How do you usually handle check out day? Go to theme park or no?

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I usually fly home between 7-9pm. I always end my trip at a theme park.

When it's hot out I put baby wipes, travel size deoderant, hair brush and a change of clothes in a carryon bag so I'm not a sweaty mess on the plane. Then when I go back to the resort, I clean up some and change. A few times I cut it too close for catching Magical Express and ended up changing and all at the airport.

I should add that if I drive I just get up, have breakfast, finish packing up and head home.

 

[pigletgirl]

Usually not. This time we're flying home the day after check out from Disney, as we're meeting friends at the Crayola Experience at the Florida Mall on check out day. My husband and I decided to spend the night at a hotel near the airport and we have an early flight out the next day.

 

[J'aime Paris]

If possible, yes we go to a park on check out day.

I try to always schedule a late flight home. For a trip I'm currently planning, the flights are way, way cheaper to go back home on Monday morning instead of Sunday night.

If we choose Monday, then no parks. But it's ok, because then we'd have all of Sunday!

 

[kniquy]

It depends on when your flight is, how long your trip is and how much you have been on the go. My April 2017 trip we didn't have to get the ME bus until 3ish, so we got up early hit AK for EMH and were done and back at the resort by 1:30 -- the park was getting really crowded so we didn't mind leaving. For this April we will be there for 7 nights -- our last day is a transfer day to Universal, but if it wasn't we probably would use it as a park day. In November we will only have a 4 night trip, so i am hopeful to get really late flights home so we can have a pretty full day at a park. If you add on the extra day usually the cost isn't much more, so you figure this gets you 3 more FP and allows you to soak up as much park time as possible.

 

[okienick]

Our last day at WDW for our vacation in June will be on a Saturday in June. Flight doesn't leave Orlando airport until 7 pm and we're planning on leaving AKL around 4 pm. For most of our trip, we're staying off site, but our last night we are staying at AKL.

The planner uber-Disney fan in me wants to cram in as much park time and WDW time as possible. However, I know that my kids and my DH will want & need downtime before we head back to the real world.

I'm having a heck of a time deciding how to handle our check out day! So I'm curious what the rest of y'all do in situations like this.

When we went to Disneyland almost 2 weeks ago, we WERE going to do the VR game at The Void in DTD, but I cancelled those plans when this WDW trip came up. The day after we get back home is DH's birthday, so we're doing his birthday dinner at Boma on Friday evening. On Saturday, I was originally thinking that we'd sleep in and have QS breakfast at Sanaa. Check out by 11:00 am, store our bags with Bell Services, and spend some time at the pool before we leave for the airport.

But then I read a thread that talked about The Void. I'd love for us to to The Void on Wed of our trip, but I don't know yet if DH will need to attend a work event that evening for the conference he's attending in Orlando that week. He won't know until the last minute. I'd hate to plunk down all of that $$ only to find out that he can't do it with us...when doing this is going to be part of his birthday present.

So I am inclined to schedule The Void for Saturday afternoon before we leave for the airport. But what time should I schedule it for? I'm thinking that we'll go to Disney Springs, do The Void thing, browse a little, eat a snack, then pick up our bags at AKL before heading to the airport.

We will have a rental car and are not using ME for airport transportation.

I'm in this same quandary. Our flight is at 7pm on a Saturday, and we will uber from wherever we are. We probably won't go to a park unless there is something we feel like we missed, but we do plan to hit Olivias at OKW. that has been on my list for awhile, and I like the idea of a nice breakfast on our checkout day. We will be at BRV, so we will get up and finish packing, drop bags with resort airline checkin, head to breakfast and then either go back to WL for a relaxing pool day or head to a water park. We've never done a water park, so we may do that...just not sure. Whatever we do, it will depend on how we feel that day or night before, how packed up we get, etc. I like to have something to do, but I also don't want the last day to be too stressful. Water park shouldn't be as stressful as the others, but does involve change of clothes and other planning for the flight home. so we shall see!

 

[VandVsmama]

So AKL will hold your bags for you even after check out?

Yes, they will! We did something similar at the Disneyland Hotel a couple of weeks ago. Went to the parks on our check out day, but checked out first and stored our bags with Bell Services. When we were done at DL for the day, we went back to the hotel, got the car, and got our luggage from Bell Services. It was very convenient and very easy.

 

[VandVsmama]

It depends on who is traveling. if it is just my son and I then we go to the park. Squeezing every last drop out of our visit. If my husband is with us, not so much. As others have said, he doesn't like to get hot before having to get on the plane unless he has a place to shower and change. This last time we did go to the park but that was because we were at the VGF and could get easily back to the hotel in time for the Magical Express. I had planned 3 fast passes for our favorites, walked thru the stores and then headed back. It actually was really relaxing this time! I know that isn't usually something I say with visiting the park but we just did what we wanted.

