When you arrive: settle in hotel or hit the parks right away?

[starrysky]

we travel from the UK,have to be at airport at least 3 hours before flight,then flight time is around 9 hours,so we're generally wiped out by the time we arrive.
time for food,unpack,some entertaining tv- then sleep.

vacation starts early the next morning.

Same here we did make it to MK for the big birthday in 2011 but we were so tired it looked like were drunk. Most trips we check in to the resort, bags into room and a quick freshen up before we go and get a bite to eat and then bed.

Last day we try and get the latest flight back so we get up early drop bags with bell services and head to whatever park has the first bus that arrives. We aim to be back at the resort 1 hour before ME picks us up to stash any last minute purchases into the cases.

 

[LowesChevy]

We normally land around noon, get the bags and car and head to International Drive for lunch. Once we get to the resort if we can get into the room, we unpack and settle a bit. I like to have a great dinner the first night and hit the parks first thing in the AM.

 

[RedfromNL]

we travel from the UK,have to be at airport at least 3 hours before flight,then flight time is around 9 hours,so we're generally wiped out by the time we arrive.
time for food,unpack,some entertaining tv- then sleep.

vacation starts early the next morning.

Ditto, except for us it's the Netherlands. We just about managed a light meal and do some unpacking before basically falling over It does make it very easy to be up early the next day for EMH!

This year it'll be different since we will be arriving with the Queen Mary II in New York, take a train from there to Florida. Theoretically we could then rent a car, go to the hotel and go straight to a park. But we'll just take it easy, settle in first and well, get a taste of atmosphere before diving into the parks.

It allows for more time to get some shopping in, go to DTD for some Icecream, enjoy the pool, go for a walk around the resort etc.
(you may have guessed by now we are not park-commando's )

To us those things are as big a part of our holiday at WDW as is going to a park.

 

[ErinsMommy]

We catch the first flight out and if there's a possibility of getting a room right away, we hang around the hotel. If not, we leave luggage and head to the parks.

 

[BabyFu18]

I like to arrive in the early afternoon, between 1pm-3pm, check-in at the hotel, unpack and get settled in the room and then spend the day enjoying the hotel and its amenities. That night go to dinner then get in bed early for the next day. I'm lucky enough to have longer vacations so I don't feel rushed to get in the parks the moment we arrive.

 

[tsme]

The day we arrive, we always just hang out at the resort. We like to rest up from traveling before going to the parks the next day. And we usually have a mid-morning flight home, so we leave in the AM.

 

[tigger24601]

We hit the parks a.s.a.p. we always drive 4 hours. Usually arriving around 8am. We check in. If our room is ready we unload our car and hit the parks. otherwise we collect all our room keys get everything settled at the front desk and head off to catch a bus.

 

[Disney_Ohana]

If I had it my way I'd hit the park ASAP but my family's always so pooped from traveling (from Hawaii) and so we rest it up & are at ropedrop the next morning.

 

[jandkmom]

We usually take a morning flight that gets us to the hotel early-mid afternoon. We check in, leave our bags and head to MK on the monorail. The last 2 times we've made it just in time for the 3pm parade. It's a great way to welcome us to Disney

 

[Disneyaddictz]

As much as I'd love to hit the ground running I like to start fresh! We alway unpack stroll around the resort, hit the pool and plan a nice dinner then start fresh bright and early.... If I don't get organized with the little ones I feel disorganized the whole week

 

[alecshawn]

We always arrive on a saturday late morning....we goto the parks first thing sunday. So, we use Sat for swimming downtown disney etc....This year will will check out AofA and W.L. on Sat.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I like to settle in as much as I can.

When I go solo, I fly so I can't unpack fully before I go to a park because my main suitcase isn't there yet but unpack the carryon. When I fly I usually get in around 1:30 or so and take Magical Express to the hotel.
I make sure my kids are up and at school before I head to the airport. I do not do early morning flights no matter what. Driving to the airport at 6am is not something I do.

