Partial day at start or end of trip?

shosh1530

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 20, 2020
We have 4 day park hoppers that we hope to use this summer. We plan to stay 4 nights and have 3 full days in the parks. The 4th day will either be the evening we arrive (mostly likely a Sunday afternoon by 3 or 4ish) or the day we leave (would probably have to leave by noon).

I originally was planning to do the day we leave and possibly stay most of the day. But my DH won't be able to get the next day off and we'll have an 8 hour drive. Going in the evening might also be nice even if we don't ride much. My son is super excited to see Galaxy's Edge and we would need to go to guest services to inquire about a DAS, which he has had on previous trips. So we could maybe do a few rides and get food.

It's stressing me out knowing that we likely wouldn't be able to easily change our park reservation days. Thoughts on evening vs. final morning?
 
We have 4 day park hoppers that we hope to use this summer. We plan to stay 4 nights and have 3 full days in the parks. The 4th day will either be the evening we arrive (mostly likely a Sunday afternoon by 3 or 4ish) or the day we leave (would probably have to leave by noon).

I originally was planning to do the day we leave and possibly stay most of the day. But my DH won't be able to get the next day off and we'll have an 8 hour drive. Going in the evening might also be nice even if we don't ride much. My son is super excited to see Galaxy's Edge and we would need to go to guest services to inquire about a DAS, which he has had on previous trips. So we could maybe do a few rides and get food.

It's stressing me out knowing that we likely wouldn't be able to easily change our park reservation days. Thoughts on evening vs. final morning?
If the hours stay the same as they are now the parks don’t open until 9am. That would only give you three hours if you choose option B. I’d probably choose the evening simply for more hours.
 
I think you should opt for going the evening you arrive. It will be a nice little taste for the days to come. And even though you'll be tired the next morning, you'll be motivated to get going!
In addition, I think it's a little depressing, to say nothing of exhausting, to go to the parks for a few hours only to have to leave when everyone else is just getting started.
Just my two cents :bored:
 
Good points about the hours and not opening until 9. I wasn't even thinking about that. My kiddo is not able to last long in the parks at all, so I think an evening foray to just see whatever he is looking most forward to and get acclimated might be really helpful. Worst case scenario is that the drive up takes longer than planned and we miss out on going. So I'll just plan on quick service meal for dinner.

Plus not going the last morning means we can maybe reserve a nice breakfast in DTD before we depart. Now I have to pick which park to reserve (although with park hoppers I guess we could go in and then immediately hop). He loves both Star Wars and Marvel so it might be tough.
 


We always do the last day. We'll have 3 1/2 hours for our next trip in our last day or 5 hours the day we arrive.

Our plan for arrival day is to let the kids swim right when we check in, the other mom and I are heading to Target for supplies, the dad's will be with the kids. Then we're heading over to DTD for dinner and shopping and calling it an early night so we can be fresh for our first day. We don't drive but we have about 7 hours of airport drive time, flights, and waiting from the time we get up to getting to Anaheim so for our group the kids will just be too tired to go the first day.

That's what we've found works for us but definitely different for each group.
 
Just a heads up, you can only park hop beginning at 1. So you should make set plans on which park you want to spend the morning in.
 
We've tried both partial day options, and for us it works best to go on the arrival day. There's something about getting checked into the hotel and just being so excited to get into the parks that we love dashing over as soon as possible and soaking it all in on our arrival day. We love that energy and it's so good to have something like that to anticipate throughout the long drive. Sometimes we even leave earlier than planned because we're so excited to get there that we can't sleep any longer and we have to get on the road ASAP!
On the last day, the adults are usually preoccupied with packing and making sure we haven't left anything in the hotel room and all the departure details to really enjoy being in the parks, plus we're constantly checking the time to see if we need to leave. In pre-covid times, we would do a character breakfast on the morning of our departure, then check out and hit the road, and that was a great way to say good-bye - that one last time with the characters, a good breakfast that sustains us for the first half of the trip, and a leisurely morning to get packed up before checking out.
 


So many good points to think about!

Our trip was cancelled in March 2020 (we were supposed to arrive the night before they closed) and I had been planning to increase our 3 day hoppers to five on that trip with both an evening to see Fantasmic and a character breakfast that final day.

I think we will try the arrival evening option and hope it will motivate us to leave a bit earlier. We've only been once before and we had a weird detour traffic stoppage where the 7-hour drive took 10 hours. Here's hoping for smoother travels (and no cancellations) this year!
 
I like to go on arrival day even if it's just for a few hours, so I can get secure my DAS and not worry about standing in line for it in the morning. It's nice to just hit the rides on my first full day with the DAS already done.
 
Get up at midnight and do it the first day. The first day will be grueling, but you'll be well rested in the hotel the day of departure before you have to check out. Can even enjoy the pools and not feel rushed.
 
Get up at midnight and do it the first day. The first day will be grueling, but you'll be well rested in the hotel the day of departure before you have to check out. Can even enjoy the pools and not feel rushed.

Oy, I think I could have done that in my 20s, but no way now. We'd end up with one sleep deprived kid on our hands (no way would he sleep in the car) and a day-long meltdown afterwards.

On our first trip he only lasted 1-2 hours in the park max at a time. So I'm thinking the short visit the first night will be perfect. I'm hoping he'll be able to go longer though on subsequent days.

But... maybe I could look into whether we could leave the day before and stay somewhere halfway or closer...
 
Oy, I think I could have done that in my 20s, but no way now. We'd end up with one sleep deprived kid on our hands (no way would he sleep in the car) and a day-long meltdown afterwards.

On our first trip he only lasted 1-2 hours in the park max at a time. So I'm thinking the short visit the first night will be perfect. I'm hoping he'll be able to go longer though on subsequent days.

