Stuff to do first night w/o tickets to parks?

[ophelia2002]

I'm looking for suggestions. We will be flying in and get to our resort (AoA) around 2-3 PM so I didn't see the purpose in getting tickets for that first night. But I would like to do something Disney related. I was thinking either Downtown Disney or Boardwalk. Any other ideas?

 

[Hezzy04]

You could schedule character dining for one of the locations at a resort. Just mKe sure its late enough where timing doesn't become stressful!

 

[tabistar]

We usually walk around the resort (AoA has a lot of cool stuff to see!), then go to DTD to check out possible souvenirs and eat at Wolfgang Puck Express. It's just enough to get us in the Disney state of mind!

 

[bookgirl]

A few years ago I came in late afternoon , so I did a transportation crawl. I had never ridden the monorail or ferry on my prior trips. I ate an early dinner at my resort then took a bus to MK, got on the ferry and went to TTC, grabbed a Monorail around the resorts, then took the Monorail to Epcot and back, then came back to TTC and took the Ferry again. Then a bus back to my resort. I just basically wanted to kill an hour or two. You could expand this to a whole evening and visit inside the monorail resorts, or add in a boat over to Fort Wilderness and watch the Chip and Dale sing along, or play at the playground. I like just wandering around and riding stuff.

 

[BekahBelle]

Downtown Disney and boardwalk are great options. It is also fun to visit other resorts, or simply take time to walk around your own and go swimming or something. The cool thing about going to other resorts though is that you can take boat rides and monorail rides and that's fun vacation - type stuff to do!

 

[michael's mom]

We're arriving around noon but still don't have park plans for that day. We'll be leaving our house at 4 am so I want to just have a relaxing first day. We'll do the pool and explore our resort, but to get ourselves into the Disney mood, we're doing dinner at Chef Mickey's. We'll take the boat from WL over, maybe take a monorail ride afterwards. If we can see the movie on the beach we'll do that too...or just call it a night early to get ready for our big first day at the parks.

 

[myrtleturtle]

We get in around 1. My plan is to build my "nest" in the resort while DH and the kids play in the pool. Then we will walk to the Poly (staying at SoG), walk to the TTC to activate our tickets, ride the monorail to Contemporary and have dinner at Chef Mickey's. Trying to get to bed as close to bedtime as possible to make rope drop the next morning.

 

[usnuzuloose]

If I ever get a chance to go back I would use the first day of it to scout out the different hotels. I do enjoy it. When we first went we knew nothing about WDW. And so much has been done since we went in 06.

 

[monorailsilver]

On arrival day, we do nothing but sit by the pool until dinner. I make reservations for Chef Mickeys, but I would also consider the WCC that night too. Then we watch the fireworks and head to bed.

 

[Fantabulously Cherry]

I really enjoy the character dinner at 1900 Park Faire. You could do that, then explore the monorail resorts. I've done that several times.

 

[keepswimming76]

Plan a special dinner that night, go to DTD, or just explore the resort. Our kids love to swim and play in the arcade so that can eat up an afternoon in and of itself.

 

[kboo]

We usually check in, take a nap, go to the pool, and then have a nice dinner - we took our then-3 year old to California Grill for an early dinner, and she loved it. how old are the kids? Boardwalk would be great. We did that when we went last May.

 

[mom2cgj]

Our first night plan is the Pirates and Pals cruise. Last time we did Downtown Disney. I would definitely plan some time in there to just explore the resort - AoA has great theming, and if you have kids it's a great place to photograph them. We spent a good hour just taking pictures with all of the cars and LK characters. The pools there are great, too, so if it's warm enough to go swimming, you could spend some time at the pool.

 

[sarahrdh]

We got settled into the room, got a snack, and went swimming for a couple hours before heading to our dinner at Boma. At AKL, we were able to walk around & see animals, saw feeding time, and roasted marshmallows for a little sweet after dinner snack! We also explored our resort a bit, could've played on the playground but we did not.....and don't forget the movie under the stars! It was a great first night!!!

 

[mandis77]

We have little kids so we just stay at the resort the first day/evening, swim and get to bed early. But something I'd love to do is go see a show Hoop-Dee-Doo or La Nouba.

 

[kbmartin]

The Boardwalk is a great idea, but it's much better at night.

Here's what I would do - a "tour" of the Epcot area resorts.

Take a bus to Hollywood Studios and then take the ferry to the Epcot resorts. Start at the Swan and Dolphin. It's the first stop anyway. I would go to the Swan for mini golf at Fantasia Gardens. Then, have dinner and dessert at Beaches and Cream at the Yacht and Beach Club. It's a short walk away. By that point, the Boardwalk should be hoppin', which is also within walking distance. If you're going in summer, you could end your day in front of Hollywood Studios when the Frozen Fireworks are going off.

Swimming and Downtown Disney would be fun, too!

 

[brooke789]

We set up our room, explore the hotel and will plan to go to the Chip and Dale campfire!

 

[merdie]

Our first day we usually get in around 1:00, so we set up our room, swim and eat a fun character dinner at a resort. This year we are doing 1900 Park Fare. I'm so excited!

 

[ElenaRN]

if the kids are old enough what about miniature golf?

 

[Thing 1]

Plenty of non park ideas but a park is not a bad choice either. It really cost very little to add one day to a multi-day ticket. We often arrive early to mid-afternoon and upon arrival we try to find a new to us ADR in the WS in Epcot. We head over for just a few hours and dinner then get to bed early for a early start at MK the next am. It cost us way less than we would spend in DTD and we love that first day in the park.