Which is better....arriving late pm or early am??

[GrumpyBelle]

We prefer getting in early as it feels like we maximize our vacation time. We check in at the resort and if the room isn't ready, we hit the parks, explore what the resort has to offer, etc. Once the room is ready we come back and unpack, rest for a bit, and then go back out.

 

[Claudine877]

We're flying from PHL to MCO with two adults, two 3 year olds, 16 and 12 year olds. Initially I wanted to do the AM flight, but with traffic to the airport in the AM through Philly plus rousting people out of beds to do it we decided to let the kids have their regular day with naps etc (the 3 year olds!) and then head to the airport in late afternoon for a 6pm flight. We get to MCO @ 8pm then an hour or so to the AoA. I wanted to minimize the fuss with the kids as this is their first flight and so I'll settle in with them at the resort and the older kids and my husband can go out and scout the AoA. This way I get a better start to our first day and hopefully lessen the chance of ruining an entire day of our long-awaited vacation!!

 

[DisneyFamily123]

Most trips, we traveled early in the morning so we could get to our WDW resort around 11am or 12noon. We are only a 2 hour flight away from MCO Orlando airport... so this requires a flight departing home around 7:30/8am. And we are only a few minutes from the airport.

Now, if I had to get up at 4am to catch a flight at 6am, I'm not sure I'd like that!

We come prepared to head straight to the park after check-in. There has always been a room ready or ready within a few minutes for us... BUT... if not the room/building/preference we want... we ask if we could have a different room and are clear that we are willing to wait until much later in the evening to get access to our room.

We did arrive in the evening one trip too. That was nice because we enjoyed having the evening to settle in, explore the resort, and get a fresh start early the next morning.

It depends on the cost too. I don't mind checking in late at a value resort... but if I'm paying a mod or deluxe resort price... I want a full day for my money!

 

[luvallprincesses]

We have always done an early flight but we don't do a park that day. It is our rest day.

If you do the late flight, it might be delayed & you might not get in until 10 with a flight delay or even 10 to your room & having to unpack at least a little (or waiting for your luggage) would put you to bed at 11ish.

I'd go early & spend the day at the resort pool relaxing, go to a character dinner like Chef Mickey's, go back to the pool for a bit & then head to bed early.

Exactly this happened to us a few years ago. Should've been at the hotel by 8 pm, with a late flight (non weather related even), got to the hotel at 10:30 pm. We had to check in, had Garden groceries waiting with bellhop, and I was unpacking (the basics) to be sure to make it to our traditional first morning ADR at CP at 8:05. We finally got to bed shortly after midnight to get up at 6:30 for our first day. Needless to say, we will not do that again. Not a good way to start the week. This year, we chose a flight to get us in mid-afternoon and NOT do a park but relax at the resort and get to bed much earlier for that CP ADR at 8:05 am. Is there any way you could do a mid-day flight instead of really early or late?

 

[KELLY]

This year we are taking our first afternoon flight. We usally have a 7am flight but that means we need to leave our house for 3am. This year we will be able to leave at around 8am for our 12:15 pm flight which arrives in Orlando at 3:25 pm. I figure this way it will seem like a normal day to us. We have a room only the first night before our FD package starts so I don't feel like we are wasting a day at all. We go for 11 days if I was going for 7 days or less we would be leaving on the first flight out. But our vacations have become longer hoping for a 14 day one next year.

 

[Disney Doll]

In recent trips, we have taken to going so that we arrive in the afternoon/early evening. We have dinner, hit the pool for a while and then off to bed. It's sort of a nice way to transition into vacation mode.

To take a 630am flight, that means you are going to have to be up at an ungodly hour, schlep on the plane, everyone will get there and be tired and cranky, you'll probably be "homeless" until 3 or 4pm. You'll have hot tired kids with no where to relax except at the pool, where it's hot and they'll just get more tired.

 

[goofy4prez]

To take a 630am flight, that means you are going to have to be up at an ungodly hour,

Hey, for some of us sleeping past 630 am is ungodly.

 

[dragonfly57005]

Friday am. Bring to airport straight from bed in pjs. Have cereal bars for breakfast and change there.

It s a pain to arrive at the resort that late. Who knows what rooms are left. We got stuck with a crappy first floor room when we had requested a balcony . It wasn't available due o our late arrival (long flight delay )

 

[jenrose66]

Traveling with our 5 year old and 18 month old sons and my parents. I'm trying to decide if its better fly Friday night 5:30pm arriving at 8:00pm or fly Fri morning 6:30am arriving at 9am.

I'm leaning towards the night flight. This way we can get in...get to sleep and start fresh the next am.

With the early flight....I dont know is it worth it to head to the park by 1pm? Hmmmm....

We always fly out first flight of the day. 6:05 am!! More often than not our room is ready and if it's not we just leave our carry on's with bell services and hit a park! I look at it as getting the most bang for our buck. I hate to arrive at a hotel and pay the room rate for the night only to sleep there...soo expensive.

