What time do you typically arrive for your DVC stay?

[Spivey378]

3:00 am.

Frontier’d

 

[T00dles]

 

[Zubon]

Around 4pm. We usually drive in, and that is the time-to-WDW from a reasonably early start. That time with a little plus/minus is good for a first night dinner or evening event.

 

[KCMA]

Usually in the area 3pm-4pm … head to get our groceries etc… then wait for the message our room is ready.. we never go to parks arrival day as it’s a 21-22 hour drive .. so a good dinner/hit the pool and grab a couple drinks and get ready for the next day

 

[Cyberc1978]

I'm a foreigner which means that most if not all flights arrive late evening time, but if I could I've arrive early, just to get another park day and use the pool

Just completed a stay this month and since I had some expiring points in one membership I had to book a split stay staying at the same resort and room(still avoided to checkin again). But after coming home I see that for whatever reason the resort gave me 5 points back or didn't collect them for the first part of the stay.

Nice little bonus.

 

[LadybugsMum]

If we fly then I pick the earliest flight of the day for Delta or SW. That way there may be options for a later flight if the first one is canceled or we can get the car and drive down if necessary. I won't fly the budget airlines as some have dodgy reliability from my home airport.

 

[guy_incognito]

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.

We arrive when we arrive. It's not for everyone.... but we live in driving distance and typically book an extra day on both ends, so we can arrive whenever we want and leave whenever we want. It makes it so much more pleasant for us. Many think it's a waste of points, but they are mine, so... lol.

That being so, on trips where we don't book like that, i.e. we want to be points efficient, we just show up. It honestly seems like it sets off the availability trigger. When Galaxy's Edge opened, we got there at 5am and they had a room for us. We had planned to just park and ride the bus to the park. Most days we plan to get there and enjoy the pool until the room is ready, but it feels like we often get our room very early just by arriving. I feel like it's a win-win, even if we don't get a room until 4pm, we've spent hours at the pool.

 

[mikeuno]

We typically fly in early afternoon and hope for the best as far as room being ready. Now that the water park perk is available, we might try arriving earlier in the day.

 

[sethschroeder]

I always try arrive the earliest flight I can for the best price. Sometimes that means we are on a 5/6am flight other times that means we are on a 7/8/9pm flight (right after work).

First actual day though we hit Epcot and grab Regal Eagle.

 

[DisneyGal24]

We have an 8-9 hour drive. We typically leave around 3am and that puts arrival at lunch time. We like to grab lunch at our resort’s quick service and then hit the pool for a few hours. Usually by the time we finish up, our room is ready.

 

[Meriweather]

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

We're west too.
Flight about 9......leave the house at 6:30. Flight, time change, usually get to resort bout 5-6 pm

 

[airjay75]

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.

I'm currently planning this exact strategy for our upcoming week in July - last flight of the day, arrive at MCO around 10 pm, stay at Hyatt Regency, and then head to DW the next day. Hoping that works well. That said, I also have a flight booked the next day in the early afternoon if I change my mind based on how weather forecast looks.

If it were just me and my wife, I'd happily do the first flight of the day (especially in the summer). But, with young kids, that just equals disaster - have to get them up early, they'll probably nap and then be bouncing off the walls just when mom and dad feel like napping. For them, a late morning or early afternoon flight typically works best - don't have to get going too early, but also get in with plenty of time to get some energy out at the pool and settle down for bedtime.

 

[atthebeachclub]

Ideally I’d get there in the very early afternoon. In reality, my day starts at 5 am, but I likely don’t arrive until 5 pm. It’s a bit of a haul. We have a long drive to the airport, and there’s always a layover. My airport options are not good.

 

[Moonspinner]

We arrive when we arrive. It's not for everyone.... but we live in driving distance and typically book an extra day on both ends, so we can arrive whenever we want and leave whenever we want. It makes it so much more pleasant for us. Many think it's a waste of points, but they are mine, so... lol.

That being so, on trips where we don't book like that, i.e. we want to be points efficient, we just show up. It honestly seems like it sets off the availability trigger. When Galaxy's Edge opened, we got there at 5am and they had a room for us. We had planned to just park and ride the bus to the park. Most days we plan to get there and enjoy the pool until the room is ready, but it feels like we often get our room very early just by arriving. I feel like it's a win-win, even if we don't get a room until 4pm, we've spent hours at the pool.

This is us. We drive. Usually leave after work and end up arriving at like 3 or 4am. We book an extra day so that we can just crash.

 

[eticketplease]

We always take one of the last two flights and then spend a FNC to get close to the bubble. We then drive to the DVC resort and drop off the bags or head to the parks the next morning.

 

[RichVIII]

At the moment, nearly a direct flight to MCO almost every 1.5 hours. Like to put a full day in at work, head to the airport and hopefully land by 8ish. Waste points but stay that night to hit hard the next day. Sometimes we can squeeze in something (dip in the pool) but most likely head to bed. Daddy/daughter trips, first flight, drop bags and go. Lol

 

[maui22]

We fly early flights, but not for the extra time at Disney anymore. Early flights give us opportunity to find another flight if there is some issue with the plane.
Our favorite time to visit WDW is late Sept (quiet F&W/MNSSHP and best point chart season), or October. We do watch the weather to see if we have to fly a day or two early. Only had one flight impacted by a hurricane.