When we drive, we unpack and put away everything we can. Alot of times there isn't enough drawer space for everything in my suitcase to come out so I hang up what I can and leave the rest in the suitcase for grabbing as needed.
When we drive we normally arrive around 4 or 5pm. We have an 8 hour drive plus I have to take the cats to boarding before we leave town that morning.

I like to do that and save one nights boarding fee rather than taking them the night before. It's not like I can get the family up early to leave early anyways. They won't get out of bed!

 

[bigbabyblues]

We drive from Ohio, usually check in around 7:00 am and hit the parks. When we leave, we usually hit a park for a couple hours or have a late character breakfast at a resort before we start home.

 

[jade1]

We fly in early so we check in around noon. If the room is ready we will check it out and leave any carry ons. But its never ready so we just leave what we have at bell-the bags show up in the room from ME later.

We always head straight to a park instead of waiting around.

Departure day-we send the bags on ME in the am, and get our boarding passes. Leave any carry ons with bell, as we always fly home evenings.

So again-we head to a park for the final day.

This way we have pretty much a full day on arrival and departure.

 

[Cindie-rella]

We always have to do MK the 1st night there. Seeing the castle says "We're finally here!" This year I think we'll be arriving later, like getting to the POLY around 5:30ish. We have dinner at Kona at 6:40. kinda pushing it. I was hoping to hop on the monorail right after dinner to catch the parade and fireworks...but if we are too exhausted perhaps we'll sit on the beach to watch the fireworks Guess we'll have to see when we get there. I did add the extra day on our park hoppers, so I really hate to waste it and really don't want to break our arrival day MK tradition.

 

[ford91exploder]

We usually do First flight in and last flight out to maximize time at Disney!

One of us grabs the rental Car and the others DW,DFIL,DMIL travel to resort on ME. If room is ready we usually spend 4 hours or so organizing room for our stay (summer trip is usually 10 days). Organizing includes putting away GardenGrocer order

If room is not ready we usually go standby to whatever resort eatery is available at that time.

For summer DFIL likes OKW and Olivia's is great for just dropping in for lunch or DD is also an option esp with rental car.

After organizing room we usually head out to EPCOT for evening dining and IlluminNations and head back to room.

We find that spending some time organizing room first day makes for a more organized and enjoyable stay.

 

[Gooshy]

This time we will get in early afternoon nad just settle in and head to the park the next morning. We will take our time to get a few things from the grocery and relax by the pool and check out DTD and have dinner. On our last day we got a mid morning flight SO we will get up eat and head out. We have to save my mother from my kids

 

[pepe of ohio]

We're settlers... Have been for 47 trips!

We usually arrive before 2 pm, and it's been a long haul, we either drive ( 19 hours ) or Amtrak ( 36 hours) so we've been up and at'em for awhile and like to put away the groceries, unpack, put on our swim suits, load the cooler with adult beverages.... Make do sandwiches with fixing we picked up in route and relax at the pool in the hot Florida sun... We got plenty of days for the parks!

We're from the northeast Ohio and enjoying the Florida sun and WDW's pool after a long trip is too relaxing to pass up...we're on property 9-12 nights and have annual passes so popping in and out of the parks is no big deal... After 47 trips, we enjoy the resort as much as the parks and its all about relaxing and enjoying... No running around in commando mode!

 

[El Perro]

My two monsters want to hit the parks NOW NOW NOW so we drop off our stuff and get going. Especially after two days' of driving and hearing "are we there yet?" over and over and over.

The first time our rooms were ready so we dumped and ran and the other the cabin was not so we had no choice. Doesn't matter IMHO if you aren't getting going then you're doing it wrong.

 

[Megsie1000]

Traveling from BFE we don't have a whole lot of choice on schedule or flights. It takes an entire day to get down there. For instance in a few weeks we leave on a 6:30am flight and don't get into MCO until 5:30pm.

Since we don't have a realistic chance of getting in earlier than dinner time and not to the resort until about 7, we try to just unpack and organize. The next morning we have 8:05 reservations at CRT so organizing the night before and getting a good night's rest will be essential.

I wish we could fly down in the morning and spend a half day there to start off. That would be awesome!