But... maybe I could look into whether we could leave the day before and stay somewhere halfway or closer...

I think you'd be surprised at how Disney perks kids up. We typically get there around 1-3PM our first day and head into the park, but we also typically stay to 4-5 our last day before heading back for our 5-6 hour drive.
 
I think you'd be surprised at how Disney perks kids up. We typically get there around 1-3PM our first day and head into the park, but we also typically stay to 4-5 our last day before heading back for our 5-6 hour drive.
Fingers crossed that you are right. He is a special needs kiddo though and doesn't always react in typical ways. Our first trip when he was five was totally overwhelming for him and he was scared of almost every ride (the few we actually could get him on). But it was also crazy crowded fall freak and a horrible heat wave.

I'm trying to keep things mellow, planning to stay onsite, take breaks, and not have too much of an agenda (and also to sneak off to the parks on my own when I can!)
 
I don't have any advice to share ... since I've been debating the same exact thing.

If we leave our house at say, 6 a.m., stop for brunch midway, we're looking at a 8 - 8.5 hour trip. We'd get there at 2, go to our room (if it's ready), freshen up. At the earliest, we'd be at the park gates at 3 p.m. And that assumes no crazy I-5 traffic.

In both our cases, if the park hours gradually get extended, it may make sense to go for the afternoon/evening. Esp. since kiddos are so excited and probably feeling cooped up after the long drive.

Out trip isn't until October, so who knows the situation will be then. But, leaving the park midday also seems sad, as other posters mentioned ... decisions, decisions.
 
I don't have any advice to share ... since I've been debating the same exact thing.

If we leave our house at say, 6 a.m., stop for brunch midway, we're looking at a 8 - 8.5 hour trip. We'd get there at 2, go to our room (if it's ready), freshen up. At the earliest, we'd be at the park gates at 3 p.m. And that assumes no crazy I-5 traffic.

In both our cases, if the park hours gradually get extended, it may make sense to go for the afternoon/evening. Esp. since kiddos are so excited and probably feeling cooped up after the long drive.

Out trip isn't until October, so who knows the situation will be then. But, leaving the park midday also seems sad, as other posters mentioned ... decisions, decisions.

This is about how our first few trips went - we left about 6am, had one stop mid-way, and by the time we arrived, got checked in, and freshened up, it was about 3-4pm by the time we hit the parks. A couple times we tried just doing Downtown Disney on our arrival day and then having a 1/2 day in the parks on our departure day, but that was harder on all of us.

Now the kids are teens and we're planning on hitting the road at 4am when we go in June to see if we can make it in time to spend most of the afternoon at DLP. Our main concern is if our hotel will let us park there if we arrive a few hours before check-in, and if they can store our bags so they aren't left in the car unattended. The kids are threatening to just sleep in the van the night before so they don't have to be moved out of their beds, but then they acknowledged that they would probably be too excited to sleep anyway, so we're counting on that teenage adrenaline to get them through the day.
 
This is about how our first few trips went - we left about 6am, had one stop mid-way, and by the time we arrived, got checked in, and freshened up, it was about 3-4pm by the time we hit the parks. A couple times we tried just doing Downtown Disney on our arrival day and then having a 1/2 day in the parks on our departure day, but that was harder on all of us.

Now the kids are teens and we're planning on hitting the road at 4am when we go in June to see if we can make it in time to spend most of the afternoon at DLP. Our main concern is if our hotel will let us park there if we arrive a few hours before check-in, and if they can store our bags so they aren't left in the car unattended. The kids are threatening to just sleep in the van the night before so they don't have to be moved out of their beds, but then they acknowledged that they would probably be too excited to sleep anyway, so we're counting on that teenage adrenaline to get them through the day.

Love it! Sleeping in the van isn't a terrible idea ... if they don't think they'll be sleeping anyway!
 
I don't have any advice to share ... since I've been debating the same exact thing.

If we leave our house at say, 6 a.m., stop for brunch midway, we're looking at a 8 - 8.5 hour trip. We'd get there at 2, go to our room (if it's ready), freshen up. At the earliest, we'd be at the park gates at 3 p.m. And that assumes no crazy I-5 traffic.

In both our cases, if the park hours gradually get extended, it may make sense to go for the afternoon/evening. Esp. since kiddos are so excited and probably feeling cooped up after the long drive.

Out trip isn't until October, so who knows the situation will be then. But, leaving the park midday also seems sad, as other posters mentioned ... decisions, decisions.

IMG_20170422_125705461%20(Large).jpg


One watching a movie, one reading, and one passed the hell out. The only way to travel.
 
I don't have any advice to share ... since I've been debating the same exact thing.

If we leave our house at say, 6 a.m., stop for brunch midway, we're looking at a 8 - 8.5 hour trip. We'd get there at 2, go to our room (if it's ready), freshen up. At the earliest, we'd be at the park gates at 3 p.m. And that assumes no crazy I-5 traffic.

In both our cases, if the park hours gradually get extended, it may make sense to go for the afternoon/evening. Esp. since kiddos are so excited and probably feeling cooped up after the long drive.

Out trip isn't until October, so who knows the situation will be then. But, leaving the park midday also seems sad, as other posters mentioned ... decisions, decisions.

IMG_20170422_125705461%20(Large).jpg


One watching a movie, one reading, and one passed the hell out. The only way to travel.

Sometimes we switch up the seating arrangement....

3291%20(Large).jpg
 
First day gets my vote 🙂
I love popping in the park soon after we arrive (so exciting!), plus it looks like you’ll have more hours to enjoy that day. Last day you can spend packing up and grabbing a meal or something.
 

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