What to do the first Day ?

[nancyny]

Hi everyone! I'm flying into Orlando in June on a Sunday,flight arrives at 0940 am,pretty early.What would be the best park to start with,will be traveling with just my DS who's 9. I haven't done Disney in over 20 some years,have heard some parks are worse on certain days of the week.Any suggestions! Am staying onsite also. Thanks guys !!

 

[daretodream]

We like to settle in the resort. Find where everything is, swim, and have a nice dinner. It's important for us to get a good nights rest before hitting the parks bright and early. If your not a passholder and don't want to use a park day for only half day(by the time you get in your room it will probably be afternoon)check out FW or one of the resorts. Our children enjoyed a ride on the monorail after dinner at 1900 Park Fare.

 

[anditoo72]

Hoop Dee Doo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its a show at Fort Wilderness its awesome!!!! It is in the evenings with three showtimes 5,7, and 9. There is also a petting zoo right there.

About the best days thing, I think this link will help you.


http://www.touringplans.com/BestDays.htm


Hopefully it will work!!!! Just look up the days you will be there it will give you the estimated crowd level, the best parks and worst parks for that day. Have fun in Disney!!!!

 

[JenniferAtl]

We don't like to use a day on our pass the day we arrive. We like to settle into the resort and then head to DTD for dinner and some early shopping.

If you really want to go to a park, you really can't go wrong w/ a 9 yr old. Our favorite is MK, we always hit it 2 1/2 times each trip.

Have fun!

 

[bubba73]

There are typically a lot of people that would post how they feel like their trip doesn't begin until they walk down Main Street and see Cinderella's Castle. I don't feel that way personally. I like to save MK for later in the week because I know how my kids are. If we do MK first, they won't want to go anywhere else for the rest of the week that we are there. Lately, we have been going to DTD on our arrival day and then go to AK the next day. It really has worked for us.

 

[DISUNC]

Let your DS pick where he wants to go first!

Have a great time.....It has got sooooooooooo much bigger in the past 20 years!

 

[laurabelle]

Hi everyone! I'm flying into Orlando in June on a Sunday,flight arrives at 0940 am,pretty early.What would be the best park to start with,will be traveling with just my DS who's 9. I haven't done Disney in over 20 some years,have heard some parks are worse on certain days of the week.Any suggestions! Am staying onsite also. Thanks guys !!

How exciting! We do different things for the first day, depending on the time we arrive and whether we drove or flew down. I'm assuming from your screen name that you're flying down from NY, so not a long flight. If your flight comes in at 9:40 taking DME to the resort, do a quick check in and just have them hold your bags, you can probably be in a park around noon. MK usually has the longest hours. I certainly wouldn't feel like you were burning a park pass for a 1/2 day there. Plus I can't imagine a more magical way for you and your son to begin a Disney vacation! Alternately, I'd make it a pool day and pick a fun restaurant for dinner at a resort or DTD, get to bed early and hit the parks early the next day. I'm sure you'll have a magical trip, whatever you decide.

 

[wdwholic1206]

For the past 10 years we ALWAYS did the same thing on our arrival night. Head over to MK go on PotC then SlashMnt then head to Frontierland grab a couple of dogs from out front of CBJ. Head over to main street and get a great spot fot the parade. We always USED to do this now we arrive on a MNSSHP night and can't go to MK so we head to EPCOT for the night. Actually 5yo DD idea. She loves the nachos in Mexico. So now we head over there and have dinner and wathc Illuminations.
A lot of people relax at the hotel their first night but we can't we have to get right into it!!!
I would check out the park hours and see what ones are open later that evening. Then maybe see what park you'd like a little more time in and head there. Or let your DS decide what to do.
Have a great trip.

 

[magicmouse2]

We always spend day 1 at the resort. A refreshing swim is great after the journey.

 

[kldmom2000]

We'll be arriving in Orlando around 10:40am and sadly will only be able to go for 4.5 days (5 nights). We're planning to to see if we can check in to our hotel (Yacht Club) and let the girls swim in Stormalong Bay for a couple of hours and have lunch by the pool.... around 3pm we'll go into Epcot (walking distance from the hotel) and stay there through dinner (ADR @ Garden Grill) It's Epcot's EMH night, so I won't feel too bad about "wasting" a day's pass.... gotta make up for the short trip

Have fun!!!!

