Going to park on arrival day? Good idea?

[mshanson3121]

Question 1: if your flight lands at 2, is that too late to go to a park that evening? (Normal wake up time for us, so no insane early morning). Or would you just hang out at the resort?

Question 2: if you did go to a park that evening, which one would you pick? So far, all parks are showing 9-9, other than Epcot which has EMH until 11.

ETA: financially, it's not really a concern. Because of the Canadian resident deal, it's only $15 per person to add the extra day.

 

[siren0119]

YMMV, but for me, unless I had an AP it wouldn't be a good use of one of my park days.

You will land at 2, but it's a good 90 minutes before you are actually checked in to your resort (accounting for disembarking, boarding DME and travel time to the resorts). By the time you could arrive at a park, you'd be looking at entering the parks around 4pm. Assuming you'd want to eat dinner at some point (and didn't need to take time for lunch after landing), that would give you between 4 and 4 1/2 hours before park close. For me that wouldn't be a good value for my dollars. That is also assuming no flight delays.

Personally - I'd either plan a nice dinner at Disney Springs or hang at the resort and use the pool.

Take into consideration what you plan to do the next day also - if you are planning a rope drop or early morning at the parks, all the more reason to lay low on arrival day, so you're fresh the next day!

 

[Necroking]

We always go to Disney springs on arrival day. Much less stressful and one less ticket to buy.

 

[pens4821]

Alot of people like to do it, but we don't. As mentioned, by the time you get to the park you won't have much time. Not only that, but we feel that after waking up early and traveling, it's better to just take it easy our first day. We usually eat lunch at our resort, swim, then make a dinner reservation at DS or another resort.

 

[SaintsManiac]

With flight landing at 2 I would just hang out at the resort and rest up.

 

[DWillowBay]

I always allow 3 hours for de-planing, getting to the hotel, checking in, dealing with bags one way or another and then getting into a park. Usually, it takes less than the 3 hours, but if I budget that way, I don't feel rushed. That being said...I think entering a park at 5 that closes at 9 isn't necessarily a good use of time/ money. BUt....if EPCOT is open til 11 that night...that might be great. You could either knock off the rides and just do WS at another time or just do WS and get to the rides another time. The only way I wouldn't do that is if I only had one day per park. 6 Hours would not be enough for me to do EPCOT in full. So, then I might do as the PP said and spend time in Disney Springs or hang out at the hotel or go to the Boardwalk....something like that. Have a great trip!!

 

[Brett Wyman]

Question 1: if your flight lands at 2, is that too late to go to a park that evening? (Normal wake up time for us, so no insane early morning). Or would you just hang out at the resort? If I'm at a monorail resort I would do it for MK(and we do this frequently from the Poly). Or if I was at an Epcot resort I would do it for there. But I wouldn't bus or drive to a park that late in the afternoon.

Question 2: if you did go to a park that evening, which one would you pick? So far, all parks are showing 9-9, other than Epcot which has EMH until 11. Question is answered above. Id only go to MK or Epcot if I had rapid access. And when we go it's usually one ride and the fireworks and some shopping. We keep it very light with no real schedule. We don't try to make it one of our "days in the park".

In February we did the Fireworks dessert party on arrival day and a ride after. We were staying at the Poly.

 

[Calee]

I would not make it one of my "days". For instance if I was doing a total number of 5 days in the parks I wouldn't make this one of them. If I could make this a partial day on top of my 5 days, and if the price wasn't high, and if I was staying near a park, I might do it for fun and to grab something to eat. But it would be a low key evening, not one where I tried to get a lot in the park done.

 

[mshanson3121]

I would not make it one of my "days". For instance if I was doing a total number of 5 days in the parks I wouldn't make this one of them. If I could make this a partial day on top of my 5 days, and if the price wasn't high, and if I was staying near a park, I might do it for fun and to grab something to eat. But it would be a low key evening, not one where I tried to get a lot in the park done.

It's only $15 pp for us to add an extra day to go spend the evening in the park.

 

[NickC]

We've done it a few times in the past. Since we usually stay in the Epcot area, we would just walk through the IG and have dinner somewhere in WS. Then, we would take our time walking back, just looking around in the shops. We would normally be in bed by 10pm though, so we could get a nice rest for RD the next morning.
This year, we are staying at the Contemporary, and doing a cruise before the parks. So, when we get off the boat and get settled, we were considering a walk to MK where we would take our time on Main Street, absorbing all the details that we normally miss when rushing through in the morning. The other option we were considering was to visit DS that night. There is alot of good food and entertainment. We are considering doing a food crawl where we get a lot of small items from the windows.

 

[Brett Wyman]

It's only $15 pp for us to add an extra day to go spend the evening in the park.

