What day do you arrive?

[zulaya]

Just curious what day people usually arrive and why? If it's for points reasons or airfare reasons or what?

I also put in a generic "Weekday" and "Weekend Day" category for those of you who might travel on one of those days, but not always the same one.

 

[sanddune]

We normaly arrive on Sat. We drive thru the night after work or school friday.So being from Michigan that gets us in there around 10:00AM.

 

[jmminarik]

We tend to arrive to check in on Sunday. This is in part due to the points being lower, but also because we tend to drive down leaving either Friday evening or early saturday. Getting into the World during the evening on Saturday, it seems a waste of points to only really use the room to sleep in.

We also tend to leave on Saturday. Mostly to avoid driving alot on Sunday and then having to return to the salt mines immediately on Monday.

-Joe

 

[Maistre Gracey]

We always arrive on Sunday. This is NOT an effort to conserve points, but rather because of our travel schedule. My wife gets out of work Friday afternoon, then we get a good nights rest and we leave Saturday morning. Depending whether we get a hotel along I-95, or drive straight through, we arrive in Vero Beach sometime on Sunday.
The plan is to spend four days at VB, then VWL for eight. Following this schedule, we check-out of VWL on a Friday, again not to conserve points, but for travel purposes. We arrive back in Connecticut on Saturday, which gives my wife Sunday to prepare to go back to work.

It just works out that we only stay two weekend nights in a fourteen day trip.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

We usually arrive at DVC on Sunday but often spend Friday and Saturday at Universal before we arrive. Then we spend the second weekend at DVC. Seems like more and more people are doing this.

HBC

 

[lsutigger2]

Okay, I voted Wednesday because that is the day that we'll be arriving this trip. Our first trip was a Sat, second a Sun, and then another Sun. Maybe I should have voted Sunday. But it really isn't much of a pattern yet.

Love that flexibility!

 

[jaysue]

We almost always arrive on Sunday's as we go to Ft Lauderdale first to the parent's condo, spend a couple of days, grab the car and go to WDW and then leave WDW later in the week - back to FLL and then home - about 10 days in total for a trip

Yes we are spoiled

thanks
jaysue

 

[msdis]

Most of our check-ins have been Sat or Sun and believe it or not our Sat check-ins have all been after midnight and yes we check into our DVC. We base the decision on flight schedules, itiniraries, and price. Although we generally stay in a studio we have stayed in whatever has been available even if it's a 2br for just the 2 of us. I know there is the value of a point formula, but I base my costs strictly on my dues costs and if you waste a weekend night like we do, big deal. Over the 5 or 6 nights it may "cost" 5 bucks more each night, who cares! If the flights are convenient, and we save more money on the flights, it's a win, win. Our next 2 trips are booked with this late Sat/early Sun am check-in and I like it a lot better. No waiting for your room, no check-in lines, the day is already wasted on a long trip, we go to bed, get up refreshed, and don't have to deal with the Sun. routine.

 

[JimC]

I could not vote because there were no selections that fit.

For two trips each year we stay one week (7 nights). We arrive Saturday or Sunday and depart Saturday or Sunday. We do this to use only 5 days vacation for each stay and to have one Saturday night stayover for the free airline tickets we use.

For other trips we arrive and depart with a Saturday night in between but there is no consistent day of arrival or departure.

 

[pwoodham]

In the past, we've always arrived on Sat and left on Sat, mostly to conserve vacation days. It also allowed us a day of recovery after we got home. We're moving to Friday check-in and out, however, because the extra vacation day taken at the front means an extra recovery day at the end. Turns out to be worth it for us!

 

[CK1]

Sunday folks here. It just works out better that way. We drive down -- if we drove straight, it's about a 15 hr drive. But with 3 kids -- well, you can do the math! So we usually leave on Friday afternoon and pit-stop in S.C., then we would use Sat to go to St. Aug (my mom lived there). That made a nice, easy 2 hr drive on Sunday to WDW -- perfect! BUT.... Note the past tense -- lived -- she moved recently. So no more pit stops in St Aggie!

Because of this (and because of the way room selection is done, too!) we have re-vamped our plans slightly. Now we will drive on Fri to S.C.; then drive straight to WDW on Sat. We will stay Sat. night on cash somewhere, then check in on Sunday a.m. We usually stay for about 10-12 days, so it works out that we only have 2 weekend "points-pillage" days to worry about. THen we check out mid-week or Fri at latest to head back north again.

 

[luv2vacation]

We usually arrive sometime on the weekend. We consider the price of airfare over the cost of points.

 

[ZerasPride]

We have been almost always arriving on a Sunday to save those weekend points. I like to try to squeeze two trips in a year if possible and don't want to have to stay in a studio unless we absolutely have to so that's what works best for us.

Although my husband likes to have a day to rest after we return from vacation so once we start doing full 8 day trips, we'll probably do Sat-Sat trips so we can have that in between day at home before returning to work. I must say that I love the flexibilty of the DVC point system and it's fun to play with the points chart to see how I can squeeze out the longest stays on the least amount of points!

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Considering our current DVC reservations, we check-in on Sundays. We usually go down Thursday or Friday, but will stay at another resort those couple nights. I'm trying to avoid weekends, but for our trip at the end of next year, we'll have a Friday & Saturday night.

 

[Caskbill]

Being retired, working around a work schedule or vacation time is not an issue. Therefore it's always a Sunday checkin, yes, to conserve points.

A 2-day weekend costs as much as a 5-day week. Give me those extra 3-days every time.

Also, the parks are less crowded on weekdays compared to weekends. Weekends get a high number of Florida residents as day-trippers using their Florida resident seasonal or annual passes.

We also travel off-season to avoid the crowds. (Except for NYE which we love and will spend the extra points for).

 

[dianeschlicht]

We used to always travel on Saturday or Sunday, but the last few trips we have gotten better airfare leaving on Tuesday-Thursday. That is why we now leave on Wednesday. Look like we are definately in the minority.

 

[Wes]

Very good poll ... I am surprised that this has never come up before.

Sunday -- because of the work and school schedules, it allows us more days of time at WDW with the fewest days of vacation used up.

It also allows us to book our 8-12 day stays so that we do use one weekend but not two.

 

[mikayla'sMom]

I voted for Sunday. We have driven on our last 3 trips. For us this is 2 days travel. I try to avoid weekends or limit it to 2 weekend nights for a two week trip. This trip we are checking in on a Sunday and originally were going to check out the following Friday, but that was before I realized that was Halloween Day! Now, I am forced to add another weekend night. We will actually be spending Saturday night off site just to save points. Although I must say that if we fly in the future I may just have to do those weekend points. If that happens, it may be time for add on number 2........

 

[mikayla'sMom]

This poll just encourages me to get up early so we can check in early on Sunday. In the hopes that we can recieve our requests. I didn't realize this was the busiest check in day. Maybe, it is worth using more points for a Sayurday check in.

 

[yesdisneyfool]

If we are doing the "weekly" trip we check in on Sun and out on Fri. We drive and get a head start either on Friday after work or early Saturday morning. When we arrive (usually in late afternoon) we generally stay on cash at a resort then check in by 7am on Sun.

If the trip is a short getaway then we book what we need - and it's usually check in on Thursday and out on Monday.