Share your best "arrival and departure day" tips

[barbaraann]

Having just returned from 8 days at WDW, I have thought of a few things, that I could have planned better.

If you want to swim upon your arrival at the world, pack your swimming attire.

Don't plan too many days in a row at the parks. You need a day of rest. Touring, especiallly in the summer, is very tiring.

The hotels, have an Airline Check In Desk, where you can obtain your boarding pass and check in your suitcase for your return trip. Use it, if you can. We did, and it was great!

I am sure many of you can pass along tips for arrival and departure day that would help a fellow traveler.

 

[Daxx]

Pack an extra duffle bag for souveniers. When you're going on vaca., pack it at the bottom of your suitcase. When you arrive, pull it out and set it aside. Put all souveniers in it as you get them. That way, everything is kept together. If you don't have tons of souveniers, you can always use it for dirty laundry!

If you're going to include swimming on your last day (we try to squeeze in a bit of pool and park time before our evening departure), be sure to have a plastic bag to put wet bathing suits in! We change in and out of our suits in the restroom of our resort.

If you have a refillable mug from your resort, refill it before you leave. You'll have something cold to drink on the way to the airport!

 

[Gramgwen]

Thanks for the tips! We are leaving on Saturday and everytime I think I have thought of everything I get more great tips! I am actually filling a duffle bag with treats and disposable items. That way I can fill it back up again with souveniers.

 

[missypie]

If your flight is in the afternoon or evening, ask for late checkout. At the CR, they told us that the cut-off for not charging for another day is 1 pm.

Also, if you check your luggage through curb side checkin, they also print your boarding passes.

 

[herekitty99]

Having just returned from 8 days at WDW, I have thought of a few things, that I could have planned better.

If you want to swim upon your arrival at the world, pack your swimming attire.

Don't plan too many days in a row at the parks. You need a day of rest. Touring, especiallly in the summer, is very tiring.

The hotels, have an Airline Check In Desk, where you can obtain your boarding pass and check in your suitcase for your return trip. Use it, if you can. We did, and it was great!

I am sure many of you can pass along tips for arrival and departure day that would help a fellow traveler.

The airline check in desk is only available for use by certain airlines. Unfortunately, mine is not one of them.

72 days till WDW

 

[Daxx]

The airline check in desk is only available for use by certain airlines. Unfortunately, mine is not one of them.

As long as you can check in on-line, you can get your boarding passes from front desk.

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

There are only 4 rental car companies at MCO. Use one of them to be on your way the quickest. The rest you have to wait on the shuttle.

Remember how long it takes to get from the airport to WDW and also remember the way. I got lost on the way back once and also left too late and barely made my plane. Stress-City man!!

 

[Alaska Catdog]

If you are staying at a resort with a Spa (or don't mind traveling to one) book yourself a massage first thing. We did that once and it was a fabulous way to unwind after the long flight while we waited for our room to be ready. We loved it.

 

[Soupermom]

Montana Disney Fan...just how long DOES it take to get from MCO to WDW???

 

[Carolinagirl1063]

We do Chef Mickey's for dinner on arrival day. If time permits we go to MK for an hour or so before dinner. If my dd wants to I will let her swim on arrival night after dinner. I like to have something planned after the long ride to get there to make it feel worthwhile. On departure day, we ask for a late check out 12 or 1 and swim a little while then shower and get dressed. If we have time we go by MK for a while to tire DD out before the ride home!

 

[disgram]

After unpacking and checking out the resort and the food court, we hop a bus to the MK and take a tour around the parks on the Monorail. If the Magic hasn't kicked in by this time, the tour does the trick!!

 

[buglade]

We only went once before (April 2003) but we had great success with the following:

Illumination the evening of our arrival & DisneyQuest the late morning and early afternoon of our departure (the kids requested this one).

 

[Gramgwen]

The Guest Service desk (dining reservations, etc.) printed out our boarding passes because our airline was not on their list. I also used their scales to weigh my luggage. I did not want to pay the $25.00 extra for an overweight bag. I was able to disperse my items among the other bags and saved on the weight.

 

[Maybelle]

For our first trip a few weeks ago, we ate dinner at Cinerella's Castle on our first evening. It was very special to us, being new and all. We had a blast being in MK on our first night! Really sunk in that we were finally at WDW when we got our first glimse of the castle. DD (8) says her best memory of the trip is seeing the castle for the first time!!

Wish we were back there!!

 

[disneyred]

We do Chef Mickey's for dinner on arrival day. If time permits we go to MK for an hour or so before dinner. QUOTE]

As you can tell, I am new to this but... won't you have used up one of your days on your pass, by just going for 1 hr or so for that day??

thanks.

 

[buglade]

DisneyRed, we have always gotten a length of stay pass with a park hopper. That way we can go wherever, whenever.

 

[Maybelle]

We did use up a day's pass going into the park at 4:00, but we stayed till closing after we ate, so it was worth it to us.

 

[shelleybean]

We are getting a Stars and Stripes pass from Shades of Green again this year and I just noticed that the difference between a 5 and 6 day pass is only $5. It's well worth it for us to buy the extra day so we can spend some time the first night in the MK.