Traveling early or late...what do you prefer?

[BostonTigger]

I was just curious to know what everyone does and why. When you travel to WDW, thinking flying an everything that goes along with it, do you prefer to travel early in the morning with all of America, ok stretching it a bit, or do you like to wait 'til the middle of the day when the crowds subsides a bit? I usually travel early in the day, but to tell you the trueth I'm getting tired of fighting the crowds early in the morning. I've noticed from the few times I've gone to the airport during the middle of the day that the crowds don't seem to be as bad, escecially at the ticket counters. Has anyone started their flights off during the middle of the day? If so, do you find it a bit more peaceful/easier to handle due to less crowds? Or am I on drugs and the airports are crowded at all times of the day? I'm just curious, I'm just tired of getting up at 5am to be at the airport. I'd love to hear what my fellow dis'ers think.


steven

 

[safetymom]

I prefer to fly early morning like 6-7 AM. It seems if you fly during the airport rush hour 8-11 here in PIT it takes longer. If I am the first flight of the day there shouldn't be many delays.

Now my teenagers wouldn't agree with me on this one.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

We like to leave around 11-12 pm from Hartford and like to leave Orlando about 2-3 pm. Why? Cause I hate to get up really early for anything.

 

[mrsstats]

I find the early flights are less of a hassle with check in and usually no delays getting off on time. However, since I stay in a timeshare and you cant check in until 4 pm, leaving later lets me get organized at home before going and getting in right around check in.

 

[Wish Upon A Star]

I agree with Gail . . .

We also fly out of Hartford and we've flown at 10:30am twice, 2:00pm and just this past trip at 6:00pm.

I couldn't/wouldn't be able to do a 7:00am flight . . .I'm way too lazy to get out of bed. The 10:30 flight is perfect because you get into MCO at 1:00 or so which gives you some park time.

I'll never fly at 6:00pm again . . .by the time we got into MCO at 8:45, got our luggage and arrived at WL it was after 10:00pm. It's sorta like a wasted day because the parks are closed and you are beat.

We also like to leave MCO around 1:30 - 2:00 because we can sleep in a little and have a decent b-fast before heading home.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Wish Upon A Star
I agree with Gail . . .

We also fly out of Hartford and we've flown at 10:30am twice, 2:00pm and just this past trip at 6:00pm.

I couldn't/wouldn't be able to do a 7:00am flight . . .I'm way too lazy to get out of bed. The 10:30 flight is perfect because you get into MCO at 1:00 or so which gives you some park time.

I'll never fly at 6:00pm again . . .by the time we got into MCO at 8:45, got our luggage and arrived at WL it was after 10:00pm. It's sorta like a wasted day because the parks are closed and you are beat.

We also like to leave MCO around 1:30 - 2:00 because we can sleep in a little and have a decent b-fast before heading home.

Can't beat the SWA n/s times from Hartford in the am. Perfect, you miss all that nasty rte. 84 and rte.91 traffic. And, the same coming home. That 2 ish time is perfect. In addition to my intense dislike for early morning anything, I really HATE traffic.

 

[caitycaity]

i prefer to leave on one of the first flights of the day. maybe it is just me, but the airports around here seem less crowded first thing in the morning, as opposed to 8am-noon.

 

[goofy4tink]

We usually like to fly before 7 a.m. But now that Song stopped that flight, we're trying the 11:30 flight. I really don't like arriving anywhere late in the day. The only time that works for me is if I'm going to Seattle to visit family. THen with the time difference, the later time works for me. I'm not so sure about the 11:30 flight tho. Hopefully, with the new direct road to Logan it won't be too bad on the Pike around 9 a.m.!!! We'll see.

 

[kdibattista]

We always take the first flight out and never have any problems. We fly from Philly and are normally checked in by 10:30

 

[prncess674]

The later in the day you fly the less time you have for activities on the day you arrive. I fly for work and seem to always be on the 6 or 7 am flights for work so it is no big deal for me to be up and at "O Dark Thirty" as I call it.

