Parks on first day?

[sweetpeama]

I am thinking you might not need to add more days if you decide you want more park days at the end. Here is why

Friday Arrival Day
Saturday Park Day 1
Sunday Park Day 2
Monday Park Day 3
Tuesday Park Day 4
Wednesday Park Day 5
Thursday Down Day and MNSSHP
Friday Departure Day
Water Park Day needs scheduling so unless you have a late flight on your departure day or are actually departing on Saturday morning as I can read Friday to Friday as in will be at Disney those days or that leave home and return days depending on how you count a day. ( From my trip I did not count the day we left as a day because my sister booked a 7 am flight and not even a snack bar was open when we left).
I honestly would do the water park day on arrival day especially considering the time of year and that even if you get there between 12 and 1. Possibly take transportation other than using Disney Transportation and if you use a town car, or an uber driver have them wait while you check in at your resort and take luggage to your room if it's ready ( if not leave with bell services) and then drop you at the water park. If you rent a car just head straight to the water park and check in later. (Due to how flights come in from where I have to travel from we don't check in until after 5-5:30 pm and did not find the lines long at all. Even with arriving on ME and having to get a number of carry on out of the bottom of the bus including a car seat we knew would be needed on the day we had a rental ( plus it was strapped to a luggage rack and used to pull a toddler though 3 airports) we only had 1 group in front of us checking to get to the check in counter

 

[ArielSRL]

Last year we did do MK on our arrival day. This year we are not doing a park on our arrival day. However, it is mostly our circumstances that dictate it. We drive from Atlanta (6 hrs 45 min without stops) and we do a 7 day hopper already. We didn't get into MK until around 4 or 5pm last year and we stayed until after 10. This was the only day we had a meltdown from one of my kids. And it just set the tired tone for the entire trip for us.

So this year, I added a night (8 instead of 7) so we can just take our time, relax, check out our resort (WL) , swim, and then hit Disney Springs.

But, if I were in your situation, I'd probably go ahead and add the day and do MK on arrival. My advice is to not make it a late night.

 

[Micca]

If we do decide to do a park on our arrival day, MK would be the one we'd be going to

Here's a cool thing about doing MK first thing. After an abbreviated day at MK there will still be more things you want to do or attractions to repeat. When someone says "But we didn't get to ride (fill-in-the-blank) you get to say "We'll do that tomorrow or the next day." Nothing feels better than saying "We'll be back shortly."

 

[Easy Rover]

I think it depends on your family dynamics (party size, age of kids, etc.), where you are staying and where you want to go, and how far you've traveled to get to WDW. If you're flying in from California on a 2 stop 9 hour total travel time excursion, maybe just hang by the pool when you arrive. The last thing you, or your kids especially, may want to do is to get on a bus to get to a park. If you're staying at one of the Monorail Deluxes and want to go to the Magic Kingdom for a few hours on that first day, I'd say do it. You could schedule fastpasses for 3 things you really want to do, bang those out, and then relax. The pass upgrades are not expensive, as people have mentioned. If you're at Boardwalk, maybe take a walk to Epcot. You know your family best.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

I'm a go-go-go kind of WDW traveler, and travel day exhausts me too much to attempt a park on arrival day. We like to hit up Disney Springs and get ourselves settled and in the Disney mindset, then we hit the ground running at MK the very next day.

 

[Hootch]

Two years ago we made it into the MK about 4:30 and had a good time. This year we plan to head to DHS for TSM and Star Tours before heading over to the MK.

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

We spend our arrival day at Disney Springs, and eat dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express.

 

[ErinsMommy]

We always hit MK that first day, eat at our favorite restaurant (BOG), try to make fireworks and then back to the resort for the big crash. For days we can't make the fireworks, we leave after dinner and call it a night.

 

[Phishman78]

we are arriving on a party day. going to go to MK do a test meet with mickey and tink since my kids are generally afraid of big head characters. They were ok with Santa this year, but as of last fall at Sesame Place...still no big headed characters. Then we will head to Tomorrowland and knock out a couple of attractions. They also have no idea where we are going, and I think I can fake it until we are on ME. Then we are out of there early due to the party, and hopefully well rested to really start touring on day 2.

 

[rg35]

We never do parks on arrival day. The last couple of years we have driven down from NYC (broken into two days) and arrive at the WDW area around noon. We check in, go to the pool, eat a QS lunch and just relax. We generally have a sit down dinner at Disney Springs. We have also done Hoop-De-Doo Revue on check-in day which is a fun way to kick off the trip.

When flying, we typically take an early (~6am) flight, which means us and our young kids are up early and park touring combined with the tiring travel just wouldn't work well for us. But every family is different, and some love park days on check in day.

 

[TheBigErn]

We never go to the parks on arrival day because we like to start fresh at rope drop. We like to do other things to get us in the mood such as mini golf, dinner at Hoope-De-Doo, ride the monorail to the 3 resorts and do some shopping or go to Disney Springs. Then start fresh first thing the next morning.

 

[Allison]

Arriving that early in the day, there is no way I wouldn't go to a park.

