What time do you typically arrive for your DVC stay?

[MicheyMouse]

I'm curious what most people's ideal arrival time is for their DVC stay to get the absolute most from their points?

We have a one week DVC stay scheduled. Our flight is about 2 hours plus the transportation to WDW.

Our typical trip is to fly out early in the morning, landing somewhere between 10am and 11am then go right to the resort that we will be staying at for either a bag drop or occasionally a lucky check-in. For this type of trip, we occasionally stay at a hotel near our airport to minimize any potential issues on the morning of our flight.

I am however considering a one night, cash stay at a value resort prior to our DVC stay with us catching the last flight out after a work day but this is definitely a more stressful option since we would be fighting the evening rush hour to the airport and checking in around midnight.

I'm curious what others like to do to start their trip.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

We tend to do the former - we like the early morning flights. We're over 2 hours from the best airport, so we'll stay (and park) at a hotel near the airport and fly out in the morning, getting to MCO late morning/noonish. It's not a certainty, but there are probably less delays and issues with the first flights in the morning than there are with the later flights in the evening.

On the other hand, if you plan to take advantage of the free water park day or perhaps you have Club Level access, staying the night before would have some significant advantages for you getting the most out of your first day!

 

[radiodome21]

The earlier the better in my opinion. And naturally that rarely happens for us. And we live 10 minutes from Terminal 1 at ORD.

We’re heading down in 20 days. My son has a volleyball tournament over the 4th of July in Orlando so we’re heading to WDW after. My wife and son are going early because I can’t get off of work. His tournament ends on July 7th and my daughter and I are flying down July 6th. We’re on an 11 flight that gets us there at 3. I would’ve grabbed the earlier flight but we’ll be coming back from Wisconsin so 11 it is. Originally I had our reservation start on the 7th and we would stay in their hotel for a night. But then I figured that’ll be too cramped and crowded so I moved the check in date up at VGF. I also figured it’ll be easier for us on the 7th if we already have a room available and not have to wait until 4 to check in. His tournament will most likely be over by noon or so and we’ve never been able to get into our room early.

When my wife and I ran the Springtime Surprise in April we had a 7 am flight and could’ve been at BRV by noon if we didn’t spend a few ours at the expo. We’re heading back in October for the Food &Wine races in October and I’ll be booking an early flight again.

Our first Disney trip we flew down on Easter Sunday night and got on a late Magical Express bus. I loved it at the time but in retrospect I’d rather get down as soon as possible and either maximize park time, or at the very least pool or Disney Springs time.

 

[Sandisw]

I fly the earliest time I can, even if it means I have to forgo the JetBlue direct flight that our city offers daily.

They have begun doing two direct during certain times of the year so that will allow me to get there late morning early afternoon!!

 

[PoppyJ]

We're not morning people and our airport is a 2 hour drive away. I prefer to take the last flight out in the evening, stay at the Hyatt MCO for convenience, have a relaxing morning and get to the resort early afternoon.

Although all the afternoon/evening thunderstorms has made me nervous, so we are switching a morning flight for our summer trip. We will stay at a hotel near the airport the night before we leave, but not looking forward to getting up at 4 am!

 

[Orbiter_Fan]

Just got back from a trip. SW has a direct flight to MCO from our smallish airport (SDF). We always take the earliest flight, which is usually between 5 & 6 am. At the resort by 8 or 9. Depending on the trip, 1st day is usually a combination of relax/pool/shop/explore

 

[Steelers0854]

I fly the earliest time I can, even if it means I have to forgo the JetBlue direct flight that our city offers daily.

They have begun doing two direct during certain times of the year so that will allow me to get there late morning early afternoon!!

This. Get there as early as we can to maximize our time. If the room is ready great. If not we are ready to leave it with bell services and get to the room when we can.

 

[Genie+]

We’ve tried all kinds of strategies over the years.

Coming in very late flight and staying in cheaper room for one night. Late departures (6-9pm) are often the cheapest direct option. We’ve done this many times - it’s doable. First night was just a place to sleep/shower. We’d hit a park early the next morning. Downside: too many steps and things going on before we finally get to settle in to our real room.

Coming in on very early flight. 5-8am departures are often the cheapest direct option too. Tried this a few times and survived. Benefit is not paying that first night hotel, getting in early to hit the parks, and being able to settle into our room within a more reasonable frame of time from when we left our house. Downside: Having to head out to the airport 3-5am takes its toll. Feels like severe jetlag. Not a great way to start out the trip.

Coming in on a 9-11am departure. More comfortable all around. We can usually still find decent prices, just not the absolute cheapest. It’s that 11am-4pm window out of NYC area where flight pricing is craziest. Sometimes the room is ready, or we’ll pop in to a park until it is, and the best part is not already being exhausted on night one, and we’re already settled in our real room!

We’ve also done 4-6pm departure a few times where we decided the cost of being able to settle into our real room and get to sleep by midnight was worth it. Then we can hit the parks early the next morning, nice and fresh and not already fatigued. Yes, it hurts a little spending $300-$400/nt on our DVC room when not checking in until after 10pm, when we know there are suitable rooms at $100-$150. But it’s a pain-in-the-butt. Shuffling all around vs already being settled in to enjoy that lovely resort from sunrise on the following morning. That extra expense can be worthwhile.

Strategy for leaving WDW? We still use one hack occasionally - no hotel the last night. We’ll do a park until midnight or later, followed by a 5-6am flight. Yeah, the day we get home is basically shot This method continues to work for us though. We spend that last WDW morning sleeping in then packing up, do 10 or 12 hours in the parks, then off to the airport. Otherwise we tend to book a 7-8pm departure, so we still have some time in the parks that last day yet get home before the wee hours.

