what to do arrival day? Plane lands at 9:30 am

[scrappinginontario]

Have you ever been before? Will you have children with you who have been before?

2 years ago we arrived at our resort early in the afternoon and my plan was to swim, maybe play mini golf and hang out at our resort. All that changed in .05 seconds when my daughter started excitedly jumping up and down asking why we weren't on our way to Magic Kingdom already?!!

If you have a child who knows where they are, I'd head to MK as quickly as possible! We had a blast that day and I'm so glad I listened to her and not my own sensibility!

 

[Crystal824]

We, too, usually arrive around 9:30 or 10:00. We'll go check in to the hotel, store our stuff, and head immediately to MK. It always feels so cool to have lunch at MK after waking up at home that morning! We'll spend the afternoon and then usually have dinner either in the park or a nearby resort (monorail or boat ride away!). Then we call it a day and head back to the resort right after dinner. We've been up super early to get that early flight so it's been a long day already. We go to the resort. I get us unpacked and settled in. DH takes the boys to the pool for a bit. Then we turn in early to be up for rope drop on our first full day.

This has become something of a routine for us and seems to work really well!

This is what we do too.

 

[KathyM2]

I think it all depends on how many days of park tickets you have....I like to be at the parks at RD so I wouldn't head to a park at noon...but if you have enough days to do it...why not? But a leisurely day by the pool or DTD would be nice too!! Anything is fun at Disney lol..it is indeed a really tough decision and based purely on your preferences!

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

If you have 5 days or more (I think that's the cutoff anyway!), it's only $10 per person to add another day. So even if it's a half day, it's only costing you $10 to get in so totally worth it!

 

[Mousemommy1]

Definitely head to the parks!!! We don't land until noon next Saturday, so won't get to the resort until 1:30-2:00. We have dinner reservations for 4:30 and will head to MK after that!! Although, we have AP's so don't worry about ticket days burned.

 

[CynBeth]

Just a note to be careful on arrival day especially if you are flying. Our last trip in Dec 2013 we were supposed to arrive at 9 something. About a month before the trip we got an e-mail that our flight time changed and we were not going to land until 11 something. We were so glad we had not made a lunch ADR. By the time we got our luggage and rental car and drove to WL and got to our room and had a quick bite it was 2. We actually had a 4 something dinner ADR at DHS so we could not do much. We thought we would have a half day there. Luckily we get the park hopper option so later in the week we could switch our schedule around a little to make time to go back for the attractions we missed.

 

[beck00]

We are wondering what to do with our first day as well, but have until November to figure it out I love a good plan, so keep us posted on what you decide.

 

[soniam]

If you have kids, ask them. DS complained on our trip last month, because he didn't get to swim enough. It was still too cold to swim at home. Most pools here aren't heated. Arrival day is a great way to spend time at the resort. There's usually a lot of cool stuff to do, like swim, eat, arcade, activities, movies.

 

[Karin1984]

I did it a few years ago during my first visit. I just had to go to parks, but by midday I was so tired, I wish I had the sense to go back to the hotel for a break. I had had a long flight, it was hot that day and there were many new impressions.

My advice would be: go to the park, but either relax before going and go there after 4-5pm, or go there as soon as you arrive, take a break, and then go back for the evening entertainment.

 

[greeneave]

i'm traveling with my husband and our 8-year old son, neither of whom have been to disney world before.

we land at 10am, so i figure we'll check in at the polynesian and immediately hit the pool.

we have 5:15pm reservations for spirit of aloha, then i figure we'll watch the electrical parade and fireworks from the resort beach.

then it will be mk in the morning. my son is going to go crazy when he gets there!

 

[dsdeleon]

We just had one of these days. Our room was ready so we napped (don't forget DnD sign for DME) then went to MK from about 8-12 with FP+ scheduled for late night. I usually don't nap but 6am flights can knock anyone out.

If you have never been I would probably save MK for an early morning second day.

 

[darrenf67]

We are heading to the resort for some relaxing then to DTD for a spot of shopping and dinner. The parks start the next day for us. Whatever you do, it will be fun!

 

[markmcalear]

I like to stop at Hash House A Go Go on International Drive on way from MCO to WDW.

 

[A State Of Autumn]

We're arriving in the morning too, our flight lands at around 9.59am, we were originally only planning to go to disney for four days but we got the 4 day +1 day free tickets so we'll be checking in and then heading to Magic Kingdom, I booked fast passes for late in the day, starting around 5pm so it will be a park day but just a chill out park day and we will return to Magic Kingdom for our full on day on the last day of our trip.

 

[starsweeper]

We have only flown once but I'm too impatient to wait for the bus. We would grab a taxi, checkin and be at a park as soon as possible. We like to hit the ground running since we take short 5 day trips.

 

[Nancyg56]

I am in that pickle too. WE land about 10:30 and figure we will be at the resort by noon. I think we will explore the resort, have lunch and swim with the girls.....however we are staying at teh GF and the girls have never been to WDW, so all bets may be off. WE may need to hop on the boat or the monorail and take them to "Mickey's House", as they refer to all things disney. I think they may want to see the MK and then head back for dinner at CM.

 

[Pembo]

We land at 9:30 as well and I'm back and forth on what to do. It's only a 4 day trip and the plan is for 1 MK day and 1 MNSHHP. However the idea of adding an Epcot day is so tempting until I consider the price tag. Then I reconsider and think of how we will be up at 5 am?!
So as of now, the plan is to swim, go to DtD, mini-golf and go to bed early so we can be ready for rope drop. That may change once we get there.

 

[lauradis]

We often arrive about 9:30 AM at MCO. But, working backwards, that means our flight took off about 7:00, which means we arrived at the airport (usually PHL) about 5:00, which means we left home a little after 4:00, which means the alarm went off at around 3:30. So...yes, we'll hit the parks (usually either Epcot or MK), but its not a late night. Might hang around until about supper time, then head back to the resort/hotel, unpack, have some dinner, then call it a night so we're not too spent for the next day.

You sleep the night before?

 

[MickeyMouseLvr]

We are always tired from getting up early, so we take it easy on arrival day. We usually relax at the resort pool and have an early dinner at Chef Mickey's. Then we are up early the next morning to visit the Magic Kingdom.

 

[Nancyg56]

We land at 9:30 as well and I'm back and forth on what to do. It's only a 4 day trip and the plan is for 1 MK day and 1 MNSHHP. However the idea of adding an Epcot day is so tempting until I consider the price tag. Then I reconsider and think of how we will be up at 5 am?!
So as of now, the plan is to swim, go to DtD, mini-golf and go to bed early so we can be ready for rope drop. That may change once we get there.

That pesky price tag! WE have more time so it is not much to add that extra ticket on JIC, but on a shorter trip, it really is a big decision.