What's the first thing you do upon check-in?

[mal.disneystateofmind]

The first thing we do is go to the room and turn on the Walt Disney World channels!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

First thing we do is go to the room, get out the travel flashlight and check the bed for bedbugs. Then we'll head out to the parks and start takin it in.

I also hit some stuff with disinfecting wipes.

 

[KT0191]

I dump all our stuff in the room and immediately put on "Must Do Disney" with my girl Stacey. We swim for a while and then go to Disney Springs.

 

[dan40]

Exactly. For the ~$12 to add an extra day to a multi-day ticket, it's worth it even if we only spend 3 hours in the park that first day. We usually spend about 4 or 5 hours in the park, but I wouldn't even be upset if we were only there 2 hours for that price. Now, if we arrived late in the day (after dinner) or had to deal with a multi-hour time change, I would probably just hang out at the resort and rest. But since we aren't in that situation, we think it's well worth the ~$60 investment for our family to spend a few hours in a park on arrival day. It's a nice way to ease into the vacation.

~$12? Is that all? Sheesh, I should go for a 6 day PHP!

 

[JenLT]

We usually arrive around 2 or 3. We drive. Usually 8 hours one evening and then 4 hours the next day. We plan to arrive so we won't have to wait long for our room. We have done both going to the park for the evening and hanging out at the resort. I much prefer tha latter. It's nice to get a more laid back start to the trip. We check out the gift shop, get our mugs, and swim. The kids love swimming at the resort so that makes a great start to the trip. We go to bed early and get up in time to be there half hour or so before rope drop.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We arrive early so we head straight to the MK!

 

[Nancyg56]

So tell me, depending on where you are in the world, would you go to one of the parks on the same day you arrived? I'm coming from the west coast of Canada, so it takes me about 7.5 hours to get there not to mention being up very early in the morning and at the airport for two hours before my international flight. I don't think I could see myself going to the park on the same day I arrived - I'd be exhausted! Plus, I only typically get a 5-day pass, and it would be a shame to "waste" an entire park admission getting to see only half the park, on a day that I could be catching my bearings. In addition, there is a 3 hour difference from YVR time and MCO time... when I land at MCO, it'll be nearly 04:30 PT!

Well, for us it depends on when we arrive, and how long we are staying. We try to catch the first flight out and arrive in the morning. We generally get settled, and if the room is ready, put everything in order. I also wipe down light switches etc and spray a few things with Lysol. Sometimes we just relax at the resort, swim and then head out for dinner. Sometimes we plan dinner in a park and watch the fireworks. WE always make sure we have tickets for at least all but one of our stay, but I usually just buy them for the entire trip.

 

[DanInMN]

We never do parks on travel days. Explore the resort, swim, Disney Springs, eat.

We also take a resort day mid-trip, and sometimes a volunteer day at GKTW.

Too much park time dilutes the magic for the kids. Trying to keep it special, and not hear "I'm bored".

 

[willmccready]

We like to take some time on arrival day to enjoy the resort since it's the only time we're there while not recovering from a day at the park. Try to keep the first day calm and do Chef Mickeys at dinner opening so we can be rested up for our first park day the next day.

 

[glk2009]

We arrive early... I'm the mean mom that makes us take the first flight possible. So, we are usually at the resort in time for an early lunch. If the room is ready, we get settled/unpacked and then head out for lunch at either the resort or a park (if we are within walking distance). We always do park time on arrival day. This year, the girls voted to go to MK to do SOTMK and our FP+, even if it is just for a few hours. It's usually a low-key park day bc I know we are all running on adrenaline.

 

[bluezy]

~$12? Is that all? Sheesh, I should go for a 6 day PHP!

I think it's $15 dollars now -- I remember that there was an increase last year some time. I know when we were there in June 2016, our sons decided to stay an extra day and when we added an extra day to their tickets, it was $11.xx for the day (per ticket) but the CM commented that we got the lower price because we purchased the tickets before the price increase. It also depends on the length of the ticket. I think the pricing now is that if you're adding one day to a 4, 5, or 6 day ticket the cost is $15. Adding to a longer ticket is $10. One of the cheapest things you can buy at Disney. And like I said in my previous post, we find it to be a very worthwhile investment even if we only stay in the park a few hours.

