Idealy what time do you try to plan your arrival and depature flights?

[marriedmarylander]

I guess this also depend how long the flight would be to FL and time differences etc.. but just in general...

Do you try to get on the earlier flight possible so when you get to WDW you have time to go to a park? On your way home do you try to leave as late as possible to get a park in that day as well? Or do you not do any activites on your arrival/depature days?

Just wondering... I guess I would rather do something on the arrival and depature days rather than pay an extra night in a hotel just to leave the next day.

 

[Jasminesmommy]

I travel by plane and it takes a little over 2 hours. I try to arrive by 11am and depart around 7pm. I always get a package and the days are paid for so i try to use them.

 

[Tigger113]

When I fly to WDW I always try to plan my arrival time to about and 1 1/2- 2 hours before check in to allow time to get to the hotel for the airport so there will be little of no wait to check in.

As far as departing goes I try to make in 3 hours after check out to allow time to get to the airport and time in case there is traffic.

 

[LadyLuc361]

We live in PA so a flight takes 3-4 hours, I think. We try to leave in the early AM so we can be at WDW by around 1 or so. Then check out the pool for a while and maybe head over to Downtown Disney for the evening. I like to wake up rested for my first full day at the park. If we have a park tickets we might head over to Epcot for a nice dinner.

On the day we leave WDW, we try to leave pretty late, probably 5 or so. But once we get into the Pittsburgh airport, we still have to drive home

Rachel

 

[mking624]

We try to catch a morning flight to Orlando and then we usually spend the first day walking around DTD and our resort.

For departure day, we try to get an evening flight and then spent most of the day at the MK.

 

[marriedmarylander]

I think I should change my depature flight ... Right now Magical Express bus would leave at 1:45 to get us to the airport. Leaves only the morning and what if I want to sleep in I am considering moving the flight to at least 6PM.

 

[ktglads]

We used to fly in in the morning but that left us exhausted all day long. Insteadm we leave the night before we would have left, arriving usually around midnight. This way we get to wake up in the world. Our departure flight is usually the 7:15 flight, getting us home around midnight after layovers...

 

[DVCLiz]

My flight is direct, about an hour each way. I try to book around 10:30am so I have half a day when arriving and I get home by noon on departure day. I don't like to fly in the evening because I worry about late afternoon storms and that makes me nervous!!!

 

[nataliesdaddy]

I guess this also depend how long the flight would be to FL and time differences etc.. but just in general...

Do you try to get on the earlier flight possible so when you get to WDW you have time to go to a park? On your way home do you try to leave as late as possible to get a park in that day as well? Or do you not do any activites on your arrival/depature days?

Just wondering... I guess I would rather do something on the arrival and depature days rather than pay an extra night in a hotel just to leave the next day.

we leave super early in the morning to make sure we arrive by 1 to 2 pm orlando time - then we leave as late as humanly possible

 

[MiJo]

We like to leave from Allentown, PA or Philadelphia at 7:00 AM. That gets us into Orlando by 9:30 and to our resort by 10:30 or so. We have tried leaving at various times to come home and we prefer a flight between 9:30 and 10:30 AM. That gets us back to PA by early afternoon. We have found that we don't like doing a park the last day and we just assume leave after a good night's sleep and a nice breakfast. We have had a couple trips when we had later flights and we spent time at DTD before leaving, which is OK. Usually by our last day, we know it is time to get back home so we try not to delay it.

 

[maxaroni]

We used to fly in in the morning but that left us exhausted all day long. Insteadm we leave the night before we would have left, arriving usually around midnight. This way we get to wake up in the world. Our departure flight is usually the 7:15 flight, getting us home around midnight after layovers...

I actually like that idea!


Don't know how long the flight is for the OP but our flight is about 2 hrs. We leave anywhere between 8:00-9:00 AM and getting to the hotel by noon -1:00/1:30. We get to the room (have been lucky it's ready) and unload and off to the parks. We've had the UPH's so that worked well. Our departure flight is late afternoon/early evening and we've gone to the park in the morning.

This year, we are driving, don't have the UPH's so decided to not buy tkts for the first last day....although, I'm thinking of adding on as I have read here that it is cheap to add the 8th and 9th day on. Our plan is to relax the day we get there by using the pool and see where the day takes us.

 

[crzy4dsny]

On the way to Disney we take an early flight. We like to fly out around 7:00 am. This way we are at the resort around 11:00 am. On the way back we leave early arternoon. Around 1:00 or 2:00. We don't have to get up early and rush to the airport. We have a nice breakfast at the resort and then head out. I like to be home early evening so I can bring my self back to reality slowly for work the next day

 

[maxaroni]

On the way to Disney we take an early flight. We like to fly out around 7:00 am. This way we are at the resort around 11:00 am. On the way back we leave early arternoon. Around 1:00 or 2:00. We don't have to get up early and rush to the airport. We have a nice breakfast at the resort and then head out. I like to be home early evening so I can bring my self back to reality slowly for work the next day

We come home a full day early to leave one day at home to get back on track....I can't get home and go to work the next day

 

[Kimickey]

We always leave on the 6am flight to Orlando and take the 5 or 6pm flights home.

 

[powellrj]

back in the wonderful days that ATA had many flights out of Indy, we would always take the 8am non stop flight to Orlando and get there around 10 or 11 (depending on the time of year and daylight savings time). We would pick up our car, eat lunch, do a grocery stop and then check-in to the hotel. Sometimes we will do MGM and sometimes we just have a pool day.

We would then check out on the last day and go to Downtown Disney and Beltz and take the 7:30pm flight back to Indy and get there at 9:30 and home by 11:00pm!!

Now with no ATA, to get a non-stop flight we are leaving at 3:30pm the day before we usually leave and then taking a 7:30 flight home.

I miss ATA........

 

[addicted2disney]

LadyLuc361-
We fly out of Pittsburgh too! If you get a direct flight out of Pittsburgh, the flight is about 1:50. woohoo!!!!!!

We get the earliest flight we can going down and the latest one we can coming back home!!!

 

[Pumbaa_]

We like to leave on Friday night after work or in the afternoon and take a half day. We get to Disney on the later side, but we wake up in the world

We take an afternoon or late morning flight home. We like having a home base and once we check out we are ready to leave.

 

[DrTomorrow]

When we lived in Metro Detroit, we usually got an early (7-ish) flight and ended up arriving on-site at around 11 AM. This gave us plenty of time to make use of "arrival day". We usually caught a 1PM flight back home; good timing for WDW, but it left us on the "other" side of Detroit right in rush hour

However, now that we're in Phoenix, while we do have Southwest (infinitely better, IMHO, than Northworst) and tickets are cheaper, the earliest we can fly out (non-stop) is around 9:30. With travel time, time zones, luggage and rental time & the drive to WDW, we don't get to our resort until 4:30 or so. Now that we're DVC owners, we use the first day to shop, get settled in and get a good rest so we attack WDW with vim and vigor the next morning. We still leave at around 1PM; our trips to WDW are usually 6-7 nights, so by departure day we're ready to head home.

Be well!

 

[my3princes]

We take an early evening flight on a friday arriving in FL around 10pm. When leaving we plan an early afternoon flight to get the kids in bed around their normal bedtime to be ready for school the next day.

 

[MrsJ Henry]

Leave on an early morning flight and take an afternoon flight back home