 

[Senk]

We doing MK on our arrival day. We get in at 9:15a and if it takes 3+ hours from MCO to resort to park we should make it early enough to still get a lot done and wrap it up to turn in early saving fireworks for MK day 2.
It's our first vist I'm sure my kids will be bursting with excitment (me too probably!) and with an early arrival I don't think I could make them wait.

 

[FrancoFun]

I myself am feeling torn as to whether to do a park or not on arrival day. We land in Orlando at about 9:30am, and have a dinner reservation at Ohana at 6:20pm. I can't decide if we should do an extra MK day on that day, or hit the grocery store, go to Disney Springs, swim in the resort pool, etc.

 

[squirrel]

Since you purchased the Water Park and more option why not hit a water park. You get the same number of water park days as your park tickets.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

We currently have a trip booked for October 20th-27th. (Friday to a Friday). Our flight is scheduled to arrive at MCO at 10:00am on the 20th, and i'm unsure if we should try to head to the parks that day or not. We have 5 day park hopper passes + a waterpark day which we will take advantage of. I would like a day or two of down days (one being the day we do MNSSHP Tuesday October 24th). I know the anticipation will be hard to ignore if we don't go to the parks, but i also don't want a day wasted if we get tired from early travel time. Just curious as to what everyone else does that first day.

We have annual passes but our guests do not - still we are going to MK the first day because it is extended hours. They are also arriving at 10:00 a.m. on a Wednesday for one week. It is the only day that has EMH at night. We are flying in the day before and will have a car to whisk them away from the airport. I would prefer to hang out at the resort but giving up the fun of being at MK later at night just ins't worth it. On our last trip together, we closed the park down at 1:00 a.m. in January! Rode Astro Orbiter just as the park was closing. Haven't been on in 20 + years. RE-creating that memory is worth the slightly later arrival. No mid-day break is the sacrifice. We also are fortunate to have a second full day later in the week at MK.

The other consideration is wanting the break after a few park days. Everyone has arrival energy (or at least the children do!) but that energy is quickly tested by the sometimes-grueling pace, heat and humidity. By day 4, we need the break.
Extra commentary: Hours are disappointing. Going later this month and the best they have at MK is 11:00 p.m. on Wednesdays.

 

[loves to dive]

We have always gone to a park on arrival day. We drive down and get there anywhere between 2 and 4. We don't do a total down day, we don't make plans so there are days we don't spend but a few hours in the parks and spend the rest at the pool or whatever but there has never been a day when we haven't gone to a park.

 

[scrapquitler]

We currently have a trip booked for October 20th-27th. (Friday to a Friday). Our flight is scheduled to arrive at MCO at 10:00am on the 20th, and i'm unsure if we should try to head to the parks that day or not. We have 5 day park hopper passes + a waterpark day which we will take advantage of. I would like a day or two of down days (one being the day we do MNSSHP Tuesday October 24th). I know the anticipation will be hard to ignore if we don't go to the parks, but i also don't want a day wasted if we get tired from early travel time. Just curious as to what everyone else does that first day.

We always go to the MK on our first day. Even the time ME dropped us off at the resort at 8:30PM and MK was open until 10. We went anyway because we like to start our trip with a walk up Main Street.

If you arrive at MCO by 10AM, you'll most likely be able to take your time and still be in the park well before 2pm. That gives you a lot of time to spend in the park that day IF you aren't too tired from your travel. I know a lot of people on the boards here say that they never go to a park on their arrival day, instead they do a character meal or a visit to Disney Springs. Do whatever feels right to you, and remember that if you do go to the park the first day and wish you had another day to use later in the trip, you can always add an additional day to your tickets.

 

[bluezy]

We drive about 1000 miles to Disney. We split the drive over two days doing about 12 hours the first day. We arrive at Disney around noon on the second day. We didn't use to go to a park that day because we didn't want to "waste a day" on our tickets since we knew we wouldn't be able to get to a park until about 2:00-3:00. So we'd just settle in at the resort, go swimming, go to DTD/DS for dinner, and ride the monorail loops. We always liked to make sure we got to bed by 10:00 that night so we could hit the ground running the next morning. Then, in 2009 we got the Buy 4/Get 3 Free deal on our room and tickets so we had tickets for every day of our stay. That year we went to Epcot for a few hours on arrival day. We got to the park around 3:30 and rode a few rides, had dinner at Sunshine Seasons, and then went back to the resort for a quick swim and still got to bed by 10:00. We were hooked. Now we always go to a park on our arrival day. We don't over do it -- just spend a few hours there and get a few rides done. We just take things slow -- ride our 3 FP rides; have dinner; and head back to the resort. We find it's a great way to ease in to vacation and at ~$12/person to add an extra day to our tickets, it's a bargain.

 

[Tk0021]

Last year we we went to MK on our travel day. We got to the park about 10:15. There was no way I was going to be able to keep the kids away from the MK for that day. Plus we booked an early flight so we could take advantage. This year on our travel day we are going to the MNSSHP and we will just hangout at the hotel till 4:00.