 

[Keegansmommy]

I am a big fan of arrivingn early but this last trip we decided to take a late flight instead to ensure a full first day since our flight wasn't "early" (4:30 p.m.) arrival. Thanks to SW no change fee, I switched to arriving the night before at 10:30 p.m. instead. I thought, "Great! The boys (age 2 and 4) will fall asleep on the plane and will get a great night's sleep!" WRONG. We changed them into their pajamas during our layover. BOTH of them were wide awake the entire time leading to overtired and cranky children at MCO. It was hot, they were tired, and we had to wait forever for our luggage because ME doesn't pick up luggage afte 10:00. I think we finally got to our hotel after midnight. Of course both boys fell asleep ON the bus so we had to try to carry two sleeping children AND our luggage to the check-in. It took forever to check in because we were just staying at POP overnight and then transferring to POFQ the next day and the CM at the front desk had a really hard time understanding this.

The next day we had to transfer resorts before we could go to any parks to get our tickets. All in all, we didn't really gain a whole lot of time...perhaps if we could've just added a day to POFQ but it was full. I think we'll stick to early day arrivals from now on.

 

[Missyrose]

I always take the earliest flight I can get. I figured if I took the day off work, I'd rather spend as much of it as I can at Disney!

 

[dontthrowsand]

We are doing the red-eye. We leave at 11:45 pm and arrive around 10 am. I wouldn't take kids On that.

As a kid I did better if I arrived, had a snack and went to bed than trying to tour and do things my first day.

 

[OThopeful35]

We have always done an early flight but we don't do a park that day. It is our rest day.

If you do the late flight, it might be delayed & you might not get in until 10 with a flight delay or even 10 to your room & having to unpack at least a little (or waiting for your luggage) would put you to bed at 11ish.

I'd go early & spend the day at the resort pool relaxing, go to a character dinner like Chef Mickey's, go back to the pool for a bit & then head to bed early.

This is what happened to us on our first Disney trip in 2010. Our plane had to make an emergency landing in Kansas and we didn't get to the resort until after midnight When we went last year, we did a red eye and we had time to sleep on the plane and made it to the resort around noon. Our room was ready and we got to enjoy the rest of the day. So we will always do early arrival.

 

[maxiesmom]

I have found when we arrive later at night, our room location ends up not being the best. And twice I have been downgraded. If room location is important to you, best to get to the resort early in the day.

 

[DISvirgin1]

My kids are a bit older but we are not a family of early risers. Waking up early to catch a flight (even to Disney) isn't going to happen, as it would mean feeling "off" the rest of the day. We typically get a flight out around noon, and we are in Orlando by 3:00. This allows us to check right in, unpack and then we can go to DTD or MK later in the evening for dinner.

 

[roydavid7771]

We don't have any kids (yet!), but we've always taken the night flight down so we can start fresh the next morning. And by fresh, I don't necessarily mean being at rope drop either. I just want to be able to get down there and begin relaxing!

 

[chimo2u]

We are doing the red-eye. We leave at 11:45 pm and arrive around 10 am. I wouldn't take kids On that.

As a kid I did better if I arrived, had a snack and went to bed than trying to tour and do things my first day.

Hello fellow Edmontonian we live in Morinville all my flights from Edmonton have usually been on West Jet's red eye....last time we flew at 10:30 pm and arrived MCO at 7 am.....that was nice, but it made for a long day! It was my son and I, he's a teen and wanted to hit parks right away! It was a busy and long day! Unfortunately in October, there isn't that direct flight available.....I don't want to wait 4.5 hours in Toronto waiting for the 10:30 am flight....so this time we are doing something new. We fly out of Edmonton to Toronto the night before (6pm flight, arrive Toronto 11:30pm) we will sleep at the Gateway Sheraton in Terminal 3 ( right where WJ lands!) at least I'll get a bed for a few hours instead of sitting out a layover from 6am to 10:30 am!

The next morning we will catch the 10:30 am flight to Orlando and arrive around 1:09 pm.....check into the POLY, then hit MK for a few hours until it closes for MNSSHP.....then we have dinner at the contemporary (Cali Grill) at 7:45 pm.....after that, we will just hang at the resort and hit bed for the next day! by spending the night at Toronto airport, it breaks that long 7.5 hr flight up, and makes it much easier of a trip! I'm looking forward to splitting the travel up, 7.5 hours flying is a long, tiring trip, and I don't sleep on a plane!

have an amazing trip!

 

[crostorfer]

I vote for early morning. We usually take the red eye from the west coast and get in at 6am. No lines at the ME, no lines at check in. We usually have the ME bus all to ourselves. We leave our bags at Concierge, and head out for rope drop.

Granted, this works well for us, but it's just me and my 9 year old daughter. If we were going on a multi-family trip or had multiple small children this might now work as well.

 

[artemis908]

I don't personally go to Disney to stay at the hotel, I go and want to get started right away. We want to get there around 9 or 10am, then by the time we get to to WDW figure it'll be around lunch time. So we'll go grab lunch maybe at Beaches and Cream and then walk to Epcot. I don't want to pay for a night at the hotel and not even really do anything the first day.

 

[mom2rose&john]

I like to get in as early as possible, leave my bags at the hotel, and hit the park or pool. And when we leave to go home we like to do it as late as possible.

This has worked well for us also. We are all early risers so an early flight is better for us. I also like having a late afternoon flight on the way home because we do not have to rush out of the hotel.