What do you do on your arrival day?

[mollybeasley]

What do you like to do on your arrival day?

I joined Tour Guide Mike and he recommends staying AWAY from the parks on your arrival day because you need your rest to get up early the next day. I agree with him that a lot of people don't get enough rest the night before a trip (sometimes I'm still doing laundry at midnight). But we're arriving at 9am and I don't want to waste the day. After the airport, check-in and a quick lunch, We could make it to a park by 12pm or 2pm at the latest. I was thinking we'd spend 4-5 hours touring a park, then pick up something fast for dinner on the way back at our resort, and get a good night's sleep.

Epcot and Universal are the lightest parks for the Monday (Dec13) we're arriving. Epcot seemed like an easy choice, but we'd miss the advantages of arriving much earlier or staying through to Illuminations. I was going to go with HS, but it's a Fantasmic night so the whole park will be busy, and I think we'd be too tired (and irritable) to put up with long lines or to stay till closing. I want to get everyone in bed early.



What do you think?

What do you usually do on your arrival day?

 

[Suellen]

Sleep! We always get in late at night. So when we get there we sleep and get up late and then hit a park for a few hours.

If at 9AM I would definitely hit a park!

 

[JimmyV]

Over the past decade or so, we have stayed in the Epcot area more often than not. (Swalphin, Y&BC, BW). So if we arrive early enough and with enough energy, after check-in and a bite to eat, we head over to World Showcase and stroll. It's good to stretch the legs after being on a plane, and getting to WS at 2:00 or 3:00 doesn't put you behind the crowd curve at WS. You aren't missing out on any FPs, (except maybe Norway), and everything that you can possibly do from the UK all the way through the American pavillion can be done by walking in to the next available show. Add in a few drinks or glasses of wine, a mid afternoon pastry at France, some movies, live performances, a dinner and maybe Illuminations, and I'd call that a successful day that has me in bed by 10:30 ready to hit a rope drop the next morning.

 

[feistygalkmc]

If I'm solo, I usually head to MK first and have lunch. If I'm meeting friends, it is whatever the group decides to do. I always book a flight that is arriving no later than 230pm so I have time to play when I arrive. lol

 

[Pixie Princess]

We generally don't get in until 3:00ish. We check in, drop our stuff if time permits, and head off to the 5:15 HDDR! Great way to kick of the trip! If we are feeling froggy afterwards, we might head to MK. Usually we hang out for a bit at Ft. Wilderness, or perhaps check out a couple of the monorail resorts before heading back to our resort for the night.

 

[glammadiva]

Downtown Disney!

 

[jpmandan]

MK Main St. U.S.A.

 

[ScarlettDarling]

We usually get there around 5pm and I get really sleepy after a long flight and don't really feel like doing anything. We make a dining reservation at the resort we are staying at and have dinner and just walk around and enjoy the resort.

 

[mollybeasley]

We generally don't get in until 3:00ish. We check in, drop our stuff if time permits, and head off to the 5:15 HDDR! Great way to kick of the trip! If we are feeling froggy afterwards, we might head to MK. Usually we hang out for a bit at Ft. Wilderness, or perhaps check out a couple of the monorail resorts before heading back to our resort for the night.

I lost my abbreviations link. I'm usually able to figure them all out by now, but HDDR? These things strain my brain.

Out of curiosity, what do you check out at a resort? Do they each have their own activities? Decorations? Parties?Bars?

 

[mollybeasley]

Over the past decade or so, we have stayed in the Epcot area more often than not. (Swalphin, Y&BC, BW). So if we arrive early enough and with enough energy, after check-in and a bite to eat, we head over to World Showcase and stroll. It's good to stretch the legs after being on a plane, and getting to WS at 2:00 or 3:00 doesn't put you behind the crowd curve at WS. You aren't missing out on any FPs, (except maybe Norway), and everything that you can possibly do from the UK all the way through the American pavillion can be done by walking in to the next available show. Add in a few drinks or glasses of wine, a mid afternoon pastry at France, some movies, live performances, a dinner and maybe Illuminations, and I'd call that a successful day that has me in bed by 10:30 ready to hit a rope drop the next morning.

