Taking a Red Eye for the First Time

[Memorymakerfor4]

As the title says, we're trying a red eye for the first time returning from Aulani. I'm a little nervous about it and am looking for tips to make it easier for my family with kids. We do have a connection in LAX, so not a super long haul flight, but we do need to sleep.

I booked the Executive Lanai for us on the last day, so we have a place to land with our things and won't have to fight for chairs. My plan is to run everyone ragged in the pool, so we're ready to sleep that night. I'm in the process of shopping for new neck pillows (recommendations appreciated) and am also considering foot slings. Has anyone tried these? I'm intrigued. We'll do the other things like eat well, avoid caffeine, and stay hydrated.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I did a red eye to WDW last month. It was a lot harder to sleep on the plane than I expected. If you can get seats with extra leg room, I recommend that to be able to spread out a little more.

I tried to tire myself out during the day and I drank a beer onboard, hoping it would make me sleepy. It didn't and if anything it made me wake up to pee a few hours later. Unfortunately, I don't have anything helpful to post other than be prepared for not sleeping. I think the kids will probably fall asleep after a busy day, but my husband and I just couldn't pull it off.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Taking the red eye tonight. I know it won't be easy.

What airline are you flying? Some airlines provide pillows and blankets for free. Hawaiian did when we took the red eye home from Aulani.

I am intrigued by foot slings, never heard of them.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I did a red eye to WDW last month. It was a lot harder to sleep on the plane than I expected. If you can get seats with extra leg room, I recommend that to be able to spread out a little more.

I tried to tire myself out during the day and I drank a beer onboard, hoping it would make me sleepy. It didn't and if anything it made me wake up to pee a few hours later. Unfortunately, I don't have anything helpful to post other than be prepared for not sleeping. I think the kids will probably fall asleep after a busy day, but my husband and I just couldn't pull it off.

That’s what I’m afraid of, not so much for me, but my son and husband. Will definitely avoid alcohol. I may pack the melatonin too.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Taking the red eye tonight. I know it won't be easy.

What airline are you flying? Some airlines provide pillows and blankets for free. Hawaiian did when we took the red eye home from Aulani.

I am intrigued by foot slings, never heard of them.

Hope it goes well! Let me know if you have any tips after.

We're on Southwest, I did get extra legroom, not so sure about pillows and blankets. I have a shawl I bought on our Alaskan cruise last summer and that might be perfect for this.

I think they're also called foot hammocks. You can find them on Amazon. My main concern is whether or not they jerk around the seat in front of you. Not looking to tick someone else off.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

I took two red eyes (round trip) with my husband, my 6yo and 3yo and I just had real low expectations for how it would go and it went better than that and we had nothing planned for the day we arrived both times so we could nap

Also I sat with the 3yo on the plane both ways and my DH drove after the red eyes both times so basically he could nap more on the plane and I could nap more in the car

 

[TheHulamuffins]

Just wanted to say that I think you will really love the trip!

My daughter and I took red eye flights on both of our two trips. I am not sure that either of us slept, but it was okay.

We arranged for a spa day, when our flight was leaving at about 10 pm that evening. This worked really well!

One feature of Aulani that I love: The Disboards and other Aulani sites bring back memories of an amazing vacation! It is highly memorable, and for us, almost unique. We love Disney World, too, but we have been there more often than we have been to Aulani.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Just wanted to say that I think you will really love the trip!

My daughter and I took red eye flights on both of our two trips. I am not sure that either of us slept, but it was okay.

We arranged for a spa day, when our flight was leaving at about 10 pm that evening. This worked really well!

One feature of Aulani that I love: The Disboards and other Aulani sites bring back memories of an amazing vacation! It is highly memorable, and for us, almost unique. We love Disney World, too, but we have been there more often than we have been to Aulani.

I love the idea of a spa day before boarding. It would make me very relaxed!

I totally agree about the memories. We've only been to Aulani once and couldn't wait to get back. Unfortunately we have to settle for about every 3 years, which is still really amazing. I love DVC. The only downside to us is we didn't have the points to also do WDW this year, whomp whomp.

 

[bakofarmgirl]

we are going in october and still havent booked flights since most returns show a red eye and we currently have a 3 yr old and 18 month old

 

[OKW Lover]

We prefer the red-eye for the return flight. But then again, we are in FL and usually try for the HNL>ATL flight which is about 10 hours. We do manage to catch some sleep during the flight but we do fly first class so we get the lay flat seats.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

We prefer the red-eye for the return flight. But then again, we are in FL and usually try for the HNL>ATL flight which is about 10 hours. We do manage to catch some sleep during the flight but we do fly first class so we get the lay flat seats.

That sounds lovely. Someday...

 

[RivGirl]

We took the red eye from Honolulu to Las Vegas last month. Our kids are 11 and 15. I was able to get ELR (SW) for my tall husband and long legged 15yo daughter. I’m short and my 11yo son is still small so we were fine a few rows back with normal room.

The flight left at 8:50PM. We got to the airport about three hours early and we all had dinner there. Walked around a bit and then changed into clean and comfortable clothing, brushed teeth, my daughter and I did our skincare, etc.

I was able to start dozing almost immediately, but I had half an eye on my son as he was watching a show and I wanted to make sure he turned it off at some point. He tried to sleep after the first episode but just thrashed around a bit and turned his show back on. But eventually he got tired enough, he turned it off, and I’d say about 90 minutes into our flight he settled with his head in my lap and we both slept more or less until we landed. (It was actually hard to wake him up.)

My daughter and husband didn’t fare as well. Both say they didn’t really sleep at all, even though they avoided screens the whole flight. It didn’t help that neither had the window - they had center and aisle. (My son and I had window and center.)

Both my husband and daughter had window seats on the three hour flight home from Las Vegas and they both slept the whole time, so that kind of made up for it.

We changed our flight from morning to red eye at the last minute, so seating was very limited. If I did it again I think window seats are key for both kids.

I think if you go into it with low expectations, but also prep for sleep (getting “ready for bed” before the flight, for instance), it’s fine. I really liked that I didn’t need to worry about feeding everyone on a six hour flight like I did for our trip over there during the day!

I also liked getting home mid-day and being exhausted enough that going to bed at our normal time that night wasn’t hard, even though it was very early Hawai’i time.