How Early Do You Like to Arrive at Your Hotel?

[Jabroniville]

This is always an interesting one for me- I've found that on the flight-related sections of this board, people always recommend cheaper flights that take you in at the evening. But to me, that kind of blows an entire expensive hotel night on doing nothing but arriving and going to bed. For me, the typical vacation starts with arriving in the afternoon and then spending hours at Disney Springs to take in all that and "get started"- otherwise I'd be doing the Springs the next day and it again might feel like a waste of a vacation day just wandering around shops, haha.

So what does everyone else do? Being from Western Canada, it takes me a LOT longer to get there than it would most Americans, so keep that in mind. Typically it's a 3+ hour flight to Toronto, and only then can we fly down, and you need a long layover if you're flying out of Toronto.

 

[Mle8308]

We fly in late the night prior (flight arrives usually around 11:30 pm) and either stay with family or that one night at a value and then transfer over to a deluxe, most of the time it's with family - my brother has a beautiful house close to Disney. I like to arrive around noon, knowing the room won't be ready. We'll check with the FD to see if our room requests were met, and if not, ask if they can change the room. It's still early enough that they have inventory to move around. And we are aware that it might take longer for the room to be ready, which we are ok with. Then we head to Publix for some subs and groceries, buy the refillable mug when we get back from shopping, find a table outside somewhere and eat our late lunch!

 

[zmdisneyworld]

After 6pm I'd start looking at non-WDW hotel rooms. It all depends on what type of resort you're going to stay at too. A value? I'd probably just go straight to the resort. Moderate or Deluxe, probably looking for cheaper accommodations if arriving that late depending on the off-site cost vs on-site cost, party size, etc.

Last year when we stayed at the Poly we arrived around 8pm. We stayed off-site for about $250 and then came straight to the Poly after we ate breakfast. We spent the day at MK and came back for a pool break when our room was ready. If I had it to do over again I'd probably do my first night at a value because for the little bit more I'd pay for the value over the off-site, I'd get luggage transfer taken care of and I could just go about my day. I tend to value convenience, though.

 

[kanerf]

I like to get there around lunch time or a little after. If the room is not ready, I will just have lunch somewhere at the resort and then head to the check-in area to wait around for the text. I always do on-line check-in, so just wait for the text.

 

[Giraffe_Zen]

We usually take the first flight out in the morning. Few hours later and we're there. Check in, change, check our bags in at the resort (if our room isn't ready) with Bell Services and off to our first park!

 

[nursejackie]

Us Brits don't have much choice in what time of the day we land in MCO. Our flights from Manchester always land around 3.45pm, then a long line at immigration (an hour usually), customs, transfer etc, it's 5.30 or after for us. I would love an earlier flight but I've never seen one in all my travels to Orlando.

 

[_19disnA]

Partly depends on where you live, which airport(s) are nearby, how long of a flight it will be and the airline schedule to the place you are vacationing. We don't care to get up at 3 am to race off to the airport for an early departure. By the time you arrive wherever you are going will likely already be exhausted. Not how we prefer to start a vacation. A mid-morning non-stop flight regardless of where we are traveling, works best for us. The return trip is similar as we like to eat breakfast/pack/check-out and then head for the airport. Prices tend to relate more to how far in advance you book a flight and how many other airlines are competing for that route. Demand for air travel is also higher around major travel holidays, so best to book those as soon as you have finalized your travel plans to get the best price. It is one of those things hard to give advice to others since there are so many variables involved.

 

[Tripscarcare]

We like to fly out first thing in the morning, roughly a 2.5 hour flight. Usually a 6-7a which puts us into Orlando normally 10a ish. Head to our resort, if the rooms not ready check our bags, grab swimsuits hangout by the pool and hope your room is ready before later dinner reservations at Disney Springs. ( Summer House) had great food.

 

[beccasmom]

We prefer morning flights. It is a bit over two hours from our home airport. But we have arrived at all different times of the day. I waited too long to purchase the flights for our recent trip earlier this month and we ran into “rush-hour” evening traffic in Orlando. Very poor planning on my part. I find that if we arrive somewhere between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. that is pretty much our sweet spot. We are fortunate to have choices (4 airlines to choose from at home airport and a number of flight options, many non-stop), but there’s also a lot that is just out of our control.