Yeah it's not as much a money thing as an "exhaust your family before the trip begins thing". But you know your crew best. If they can fly in, bus over, and still be ready to head to park, go for it! Like you said if one of the parks is open to 11 all the better.

 

[CartyGirls]

We always say we aren't going to go to a park then end up so excited that we just go.

 

[Schneewittchen37]

I'd do it. But with some caveats - only bring carry on bags, don't rely on Disney buses, I've managed to land around 8:30 am and be walking down Main Street by 10.

Go to a park. Make a dinner reservation for somewhere in the park or at a walking distance resort. Enjoy the shorter night time lines and hope for rain to clear the place out.....

 

[glocon]

I’m going against the grain and saying yes. For $15 a few hours would be worth it to us. As a matter of fact, we will be getting up at 5am and driving from Chattanooga and planning on hitting MK around 5pm after dropping off rental car and grabbing a bite to eat at CSR. MK hours are til midnight that night tho, then we plan on a late arrival at HS the next day. So if you want to do it- I say DO IT!!!
I just would suggest a later start the next morning.

 

[Uncle Coaster]

Yes, I would absolutely go to a park that day. In fact, I’d get as much done at whatever park you choose as possible including getting in line for a top tier attraction at closing. This accomplishes two things: (1) you begin your trip as productively as possible and (2) you got a few things “out of the way” for your real park day and could take that at a more leisurely pace. For $15 each you just made your full day that much more enjoyable while giving yourself an awesome travel day.

Personally, If I arrived on property before 5:00 and didn’t accomplish anything that day I would be totally deflated when I went to sleep that night.

 

[Miffy]

For $15--yes, definitely. I always go to a park on arrival day. It's irresistible.

 

[FutureDisneyEventPlanner]

I do it, but that's because my trips are usually very short so if I want to see all 4 parks, I kind of have to.

 

[mshanson3121]

We always say we aren't going to go to a park then end up so excited that we just go.

That's kind of how I'm assuming they'll feel. I mean, on one hand, we're staying at All Star Movies, so I know they'll easily be entertained by swimming, walking around the resort etc... On the other hand, it would be a cool way to "kick off" the trip. Last time we drove for 3 days (28 hours) to get to Florida, so we were up early every day, exhausted etc... There's no way we would have considered entering a park, even though we landed in Florida around 3.

But this time, we'll be sleeping at a hotel the night before, up at just our normal time (7ish), don't have to leave for the airport till 8, and we have a direct 3.5 hour flight. I honestly don't think that will really be all that tiring, and I can see them actually having a tonne of excited energy.

I'd do it. But with some caveats - only bring carry on bags, don't rely on Disney buses, I've managed to land around 8:30 am and be walking down Main Street by 10.

We are only bringing carry on bags, but are relying on Disney buses.

I’m going against the grain and saying yes. For $15 a few hours would be worth it to us. As a matter of fact, we will be getting up at 5am and driving from Chattanooga and planning on hitting MK around 5pm after dropping off rental car and grabbing a bite to eat at CSR. MK hours are til midnight that night tho, then we plan on a late arrival at HS the next day. So if you want to do it- I say DO IT!!!
I just would suggest a later start the next morning.

Hats off to you!!! I confess, if we were up at 5 am and driving, there's no way I would be entering a park, lol!

 

[DisDreaming4116]

HECK YES! If money and exhaustion aren't to be stressed by doing so, why not?!
Arriving at a park by say, 5pm, sounds like a great first day activity. On that first day, I love sitting in the Magic Kingdom hub grass waiting for the fireworks to start and thinking, "I woke up this morning at home, in enter your state here and am now sitting in the Magic Kingdom. Life is good."

 

[mshanson3121]

*If* we did it, and that's a big if right now, I'm still not sure I want to try this or not, but *if* we did, I was thinking something like:

Day 1 (arrival day): Epcot from 5/6 to 11. Basically doing the M&Gs (Ralph/Vanelope, Joy/Sadness) and World Showcase. That's really all we planned to do anyways, other than Frozen ride.
Day 2: We could sleep in and relax. Head into Hollywood Studios around 1:00 (which was our original plan anyways).
Day 3: R&R day
Day 4: MK (rope drop to close, with a long afternoon break, and HEA Dessert Party)
Day 5: R&R day
Day 6: AK (9 - till whenever we get tired in the afternoon)
Day 7: MK (9, leave after the parade)


Otherwise, plans are looking like:

Day 1 (arrival): Hang out at the resort
Day 2: MK, 9-9 with afternoon break and HEA party
Day 3: HS, 1-9
Day 4: R&R day
Day 5: EP, 9-3/4ish
Day 6: AK, 9-3/4 ish
Day 7: MK, 9-end of parade

I dunno... almost thinking maybe the first option looks better, two full rest days instead of one? With the flexibility to add a Blizzard Beach day?