Totally clueless, overwhelmed, looking for logistical help on 1 day trip...

[insp86]

Hello,

I hope all is well. Right off the bat, I should mention I've only been to Disney Land (years ago) and have almost no idea what I'm doing. But here's the story...

My girlfriend's birthday is in a few weeks. Instead of getting her jewelry she may or may not like, I just bought us plane tickets to Disney World. She hasn't been in a decade (she's turning 28) and frequently mentions how bad she wants to go back.

However, we both work stressful jobs and can't miss work, so the only plane tickets that I could make happen have us landing at MCO at 11:40 p.m. Friday and leaving MCO at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

So basically, all I want is one perfect Saturday (likely at Magic Kingdom).

What I'm struggling with is how to get in a hotel/resort Friday night fast enough that we can get some sleep, and how to get out of there fast enough Sunday so that we can at least go to a park for a few hours in the morning.

Fortunately, cost isn't a gigantic consideration, but I'd like to not go totally bankrupt on this gift. I have a tentative solution, but I'm curious what the experts think:

My plan is to stay Friday at the Hyatt in the airport (or a cheaper airport hotel) then take a taxi to a resort on the property as early as we can manage Saturday (maybe one of the New Orleans themed places?). From there, we check in and head straight out the door. Then on Sunday, if we go somewhere first thing, we should be able to get in a pretty full day before we head back to our Saturday night hotel then the airpot?

Any thoughts? Great idea? Horrible idea? Anyone have any better ideas working with the brutal arrival/departure times? Is the night at the airport a bad idea? I really don't want to ruin Saturday, but two hotels always seems like a bad call unless it is the only solution. Or is it?

Thanks a ton in advance!

 

[pepe of ohio]

Since you're flying in, I'd use the DME (free bus transportation form Disney) when you arrive and stay at the Port Orleans French Quarter (Disney's moderate) resort....nothing better than waking up in WDW and what you would save from a cab ride and airport hotel might be as much as the extra night on property......

Then the next morning, you can hit the park at rope drop and get a great day in the parks......and for my money, best park is the Magic Kingdom...nothing better than looking up Main Street and seeing the castle...and you got to realize that WDW is huge, beyond huge......you'll be shocked at the size and though we don't stay at POFQ, we visit there and it's a beautiful resort, we;; appointed to detail and just a little piece of Disney heaven..

 

[Metro West]

 

[lovetoscrap]

Personally, with that schedule I would rent a car at the airport or plan to take a taxi or prearranged car service for all of it. You are going to lose a lot of time waiting for other transportation. After you check into your Disney resort if you are going to take Disney Transportation to the park you could potentially wait up to 30 minutes just for the bus. I would plan to stay at the Contemporary Resort where you can just walk across the street to Magic Kingdom if your budget can do that or at the very least like Pepe said, take a taxi directly to your Disney Resort and stay there Friday night. That late at night check in won't take long and you can do an express check in online that gets you through the line even quicker. But do a ton of research here if you choose that option because with express check in they don't explain anything to you about the resort or the parks etc. You get your keys/park tickets, a folder of papers and are on your way. Check out our Disney Resorts Board for help choosing a resort. If you are planning to arrive late, leave early, spend all your time in the parks, go back to sleep, get up early and check out to back to a park until time to leave for the airport I would look for either the most convenient resort (a monorail one which are the most expensive, the Contemporary being the closest to MK) or if budget is a factor then just do a Value resort. No need to waste money on a beautiful resort with special amenities if you aren't going to use them.

In my opinion, Disney's Magical Express is a great service but it isn't the fastest way to get to and from the airport and will eat up a lot of time.

 

[loveshak22]

What a great birthday gift!!!

I think your schedule will still allow for a great 1.5 days of WDW fun! The cheapest way to get from MCO to WDW, if you are staying at a Disney resort (which I'd recommend over the hotel by the airport), would be to take the Magical Express. However, as someone else posted, it's not always the quickest way to get to your resort and back. However, on Friday night at 11:30 p.m. I wouldn't imagine there would be huge crowds so it might not be too bad. But you'd have to check in on Sunday a couple of hours early so it'd cut out some of your time on Sunday. If cost isn't an issue I'd say get a cab. You can rent a car but then you'd waste time getting to the rental car lot and then you'd have to schedule time on Sunday to fill the car up and return it. So I'd say arrive Friday night, get a cab (about 20-25 minute ride to WDW from MCO), and check-in at a Disney resort (if cost isn't an issue you can do Contemporary, Grand Floridian, or Polynesian which all have monorail access to MK so it'll make it quick and easy to get from your hotel to the MK and Epcot. However, the Wilderness Lodge is one of my favs and is a little less costly of a deluxe hotel and you can take the boat or bus to MK on Saturday morning). The moderate hotels are nice but only offer bus service for the most part so that takes a little more time.

Also, I'm not sure what weekend you are going but if you stay at a WDW resort you get more time in the parks with Disney's extra magic hours, which are only for guests at WDW properties and are offered at different parks on different days (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/calendars/). So if you get to MK when the park opens and then say there's extra magic hours at another park you can have a great day at MK and a few hours in at another park that evening.

On Sunday, you will have several hours to enjoy at one of the parks. If there's a park that has extra magic hours then I would suggest you get there and the park will open at 8:00 a.m. You could check out of your room and have your hotel hold your bags at the front desk then you could stay at a park until probably 3:30. Then go back to your hotel, get your bags, get a cab and head back and be at the airport by 5:00 p.m.

Do you know what other park you'd like to go to on Sunday?

Some other random advice:
1. At MK when you walk in there's a town hall (to your left after you go through the tunnels). You can go in there and get a "It's my birthday button" for free. They are cute and your girlfriend will get lots of Happy Birthday's from people over the weekend!
2. If you can get reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table (it's inside the MK castle) then you can get in the park before it opens and move right into the park when you are done. It's hard to get reservations though and it's pricey. I think Crystal Palace (character buffet breakfast with Pooh and Friends) also has reservations before park opening and if you can get an early reservation that's a good start to your day. Otherwise eat at your hotel.
3. There are a lot of good and unique hotels at WDW so you might want to start making reservations for your meals if you don't just want counter service for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
4. If you make a reservation for a table dinner you can order a cake in advance that they'll bring out for her birthday (when I did that for my husband it was nice but the cake was a little dry).

I LOVE planning WDW trips and could type a lot more but I those are some main suggestions. Hope it helps!!!

 

[loveshak22]

One correction:

On my point #3 I said there are a lot of unique and good 'hotels' and I meant restaurants!!

Although there are a lot of good hotels but that doesn't make sense with the rest of that sentence