How do you adjust for time chnage with meals- coming from east coast...

[OFF TO WDW!]

My wife and I and 14 year old son are going to DL for the first time next month. My son and I have never been to the west coast before and it's been a long time since my wife has been there.

Is there any advice for making the transition to the west coast easier?

I have heard that it can take several days to adjust and I am not sure what to expect as we leave for the coast on a 4:30 p.m. out of JFK on JetBlue.


How is it sleeping with the time change?

How does mealtime work? Will I be hungry in the middle of the night?

Not sure about all these things so I decided to ask.


Any thoughts appreciated!!!

 

[sonnyjane]

The good news is, you're heading in the "right direction" coming from the east to the west. What I mean is, it will be easy to wake up early to hit the parks at opening since 6:00 AM here will feel like 9:00 AM for you. It will also be advantageous during meal times, since you guys will probably be hungry for dinner earlier than the rest of the "rush". The only time it might hurt you is if you want to stay in the parks late, since nighttime entertainment that might not start until 9:00 PM will feel like midnight for you.

As far as tips to change it, I can't really help you there, sorry!

 

[OFF TO WDW!]

The good news is, you're heading in the "right direction" coming from the east to the west. What I mean is, it will be easy to wake up early to hit the parks at opening since 6:00 AM here will feel like 9:00 AM for you. It will also be advantageous during meal times, since you guys will probably be hungry for dinner earlier than the rest of the "rush". The only time it might hurt you is if you want to stay in the parks late, since nighttime entertainment that might not start until 9:00 PM will feel like midnight for you.

As far as tips to change it, I can't really help you there, sorry!

Thanks you!!!

 

[Disney Dreams]

Sonnyjane is correct in terms of tips of how to use the time change to your advantage. That, however, also keeps your body clock on east coast time. If what you want to do is adjust to west coast time, it's not too tough.

Tips for adjusting to the time change:

The whole key is your night of arrival.

1) With a 4:30pm flight, you will be arriving, what, 9:30pm? 10pm? YOUR time. However, it will be around 7pm in California. You will probably be feeling like it's near bed time, but you are in CA now and need to force your body to stay up. If you can make it until 10pm, local time, that would be great! Your body will be tired, you will sleep well, and you will be half way to local time on your body clock. A nap on the plane will actually help you. (Whereas, it hurts you in terms of adjusting when going eastbound.)

Set an alarm for whatever time you want based on your plans the next day. That night (your 2nd night).

2) The minute you land, change your watch (if you where one). Do not think, "It's 7pm, but it's 10pm for us." You are on the west coast, live by west coast time. That IS your time for the next X days.

3) Mealtimes. You will be hungry when you are hungry, but if you slide your sleep pattern starting with that first night, your body will hop in to PST all around, including hunger.

Now, if you want to NOT adjust and just use the time change in your favor as Sonnyjane suggested, that's another option, but it would mess me up even more ROFL!! Personal preference on that one.

HTH,
Dreams

 

[blackjackdelta]

I and other disers travel alot and there is nothing I have found that can really change anything. Get lots of rest when you can, stay hydrated, try to keep Vit D level up and we never eat on our home time, eat when hungry and stay away from the deep fried stuff, hard to process.

Jack

 

[OFF TO WDW!]

Sonnyjane is correct in terms of tips of how to use the time change to your advantage. That, however, also keeps your body clock on east coast time. If what you want to do is adjust to west coast time, it's not too tough.

Tips for adjusting to the time change:

The whole key is your night of arrival.

1) With a 4:30pm flight, you will be arriving, what, 9:30pm? 10pm? YOUR time. However, it will be around 7pm in California. You will probably be feeling like it's near bed time, but you are in CA now and need to force your body to stay up. If you can make it until 10pm, local time, that would be great! Your body will be tired, you will sleep well, and you will be half way to local time on your body clock. A nap on the plane will actually help you. (Whereas, it hurts you in terms of adjusting when going eastbound.)

Set an alarm for whatever time you want based on your plans the next day. That night (your 2nd night).

2) The minute you land, change your watch (if you where one). Do not think, "It's 7pm, but it's 10pm for us." You are on the west coast, live by west coast time. That IS your time for the next X days.

3) Mealtimes. You will be hungry when you are hungry, but if you slide your sleep pattern starting with that first night, your body will hop in to PST all around, including hunger.

Now, if you want to NOT adjust and just use the time change in your favor as Sonnyjane suggested, that's another option, but it would mess me up even more ROFL!! Personal preference on that one.

HTH,
Dreams

Disney Dreams,

Actually the flight is schedule to arrive at 7:50 p.m. I'm guesstimating that may be almost 11 p.m. EST to our internal clocks.I think trying to take a little snooze on the plane may help out and then do the other suggestions you and Jack mentioned.


Thank you

 

[Disney Dreams]

Disney Dreams,

Actually the flight is schedule to arrive at 7:50 p.m. I'm guesstimating that may be almost 11 p.m. EST to our internal clocks.I think trying to take a little snooze on the plane may help out and then do the other suggestions you and Jack mentioned.


Thank you

Ooops, 11pm, right. I was thinking MCO - LAX, not JFK.

We travel quite a bit and the above is what we do when heading westbound. The body clicks into local time in about two days. That first night is the key.

Enjoy your first trip to So. Cal.

- Dreams

 

[CandMmommy]

I plan on keeping it the same first night since we will do MM, then we will try to adjust after day 1. I have plans for fireworks on a weekday afew nights later so we should be adjusted by then.

 

[kymom99]

I had never been west until last year when I went to Vegas. I never could adapt. I kept my watch on Kentucky time and kept trying to do things by that schedule. It was very confusing. My friends seemed to have no trouble adjusting. I suggest you follow the advice given and live on California time and try not to think about what time it is at home.

 

[I❤MICKEY]

We travel back to NY about 4 times a year. My DS are little and we just keep them on their normal schedule. Works out great for us because they stay up late and sleep in. Which means we get to sleep in too.

As someone else pointed out the opposite might be good for you because you will be able to get up early and start the day without dragging. Maybe go back to the hotel midday to rest so you can stay up late.

Honestly all the excitement will probably keep you going so when you do have the chance to sleep you will crash. It is unbelievable the amount of energy you get just from being there.

Have a great time.

 

[bleeps]

What works for us:

The moment you get on the plane, change your watch to the new, Pacific time. Resist the urge to do the translation back to EST, just start acting like it's the time on your watch.

From then on, do everything in the right time -- so eat your meals, stay up, go to bed on Pacific time. I think that the combination of this, along with the adrenaline/excitement of being on vacation makes the adjustment fairly easy.

It is coming back east that's harder, and again it's because -- as others point out -- you're going against the sun, against the natural progression of time. But we do the same thing in reverse -- we set our watches to EST as soon as we're on the plane. It does take a day sleeping in/adjusting back on the return, for us, but since we're back home and the vacation is over it doesn't matter.

 

[DCDisney]

Our kids were younger but we intentionally tried to stick to our time because it made touring easier. We were up early for CA despite feeling like we slept in. Ate breakfast in our room, got to parks very early when crowds were low and ate meals on our time which meant lunch at 11 and dinner at 4. Some days we were even able to do sit down brunch at about 10 am which worked great. Over 10 days we did gradually migrate towards Pacific time and did evening shows at that point but most nights we were in bed by 7 or 8. I did tell hotel clerks we needed very quiet rooms which helped. It made our trip nice and the return home very tolerable.