What do you plan for arrival day?

[mcjaco]

Usually we arrive early, and just head to Downtown Disney (Disney Springs) before check in. United keeps bumping our flight this year, and now we won't be in until the 3PM check in time anyway. So it'll be off to the pool to get the kids wiggles out!

 

[aretha30]

We never hit the parks on arrival day. We hit DS, mini golf, or explore the resort. We also make sure that it's an early night so we can be up early to hit RD the next day.

 

[PollyannaMom]

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'm really no help, because my family's answer was different at the different ages in your group! When DS was 6, travel day was always a non-park, early-night affair. We might head over to DTD (DS now) or just explore the resort, swim, have a nice dinner if our resort had a sit-down place. Then we'd be ready for rope drop on the first full day!

By the time he was 11, we were moving to our new tradition - MK for the fireworks the first night!! (And a later start the morning of the first full day.)

It really just depends on whether the people in your group are early birds or night owls.

 

[disneynuts777]

Never plan anything for arrival day. If we are in the mood we will head over to Disney Springs. However we normally end up totally exhausted from the travel and just hang at the hotel. I unpack and get things organized and DH and the DD's would usually end up at the pool.

 

[dkmulder]

Until this coming trip, I had always been single and traveled with various groups, so the first day was always a tossup.

Now that I have a toddler, I want to start new traditions. We are starting our first night with probably pool time, or maybe going to Disney springs for a couple of hours, and then we have reservations for Mickey's backyard barbecue. After dinner we will either stick around for Smore's with Chip and Dale or head over to the boardwalk. To be honest though, if Magic Kingdom was open late on our arrival day, we would definitely head there for a few hours. But they close early since we are going during the slower season.