Jet Lag Tips?

[TeamJones22]

Hello all,

Im really looking forward to my 2014 Disney World holiday, usually only go to DLP so very excited! However, ive been thinking a lot about Jet Lag. Ive read a lot of different tips from the NHS and health professionals and they all seem to be so varied and often contradict one another!

So, to the people who go to Disney a lot or have been before, how much did Jet Lag affect you and your first day plans and how do you best deal with it?

Thanks for ur help!

Martin

 

[fankfan72]

hey, we usually take it easy for the first few days , and just see how it goes , everyones is diffrent

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Jet lag hits us more when we get home. On our first day we re normally up early, so you can get into a park for rope drop.

We are tired by evening, in December we booked a meal for about 5.30pm and had a more relaxing night

 

[Kath2003]

Don't worry about it - 5 hours isn't a huge time difference. Just ignore it and go to bed as late as can usually would when you arrive. You will probably wake up early the next day but that's fine as you can hit the parks. The way back is worse because you lose a night's sleep but even that's no big deal. Some take an afternoon nap when they get home to help. Again, just ignore it and carry on as usual. You won't notice it the following day.

 

[queendisney]

we are fine going out, we just stay up until about 10 ish in the evening and thats that from then onwards we are on US time zone. Coming back is another matter! For some reason last year we really struggled and it took us about a week to feel 'normal' again.
We normally come home and have a sleep for a couple of hours then get up and have lunch and then evening meal and then go to bed and thats normally ok.. still feel tired for a bit but then normal service resumes! Not sure what went wrong last year. (age maybe!!!)

 

[Elise79]

Outbound is easy - stay up late as possible on arrival. Go out and do something to stop yourself going to bed/falling asleep. You will wake early the first morning but try to keep meal times "normal" and you will adjust quickly.

Coming home is harder but our tried and tested method is different for me and DH. I have to have a nap in the afternoon (otherwise I pass out) whereas DH is better if he stays up.

 

[wayneg]

As others have said coming out here is easy for most, stay up as late as you can, at least 10pm (that would be 3am UK so you will be very tired) then sleep as long as poss, go earlier and chances are you will be up at silly o'clock and body clock all wrong.
Going home is more difficult, we land back next Tuesday mid morning, straight back to work Wednesday 3:30am, will take me all week to get over it.

 

[wilma-bride]

We don't usually have too many problems going out. Usually, we are all up and about early the first few days and in bed early (around10-ish) the first few nights.

Coming home, though, as others have said, is the hardest. We normally have difficulty sleeping/getting up for at least a week after we get home. Having said that, when we came back from Vegas last month, we arrived hom on Sunday afternoon and went straight back to work as normal the next day. Although I felt a bit rough and 'spaced out' the first couple of days, I wasn't half as jet-lagged as I normally am. Don't know if this is due to the greater time difference but it was loads better.

 

[cmbpanda]

Not sure if I am tempting fate, but going out was fine. We planned rope drop for first couple of days as we knew we'd be awake early. We didn't make evening plans, which worked out fine. Most of our plans involved starting early with very few late nights. with kids we were mostly in bed soon after 10 with only 3 or 4 later nights of 11 to midnight. We only just arrived home, which is usually worse, but we stayed awake yesterday and all went to bed at 8.30 ish. All slept for about 12 hours, so hoping for normal sleep / waking tonight. Last time we went to the States was to my BIL's in Seattle, which is an 8 hour time difference with a 9 hour flight and that hurt on the return. It took at least a week to recover. Fingers crossed for a much better transition this time

 

[dixonsontour]

On the way there the time difference works in your favour.

Try and stay awake on day you arrive to an ok bed time otherwise you wake at 3am.

We usually are up 5/6am ish and I try and keep to early to bed early to rise for the first week at least. Only time in my life I get up early! People at work look in shock when I say I went to chef Mickey's at 7am!

Getting to the parks for 8am makes such a difference - you will get lots done.

But don't plan late dinners or fireworks first few days.

Second week as we adjust we watch the fireworks, have a lazier start sometimes.

Coming back I have to have a nap when we get home but usually book a supermarket shopping delivery so we have to get up. Then early night and straight back to school/work and our usual routine.

 

[OhanaSam]

I'm dreading jet lag, I've never been on a long haul flight before either so it's going to be awful lol. Flying out should be fine as we fly at 11am and I usually get very little sleep at night anyway but we fly at 8pm US time on the way back and won't get home to Leeds until about 4pm UK time the following day Then straight back to work the day after!

 

[Magic Megadegs]

I am also in the suck it up camp. The minute we check in we enter the new time zone. Of you hand at 4pm Orlando time, have tea at 6pm their time and stay up until 10 and you're good to go.

On the way back (normally overnight) Again switch your watch to uk time the minute you go through security. Have a glass of wine and sleep at 10pm UK time. If you can't sleep then just chillax, eyes closed listen to an audio book or something. I used to work with a load of District nurses who have to alternate between day and night shifts and they always said the worst thing is to stress out about not sleeping. If you are sitting or lying relaxed and your eyes are resting even if you're not sleeping it's about 90% as effective as proper sleep.