That sounds good to me. We loved the crepes in Paris and I heard that Epcot's crepes are just as good.

 

[carrie1626]

We always fly out at around 7:00am central time. If all goes well we're at our resort by noon everytime. It's MK for us all the way. We always plan the next day to sleep in.
Of course, we try to leave as late as possible our last day.

only one time did we decide to fly out in the afternoon- never again. We're very fortunate to live in an area where there's lots of flight choices!!

 

[Hallowishes]

we go to downtown disney! who doesnt wanna shopping spree when they first arrive?!

 

[*ThinkTink*]

I and my "troops" arrive at 10am at the Orlando airport, take the Magical Express, check in at POR, have lunch at the resort, unpack, then gather the "troops" and head to DTD by boat. We check out the stores, relax and wonder around. Have dinner at a restaurent at DTD, usually Captn' Jack's or Wolfgang Pucks Cafe. By the time dinner is finished, it's dark outside. Enjoy the lights, the rest of the stores and then make our way back to the resort, by boat. Change into swimsuits and hang by the pool, if it's warm enough. We all go to bed fairly early that first night to be able to hit the ground running early at the first park the next day. We are there for 2wks, so we have time to relax and take our time. I won't go to the parks the day I arrive. I did that once, never again!

 

[Chaoticsweetness]

Downtown Disney & shop the night away

 

[mrsz06]

My day of arrival at WDW is fairly different than anyone elses. We usually arrive around 2 or 3:00 in the afternoon and we unpack the car and walk around the resort for a bit.Then around 5:00 or 5:30 we head over to my aunt and uncle's house to have dinner and catch up. We usually make it back to the resort around 11:00 and we are up and running the next day. Also we like to have a resort or DTD day our last day of the trip.

 

[Agri]

It depends. We have been flying down this year and when we stayed at POR, it was cheaper to fly in on a late flight the evening prior to the day we had originally planned to arrived. That time, we got food at the resort and went to bed as the parks were closed by the time we got to the hotel. Usually, we get to our resort by noon, and if mom isn't too tired we go out to a park. If she's tired, I usually go get her some food and head out into the parks solo. Its a relatively short flight for us, so we don't have a lot of travel to recuperate from.

We are not always into the QS at our hotel (definitely didn't like POR much), so we tend to head out somewhere else right away to eat. Sometimes we come back for a nap and then go to our dinner ADR and then catch one of the fireworks shows.

We usually hit Epcot first.

 

[2littlez'sandme]

Generally, our arrival day is by car and around noon. We head to DTD to have lunch, then to the World of Disney store to get our bearings on what souveniers may come home with us. We leave DTD around 3pm, head to the grocery, purchase our share of snacks and other goodies, then head to our timeshare. We get to bed early that night, so we can attempt to get to rope drop the following morning.

Last time I traveled by plane with my BFF, we arrived in the afternoon, headed to DTD, ate lunch at Wolfgang Puck's, then headed out to the timeshare. We had a late dinner ADR at Crystal Palace, then stayed to watch 'Wishes' and the MSEP. The best part was getting to ride BTMRR right before the park closed. Love BTMRR at night....it's the best ride in the wilderness.

 

[prune1977]

We're going to arrive at Orlando Int. at 4:15 pm so by the time we get to the resort, check in got get dinner and check out the resort.

 

[Dsny4fun]

Downtown Disney

 

[ScarlettDarling]

Out of curiosity, what do you check out at a resort? Do they each have their own activities? Decorations? Parties?Bars?

Each resort always has some kind of activity going on and I love just walking around and enjoying the scenery. Each resort is so unique and just being at one of them makes me happy. I've been to DW so many times so I'm not in a rush to get to the parks. I get excited just by being at the hotel.