 

[fla4fun]

When working, I liked to leave on my trip right after work on my last day, so it would be evening. I felt that maximized my vacation time because it allowed me to check in and hit the ground running my first full day off. Plus there was the added advantage of getting my room right away. Another advantage if flying is that I would be tired from working all day and fall asleep easier on the plane, making the flight seem shorter.

I hate to have to wait for my room to be ready.

 

[Jabroniville]

We prefer morning flights. It is a bit over two hours from our home airport. But we have arrived at all different times of the day. I waited too long to purchase the flights for our recent trip earlier this month and we ran into “rush-hour” evening traffic in Orlando. Very poor planning on my part. I find that if we arrive somewhere between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. that is pretty much our sweet spot. We are fortunate to have choices (4 airlines to choose from at home airport and a number of flight options, many non-stop), but there’s also a lot that is just out of our control.

I am really envious of Americans who live so close to the parks. That has to be a HUGE savings in price, too. It cost me about $585 round trip just to fly to Florida, and from Western Canada there are NO direct flights without exorbitant costs, so it's nearly always a full day travel both to and from.

 

[LoveDaisy]

We used to take the first flight in the morning but found we were exhausted by mid afternoon. We now fly in the night before and either stay at the Hyatt at MCO or the swalphin depending on the time out flight arrives and prices. If we stay at the Hyatt we take a ride share first thing in the morning. If staying at swalphin we walk over to BWI and check in first thing. Either way we now get a full first day where we start out feeling rested.

 

[Shughart]

We'll be arriving to the resort around 12/1pm. Our flight leaves around 9am. Not the first out but we'll be to the airport and through security fairly early. Which is my preference. Because we fly out of Chicago, it can get crowded.

 

[bakerworld]

I like to arrive around noon or 1p. The room is not usually ready. The room not being ready is irritating to DH. He likes to arrive after 4p, as the room is usually ready, so we can drop out luggage and head out for the night. To me, this makes for a very long day plus the later we fly out the more likely the plane will be delayed. The trip 2 weeks ago the plane was delayed for flashlight batteries. I forget the reason we were delayed upon the return trip but it was something similar.

 

[tinkerjo]

Well, we drive (hubby won’t fly) but we stay about 4 hrs from WDW on night 1 and arrive at our resort mid morning. We know chances are slim having a room ready but we have swim suites handy and have some lunch at the resort!!

 

[Robber Baron]

We like to be on the earliest flights we can get because it seems delays just build up and get longer as the day goes on. Flying early, to us, seems to usually be right on time.

Frequently we get on property sometime between 9 - 11 in the morning and we always go straight to resort. I'd bet we are 80% on getting our room at that time of day. Many times we don't get the room they had already assigned, but, they will make another offer that may not have been our first choice. If we like what's available we'll take it, sometimes we'll choose to wait for exactly what we wanted.

Usually we will then go to a park We aren't real big on 'settling in', or, 'getting the lay of the land', type of people. We're here for the parks so that's what we're doing.

When the kids were little we'd sometimes drive and we'd arrive Orlando at 5 or 6 pm. In those instances we'd usually get a nearby offsite hotel for the 1 night. We've stayed Hilton DS a couple times, we Stayed at Sheraton Safari a few times, it's right outside the Lake Buena Vista hotel area, I'm not sure they are still even there. Usually in that case we'd show up at our resort at 7 am to check in, but, this was back when I think there was much more EARLY park openings than now.

 

[Dulcee]

We drive but usually plan to make it on property by noon or so. We like to stop at Disney Springs, get lunch and do some shopping before checking in around 3 when our room is ready. We spend the rest of that day unpacking, exploring the resort and taking in some pool time.

 

[Ratpack]

Like OP, if I am not on Disney property early, I feel like I wasted an overpriced hotel stay, so we always drive in the day before and stay offsite. Usually we will arrive in the late afternoon, so we still have time to do some other non Disney things that day before beginning our trip the next morning.

 

[tguz]

We drive and typically arrive mid afternoon and stay on I-Drive. We do non Disney things such as the Outlets and stuff at Icon Park. The next morning we drive to our resort, park the car and head to the parks. When we get the room ready text, we take a mid afternoon break and unload the car and relax a bit and head back to the park in the evening for supper and fun.

 

[hertamaniac]

I aim for 12-2 PM. It takes me between 45 minutes and 1 hour to be onsite depending on traffic conditions. If we are staying in a DVC villa, and our room isn't ready, we then head to Publix for groceries and return no later than 4 PM.