What do you plan for arrival day?

[kcp1377]

We drive down and take a few days so that we don't have a lot of hours left on the last day of driving/first day at Disney. Even so we always plan on doing nothing that day. We'll grab a late lunch/early dinner at Trails End and spend most of our time at the pool. The 2nd day we don't do any parks either but hit the monorail and go exploring at the other resorts (just grabbing lunch - usually at the Poly for sushi, walking around and then heading back to FW to the pool) then head off to the grocery store to pick up anything we need. This schedule lets us really relax so by the time we get to the parks we're all ready to go. But we also only do a 4 day park ticket with a 10-12 day stay so we have lots of down time.

 

[cmarsh31]

Arrival is generally between 10:30-11am. DME to resort, check-in, etc. Eat something at the resort (because I thought once that the snacks we had were sufficient... only DH didn't eat them and I almost killed him within an hour of arriving at MK as he is a miserable person when his bloodsugar gets low), then off to MK! FPs for the afternoon and an earlish-ADR hopefully! My kids are way too wired to relax at the hotel - they want to be IN the parks. This time we'll be traveling with my ILs and such and two younger nephews. Planning to stay through Wishes with my kids but they might head back after dinner. First full day always starts with a slightly later character meal (so we can sleep in now that we've ALREADYDONESTUFF) and another full park day. My kids aren't usually tired until day 2 or 3, then we have a couple half-day pool days or something.

 

[rlahansler]

We arrive Sat 7/30 around 11a-1130amish at BVC. Stopping at a grocery store before we get there as we are driving.
Plans for that day is lunch at LeCellier, 3 fastpasses (Soarin/Turtle Crush and Mission Space). Hopefully by 4p-5p we get in our room. Evening swimming/walking around Epcot, watch Illuminations then dessert ay 915p at Beaches and Cream.
Our 2nd day will be a full day at Magic Kingdom...

 

[EvilQueen2018]

We are driving and staying off site.

Day 1, once we arrive is grocery shopping, relax, and swimming. We will be going to Old Town in the evening.

Day 2, local family may come to visit and we'll explore Disney property. We will go to DS to activate our tickets, grab dinner in POFQ, and hit up the Chip and Dale campfire before heading in for the night.

Day 3 starts the park days and we go, go, go until we can't or until the trip is over.

We have one day to pack up and swim again before we leave, then head to Daytona for the day, on the way home.

 

[Disfan5]

Our first two trips we arrived late afternoon, stayed at POR the first night and took the boat to Downtown Disney. For our upcoming trip in March we will be arriving before noon and staying at the Contemporary. My plan is a late lunch at Chef Mickeys and checking out the resort since we've never been before. I was thinking about watching fireworks from our balcony but I have a feeling the short trip to MK will be too hard to resist!!

 

[cyneswith]

Tour the resort and go to Disney Springs. Nothing in the parks.

 

[michael's mom]

We always do non-park stuff. Even this year, we arrive at MCO at 9:30 am (which translates to a 3:30 am wake-up) and we are going to the resort, we will swim, unpack and just relax. Our Disney Magic will be our dinner. We've made it our "tradition" to let Mickey prepare is a yummy feast at his restaurant on our arrival day with an earlier bedtime for the MK rope drop planned the next day. Regardless of crowd calendars, MK is the first park we do. Just adds to the magic for us

Have fun!

 

[hulagirl87]

We have always taken an early morning flight but for our November trip, there is a direct flight leaving at noon and getting in at 2:30 and since this is our first trip with both kids, we thought this was a great option. We don't have to get up super early, plus it's a direct flight! So for our first day, we will look around the resort (we are staying at Art of Animation - lots to see!) and then going to dinner at Chef Mickey's. that's always the kick off to our trip.

 

[anditoo72]

We plan to get to the world to check in around 11am (FW doesn't have a check in until 1:00) but if we can't get in we will park in overflow and head to the water park for the afternoon for a few hours (we have the waterpark + option). We have a 7pm reservation at WL so if we weren't able to park the motorhome in our spot we will make time to do that and dress for dinner!!! Can't wait!!!!

 

[monorailsilver]

We usually luck out and get a morning flight that arrives between 10-11 so we are up at 5 or earlier....it's the only day my kids wake up and are dressed with out me telling them!

Anyways, if our room is ready upon arrival we un pack, if not we grab lunch if I don't bring crackers and salami/pepperoni. And we swim and listen to the boat horn, the howling and the toot toots of the train.

Then we have dinner at chef mickeys, go back to the pool, watch the water parade and wishes and go to bed.

 

[Talby]

Our arrival day puts us in Orlando around noon. Since there is a MVMCP that night, we planned a 1/2 day at Epoct. Our last trip to Disney was 3 years ago and we didn't see IllumiNations, so that is very high on our list this time. Our first full day will be spent at MK with a BOG dinner. We're so excited!!

 

[Baklava]

Collapsing face down onto the bed in a little heap. We fly from California so by the time we arrive it is late, we had an early morning and direct flights are hard to come by so factor in a plane change and a spectrum kiddo and... yeah.

If the world worked differently we'd spend arrival day at the resort relaxing and maybe hitting the pool and a meal.