 

[Mickey76]

Since we usually arrive in the morning and our room isn't ready, we either head to Disney Springs (which we haven't been to since the makeover) or Magic Kingdom. I don't feel like we're in Disney World until I'm walking down Main Street, USA and see the castle for the first time. Not sure what we're doing when we go this summer, as it depends on if our 2 year old is cooperating. Hahaha

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

If the room is ready, I go to the store at the resort and buy some diet cokes, apple juice and maybe some small snacks for the room since I have to take meds in the morning that need to be taken with food.

Sometimes I put the luggage in the room first and then go to the store, other times I go directly to the store. Then I go to MK afterwards.

If the rooms not ready I drop off my luggage with Bell Services and go to MK.

 

[Chrelaine]

We don't schedule parks on travel days. We drop off our stuff, unpack quickly and either head out to explore or to Disney Springs, depending on the time. DD6 will be with us this August so I am sure a trip to the pool will be the priority with some exploring of the resort along the way. We find that 5 day PH are just fine for our 7 night trips. We take down time the day of arrival and one day during the week.

 

[pedinurse3]

If we're on the dining plan, we stop by the food court and fill our mugs with crushed ice and water . If not, we go to our room, inspect for bed bugs, claim our beds and recharge a bit.

 

[buzznina]

We drive to WDW (7 hrs) and we do not leave until after DDs get out of school and I get off work, so by the time we arrive it's 1AMish, so we never have to worry if our room is ready. I check room first, then we unload the van, go over room with clorox wipes, unpack everything and hit the hey so we can be totally ready to go when we wake up.

 

[addiln]

Generally we will grab something to eat or drink when we first get there. We take an early morning flight most times and ready for something to eat by the time we arrive. After that we will explore the resort or possible hit the pool depending on where we are staying. We tend not to go to the parks the first day since the kids are tired from traveling.

 

[terri33inne]

We leave our house at 3 or 4am most trips to make a 6am flight, so by the time we make it to the resort by 12/1pm we are wiped (and starving), so we'll grab some food, and hang by the pool. If we didn't go to the pool that's all I'd hear from my daughter anyway... "Can we go back & swim?"

Our VERY first trip I made the mistake of heading straight to Epcot, and b/c it was our first time it was just all so completely overwhelming (and we were exhausted), so I don't think we were even there 90 minutes before we headed back to our resort... Don't even think we got a ride in, and we only made it to England in WS.

Now that we have more trips under our belt I may book a dinner at a park for arrival day (which was easier when we had AP's).

 

[2010_Bride]

We also fly in from Canada and our flight gets us in early to mid afternoon. When we arrive we check into our room and always head to Disney Springs. We grab an easy dinner, (usually Earl of Sandwich). We love the holiday sandwich and don't have this restaurant in Canada. Then look around some of the shops. I find if we schedule a park (which we did once) we feel very rushed. When we check into the room, we feel the need to quickly head out to the busses so we don't waste any time. I don't like this feeling - I'd rather relax and stroll the resort and/or Disney Springs.

 

[Leelo]

So tell me, depending on where you are in the world, would you go to one of the parks on the same day you arrived?

We settle in for a few minutes in our rooms then change and go straight to the parks for a casual, relaxing walk around or to sit somewhere and enjoy the atmosphere. We might eat something and enjoy the fireworks and goodies on Main Street. We may or may not ride a ride and just take it easy.

Like others have said, we have found that adding another day to a multi-day pass is generally less than $20 per person and is worth doing to casually enjoy 3-4 hours of the park atmosphere. Plus we are just so excited to be there that we can hardly wait to go in.

For reference, we are a family of 2 adults and we drive 7.5 hours and are 1 time zone behind Orlando. I'm sure for a party of 8 $20 per person seems expensive for just a few hours. And I'm sure an exhausting flight or a large time zone change would be factors to consider on a family to family basis.