To Red Eye or Not to Red Eye...That is the ?

[Kat in WA]

First trip to WDW from Seattle/Portland my daughter and I left PDX at 6:30 in the am and arrived around 5:30 in the pm. Wondering if we should stick with this (i.e., no parks that day, just dinner and bed) or should we do a redeye (i.e., eat, parks, and early to bed)? Anyone coming from the westcoast have experience/preference about red eye flights? Thinking I would like to try having the extra day at the parks, but don't want to be run down for the rest of the trip. Thanks.

 

[bumbershoot]

How old is your daughter?

Once DS is older (10 or so), assuming there are no other babies forthcoming (though I actually hope there ARE more babies so the following scenario can't happen), I would consider a red eye with him. The first day, make sure that we have all we need in carryons, and probably plan a resort day. Sitting by the pool, etc. That's why the child needs to be old enough to not get in trouble if you doze off for a moment...the child can reapply sunscreen, not drown, etc... Wouldn't work with a younger kid, you can understand.

Plus, an older kid is more likely to be able to sleep on the plane, and if they couldn't they could just read, instead of be noisy and annoying to other passengers. And they might be better able to sleep even if others are being noisy and annoying.

So quite a bit depends on how old she is, IMO.

 

[Kat in WA]

Not to worry...both of our daughters are "old" (20 and 17). Staying up would not be a problem. Just worry about how tired we would be that first day and how far that tiredness would extend into our trip.

 

[Brian Noble]

I would only do this if you *know* that everyone can sleep on the plane, and even then it's not a super great idea. I'm mostly shot for a good day or two after a red-eye, but that's partly because the west coast to DTW flights aren't quite long enough.

 

[uva185]

Even if you sleep the entire flight it will only be 4-5 hours of sleep depending which airport you fly into. I love taking redeyes when I am returning from a trip, not sure if I would take one to start a Disney trip....unless you wanted to lounge at the pool or be willing to do a half day at the parks or something like that.

If you do take the redeye you should bring your own blanket, eye mask, and have a few glasses of wine before the flight. That should help you doze right off.

I doubt your tiredness would last more than the first day.

 

[spokanemom]

We have done it from Spokane, with two boys who were 10+. We are all too keyed up to sleep on the plane, with the exception of my DH would can sleep ANYWHERE! It took us two days to catch up. I would not do it again with them. I have also taken the early am flights and arrived at 4:30 and later. We much prefer this. It gives us a bit of time to get all of our stuff put away, swim in the pool, and have a dinner somewhere fun. Then, after a good night's sleep, we hit the ground running! Just remember to keep the time difference in mind. The 3 hours that you have "extra" when you get there don't feel like "extra" hours come that 1st morning!

That extra day in the park won't be any fun if everyone is exhausted. Only you know your family though. Since you have much older kids to think about, they may be staying up all night and not getting any sleep anyway! (Oh, those were the days...)

Regardless of what you choose, have a wonderful trip!

 

[Huff]

We caught a redeye from Phoenix a few years ago. Left at 11pm with a short stop and arrived at MCO at 7:30am. Headed to Sea World for the day. We were both very sleepy after a couple hours at the park. We stayed anyways for most of the day and left late afternoon. Checked into our hotel, took about an hour nap and were rested up and ready to head to the parks for the night. We just didn't sleep enough on the plane and were too tired to enjoy the first day even though we did enjoy the evening at the parks.

For our current trip we plan to leave in the morning and arrive at our hotel around 5-6pm. We then head to MK and catch a few rides and head to dinner then back to room. I don't think we'll do a redeye again.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Avoid taking red-eyes if possible. You will be wiped out the day of arrival.

 

[clkelley]

I took a Red-Eye from LAX to WDW (direct flight). I took an OTC sleep aid and did great!!

Arrived at MCO at 6:30 am. Got a private DME ride to All-Stars, took a shower at the pool shower.

My DH arrived about that time and we enjoyed our day.

I didn't have any trouble at all!!

Now, let me say, I am not a West Coaster. I took this flight after being at Disneyland for a week.

So I was only on West Coast time for a week before going to WDW.