 

[jimmytammy]

Before we figured it out, that we were running ourselves ragged, aka Commando Touring, we would hit the parks wide open the 1st day. So from the start we were worn out. After traveling, it takes something out of you, but you dont mentally realize it cause you are in the Magic of it all.

So now, we relax in a couple different ways. We either take it easy for the day, enjoy the resort, swim, rest then head over to Ohanas for dinner. We try to time it where we can see Wishes. They turn the lights down, turn the sound of the show up on the speakers and then the the fireworks begin. Its a magical way to start the vacation and immerses you into the spirit of being in WDW.

Another cool way to start our stay is head to Typhoon Lagoon for a few hrs. You dont have to do near as much walking as the theme parks and the water seems to relax you. Then do dinner as mentioned above.

Then turn in as early as possible. It makes that 1st full day so much better.

Have Fun!!

 

[disneyjunkie]

A lot of people relax at the hotel their first night but we can't we have to get right into it!!!

ITA

I think you're getting to early NOT to head to a major park.

You could spend a few hours at the pool, then head out to a park.

How about letting your son plan your day? Let him pick which park he'd like to start with.

No matter what you decide to do, you all will have a great trip.

 

[TinyLolitaBunny]

Last year when we arrived we went to Animal Kingdom first and stayed there until it closed, we did this because it's the park that has the least to do so we did everything we wanted in a half day, and it closes early so we could still hop on over to the Magic Kingdom at night! It depends on if you got park hoppers, of course, if you could do that. I think with the MYW tickets it's worth it to use an extra day in the parks since it costs so little to add one more. I like to get as much "theme park" out of my Disney trip as possible!!!

 

[my2boys1821]

Everyone's so different. I feel like I'm wasting a day if I don't see a park on the first day. Especially since arriving so early.

Our plans are to arrive by noon. Check in, relax at the pool, possibly a little nap, head over to MK so we can get that magic moment going for the rest of the week. Since we won't get to the park till later, we will stay long enough to view Wishes. I can't wait!!!!!!

So excited! Can't you tell.

 

[Tam1067]

Last time we drove...but this time, we land at MCO at noon, will take ME to the Poly and check in. I booked Crystal Palace for dinner. That's allowing us to go to MK and see the castle and maybe (depending on the time and our energy level) do 1-2 rides. I'd like to see Spectromagic that night, too. I think doing a really Disney type of dinner the first night is a good way to get things started. And if you're arriving so early in the moring, you really should go to a park that day, if possible.

 

[Atchley]

I agree with the others. We go to the resort the first day and just relax. After a long car ride it is always better to stretch out, swim, and just look around the resort. The Resort can be a whole days worth of stuff to do by itself! Something that I found out on our last trip was unpack your clothes into the dresser, chest, drawers, etc;. We had always just lived out of our suitcases but last time I decided to unpack. Boy am I glad I did! It made the rest of our stay much more enjoyable not having to dig through multiple suitcases to find our stuff. Also this time we are taking a day off from the parks in the middle of the week. Last time we did five days in a row. This time we'll do three, take a day off, then 2 more. We went ahead and bought six day passes just in case we changes our minds. It was only about $10.00 a person more for the sixth day so we figured why not?.

 

[jenbuki]

We usually spend the first day at DTD shopping, eating dinner, and our new tradition enjoying Ghirardelli Ice Cream, yum!!!! We also walk around the resort at night before turning in to get plenty of sleep for our 10 days of park adventures.

 

[DISPOP]

Star Wars weekends are going on at MGM through mid June. Exact dates are listed in this web site. If DS is a Star Wars fan, you may want to head to MGM. Star Wars is only occuring on Fri, Sat, Sun.

 

[Gabe's Mom]

Relax @ your resort, then plan for an early dinner at somewhere great like Ohana's or Chef Mickey's that really gets you in the Disney mood. Head over to the MK just to soak up the Magic!