What do people do on the first night?

[marvel]

Like most people, we will most likely arrive in the late afternoon to disney and I was wondering what people like to do on the first day/night? It will be a sunday so pretty crowded by the time we check in etc so I was thinking maybe dinner somewhere to get the Disney atmosphere.

Would blue bayou on the first night be a good start? Or do people have a regular thing they like to do on the first day/night?

Should we jump into a fantasmic dessert buffet?

Do people have any any traditions for the start of their disney experience?

Thanks.

 

[sparkysfriends]

If you're getting into town late in the afternoon I wouldn't go into the theme parks at all. It seems like a waste just to go to Blue Bayou for dinner. We always go to Goofy's Kitchen for a character dinner on our first night. It really starts our trip out with a great Disney feeling.

 

[puggymom]

I will be checking into the CCI mid to late afternoon my first day and the park is open until midnight. I am trying for fantasmic buffet seating. I can't call until next week, but I have my fingers crossed.

 

[starlette]

After we check into our hotel on our first day it'll probably be sometime around 1:00 pm. We decided to spend the afternoon in Downtown Disney. Thought we'd do a bit of shopping, use up our ESPN Vouchers and then have dinner at The House Of Blues. Then it's back to the hotel so the kids can play/swim in the pool and then go to bed a decent hour (HA! Yeah, right... try teling that to a 15, 12, and 7 year old..... ) so that we can enjoy our first full day at disneyland...woohoo!

 

[Amy&Dan]

I would be hesitant to do a Fantasmic package dessert package the first night. If you are delayed at all and miss it you are out $50 per person. For later in the trip however, if you don't mind spending the money it is a great thing to do, we love it! Our first night we generally arrive pretty late so we usually eat at the Rainforest Cafe and then head up to World of Disney to do some shopping.

 

[AFMom]

We've made a tradition out of a Rainforest Cafe dinner and then shopping in DTD (or vice versa!). We do try to get to bed at a decent hour the first night - at least we'll have one decent nights sleep on our trip that way. If you're at a hotel with a nice pool area - it'a a great time to enjoy the pool, and just relax a bit as well. We never seem to have time to hit the pool otherwise!

 

[jlawall]

I like to swim by the pool all day and relax and recover from travel, then go to a nice dinner either in DD or in the hotel!

 

[DLovinFam]

We plan on checking out DtD, using our ESPN vouchers for dinner, swimming and turning in early.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

I get to the park ASAP Hit the pin carts on Main Street, Frontierland and then over to Pirates and Thunder then over to Store Command... After that its often food and fireworks/F!

-em

 

[puggymom]

I would be hesitant to do a Fantasmic package dessert package the first night. If you are delayed at all and miss it you are out $50 per person. For later in the trip however, if you don't mind spending the money it is a great thing to do, we love it! Our first night we generally arrive pretty late so we usually eat at the Rainforest Cafe and then head up to World of Disney to do some shopping.

Thanks, but my plane is due to get in around 9:45 am, so that leaves me plenty of cushion and I'm going solo.