Late(ish) Arrival with toddler

[Boardwalk_bride]

Hello,

I am just about to book my flight to WDW. We will be arriving Jan 25th at 8:10pm. I've booked AKV starting the 26th, as I didn't want to pay for a night we are hardly there (we booked a one bedroom - quite an upgrade from travelling without a child!). The place I rented points from recommended staying at the airport and catching the ME the next day - but the hotels seem to be around the same price as a value. I'm just worried that by the time we catch the ME and get dropped off it will be past 10pm. Any thoughts? Are there reasonably priced private transit options?

My daughter is 2 (turning 3 on our trip) and I don't want to "ruin" the first day with tiredness.

 

[DisTXMom]

in your situation, we’d probably try and make it to our destination so we didn’t have to get bags dropped off at another hotel in the morning and rather could just go about our day as planned. If you use MDE, I’d get your bags so you don’t have late night visitors to your room.

 

[BraveLittleToaster2]

We avoid late flights now because of a previous one that really was horrible. We don't fly in later then like 6 pm now.

We had a toddler at the time and figured we would just get to where we were going. Landed at 8pm and didn't arrive to our resort until about 9:30. Then upon checking we were given the only room left, a handicapped room (where light switches and other things were very low and reachable for our toddler which was pretty unsafe). We arranged the room to put him down and by the time he got to sleep it was after 10. The next morning he was a bear....ugghh.

I hope it goes better for you.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Thanks both. There are not really any good flight times without paying a crazy amount extra. I could drive across the border and catch a Buffalo flight - but the weather there tends to be horrible, in my experience (we are going in January).

At this point I'm hoping we will get lucky and she'll sleep on the plane in ME. I could book another night at AKV - it's just over $500 (in Cdn $) which is a lot for hardly being there - and we don't really need the separate room for the night.

 

[gtpoohbear]

The Hyatt inside the airport is fantastic for cases like this. You can literally walk off the plane and be in your room within minutes - they will even bring your checked bags to you, and you can eat dinner in the hotel. For MDE, you just put your arrival flight as one the next morning, around the time you think you will want to head down and catch the bus. We've done this several times and it is so easy, much better than fumbling through Orlando late at night when you are exhausted from travel.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

The Hyatt inside the airport is fantastic for cases like this. You can literally walk off the plane and be in your room within minutes - they will even bring your checked bags to you, and you can eat dinner in the hotel. For MDE, you just put your arrival flight as one the next morning, around the time you think you will want to head down and catch the bus. We've done this several times and it is so easy, much better than fumbling through Orlando late at night when you are exhausted from travel.

This is what I'd like to do but it is really expensive - I think it is double the cost of a value resort. I'll keep thinking about it. It would be SO much easier that it might be worth the cost (but I also upgraded from a studio to a one bedroom in AKV because it was "worth the cost" and don't want to keep doing that!). I'll see if I can find a deal for it. Do you know how much you have paid? It would be late January and is showing $350 for me (in Cdn - so probably like $275 US).

 

[Brett Wyman]

The average for Hyatt MCO is around $275-350 USD in January, without discounts and before taxes and fees. You know your kid. How much is a good night's sleep worth? Our toddler would be fine if they stayed up until 10pm, we would just let him sleep in the next day. But I would skip MDE and pay for Uber(or Lyft or Minnie Van) from MCO to your Disney resort if you don't stay at the Hyatt MCO. You'd have to request a car seat or Minnie Van has them by default. Its VERY painful waiting in that DME line with a grumpy or tired child. You wait there. Then you wait for the bus to leave. Then you have a much slower drive. Then you may wait for other resort stops. Then you wait for them to unload your bags.

Make sure you take advantage of online check in as well so you can walk straight into your room whenever you do arrive.

 

[TwinkleKS]

I'd pick up my own bags and UBER to the final destination hotel. Not exactly the low cost option, but what I would consider the least stressful in the long run.

 

[KPeterso]

No kids, but I arrived very late in March --- landed about 10:30 PM ---- and I took DME. And there were a lot of little ones who were overtired on that bus! Including one in front of me who wanted to run up and down the aisle and around outside and still did not settle once the bus started moving. You know your little one best and if you think getting to bed sooner is the best, that is what you should do (either in the airport hotel or alternate quicker means to the resort), but if you do ride DME, I am sure you will be in good company with other little ones. Oh and I second if you do use DME, get your own bags at that hour!

 

[SnowChaser]

Here was my experience. We did a late arrival (7pm-ish) with our easy going toddler a few months ago. It went fine, and we took the DME to our Disney resort that night, but he did not get to bed until 10pm and the next day he was not himself. Had a separate travel day where he didn't nap on the plane as expected, and was a wiggly, grumpy mess on DME. If I had to re-do, I'd skip DME and find a more direct route to the hotel (wherever that may be).

Even with my easy going kiddo, he's still a toddler travel days are tough and I'm increasingly convinced we'll take the most direct route to our destination next time, even if it costs extra.

 

[heathere3]

One point to be aware of with a late arrival is that it can take up to 3 hours for your bags to arrive at your room if you have DME get them. I would STRONGLY recommend not using the provided luggage tags and grabbing them yourself once you land. The one benefit that no one has mentioned if you do choose to stay in a value Disney hotel on arrival night then move is that Disney will move all your bags etc for you. Get up in the morning, pack up, call bell services and explain that you're moving to another Disney hotel and they will come get them for you.

 

[sullyfam]

What about an early flight the following morning? After doing it several ways with our kids, I find taking the early flight is the best. You get there in plenty of time, can have a relaxed first resort day, get to bed early and hit the ground running the next morning.

A late flight especially in January and it sounds like you're coming from Canada, if there are delays or cancellations due to weather at any time during the day (anywhere on the eastern sea board), your flight will get delayed or even worse, cancelled. Which means your planned arrival of 8 p.m. could turn into 10-11 or even 2 a.m. and you could be stuck in an airport for hours. Not worth the risk especially with a little one.

If you can't book an early flight the next morning, I would just plan to Uber from the airport to your hotel. Don't use the Disney luggage tags and just pick up your baggage from the bag claim and take it with you in the Uber. In the morning, when you are ready to switch to AKV, Disney will move your bags for you.

 

[DisneyDar]

Whatever you do, don't do a late night flight in January from the North. If there is bad weather, then the previous flights that day become stacked up, and that can trickle down to your flight. That means you may be delayes until very, very late OR have your flight cancelled and then they will rebook you on the next available flight. If it's really bad weather that could mean a delay of a few days. It is always better to book an early morning flight. That way if the weather clears, you at least have a chance of getting out that day. And, do NOT book a connecting flight in winter.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

Hello,

I am just about to book my flight to WDW. We will be arriving Jan 25th at 8:10pm. I've booked AKV starting the 26th, as I didn't want to pay for a night we are hardly there (we booked a one bedroom - quite an upgrade from travelling without a child!). The place I rented points from recommended staying at the airport and catching the ME the next day - but the hotels seem to be around the same price as a value. I'm just worried that by the time we catch the ME and get dropped off it will be past 10pm. Any thoughts? Are there reasonably priced private transit options?

My daughter is 2 (turning 3 on our trip) and I don't want to "ruin" the first day with tiredness.

The MCO Hyatt is a very nice hotel, and a much nicer place to stay than a WDW value. And yes, it would be very convenient to stay there on arrival night. You can just walk over to Magical Express in the morning.