Depending on where you are flying from if you fly in the afternoon you pretty much waste an entire day travelling. Getting up a little earlier gives me time to do things when I arrive. I usually swim, take an afternoon nap at the hotel then head out for a nice dinner which sets a good mood for the rest of the trip. I have no problems catching a few zzz's on the plane as well. The first flights out have very few delays because the plane has usually been parked at the airport all night. You get a freshly cleaned plane, with a new rested crew. Also the flights in the morning seem quieter, maybe it is because everyone is tired.

 

[Kitty 34]

We like to fly out of Michigan mid morning to noon. However, the later the better when leaving Disney!!!

 

[ncligs]

We always try to catch an early flight(between 8-10:00 am) out of Pittsburgh or Cleveland when we are going to Orlando.This way we are checked in at our destination(OKW),30 minutes after landing(usually around 12:30 pm).

 

[3stooges]

We like to get as early a flight as possible. Everything is packed the night before, so all we need to do is roust everyone out of bed and into the car for the drive to the airport. They usually continue sleeping. Arrival at WDW is usually at noon and we head right out for parks. Likewise when leaving we take as late a flight as possible usually after six which allows almost a full day of one last time favorite rides. This makes our 8 day vacation really 8 days.

 

[punkin]

I like a later flight. My husband doesn't miss another day of work; my children usually fall asleep in the car on the way to the resort and I just plop them into bed; and we are up early the next day to hit a park at opening. Even if we took a 7 am flight, we would not get to WDW until after 10. By the time we checked in and had something to eat, my kids would be too tired to go to a park.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by ncligs
We always try to catch an early flight(between 8-10:00 am) out of Pittsburgh or Cleveland when we are going to Orlando.This way we are checked in at our destination(OKW),30 minutes after landing(usually around 12:30 pm).

The first flight out of Hartford on SWA is 11:15 am. Not a lot of choice there. Of course, I could use another airline (perish the thought), but, would pay a heck of a lot more for the flight and frankly it is not worth the money to get up at 6 o dark to get a flight out early. We arrive at 1:55 pm and that works for us.
Plenty of time to do whatever we want.

 

[sgtdisney]

We always take a morning flight to Orlando. I hate getting up early too, but my wife always laughs at me at how easily I get up early when we are going to Orlando.. I can jump out of bed at 4:30AM when we are heading to the airport.. Any other normal day (read work day) I have a hard time getting up at 7AM. (Wonder why that is )

Coming home is another story.. We always take one of the later flights out coming back. We usually pick a flight after 4 or 5 PM. We prefer to leave around 7ish if there are flights available..

 

[safetymom]

For those of you that take a late flight home how do you spend that last day???

I bought a later flight once and it felt like all I was doing was killing time. Once I checked out of my room I didn't know what to do. It seemed a shame to waste a day on my ticket since I wasn't going to be there all day.

Any suggestions???

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by safetymom
For those of you that take a late flight home how do you spend that last day???

I bought a later flight once and it felt like all I was doing was killing time. Once I checked out of my room I didn't know what to do. It seemed a shame to waste a day on my ticket since I wasn't going to be there all day.

Any suggestions???

We pick up all the stuff we did not purchase during the stay, after packing we have an idea of what we can take with us and what we need to ship.

 

[ceecee]

We always flew out at 7:00 am on Saturday and last year couldn't get that flight with FF miles, so were left at 6:00 pm. Loved it The whole day Saturday was ours! This year we are leaving after school/work on Thursday! I fiqure I can add a day every year...LOL! Leaving late I didn't care for, it was kind of depressing! We went to DTD and out to a late lunch. I think I like leaving in the am better, you don't have as much time to think about vacation being over.

 

[minster22]

We have always taken a 7am flight out of either BOS or PVD and are usually sitting in front of the volcano at San Angel Inn around 12:30. We have done both getting up at 2:30am and drive to Boston from the Cape, and staying overnight at Logan...much better!!! I agree with a couple of posters about leaving late in the day, it is a bit depressing to wait around all day to leave. As long as we do not have to rush out of our room, getting to the airport leisurely after lunch works best for us. Now that there are NO more early am direct flights out of Logan we are rethinking everything out of necessity. We are trying to talk ourselves into being happy about leaving BOS at 11:30 am but that really makes the whole day a travel day as opposed to a vacation day. We have our room booked, car rented for April/May 2004 and the airfare is on hold due to price with Song so we may fly with SW now.