Let's discuss Friday June16th

[yesman70]

so my family and I will be arriving this day around 10-11am. Will be staying at the Contemporary for 1 night, then moving off property for the week.

My question is, how should I plan arrival day on the 16th? We have 4 day park hoppers. Should I hit MK on that first day, maybe another park or just hang around the Disney resort and enjoy the Contemporary for a day?
Or maybe go into one of the parks at night once the crowds get lighter?

Thoughts?

 

[Pkltm]

I would stay at the resort

 

[yesman70]

I would stay at the resort

Sort of what I'm leaning towards. Don't be want to burn a day for what might be only a partial day.

Maybe just relax and enjoy the resort

Will MK be open late that day or only AK?

 

[glassslippergirl]

Enjoy the Resort. Your time there is limited. Have a nice dinner, enjoy the fireworks from your room or the balcony on the fourth floor, Resort hop on the resort monorail loop.

 

[Pkltm]

Sort of what I'm leaning towards. Don't be want to burn a day for what might be only a partial day.

Maybe just relax and enjoy the resort

Will MK be open late that day or only AK?

Park hours say until 9, if I only had one night at CR, I would really enjoy what it has to offer, we often don't do parks on arrival day, we explore the resort, enjoy the pool, has some good resort dining!

 

[yesman70]

Park hours say until 9

from reading through some of the other threads, it sounds like park hours might get extended once we get closer to summer? Thats where im a little torn.

 

[IrishNYC]

I would stay at the resort and enjoy it. To me it's a waste of a hopper day to not get to the park until later, and it's a waste of paying all that money for the Contemporary to not spend time there. If I were just going to leave my stuff and run out to a park, and only sleep, I'd spend a lot less money and stay at a value for one night.

 

[kmv]

100% enjoy the resort!

 

[Klayfish]

When you say you're staying "for the week", what do you mean? How long will you be there? If you only have 4 day tickets but are staying 7 days, that's one thing. In that case, if budget allows, I'd upgrade to 7 day tickets, because the cost to do so once you get past 4 or 5 days is minimal. It's just my opinion, but we go to WDW to see the parks, not the hotels. We stay off site, but regardless, we didn't go there to see a hotelcondo room or a hotel/condo pool. We certainly don't go park open to close, ever, but we also don't skip a day completely. A "rest" day for us will be spending just a few hours in the park, then relax the rest of the day. In OPs example, if we got up super extra early to arrive by 10am, we'd take a nap, have a relaxing meal then spend a few hours in the park (MK) at night. Just my $.02

 

[chirogrrl]

When you say you're staying "for the week", what do you mean? How long will you be there? If you only have 4 day tickets but are staying 7 days, that's one thing. In that case, if budget allows, I'd upgrade to 7 day tickets, because the cost to do so once you get past 4 or 5 days is minimal. It's just my opinion, but we go to WDW to see the parks, not the hotels. We stay off site, but regardless, we didn't go there to see a hotelcondo room or a hotel/condo pool. We certainly don't go park open to close, ever, but we also don't skip a day completely. A "rest" day for us will be spending just a few hours in the park, then relax the rest of the day. In OPs example, if we got up super extra early to arrive by 10am, we'd take a nap, have a relaxing meal then spend a few hours in the park (MK) at night. Just my $.02

I agree, would you want to do more than 4 park days? Bumping up to a 7 day hopper is about $64 per ticket (one additional day would be about $21 per ticket). That is a lot of additional park time for the money. One of the great benefits of staying at the Contemporary, is the easy access to the Magic Kingdom. I would definitely spend some time at MK that day, if it were me. Even if you stay until park close, it's an easy walk back to the Contemporary, with time left to explore. My ideal scenario would be check in, swim and explore until the room is ready, then head to MK later in the afternoon. Of course, that would also keep this Northern girl out of the midday June heat of Orlando!

 

[yesman70]

When you say you're staying "for the week", what do you mean? How long will you be there? If you only have 4 day tickets but are staying 7 days, that's one thing. In that case, if budget allows, I'd upgrade to 7 day tickets, because the cost to do so once you get past 4 or 5 days is minimal. It's just my opinion, but we go to WDW to see the parks, not the hotels. We stay off site, but regardless, we didn't go there to see a hotelcondo room or a hotel/condo pool. We certainly don't go park open to close, ever, but we also don't skip a day completely. A "rest" day for us will be spending just a few hours in the park, then relax the rest of the day. In OPs example, if we got up super extra early to arrive by 10am, we'd take a nap, have a relaxing meal then spend a few hours in the park (MK) at night. Just my $.02

Will be in Orlando for 8 days. But we want rest days and want to do a day at Universal as well.

We might end up doing what you suggest in your last sentence.

 

[bluezy]

I'd add another day to your tickets and spend a few hours at MK or Epcot that day since they're a quick monorail ride away. I think it's worth $21/person to be able to spend a few hours in a park that day -- especially at Epcot where the FPs are tiered. It will allow you to schedule a FP for one of the Tier 1 rides that day.

We also travel to Disney in June and arrive around noon. We usually throw our stuff in the room; have lunch at the resort QS; go back to the room to do a little unpacking; head to Epcot for a few hours (having scheduled our FPs for about 4:00-5:00, 5:00-6:00, and 6:00-7:00); have a quick dinner at Sunshine Seasons; and then head back to the hotel for a swim and get to bed at a decent time so we can hit the ground running in the morning. We find that spending a few hours at a park on arrival day is a great way to ease into our vacation.

Personally, it would drive me crazy to spend my arrival day at a resort where I could see one of the parks and not be able to go to it. If I was arriving after dinner, it would be different. But if I'm arriving by lunch time, I'm definitely hitting a park.