When is your first park day

[Oneanne]

I used to take the red eye from the west coast and would arrive at the resort around 7am and could be at a park for RD, then would head back to the resort for a nap as soon as I got the room text.

Next trip I'm taking a day flight and will arrive around 4pm. EPCOT has late EMHs that day so I'm going to head over there to kick the trip off with a leisurely evening. I have some FP+ booked but no ADR, I'm planning on eating at the F&G food booths... been dreaming about the spicy hot dog with pineapple salsa.

 

[PirateFish989]

We come from California so if we leave first flight out in the morning, we land around 4:00pm (no parks, just dinner and get settled). If we take a red eye flight, we can land around 8am (we did this in June 2018 for our honeymoon and we’re so exhausted when we got there, we were able to get our room early and nap and hang by the pool before going to Disney Springs for dinner). Coming from the West Coast is hard!

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

This is for my out of towners who travel to WDW. When is your first park day?? My family and I are from NY, so we always fly down to Florida. We always book a early flight so by the time we arrive to Orlando, we pick up our rental car and head straight to the parks. Usually we get to the parks by about 10-11am. We leave our luggage in the car and have a full day. Normally we do animal kingdom as our first day because going to the parks straight from the airport can get tiring by the evening time, and since we have our fast pass set for the day once it hits around 7ish we head to the hotel plus animal kingdom is our "easiest park" because there's not as much shows and parades like the other parks. Soon as we do the lion king show and ride all the rides, we pretty much had enough for the day..

I've tried a "day of arrival" park day and "day after arrival park day". And honestly, I'm the type that prefers to hit the ground running and hit up a park day of. Only time I didn't this last time was because i got hit hard by a cold and decided to rest up. Helped clear me up and enjoy the rest of the vacation.

Sidenote: I've taken the auto train the last two times I've visited and arrived around 11:00 (supposed to arrive by 9 but delayed on the first trip because of a police matter near the tracks. Got in super early the the second trip). It's about as expensive as flying and takes longer than driving. But for me it's a unique experience, no energy expended on driving/going through TSA, and I just like having my own car even if it means paying the parking fees at the resort.

 

[gatorlisa]

Georgia resident here. We do not fly, we drive, normally leaving after a half or 3/4 day of work. It's rare for us to get there before 10 or 11 at night. So our first day is first thing in the morning on the day after arrival. The last few trips we have been on an AP, so we do hit up a park for a few hours on the day we drive back home. With regular tickets we would not do that...just not worth it to us to spend extra money for 2-3 park hours.

 

[cindyfan]

We fly in and typically get to our resort by 12:30-ish. Depending if room is ready, how hungry we are and if there's a festival happening at the time (like Food and Wine)..... drop off luggage (either in room or at bell services), then either grab lunch at the resort and head to MK or head to Epcot for lunch. Then also depending on any evening EMH at MK or Epcot, go to that park for the night.
This trip, we are heading to MK first, probably get there around 2-ish. Then over to Epcot by 7p for EMH.

 

[mkla2015]

We usually fly out of Austin early in the morning and arrive in Orlando around 10am, magic express to resort, grab lunch, then off to the parks. We are DVC and usually stay at Baylake so we'll grab lunch at Contempo Café then monorail or walk to Magic Kingdom. I try to set our first FP for 2pm.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

We're from WI and always fly into Orlando in the morning. We can usually make it into Magic Kingdom by noon -1:00. I've had many, many trips and only twice did I do it differently. I flew on Thanksgiving day once, arrived around 5:00 into Orlando and only checked into the resort, no park. Another time arrived late in the afternoon too and then it was a mad rush to get to an ADR at Kona Café. I much prefer to arrive EARLY!!!
This year we're changing it up and going to Animal Kingdom on arrival day and staying until dinnertime and heading back to POP to go swimming.

 

[mamamelody2]

We fly in from Michigan. I like to get an early enough flight that we can do MK the first night.
Unfortunately for our August trip, the earliest Southwest will get us in to MCO is 5:20. PM Ugh.
Oh, well, we'll either go to DS or just swim, depending on what the kids want to do.

 

[starsweeper]

We used to have a 14-hour drive from KY, so we rested the evening of arrival and would go to MK the next morning. Now we are only 6.5 hours away, so we leave early and spend arrival afternoon/evening at MK.