You may feel a little jaded the first couple of days back but suck it up and keep looking at all your wonderful holiday snaps to remind you how worth it a teensy bit of tiredness is xxx

 

[queendisney]

I'm dreading jet lag, I've never been on a long haul flight before either so it's going to be awful lol. Flying out should be fine as we fly at 11am and I usually get very little sleep at night anyway but we fly at 8pm US time on the way back and won't get home to Leeds until about 4pm UK time the following day Then straight back to work the day after!

The flight back is a tad shorter then going but I think it generally feels longer. Also the more times you fly long haul the more you get used to it so you may find that you are very tired at work the day after and also a tad depressed after the most wonderful first holiday.

 

[OhanaSam]

The flight back is a tad shorter then going but I think it generally feels longer. Also the more times you fly long haul the more you get used to it so you may find that you are very tired at work the day after and also a tad depressed after the most wonderful first holiday.

The depression will be made worse by the fact that I have to get immunization vaccinations done the day I get back to work

 

[starrysky]

In the trips we have had it takes us a couple of days to not be up mega early. I have seen me having a dip in the pool at 7am. We tend to avoid late ADRs the first couple of days and make breakfast or lunch ones.

Back it all depends on the flight back and how good or bad it is. One year we had a bumpy ride back and got little sleep and others have been great and both of us slept.

Little sleep and the time changes meant that it took us a week to be back to normal and not feel tired or wide awake at the wrong times.

Just see how you feel, if you are tired when you arrive try and do things to stop yourself wanting to go to bed. We tend to check in un pack and get some food.

Way home basically the same un pack sort out any laundry and then go and get some food milk etc. it's hard but getting back into a routine as soon as you can will help. That tip about resetting your watch to the right time zone really helps as well.

 

[TeamJones22]

Thank you all very much for your advice! I had planned a couple of late ADR's early on in the holiday so I will definitely be changing my plans! Like you all said though, definitely some positives in waking up early all those opportunities for photos and quieter moments you wouldn't have if you weren't up first thing!

Im not worried about the jet lag going home so much, I get the holiday blues really bad anyway and now its a holiday ive wanted to go on for pretty much my whole life I can see coming home being awful anyway! ha ha.

 

[Nettlelondon]

On the way out try to mentally flip to the new time zone as soon as possible.

I normally find I wake up starving in the middle of the night so now I take something to bed with me, chewy oaty bar - that sort of thing - and then if I wake up in the early hours I can eat that without disturbing anyone and then go back to sleep for a few more hours.

 

[MrRomance]

Hello all,

Im really looking forward to my 2014 Disney World holiday, usually only go to DLP so very excited! However, ive been thinking a lot about Jet Lag. Ive read a lot of different tips from the NHS and health professionals and they all seem to be so varied and often contradict one another!

So, to the people who go to Disney a lot or have been before, how much did Jet Lag affect you and your first day plans and how do you best deal with it?

Thanks for ur help!

Martin

As you can see from my signature, I've been to WDW a lot over the years. I am also married to an American and spent several years when we were dating flying back and forth between the UK and the US so jetlag is something that I had to learn to manage REAL FAST!

The first thing I would say (un-jetlag related) is that if you like DLP (I personally hated it!) you're about to experience a whole new level of Disney! I think part of the reason I hated DLP so much was that I had already been to WDW and DL and DLP is a huge step down because it isn't actually owned and operated by Disney themselves. You're going to LOVE it at the world so don't let the idea of jetlag bother you too much!

So, jetlag in the first day or so can be difficult especially for kids. My tips are...

1. As soon as you get on the plane, amend your watch to Florida time! If you pay attention to the cabin crew, you'll see that most of them do this (I usually see them doing it during take off when they're sitting down).

2. Have younger kids shut down for some quiet time about 5 hours into the flight. It's a long flight and because most of the planes have a lot of stimulating things to do (games, movies, snacks etc.) they don't really relax and then they get REALLY tired about the time you get to Immigration! By the time you get to the hotel, they've crashed out and then they are awake again at 3am!

3. WHen you get to your hotel, try to grab some dinner and stay up to a reasonable bed time for you. It is a long day (especially for people who have a long trip to the airport and early flights) and you're going to want to crash out when you get there, but if you fall asleep at 7pm local time (which in your mind is midnight!) you'll wake up at 3am.

4. If you have the DP (or even if you're paying OOP) book an early breakfast on your first full day. You will wake up early so you might as well get a good meal inside you and get to a park early to enjoy it! Also try to stay up to normal bedtime that day too, even if you were up with the larks!

The key to overcoming jetlag as quickly and painlessly as possible is to switch yourself to local time as quickly as you can. It will mean a struggle in your first night and possibly into your first full day in Florida, but it's worth it. From someone who has found themselves walking around the resort at 3am many times because nothing is open and my brain told me it was 8am. You will adapt and adjust but you will have to force yourself to keep going when you're tired for a couple of days.

Have a great time!