How do you fight first night Jetlag!!

[fairytale]

Hiya All.

We are now just 5 weeks away from our trip to WDW and was wondering how you fellow Brits tackle your first night in the US.

We are a family of six, DH, me DS7; DS6; DS3 and DD 18months.

Our flight lands @ 2.30pm and we are all determined not to settle straight in for the night and keep in UK time.

Your advice and experience will be most welcome

 

[tashasmum]

We stay up as long as possible. We will have a trip to DTD and Walmart after having something to eat.
We are always up at a ridiculous time the following morning but this year we managed to stay asleep until 5.30, then we hit the parks early after breakfast and try to get into some sort of routine for the rest of the trip.

 

[rickhasco]

Hi
The best advice I could give is to make sure you get a really loooonnngg sleep the night before you fly ie.9-10 hours solid and wake up as late as you can on the day you fly if possible. That way, you will be in better position to fight the sleep temptation the next day. If you can then stay awake to 9-10pm USA time on your 1st night, you should be fine and won't suffer the jet lag but this will be less easy to do for your children maybe ?
Works for us every time

 

[tashasmum]

Hi
The best advice I could give is to make sure you get a really loooonnngg sleep the night before you fly ie.9-10 hours solid and wake up as late as you can on the day you fly if possible. That way, you will be in better position to fight the sleep temptation the next day. If you can then stay awake to 9-10pm USA time on your 1st night, you should be fine and won't suffer the jet lag but this will be less easy to do for your children maybe ?
Works for us every time

If only i could sleep the night before. In the 12 years we have been going i never get a good nights sleep. Too excited.

 

[Neoshoegal]

I adjust my watch as soon as I get on the plane so I try to get a bit of sleep. We usually stay up until about 9 or 10pm on the first night and get up at a normal time the next day. That seems to take care of it.
Coming back on the other hand takes me ages to get back to normal but that's mainly because I still want to be on holiday and don't want to get back to work

 

[wicket2005]

We always head straight into a park and the excitement keeps us on the go. We never go to sleep till after 10 pm on the day of arrival, then we sleep fine with no early morning wake ups. Though my sons are tons older than your kids so it may not be possible for you to do that with young ones. So I would just recommend you go with the flow and if you have to retire early with the kids just do it and have a longer first day.

 

[Deedee]

We never get jet lag on the way out because you gain 5 hours, but get it bad when we get home because you lose 5 hours. Plus when you get there you keep going on adrenaline with so much to do.

 

[DjdBrit]

I have flown alot with my kids back and forth to England, I live in Boston but the time is the same in Florida. I find going to the US much easier than going to England. I would suggest just keeping the kids up as late as you can once you arrive which is easier said than done. Try and put them to bed as close to bedtime at home but on US time. So if they go to bed at 8pm thats when you put them to bed here. Good luck I know its super hard. Last year my then 1 year old only slept for 40 minutes in the overnight flight to the UK. We landed at 7am and he had pretty much been awake all night, my then 3 year old only slept for 20 minutes!!! Which mean I was awake the whole trip what fun!!

Good luck

 

[wickesy]

Like Neoshoegal I change my watch as soon as I get on the plane and from then on I am on US time. At the other end I stay up until 9-10:00 and I'm normally fine the next day.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

I normally don't have a problem - but this year we took our two children for the first time (aged 4 and 9mths) - we all went to bed waaaay too early and it took us about a week before any of us could stay awake past 7pm (2 nights I actually fell asleep before they did!! )

My suggestion (and what I plan on trying next time! ) would be to eat out the first evening - we ate in the hotel room and it was too easy to collapse on the bed!!

 

[babystar]

Oh I wish my family had the getting up early problem. I have taken my DD2 4 times to florida and each time we both fall unconsious(sp?) as soon as we get to the villa(normally about 7.30pm) and wont wake up until about 10am the following day. This carries on for at least the first 4 nights!

 

[Pinky166]

Same for us - we stay up as late as possible to adjust and then don't have a problem for the rest of the trip.

Definately go out though otherwise you will just fall asleep on the bed whilst watching tv!

 

[luke]

I always thought you only got jet lag flying east (ie back home in this case) due to the time differences?

When you get to Orlando tho, you're just so excited to be there that you usually have plenty to do, be it just go to DTD and get some dinner, that by the time you get to bed it's at least about 10pm, meaning you can sleep til 8am odd, and be pretty much acclimatised to the new time by morning

 

[orlandothebeagle]

We are way too hyper to sleep, thats why I love Florida,final crash around 12am, then ping you are awake again the next morning.

 

[UKDEB]

Although we invariably manage to stay up until 9pm or 10pm local time, we're still awake at around 4am the following morning and way too excited to get back to sleep. This is all part of it for us, and we wouldn't really want to fight it. We use the time to unpack properly and spend some time easing ourselves in gently. For several trips we used it as an excuse to take in a breakfast at one of the Disney resorts (Boma was a favourite) and still be at a park for opening time. It normally takes us around 3 days to settle into local time.

 

[Hbabe78]

this is my first trip so im just thinking about what to do and my thoughts were.

we arrive if on time at 3.30pm local time, we are taking the free transfere to i drive so god knows how long it will be before we get to the hotel.

by that time, i thought wed upack and just have a wander on i drive and have some dinner, if we are up early well just make the most of it, the hotel has free breakfast which can get busy so well be first for breakfast and on the first shuttle bus to disney and get an early start lol. thats what ive planned anyway but well see what happens

ohhh im getting excited just thinking about it lol

 

[Snowy-girls]

We set our watches to US time when we board the plane.We go to the hotel,unpack,freshen up+then go straight out for dinner,then we have a nosey around the shops(we stay on I-Drive)go+get supplies-Mountain Dew,chocolate,milk,crisps,water etc..Then back to the hotel for showers+a bit of telly.Then we go to bed about 10-30 US time.x.

this is my first trip so im just thinking about what to do and my thoughts were.

we arrive if on time at 3.30pm local time, we are taking the free transfere to i drive so god knows how long it will be before we get to the hotel.

by that time, i thought wed upack and just have a wander on i drive and have some dinner, if we are up early well just make the most of it, the hotel has free breakfast which can get busy so well be first for breakfast and on the first shuttle bus to disney and get an early start lol. thats what ive planned anyway but well see what happens

ohhh im getting excited just thinking about it lol

Where on I-Drive are you staying?.x.

 

[Lizzybear]

Well last year I took pro-plus on the flight as I know I don't deal well with time differences and on previous trips fell asleep at 6pm The pro-plus did the trick and I managed to stay up til 9pm, an improvement at least! My bf on the other hand can adjust at the drop of a hat as he worked permanent nights for 4 years. This year our plane lands at 9:30pm local time (8 hours behind!) so i'm going to try and sleep a little on the plane and also bring my trusty pro-plus I'm just glad we're not getting the car straight off, don't fancy driving when my body is at 5:30am!

 

[kevin harrison]

I guarantee that the people that stay up till 10pm local time haven't got children.

In 2005 we were sat in some resturant at 19:30 and my daughter was comatose on me and I had to carry her home and she never woke...She still awoke at 3am.

 

[Snowy-girls]

I guarantee that the people that stay up till 10pm local time haven't got children.

In 2005 we were sat in some resturant at 19:30 and my daughter was comatose on me and I had to carry her home and she never woke...She still awoke at 3am.

When we went in 2004 dd was only 3 and a few months,she had no sleep on the plane+was still fighting it when we wanted to go to sleep at about 10-30ish.She had more staying power than me+hubby did .x.