That first day

[Aliceacc]

We'll have to leave our house by about 4:30 am in order to make our 7 am flight to Orlando. (Remember when 4:30 am was still the night BEFORE???) The plus side, of course, is that we'll be at the Poly before noon.

My son was asking last night about that first day-- would we do the pool or hit the monorail to see the Magic Kingdom. Here's what I think I've come up with:

Leave our stuff at the Poly, since the odds are overwhelming that our room won't be ready yet. Go to the Magic Kingdom for the afternoon and see what we can see. Do our 5 pm ADR at Chef Mickey's, then back to the Poly for the evening. We can get to our rooms, get the kids into bathing suits, and my husband can take them to the pool as I unpack. (This is our MO on any family vacation. It works well for us, since I can get us organized without the kids around, and don't have 8 hands trying to "help" me.)

Then we can hang out at the pool, see the fireworks from the beach, and call it an early night so we can be there for rope drop the next day.

How does it sound?

 

[daisyduck123]

Sounds perfect to me.

I love the part about sending DH & the kids OUT of the room while you unpack. If it's raining, he could always take them to the arcade instead of the pool.

 

[tchrrx]

That's pretty much the exact schedule we follow each year. The only difference we have is that I take DD back to take her bath (I unpack then) while my DH stays & watches the fireworks alone. It helps me keep my daughter on a routine for at least that first night since she's so tired.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

That sounds great! What dates are you going? We might see you there!

 

[monorailsilver]

If it works for you then do it.

But for me it wouldn't work. I'd be too tired to walk around the MK so I would just stay at the Poly & go to CM for dinner.

We have to leave to get to White Plains for our 8am flight no later then 5:45, I am sure if we left at 6 we'd be there by 6:35 but we want a little extra time.

I am planning on waking my kids at 5:35 & dressing them, brushing their teeth & putting them in the car-I have 3 & they will be 7, almost 5 & 2 1/2 when we go. They will have on clean undies at bed time so I just have to change their clothes.

We should be at the Poly by noon (plane arrives at about 10:45) & we have CM for 5pm.

So we sort of have the same plan minus the MK.

 

[hmdavid]

I agree with the PP, I am too tired to hit the parks after an early flight. We almost always pack our suits in our carry on so that we can swim upon arrival, have a nice dinner and then go to bed early so that we can hit the ground running the next morning! My kids do so much better when they are rested!

Have a great trip!!!

 

[rottiemom]

Sounds good to me & almost exactly what we're doing. It's our first trip to Disney so I don't know what to expect but I figured that we should be at the hotel by noon, drop our stuff & head over to Epcot. Explore the Seas, wander the world, have dinner, then back to the hotel. I can unpack while my better half & the little guy unwind. Then up again bright & early the next morning for the Magic Kingdom.

We're up at 5AM every morning anyway so it's just a matter of getting up at our usual time in order to be at the airport far enough in advance of the 8AM flight. My little guy will most likely nap on the plane once the novelty of flying wears off.

monorailsilver- we're also flying out of White Plains. If you've never flown out of there before it's a very small airport so you should be OK if unforseen circumstances delayed you until 6AM . Parking can be wretched, though, so try to arrange for a ride if you can.

 

[bear_mom]

We do the same thing, including 5 pm reservations for CM, except after dinner we go back to the room, unpack and get the kids to bed fairly early since they were up at 4:30, this last trip they were in bed at 9 our first night.

Emily

 

[DAISY DUCK FAN!]

Sounds like a plan!

You mean, I'm not the only mom who doesn't "need" all that extra help?

 

[lpoeppelman]

So what do ya'll think about resting when you arrive, then going out later? We will be arriving by 2:00p.m. I have a 7:50p.m. ADR at Chef Mickey's. I wanted to go to MK afterwards, then watch Spectromagic afterwards. The following morning we are doing EMH at Epcot. Do you think I should re-think our game plan?

We are also staying at the Poly, so I suppose we could watch the fireworks from the beach.

 

[Coconuts]

Sounds like a great plan; our first day was almost identical on our last trip. The only difference we did was to take a short nap when we got to the hotel, then hit MK for an ADR at LTT and toured MK until closing. My kids wouldn't have made it until 9pm without the nap and the 430am wake up call. Your older kids will probably do fine, but you know your 5 yo best--will they make it? Enjoy your trip!

 

[luvmy2sams]

We usually do the opposite. We try to get the first flight out (7am) which means we're up and out by 4:30am. We grab a quick snack at the hotel's counterservice and then either head to the pool or our room (if it's ready). We try to play it pretty low-key until we head to a Chef Mickey's ADR. After dinner we always go to the MK to catch a few rides and watch the fireworks.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

We usually do the opposite. We try to get the first flight out (7am) which means we're up and out by 4:30am. We grab a quick snack at the hotel's counterservice and then either head to the pool or our room (if it's ready). We try to play it pretty low-key until we head to a Chef Mickey's ADR. After dinner we always go to the MK to catch a few rides and watch the fireworks.

We usually do the same thing. This keeps us all from being grouchy.

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

Our flight isn't til 10am, but we hope to be at our resort (Contemporary) by 2/2:30. The plan is to go over to MK and try to catch the 3pm parade. Then we'll just walk around Main Street, maybe see the Dream Along With Mickey show and Storytime with Belle. If it's not too long of a wait, we may try the carousel and Mickey's Philharmagic, but really, that's it for the first afternoon. We'll have a 7pm Chef Mickey's dinner, and then get to bed so we can hit Epcot bright and early the next day. It will be nice that we are staying at the Contemporary.

Don't attempt to really do too much at MK or you'll get frustrated and disappointed. This is a great opportunity for the shows I listed above, as you might have trouble fitting them in later on.