 

[Tinkerbellmom43]

We're from NY too we usually fly mid morning (depending on flights) Most times we head to Epcot for our first day. Book or 3 Fastpasses (or not) and eat around the world or book a restaurant for dinner. The last few trips, when I had my AP, we decided to just have a resort day or head to Disney Springs and start the parks fresh the next day.

 

[MinnierellaMama]

We drive down from OH and typically arrive by 2pm on check in day. We’re usually burnt out from the drive so we don’t do the parks until the next morning —instead spend time at our Epcot area resort and the boardwalk and sometimes head to Disney springs. Then we head to bed at a decent time so we’re up early for a full day — this year day one is at DHS so we will need all the sleep we can get!

 

[dachsie]

We typically fly in on the first flight in the morning, getting into Orlando around 10/11ish. We spend that day at Disney Springs and relaxing, and our first park day is the next day.

This is what I do as well. Thats my plan for December.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

My routine is generally first flight out (or second) from Baltimore, drop by my resort and change clothes (if winter) and leave bags with bell services. Then head to Epcot. I always go to Epcot twice in a trip, which is why I start there. Almost always have lunch at Via Nappoli. That kinda kicks my trip off.

Side note on habits, I always try to end with Hoop Dee Doo on the the last day of my visit too, then pack and fly the next morning.

 

[KenHutch]

We drive in from Kansas City and do no parks that day. We check in and have dinner at Ohana and the girls do a bit of shopping. The next day we always hit Epcot as our 1st park, always found getting Fast Passes easier there.

 

[Shelby Schroepfer]

This is for my out of towners who travel to WDW. When is your first park day?? My family and I are from NY, so we always fly down to Florida. We always book a early flight so by the time we arrive to Orlando, we pick up our rental car and head straight to the parks. Usually we get to the parks by about 10-11am. We leave our luggage in the car and have a full day. Normally we do animal kingdom as our first day because going to the parks straight from the airport can get tiring by the evening time, and since we have our fast pass set for the day once it hits around 7ish we head to the hotel plus animal kingdom is our "easiest park" because there's not as much shows and parades like the other parks. Soon as we do the lion king show and ride all the rides, we pretty much had enough for the day..

we do the same! We land around 11 as well and take magical express to our resort, dump our bags with bell hop, freshen up, and HIT A PARK! Usually MK because to us, that's disney and how we "start" the vaca but last year we landed on a party night so MK closed at 6. So we hit MK from 2-6, then Epcot til close! It was a LONG day but so so worth it.

 

[Meriweather]

We fly cross country, so by the time we get there and get our room, have dinner and unpack we're ready for bed.
Off to a park at opening the next morning

 

[aml1676]

This is our first trip, but we'll be hitting the parks day after arrival. We are NOT morning people, so trying to get an early flight just isn't appealing (don't ask me how we're going to get up early to be in the parks ). I'm hoping we'll be at the resort by late afternoon, with enough time for a quick swim before dinner, and then bed so we can get up early and be ready to hit the parks!

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

We usually take an early flight out of PHL. Trial and error has taught us we're all less exhausted if we stay out of the parks on arrival day, so we pack swim stuff in our carryon luggage, check in and have a QS lunch at the hotel, and then spend the afternoon in the pool and have dinner somewhere on property. (Current arrival night favorite is the Wave.)

The kids like to start at MK, so with a relaxed arrival day we're all more prepared to do a rope drop to close the following day.

 

[whitney37354]

We usually leave after work & spend the night at a motel somewhere in Georgia our first night. The next day we check in and go to Disney Springs. Normally we do MK on our first & last day, but this trip will be DHS the first day (2 days there this trip) & MK last day. This will be our fifth trip & our first park days are as follows: Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Sunday, Friday.

 

[purrenh1]

Rod's plan is fun and ambitious as are a bunch of these! My family has great memories of driving from Michigan (2 days), making the 2nd day short enough to say, "hey! we can get to Epcot and enjoy the Christmas lights tonight!" That was with us arriving at the hotel by about 3 p.m. Since then, we've tried to hit a park on arrival day a few more times, but it's often hard. This time (February 29!), we're flying in mid-day and just planning on going to Disney Springs day 1 (no fast passes or anything).