 

[The Jackal]

We usually arrive in WDW between 10:00-12:00. Room usually isn’t ready lately till after 4:00 pm. Usually go to water park, Disney Springs or a park.

 

[Mouseforward]

I am lucky enough to fly out of an airport that has a flight every single hour during the day direct to Orlando. I timed my flight to land around 3:30. That way by the time I get to the room, I’m not waiting long to check in. I like to relax on vacation so I don’t run right out to the parks. I like to get to my room, have the owners lockers delivered and then set up my room. Since I fly on Saturdays, I sometimes even avoid the parks as it’s the busiest day.

 

[MICKIMINI]

We fly SWA from MHT about 1.5 hours away (we moved to Lakes Region of NH) as it is still more convenient than BOS. SWA nearly eliminated early am NS's but seem to have more lately (6-8 am). Our goal is always to get to WDW by lunch. Hopefully, our 2026 plan will work out that way. We use points that we save so "price" is not relevant and time is our currency.

Last year, we had to take an afternoon flight and didn't get to WDW until around 7 pm. We had 1 night at SSR before moving to POLY. It was NS as we don't do connecting flights as there are two chances for issues. We were both wiped out and it was a Friday night trying to drive to WDW from MCO. We were still out of sorts being homeless the next day until we checked into POLY. We don't bounce back that quickly and IMO, I would not do it!

Good luck!

 

[juliebee]

I’m flying from the west coast to WDW so even when I take the first flight and it’s nonstop, it’s still about 4-5pm before I am on property. Not ideal and generally a waste of the first day but those are the breaks from flying across country

 

[davper]

I usually start my vacation at Universal. We check out, have breakfast or lunch, do some food shopping and go to the DVC room. It is usually ready by 1pm.

We settle in, go to the pool and plan dinner for the evening.

 

[tidefan]

It’s about a 9-9 1/2 hour drive, so a lot of the time, we’ll stop in Lake City/Gainesville/Ocala the night before and drive in the morning our reservation starts. After that, it’s roulette as to whether or not the room will be ready when we get there…

 

[foodiddiedoo]

I like to fly in the night before and used to stay off site and move to the bubble first thing in the morning. Now that we own DVC we fly in after school gets out around 5 or 6 pm and stay the first nice in our resort. It's kind of a waste of points but no one is tired the next day and we can unpack without stressing!

 

[beccasmom]

We’ve tried a variety of itineraries over the years, but morning flights usually win out. We are relatively close to our home airport, so it’s not unduly difficult. Invariably, we arrive a little after 9:00 a.m. at MCO. At one time those flights used to be the least expensive, but not so much anymore.

Afternoon flights are tricky because if the flight is delayed you can run into afternoon commuter traffic (been there). And afternoon flights in the summer can run into t-storm delays as well.

We have rarely done later flights into MCO. When we have, we stay at either an airport hotel or (more likely) a moderate resort to save on points.

Of course arriving early to WDW has its drawbacks because of the check-in times. We have occasionally lucked out with that, but we always have a Plan B (early lunch plans and either pool time or some “window-shopping” at DS).

 

[KrzyAsian]

When visiting Disneyland: Depending on the trip, either before 7AM to take advantage of Early Entry on check-in day, or will leave after work around 4-5pm, with the drive taking about 30 minutes in rush hour traffic.

Heading to WDW for the first time this Sept and will be taking a red-eye, landing at 6:30AM EST Hoping to make it to Early Entry at EPCOT that same morning.

 

[Fangorn]

Coming from Oregon (PDX). While there are lots of flight options to MCO, only the 1 nonstop will get us to MCO before 6pm. The last several trips, we've started going a day earlier and getting a room at whichever Value has the best AP rate for that first night. We then transfer to our Villa the next morning. We've decided that extra $200ish is worth it

Steve

 

[kilik64]

We drive from Nashville TN area so its a 12ish hour drive with stops. After the first couple of trips, we have changed to go a day earlier and staying at the Drury Inn in the universal area. We leave around 230am on Friday night/Saturday Morning and get there around early afternoon 3-4pmish. We decided on doing this for a couple reasons. Getting there later in the day felt like a waste of points/money to stay at a DVC hotel. I was always wiped out that first night and unloading car etc was not fun. The Drury Inn provides dinner Saturday and breakfast Sunday so I factor that as around $100 in value making the night there pretty cheap (think we paid right at $200 this year so by my maths, was $100 for the night really).

This year and next year are slightly different for us as we used the water park entry and plan to do so again next year, but on our 2024 visit we got to poly around 10-1030am already in swimsuits and just hung out at the pools until our room was ready. Was great exploring the resort and getting another resort day in basically, we always do a resort day during the week as well to break up all the park hustle and bustle and just relax one day.

With the waterpark check in day visit, we just stayed this year until our room was ready. A rain storm came right around the same time so worked out well haha. Lose that extra resort type day, but BB was pretty fun and excited to check out TL next year. If they quit doing that waterpark perk, will go back to going to the resort early and hanging out at pool until room is ready.

*Just an aside on the Drury Inn location. There is a DS one that is new and nicer and they think a lot of it, generally 50-$100 more per night AND they charge $25 to park there, no parking charge at the Universal one. Not like its a lot further of a drive either so not a huge deal.

 

[bwang123]

driving from Texas, we arrive and check-in evening time (8PM). when we fly, we arrive in the morning (pre DVC check-in). we check our bags and go find something to do (shopping, drinks, parks, etc) until our room is ready.