This is how my DH is, too. The park lover in me wants to go to MK one last time. But I also know that we're going to be tired after a long and fun week. I also know that DH will be pooped from working PLUS vacation stuff. So I think that we might skip parks on our check out day, even though I'm VERY tempted to go on Pirates one last time before we go!

 

[Tksolomom]

We never go to the park on checkout day. It always feels too rushed with the packing; I don’t want to get up at 4 to finish up and make rope drop. We normally go to a character breakfast at one of the resorts, and go to Disney Springs or play mini golf. I think doing the Void is a great idea.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We go to a park on our last day, but we drive so we aren't really on a schedule. We prefer to get at least to Jacksonville on the first night of the drive home, but that is only 3 hours or so.

 

[Dsny4fun]

On the last day I always do a park, then head to magic Kingdom....the last thing I do on every vacation is one last walk down Main Street to take it all in before heading home. It's always hard to say goodbye to WDW

 

[agavegirl1]

Since checking out of our Disney Resort means checking in to our Universal resort, we go to a park for the morning, have lunch then head over to Universal. Check in there is 4PM. We like to get there at 3 in case our room is ready and get checked in, get our tickets and Express passes and maybe have an adult beverage. Leaving WDW is seldom sad for me.

 

[fla4fun]

I don’t, but then I am usually going directly from Disney back to work, so I am leaving around 5:30 am. If I had an evening flight I probably would though.

 

[North of Mouse]

We drive, so wake up leisurely, then hit the road!!

 

[myheartisinFlorida]

Yes, they will! We did something similar at the Disneyland Hotel a couple of weeks ago. Went to the parks on our check out day, but checked out first and stored our bags with Bell Services. When we were done at DL for the day, we went back to the hotel, got the car, and got our luggage from Bell Services. It was very convenient and very easy.

Thanks for that info! Makes my check out day a little better knowing I can spend some more time at Disney!

 

[JB097]

I always stick close to the hotel, I’m paranoid we will miss our bus back to the airport!

If it rains or you get bored you can always go explore other hotels. This way you don’t have to spend extra on a park ticket for only part of the day.

 

[Eastern]

I couldn't do a planned, paid for activity as I'm not sure how everyone would be feeling that last day. Probably Just too much stress. When my kids were younger we always scheduled a 9-10am ish character breakfast for that day then got our luggage and waited for ME. Lately with APs, my (now older) kids will run to a park and do a last minute walk through while I relax and get organized. We are generally tired at the end of the trip so I like to keep it low key.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I plan a park on check out day. But we never go.

By the time we have packed our bags and loaded the car, my husband looks at me and says, "Lets just head out." And we do. Our last two trips, I simply planned brunch. That way we aren't hungry when we leave.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We didn't back in 2011 and we didn't in 2017. Usually we fly home on Sunday which means work the next day which means no late late night flights. Usually due to pricing it's either morning-ish or later in the evening to fly back. This 2017 was special because we extended our trip and the day we flew home was the last day covered under SWA's Irma policy where you can change your fllight with no additional airfare. We did have to pay more for the rental car but we opted for a later flight home on a Monday (time off was able to work out) where we didn't arrive home til just after 11pm--not the most ideal for work the next day but it wasn't too brutal either because of what we had chosen to do.

Anyways what we did that last day was what I wanted to do our arrival day but due to Irma we opted to go to Universal. On departure day we resort hopped the 3 monorail resorts looking a bit around and for some places getting souvenirs and then went to Disney Springs for lunch at D-Luxe Burger and final souvenir shopping. It was relaxing and that's the way we would prefer it. Originally before Irma was around our last day was just planned with nothing due to our noon flight out of MCO.

However, if you had APs I could see popping in for a bit at a theme park but for us personally with regular theme park tickets I wouldn't want to use it up on departure day where I'm feeling rushed to get things in before time to leave and get to the airport.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

It really depends on the timing, what airport we're using, and cost for the number of hours we'd get. Suffice it to say, we have gone to theme parks on some of our departure days.

On one end, if we have annual passes, and our hotel is walking distance to park we plan to visit, then it might be worth going for as few as one ride.

If you are talking about adding a day to a 7day ticket, that's only about $10 per person, so if you can go for 3 hours, and get 3 FP, that probably worth doing.

Just be sure to leave a VERY ample amount time allowance to travel: to park gate, bus/car/monorail to your hotel (for DME or to get bags), hotel to airport.

 

[Average Joes]

We fly out at 6:45 p.m. from the Poly on a Friday. I plan on hitting MK EMH for 8 a.m. and being back for noon after using early FPs. The wife will get the kids ready for the pool and I'll grab them lunch. We did this last year from AKL last year and it worked out well. We did not feel rushed. We had left the luggage with Bell services with one bag ready for the pool.