Never ever again!!!

[Cinderella]

Ok - i did this a few years ago, then i did it again in December. We had a long transatlantic flight and decided to go over to MK for extra magic hours - we were exhausted, rather than refreshed the next morning. I will never do this again - will just go to our hotel and chill for first night in the future. Warning to all travellers after a long flight - don't go near the parks until the next morning.

 

[Camping Griswalds]

Well we only have a 3 hour flight, but are getting into resort not until 7 pm at the earliest, so we're thinking pool and bed!

 

[eblack0409]

Same goes for a long drive!!! DH and I drive over 12 hours to Disney...we split it up into 2 days so the first night we are there we can just go to DTD and then hit the parks full steam ahead the next day!

 

[wecroozin]

We plan on arriving at the resort by noon and getting a rejuvenating shower and off to the parks same afternoon. But... we only have a 2 1/2 hr flight. I like to make the most of every minute there.

 

[Danaans]

I had my whole family do this. (am-I-nuts-or-what?)

It was the 20th of December and we had tickets for Mickeys Christmas Party from 7-12 PM.

Here's the crazy part...

We did this the first evening we arrived when we had got up at 4 that morning to catch a 715 am flight.

Ready for the rest????

We were a party of 8 -- 5 adults and three children ages 14 months, a three year old and and eight year old.

The story gets funnier.....

The little kids were fine...(Surprise) it was the adults who were tired.

Our adult children!

Really funny...Pop Pop and I were the only ones wanting to run around with the grandchildren. (and we did)

But I do agree to not do things like that...its not the recommended way. First of all for your sanity and second of all it does dimish that-good-time-feeling.

Unfortunately, we had no choice as it was the first day of our vacation and the last day of the party in the MK and since we wanted the kids to attend....

 

[DonnaDuck]

I agree.

Originally, we had planned to arrive at WDW on Saturday morning after a long drive from NC.

Then after thinking it over, we decided to go down one day earlier, rest up, hang out at the hotel and start with the parks the next morning.

We leave Friday morning...we may hit the outlets before getting to the hotel, but I am looking forward to a good nights rest before MK on Saturday.

 

[NHLFAN]

Two things come to mind about this topic:

First,
On our trip back in Dec, 2000...the first night we went to MVMCP and stayed until closing time.The next morning we up at the crack of dawn to get a jump on EE the next morning. We all felt burned out the rest of the trip!
Never again...so now after MVMCP or MNSSHP we sleep in the next morning!

Secondly,
Last year we took the non-stop red-eye flight from Seattle to Orlando, which we thought we'd all sleep during the appox. 6 hr flight, but no I couldn't sleep a wink!
We arrived and had to wait until 1 pm to check into our room. So after staying up appox 24hrs in a row, I was burnt out again for the first couple of days.

Nothing like having to take a vacation from our vacation!

 

[TnTsParty]

We only have a 2.5 hour drive so we always go to a park on the first day but my DH doesn't like it when we have a ADR on the first night. When we went in Sept we had ADR for the first night and it was a rush to get there with everything else involved in your first day. This last trip I made the ADR for the 2nd night we were there and it was much better (and more relaxing)

 

[keriannhoward]

Wow, I don't know how you all do it! We only live a 2 and a half hour drive from Orlando and we always get into town late afternoon or early evening the day before he hit our first park. (DH and I love to listen to the afternoon crew on a local radio station, it's our "thing" that gets us into vacation mode.) We usually just relax in the hotel, goof off in the pool and this next trip we'll do Chef Mickey's our first night there.

 

[momandseandodisney]

Good advice, we only do a 3 hour flight and usually get ther ein the early afternoon, but i find we are too tired after tht even. If you want to do something disney the first night I recommend a chara dinner or dinner show

 

[GoofyDad869]

Depending on what time we get to WDW, we usually just head over to DTD after checking in. We have a 9-10 hour drive (with kids it's ALWAYS longer) so we're usually not to WDW before 5:00 or 6:00 anyway. Sometimes we'll stop and stay overnight in the Valdosta GA area, and get up early to be to resort check in by mid-morning, if that's what we do we'll spend the full day in the park. We ALWAYS do Magic Kingdom our first day (It's our tradition, taking a picture in front of that Castle).

 

[julieannbabe]

Ok - i did this a few years ago, then i did it again in December. We had a long transatlantic flight and decided to go over to MK for extra magic hours - we were exhausted, rather than refreshed the next morning. I will never do this again - will just go to our hotel and chill for first night in the future. Warning to all travellers after a long flight - don't go near the parks until the next morning.

wow you flew on a 9 hour flight from the uk to orlando then on the same night went to MK!!

I am exhausted for at least a day after a long flight to the States - i can't even have dinner sometimes on the same night as i am so tired!

i want some of your energy!

xjx

 

[kmkja1]

We drive through the night from Ohio. As soon as we get there the kids are pumped to go to the parks. We go untill we are tired then go to the room for a rest.

 

[LeCras]

Ok - i did this a few years ago, then i did it again in December. We had a long transatlantic flight and decided to go over to MK for extra magic hours - we were exhausted, rather than refreshed the next morning. I will never do this again - will just go to our hotel and chill for first night in the future. Warning to all travellers after a long flight - don't go near the parks until the next morning.

Hehe last time we went to MNSSHP on our first night... Arrived from the UK at MCO at 16:40, rushed to SSR, checked in, dumped our bags and went straight to the park! Madness? You bet! But it was also a lovely experience, being immersed in the magic straight away without getting a chance to "adjust"! My DH was absolutely knackered after a few hours of rides and parades and begged me to take him home, so I had to oblige... Needless to say we had a lovely lazy morning the day after!

Oh, and if I had kids there is no way I would even contemplate doing this, but for a couple of young adults it was a brilliant evening!

Charlotte

 

[champagnegirl26]

We too are from the Uk and this year will be going to MK the day of our arrival. We should arrive to our accomodation by 5.30pm we are going to shower eat and hit the park. Really I guess we will only be there for a couple of hours and its going to be more of a wander around than hitting the attractions, but last year we really regretted not doing this. Its easier for us, we have no children in tow so I guess can do what ever we feel up to. But i take your warning! We will be leving the park no later than 10pm so we will get a good sleep and be up and at em first thing. Last year we got an early night the day we arrived and i woke at 4.30am due to the time difference. I guess trying to stay up later will help this and i cant think of a nicer place to do it than at MK!
Claire.