip, we scheduled THREE days at the resort before even setting foot in a park! It was GLORIOUS and we are looking forward to doing the same thing for our upcoming 50th Anniversary trip in October. We get plenty of park time on the days in between travel days and don't feel the need to squeeze a few more hours in on our travel days.

 

[sethschroeder]

Get the park tickets, hit up MK, and take the 4pm MDE.

I would likely do AM in MK, DS for lunch, and then take MDE.

 

[DisneyFive]

Get the park tickets, hit up MK, and take the 4pm MDE.

I would likely do AM in MK, DS for lunch, and then take MDE.

Just personal preference... I agree but I would suggest lunch at one of the monorail resorts or in the park. DS bus service is dicey and personally I would rather say my goodbye to our trip from a park or resort than Disney Springs.

Dan

 

[PaladinButters]

I would rather say my goodbye to our trip from a park or resort than Disney Springs.

I think I would cry grown adult dumbo-sized tears if I had to be ripped away from MK at 3pm to catch a flight instead of saying goodbye at the end of the night.

 

[TikiRob]

I guess this goes to show that every travel party is different. It is interesting to read all the folks not liking park days on departures. Every trip we seem to add on another park day for departure and we always leave saying how grateful we were to have done it. Longer trips make it even easier for us as the pricing drops significantly. At $20 or so a person, it is worth just strolling the lands for a few hours.

 

[DisneyFive]

I think I would cry grown adult dumbo-sized tears if I had to be ripped away from MK at 3pm to catch a flight instead of saying goodbye at the end of the night.

I understand completely. Most likely, we will not visit Magic Kingdom on our departure day. The only reason I expect that we would is if we were not able to say goodbye properly the night before because of something like bad weather.

I guess this goes to show that every travel party is different. It is interesting to read all the folks not liking park days on departures. Every trip we seem to add on another park day for departure and we always leave saying how grateful we were to have done it. Longer trips make it even easier for us as the pricing drops significantly. At $20 or so a person, it is worth just strolling the lands for a few hours.

For us it was only $13 per person. Well worth it if needed

Dan

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

I hate leaving early and NOT going to a park! I would take just an hour in MK on a park bench to absorb a little more magic for my long in between trip time. I say adding on a day and booking a pass won't break you and will give you options to ride a ride one last time or purchase something you forgot.

JetBlue has been CRAZY with the MCO changes. I hope it settles down soon.

 

[olive]

I understand completely. Most likely, we will not visit Magic Kingdom on our departure day. The only reason I expect that we would is if we were not able to say goodbye properly the night before because of something like bad weather.



For us it was only $13 per person. Well worth it if needed

Dan

Yes, for us it will also be less than $20/pp. Not so much an issue of cost as just what we will want to do with the time. The point about an extra MK day in case of weather messing up our final MK day, which is currently scheduled for the day before, sounds like potentially a good idea! We can always scrap it. Maybe rope drop MK and then hit the pool, shower at the poolhouse, change and go. Hmmm.