What do you do on your arrival day?

[MamaCrush]

This year we'll be arriving around 9 or so in the morning. We plan to check-in and head over to Beaches and Cream for a kitchen sink rematch (DHs words...) then walk around the boardwalk. Back to our hotel to hopefully settle into our room and rest a little before heading to dinner at Boma. It's going to be a great day and the best part is, it's NEXT FRIDAY!!!! WOOHOO!!!!

For us too-- the next Friday thing!! We'll get in around Noon, so we'll have lunch at Mara/AKL and then check out and see how crowded the parks really are the day after Tgiving! We have dinner at Chef Mickey's which is our family tradition. Just can't wait!!

 

[princessmom29]

Last year we arrived about 3:30 and hit MK for the dessert party that night. This year we hope to get there by 5:00 and go to DTD for shopping and dinner.

 

[Shelli_5]

I loved reading everyone's ideas! Our flight is short & we'll arrive in Orlando at 10am, so we're planning to (hopefully) check in early & have lunch at our hotel. Then, we'll head over to Epcot for the rest of the day. After reading this thread, I think we'll enjoy a leisurely stroll through the World Showcase. We have super early dinner reservations at Le Cellier at 4:15pm. Who knows if we'll make it to Illuminations that night!!

Our flight home leaves Orlando at 4:30pm, so we can't really justify the extra expense of going to a park that day. We're going to sleep in, check out of the hotel, store our luggage, & head over to DTD. I'm looking forward to trying Wolfgang Puck Express for the first time & looking through all the neat Disney shops. Hopefully I won't go on a spending spree.

Shelli

 

[lilosurf11]

We always used to go to a park and just walk around. I always hated that. This time, we are going to the hotel, my parents will get groceries, and then we will go to Earl of Sandwich for lunch or dinner and then walk around DTD for a while.

 

[disneydiva16]

We always go straight to Downtown Disney! The kids love visitng LEGOland and I love shopping. We usually get in anywhere between 12 noon and 3pm.

 

[growinupdisney]

We usually go to epcot ride The Mexico, Norway rides walk leisurely around the countries have lunch and snack throughout the day ( we love to eat at Epcot) then ride Spaceship Earth and head back to resort around 8pm unpack and get some sleep for the next day.

We have done DHS a couple of times on arrival day especially when it a Fantasmic Night. When we do this the older kids head straight to TOT and RNR then we just do whatever has low wait times and shows that we can fit in and then get some quick dinner and watch Fantasmic this ia also a great start to the vacation but we are out a little later then if we went to Epcot.

My kids prefer the DHS arrival day versus the Epcot day but we are planning on doing Epcot this year again but I'm planning on letting the kids do Kim Possible this time so it will be alot more fun then just walking around the countries! I always ask them which they prefer and they did say DHS first but when I mentioned Kim Possible they changed their minds.

For my DH he prefers Epcot he gets to have a few beers from around the world and he is happy since we just finished up a 11 drive.

 

[msujroot]

For some reason, I have a hard time wasting a day at Disney with only a 1/2 day in the park...we are usually doing some sort of dining package, so we try to fly down the day before our trip starts. If we fly in late, we will stay at the airport hotel and then catch an early ride to our resort hotel. If we fly in earlier, we use that day to stay at a resort that we wouldn't normally stay at (AKL usually). We bum around the resort, catch a nice dinner, and maybe do some DD or something like that.

The next morning (early), we head to our "real" resort to check in. Bags are transferred for us, which is really nice.

 

[Mouse_Geek]

We love to shop and play mini golf along with swimming. Plus you can relax and get your plans ready for the next of couple of days. We all know what that is like hahaa coming in at 11pm or even later then waking up around 6am. Maybe even earlier then that for some.