How was your Red Eye Flight?

[Dream1]

I got a great deal ($129.00 each) on 2 tickets from Albuquerque to MCO; however, they are Red Eye flights. We leave at 9:15pm with a lay-over in Las Vegas for about 2 hours then we arrive at MCO at 06:15am.

My thought is that an early arrival allows us to check-in, go have breakfast, have a nap and hit some parks; all this before we would have even been landed at MCO on an early morning flight. I just hope this doesn’t end up being a dumb idea. My honey is already cautious.

For those that have flown in on a red-eye:

How was the trip?

Is it weird flying overnight?

How did you feel the next day?

Do you feel like you got more out of your first day?

I would love to hear any tips, suggestions, or concerns ;--)

 

[Angel16]

Thank you for posting. I am thinking about a red-eye. We live out west and traveling from here takes the whole day. With a red-eye, we can leave on Friday night and be there Saturday morning.

However, I would like to see what everyone thinks about the OP great questions. We are staying at GF in RPC, is there a chance they would have our room ready before 11:00 AM?

How do you feel after flying all night, especially after working all day before you fly out? Is it worth it?

 

[DebbieB]

There's no guarantee a room would be ready before 3:00pm or 4:00pm.

 

[barkley]

we live in california and have done 2 red eye trips with the kids to florida (one direct and one with a change of planes in atlanta). i think there are advantages and disadvantages depending on your personal stamina and if you are taking the kids-the ages of the kids.

i enjoy flying at night-the airports are less crowded and more low key, and the flights tend to be quieter. our kids tend to sleep more of the trip and we have to spend less time trying to occupy them with activities. on the other hand-the kids tend to be wide awake upon arrival whereas i tend to be ready to take a shower and hit the bed for a nice nap!

as far as how i feel the next day-what with the time difference between the west and east coast i tend not to realy feel the difference for at least a couple of days, but this can heavily depend on what time of year we travel. the heat and the humidity more than the time change are what play havoc with me physicaly-i am much more affected by it than anything else.

there are def. advantages to doing a red eye, you don't lose your first day with travel and you tend to be leaving the airport as everyone else is arriving. check with your hotel to see what they anticipate as your earliest possible time to get into your room-you don't want to get caught exhausted at noon with a room unavailable until 4 p.m. (which is check-in time at alot of the area hotels). also, consider how tired you will be when it comes to deciding how you will do your transportation to your hotel (or the parks)-in the past we have opted to pay for trans. to the hotel and then rent a car the next day (with arrangements to return it to the airport) because we did'nt feel up to the unfamiliar drive in a less than alert manner.

i think we will be trying the opposite on our next trip-leave the day before and arrive around midnight. we will do disney trans. to one of the value resorts for one night, then transfer to the vacation club resort the next day. i figure maybe this way we will have a fighting chance to be on the same sleeping schedual as the kids

 

[Dream1]

I am not even going raise my hopes for a room that early. I will just hope for **tink** to do her stuff that day..... ;--)

I have planned to be at the resort by 7:30 maybe 8am. After Check-In, we have Breakfast an AS at Boma for 09:30. I think we’ll hit DTD for some shopping. I would assume that a trip to Earl of Sandwich is in our future for lunch that day> I have been dreaming about those damn sandwiches for a year------ We are staying at the OKW, so transportation back to the resort should be a breeze. We should be back at around 1 maybe 2 to get our room. This is my plan and I’m sticking to it, well, at least the eating at EOS part……LOL

 

[Dream1]

we live in california and have done 2 red eye trips with the kids to florida (one direct and one with a change of planes in atlanta). i think there are advantages and disadvantages depending on your personal stamina and if you are taking the kids-the ages of the kids.

i enjoy flying at night-the airports are less crowded and more low key, and the flights tend to be quieter. our kids tend to sleep more of the trip and we have to spend less time trying to occupy them with activities. on the other hand-the kids tend to be wide awake upon arrival whereas i tend to be ready to take a shower and hit the bed for a nice nap!

as far as how i feel the next day-what with the time difference between the west and east coast i tend not to realy feel the difference for at least a couple of days, but this can heavily depend on what time of year we travel. the heat and the humidity more than the time change are what play havoc with me physicaly-i am much more affected by it than anything else.

there are def. advantages to doing a red eye, you don't lose your first day with travel and you tend to be leaving the airport as everyone else is arriving. check with your hotel to see what they anticipate as your earliest possible time to get into your room-you don't want to get caught exhausted at noon with a room unavailable until 4 p.m. (which is check-in time at alot of the area hotels). also, consider how tired you will be when it comes to deciding how you will do your transportation to your hotel (or the parks)-in the past we have opted to pay for trans. to the hotel and then rent a car the next day (with arrangements to return it to the airport) because we did'nt feel up to the unfamiliar drive in a less than alert manner.

i think we will be trying the opposite on our next trip-leave the day before and arrive around midnight. we will do disney trans. to one of the value resorts for one night, then transfer to the vacation club resort the next day. i figure maybe this way we will have a fighting chance to be on the same sleeping schedual as the kids

Great stuff! It's just my Fiancé and I on this trip, so no kids to contend with. I am really excited to not have the crowds, especially during the transfer. Your response has me a little more at ease with my decision. Thank you.

 

[prncess674]

How well will you do with only 4hrs of so-so sleep. That is about the max sleep you will get LAS-MCO. Wear ultra comfy clothes and think about bringing a shawl to use a blanket because most airlines are not providing pillows and blankets, and if they do there are never enough for all passengers. Plan on having a light first day because you will likely sack out early.

 

[Dream1]

Very good ideas prncess674!

