What do you like to do on arrival day

[zdad59]

We have two methods.
1. We fly in the evening. With that we check in, hit up Disney Springs and settle into our resort, planning to get a rope drop start the next day.

2. We fly in very early and get to our resort by 10-1030am. In this case we drop our bags with the valet and head to MK (always our first stop). We still like to get back to the resort at a reasonable hour and relax and get to sleep early. Travel days can wear on you and an early start to the first full day is always a prerequisite.

For our upcoming trip in September we are using method 2. The only question is will we use the free Water Park option the day we arrive. That will be a game time decision.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Hotel character meals. Gets us our character fix without taking up park time.

 

[We’reAllMadHere]

Hotel character meals. Gets us our character fix without taking up park time.

Character breakfasts on the final day is also great for this.

 

[emilyann704]

I usually arrive at MCO between 1:30-3:30pm and I never want to do a park day in case of a flight delay -- plus, since I don't have an AP, that's a really short day! If I ever stay Deluxe I may opt for an EEH park on arrival day.

I usually head right to my hotel and hang out at the pool or go to another resort for dinner and a drink. I can do a Monorail crawl or Skyliner/Boardwalk evening depending on what I feel like (I'm usually solo). If I stay for some pool time I'll usually just eat/drink at the resort.

 

[tgibson]

We usually spend it at the Boardwalk! We love taking in all the sights this area has to offer. We have visited Beaches and Cream and experienced the kitchen sink one visit. We have enjoyed EPCOT fireworks from the Boardwalk bridge! You can take a relaxing ride on the boats or enjoy the skyliner...we actually watched the fireworks from the skyliner on our most recent trip!
We have also done a monorail resort crawl...you can catch the MK fireworks at the back of Poly!

 

[BigOnDis]

We drive down and usually arrive mid to late afternoon. We will typically just relax at the resort until our room is ready, my favorite spot is the Sunset Overlook lounge and AKL, but if at a new resort, we like to look around and get familiar. After our room is ready we will take our stuff to the room and get situated and then make a grocery run. We have 6 people in our party and since we stay DVC, we like to utilize the full kitchen and eat in the room to save quite a bit of money and let people have a more normal diet. Pretty low key for the first day, the calm before the storm if you will.

 

[MabelM]

If we arrive before the parks close, we go. As others have said, the increased price is minimal once you hit 7 days.

This year, we are flying in late, so will get to our hotel and collapse on Friday night. We will rent a car to get from the airport, so we will do a grocery run and go to mass on Saturday before we turn the car in.

 

[Headless]

If we arrive before the parks close, we go. As others have said, the increased price is minimal once you hit 7 days.

This year, we are flying in late, so will get to our hotel and collapse on Friday night. We will rent a car to get from the airport, so we will do a grocery run and go to mass on Saturday before we turn the car in.

Why rent the car out of curiosity? is it soley to be on your own schedule and be able to stop and grocery shop or do you plan on doing non disney things on your trip?

We've never felt the need though I've though about it the couple times I tentatively planned Universal during our trip. We just haven't pulled that trigger yet because of how expensive the day passes are on top of everything else we are doing and even then I've thought of ubering instead of driving.

I'm always open to new strategies on doing this different or better so was just curious about the car rental.

 

[Laura's Dad]

We are leaving on Sunday morning from just south of Atlanta (6 hr. drive). We are trying to leave by 7 am. Get to WDW around 1:30/2. Wife wants to hit the character warehouse outlet store (which I absolutely hate) so I have convinced her to drop me off at Disney Springs. Will have a late lunch and a cold beer somewhere in DS before floating down the river to PO-FQ. Thinking about one of the three scenarios for the evening and wanted some advice:

1. Bus to HS and do a Skyliner/Boardwalk/Crescent Lake tour. (Thinking about Crew's Cup lounge or Banana Cabana)

2. Bus to MK and ride boat to WL to eat at Geyser Point and watch the Electric Water Pageant.

3. Chill out at PO-FQ and go back to Disney Springs

Looking for advice.

 

[hardcorestitch]

I usually arrive at MCO between 1:30-3:30pm and I never want to do a park day in case of a flight delay -- plus, since I don't have an AP, that's a really short day! If I ever stay Deluxe I may opt for an EEH park on arrival day.

I usually head right to my hotel and hang out at the pool or go to another resort for dinner and a drink. I can do a Monorail crawl or Skyliner/Boardwalk evening depending on what I feel like (I'm usually solo). If I stay for some pool time I'll usually just eat/drink at the resort.

I don’t usually jump into the parks either on my first day. Usually I just find a place to eat and rest. I went to a Pollo Tropical on my first day.