 

[jmccoy18]

On arrival day we take it pretty easy, whether we get there at noon or later in the evening. We usually just hang out at the resort for some pool time. Sometimes we go to DS or we schedule a meal at CM's. It is tradition in our family to start our trip off with a meal at CM's. Sometimes that means dinner on arrival day or a prepark breakfast the next morning.

 

[Mousefan mom]

We've done both staying at resort, Disney Springs (which to me is as exhausting as a park), or going into the park. It depends how early we get in, but it generally isn't too expensive to get an extra park ticket for the day (assuming you are staying a while). We have found that often the room isn't ready, and we kill a couple of hours just waiting, so unless you pack swim clothing in a carry on bag (an option for staying at the resort) our nicer arrival has been to go into a park (often Epcot) and do a nice dinner and just a few fast passes or attractions, then back to the room--which is ready at this point, swim and try to get to bed a bit early. We are always excited on arrival day.

 

[bluezy]

We like to get a few hours in at a park on arrival day -- the cost is so minimal in the scheme of things that it just makes sense for us. We usually arrive around noon. Out of our last 7 trips, I think there has only been one that our room wasn't ready when we arrived and even that time it was ready by 3:00. I think indicating your expected arrival time during online check-in really helps with this. After checking in (or now, going straight to our room) we usually drop our bags in the room and then have lunch at the resort. After lunch we unpack a little bit and then head to Epcot for a very leisurely visit. I make our FPs for 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00 and we typically don't venture out of Future World. These few hours in the park are especially helpful for us as we like to ride TT, Soarin', and now Frozen Ever After during our stay -- and since they're all Tier 1 rides, it's nice to be able to get one of those done with a FP prior to our full day at Epcot. We eat dinner at Sunshine Seasons and we're usually back at the resort by 8:00. We get a good nights sleep ad hit the ground running the next morning. We've done this since our kids were 4. Even at that age, they're so wound up/excited when we get to Disney World that even if we didn't go to a park that first day, there's no way they'd be in bed and asleep before 9:30-10:00 anyway.

 

[DisneyNewbieDad]

This is really helpful. How long should I assume it will take from plane landing (MCO), riding Magical Express, and arriving at Disney Resort?

 

[scrapquitler]

Grandparents here, traveling with 3 DGD's-(6, 8, &11) and trying to decide what, if anything, we should plan for arrival day. We have an 8:30AM flight, which means we'll need to have the kids up and on the road by 5:00AM. We're due to arrive MCO at noon and check-in time at AKV is at 4.

I half suspect the kids will be ready for bed early after getting up before dawn or that they will be tired and cranky by mid-afternoon. But maybe they'll be so excited they want to hit the gates running. I just don't know what to expect.

My original thought was to just head to the MK on arrival. Second thought was just hang out at the resort the first day. I'm considering something like HDD, but I'm picturing them falling asleep in their baked beans. But maybe we could eat at four, and then just go back to the resort for the evening and everyone could crash whenever they wanted. (The little one is mostly adorable but when she's tired the devil gets in her and makes her head spin around lol.) We took their two older sisters about 10 years ago but I can't remember what we did the first day.

Any ideas from people who have done WDW with kids this age?

We almost always go to MK on our arrival day, even if it's just for an hour or two, but that's just us.

Given the scenario you describe, based on the ages of the kids and your long travel day, I'd hang around Animal Kingdom Lodge. The kids will love watching the animals on the Savanna, and if you head to Arusha Rock over at Jambo (or in the central area over at Kidani), you can go to the campfire, listen to the stories, roast marshmellows and talk to the cultural guides about their countries and the various animals. And if they are super hyper, a bit of time in the pool. It's definitely worth hanging around AKL, we stayed there a few days on our last trip, and we have decided that we are going to always plan at leat a half non-park day there on every trip going forward, regardless of where we stay.

 

[happymommy]

This is really helpful. How long should I assume it will take from plane landing (MCO), riding Magical Express, and arriving at Disney Resort?

I always plan on about two hours.

We always get to the resort, drop off our carry on bags if we have any, and go to Epcot for a few hours.

I agree that the extra cost for adding a day is minimal, and we don't do a full day morning to night at a park anyway.

We usually arrive by lunchtime, and the day we leave often we'll go to a park for a couple hours as well (although our next trip we won't, since our annual passes will expire).

 

[lovewdwfun]

We always get up early for our flights and it is never an issue. We do Chef Mickey's the first night. The kids LOVE it and they get to meet characters the first day. If it were my kids, they would not be happy if they woke up at 5 AM and didn't get to see anything the first day! Our first trip there we got to MK around 3:00 and saw the Mickey stage show and bought our Mickey Ears before going to CM's. It was magical.

 

[happymommy]

I agree - no way we'd get up at the crack of dawn (actually way before dawn), get to Disney, and not go to a park for a couple hours to take some of the magic in. My kids wouldn't be happy campers!

For young kids, though, I definitely needed to have a stroller along. They'd be tired early, but excited too!

Even if we go on one ride, or just get a special snack, it makes it fun.

We don't stay up late for sure, but a couple of hours is worth it!