 

[julfre]

I have done a red eye las vegas to cleveland twice. Both times I felt horrible the next day. I can't sleep on flights, I could doze but it is not the same- too many people getting up or there is always the one group that is full of energy and talks all night. (One trip had the 3 people in front of me getting on the plane partially drunk and having a good time and a loud time the whole flight)
SO the most important questions are-
can you function well on very little sleep without getting grouchy?
can you sleep sitting up in a cramped seat?

Some people can sleep anywhere and through anything. If that is you, you will be fine. I usually got home slept for about 3 hours, got up but didn't do much and then sacked out again that night. I really only lost the day after the flight and was fine after that. Mind you these flights were after a weekend in las vegas so I was a little tired to begin with. I wouldn't do a red eye flight at the beginning of my trip, disney takes a lot of energy and you will be starting out your trip after being up half the night.

 

[webprinter]

We have started doing red eye flights the past couple years. For me, it is tough to stay up all night as I am unable to sleep on the plane, but flying in from Seattle, we usually have a stop, so there isn't all that much time to sleep anyway. I usually get off the plane, put on makeup and wash my face when we arrive. That helps a lot. We usually end up staying up until about 7-8 pm the next night and then crash. My husband says that if we fly during the day, we usually leave around 6am which means we have to get up about 3am to get to the airport, so we don't sleep much that night anyway. At least when you fly at night, you have all day (or as long as you can stay awake), to enjoy doing things after arriving in Orlando. Anyway, all this to say, flying at night has become our preferred time to fly to the east because it gives us almost an extra day to enjoy ourselves. Debby

 

[DisnyMama]

Two years ago my son and I left LAX at 10:30 pm after work and school all day and arrived at POR about 7:00 am. We were very fortunate in that they were able to check us in and our room was ready-very close by the main building too! We went to Boatwrights and had breakfast and then back to our room and laid down on our beds with the intention to take a little nap. We did not wake up till around 4:00 pm! So much for my idea of us not losing that whole first day. We got up, showered and headed to the Magic Kingdom for the evening so it wasn't a complete loss but we were still exhausted.

I haven't learned my lesson because we are going to do the same thing again this December. The way we see it, although we were wiped out that first day we still felt like we had more time in our favorite vacation spot so it is worth it. We are hoping for good luck and pixie dust again.

 

[SusanD]

We have done red-eyes more times than I care to say. The advantages (another day at Disney without the cost of an additional nights lodging) seem to out weigh the disadvantages (that groggy, yucky feeling that comes from too little sleep in a very uncomfortable environment).

Try it once. If it works for you great. If not, you'll know better next time.

 

[Brian Noble]

I've flown plenty of red-eyes. To europe (or farther) is okay--the flight is long enough for me to actually sleep. W/in the continental US, I find the flights too short to get meaningful sleep, but I'm old and crotchety.

Try to avoid the morning nap when you arrive---get as much morning sunshine as you can. This will help your body clock adjust more quickly.

 

[Dream1]

SO the most important questions are-
can you function well on very little sleep without getting grouchy?
can you sleep sitting up in a cramped seat?

I'm a full time student, and I work full time, so the answer is a big YES!

The DF can sleep through anything. I think this idea may work out

 

[Dream1]

Thank you all for your input. I thought i was alone in trying this. I am glad to hear about the success stories. I think our best bet is to try and make the most of the day without a nap. I would hate to wake up and like 9:00pm and have done it all for not.

Again, thank you......DIS rocks!

 

[Lewisc]

You should decide if you're willing to trade off room location for early availability.

Looks like your staying at OKW (a DVC property). You may not get your room until 5:00p or even later. I'd like your plan a lot more if you were staying in a resort where you had a better chance of getting an room early.

 

[Dream1]

Yeah, I hear ya. I am prepared to have a wait for the room. However, we will not have the room any earlier than if we fly in on a 6:00am flight, which doesn't arrive until about 4:00pm. Anyway I look at this we get some benefits and drawbacks. I already booked the fights, so all I can do is hope for a good outcome. Hopefully with all of the good input in this thread, I'll be prepared for any situation that may arrise. ;--)

 

[Angel16]

Thank you all for the great thoughts and ideas. My DH can sleep just about anywhere. You know those military guys they can fall asleep just about anywhere within seconds. Fills me with envey. If I am tired enough I can doze. If we fly first class (which is highly unlikely ) I can sleep GREAT!

I think I will seriously look into doing this. The flights I have checked out arrive around 6:30 or 7:00 AM. By the time we get our bags, and either transfer or pick up the rental car it will be about 9:00 AM. Figure we will stop off somewhere for breakfast. Any one have a suggestion - either on site or somewhere between the airport and GF? Since we are staying at GF for the first time, I figure we can check in, and look around the resort.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

My sister flew a red eye this spring to meet us at Disney, and she found that getting there in the am wasn't too bad (not the same answer from those of us picking her up at 6:30 am, however ). We just went to Epcot all day, and got back early that night. She said when she's done it before that a nap after she arrives tends to mess her up, and staying awake until the evening tends to work better, and get her used to the time faster.

Good luck! Have a great trip

Jen

 

[HRCCrazy]

The only non red-eye flight we did was our first trip, after getting in at 5 PM and the parks were closing at 7 PM, we learn red-eyes were the way to go, and have done them every trip. We have the red-eye from Vegas book for this year trip already.

I work all day and then get on the plan, and sleep. get into Orlando at 6 AM and at the hotel by 8 AM and at the parks by 9AM, we go till we drop. Sleep good, and the next day were already to go.

Wrench