 

[Boopuff]

Flying in from out west, we automatically loose 2 hours We try to get a early afternoon arrival. We drop our bags, then always take the boat (from OKW) to DS. We like to get most of our shopping done that day, then we always make a dinner reservation somewhere in DS. By they time we've had dinner, our villa is usually ready, then we unpack and go for a swim.

 

[erinch]

We take the autotrain, and if it is on time , generally have collected our car and are on our way from Sanford by 10 am or so. We stay offsite at the Vistana, so we check in to make sure the room assignment is as requested. We then head to Publix for basics. I bring a small cooler for perishables. If the room is ready, we move in. Otherwise, to Disney Springs for Jock Lindsey’s or boathouse or both, and Gideons. If we’ve been able to move in, then Jiko for dinner.

 

[AngieInOH]

When FastPass was free we would go into MK around 6:00, ride our 3 free FP and catch the fireworks. I loved doing this.

Now, we arrive early afternoon, chill at the hotel a bit then head to Disney Springs.

 

[bluezy]

We drive to Disney and usually get to the resort around 10:30 a.m. (that's after a good night's sleep at a hotel the night before. Our room has been ready when we arrived on 8 of our last 10 visits (once it was ready at 11:30 and once it was ready at 3:30). We usually take everything to the room; unpack; have lunch at the hotel QS restaurant (and get our refillable mugs); and then head to EP around 1:30-2:00. We get back to the resort by about 8:00 so we can get a good night's sleep and rope drop a park the next morning. We don't go commando at EP that day, just a nice leisurely visit to knock out some rides and have dinner. We still go to EP another day during our stay, but that is then a sleep-in day since we've already done several rides on arrival day and don't need to rush around to get everything done in one day.

We used to arrive and just hang out at the resort and then go to Disney Springs on our arrival day, but once we realized it would only cost us $15-20/person to add an extra day to our tickets, we started going to a park on arrival day. To us, it's totally worth the extra $20.

 

[hes122]

During our 2018 trip, we had lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe and then went to Disney Springs. We all (4 of us) arrived before noon on that trip.

During our 2021 trip, we arrived around 4ish and took the Skyliner over to Epcot (we stayed at Pop) and had dinner at Big River Grille and dessert at Beaches and Cream. Our ADR at B&C was later than we arrived, but we didn't want to take a chance with alternative transportatopm for getting back to Pop with the parks closing early.

During our August trip, we arrived a day later than we normally do so we went straight to the park once we dropped our bags at the hotel.

 

[disneyseniors]

When we went to WDW, we would always take the early flight and get to WDW around 11am. Then we would go to our room or leave the bags at bag service and head to MK. We always made a reservation for Liberty Tree Tavern around 2pm, and we always made it on time. Then we would leisurely wander around MK soaking up all the atmosphere and getting on an attraction if we wanted to. Usually we were worn out by 4 or 5pm and headed back to our room at POR or POFQ. Then we rested the rest of the evening, or if we got a second wind, we would explore the resort. We usually went to bed early as we got up at 3am most of the time for the early flight.

 

[kylenne]

We used to arrive and just hang out at the resort and then go to Disney Springs on our arrival day, but once we realized it would only cost us $15-20/person to add an extra day to our tickets, we started going to a park on arrival day. To us, it's totally worth the extra $20.

This was our logic too before we got APs. We used to always get enough park days for every day of the trip because once you start getting to 5 days and more it really doesn't cost much more and it's nice to be able to pop in even for just a couple of hours if we feel like it.

 

[Dug720]

I'm deciding for my August trip. My flight gets in about 9:30. It would be great if my room is available so I could unpack and rest - especially since I have Epcot After Hours tickets. I'm staying at AKL, so I may just wander and watch the animals if it's not. Or I may head over to Epcot for a bit, head back when my room is available (I'm going on the "it won't be when I get there" theory) to unpack and rest, and then head back for AH.

 

[bluezy]

This was our logic too before we got APs. We used to always get enough park days for every day of the trip because once you start getting to 5 days and more it really doesn't cost much more and it's nice to be able to pop in even for just a couple of hours if we feel like it.

It's amazing how many times I've heard/read, "I'm not paying $100 to add another day to our tickets when I know I can only spend a few hours in a park on arrival day." They're always surprised when I tell them if they're already getting a 6 day or longer ticket, it's only going to cost about $20 to add another day. And it's a really nice way to ease into vacation.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

When FastPass was free we would go into MK around 6:00, ride our 3 free FP and catch the fireworks. I loved doing this.

Now, we arrive early afternoon, chill at the hotel a bit then head to Disney Springs.

I miss those days. We would always add the day and do the 3 rides. Even if we only did the 3 rides it was so worth it. This trip we will still go to MK on arrival day but we will just ride what we can and soak in the atmosphere and shop for ears and some personalized gifts.