Which is better? Fly out morning or later afternoon

[discraz]

Need some advice. Is it better to fly to Orlando in the later afternoon, check in, eat some dinner at hotel, then call it a day and then knowing I have a whole day the next day.
Or is better to get up very early and get one of the first flights out to Orlando. With this plan it always seems to take up most of the day, not leaving much time to do much once we have reached Disney and before everyone is tired.

Help, I just can't make up my mind what to do.

 

[Ted and Holly]

I prefer to fly one of the first flights out when I go somewhere. This way, you have less of a chance of delay. I fly Southwest exclusively. Most of my trips are between Orlando and Manchester, NH. The first flight is usually non-stop.

Psychologically, I'd rather get up and go. So I don't have to sit there all day and think about it.

Unless you have UPH or AP, I, personally, would not count the travel day as a park day.

In the past, we have gone to DTD or taken a monorail ride the first afternoon we were there. Free things that still give you the "Disney" feel.

Ted

 

[clkelley]

We usually fly out Friday evening after work. We have a 5:30ish pm direct flight.

We then have the towncar take us on a grocery stop, get checked-in and settle in for the evening and start fresh the next day.


Carol

 

[DisneyPete]

We always like to fly out the night before and be ready to go 1st thing in the morning. This way we don't worry about the flight being delayed, we'll still be there with plenty of time to spare.

Plus, it almost feels like you get an extra day of vacation when you get home from work and then head right out.

 

[Ted and Holly]

Wait a second! I forgot the most important point.

Any time that gives you MORE time on vacation is best! If the choice is between Friday night or Saturday morning, I pick Thursday.

Ted

 

[ILUVDXL]

I'm always so eager to get going, I always make early morning flights and late afternoon return flights. On the 23rd we leave Logan 6:30 and arrive at MCO at 9:30. We figure we'll be in the parks by 11:00. Works for me.

 

[KarenMick]

Our flight is leaving 6:15 AM from Philly. I know it is really early but we've done it before. We figure on Epcot for the first day since it is open the latest (that's in case we get our second wind).

 

[Brian Noble]

My kids are morning people, but my DW and I are not. I vote for the afternoon flight. Gives me time to kennel the dog, turn the water off, and make sure the coffeemaker is unplugged.

 

[pumpkinboy]

I like to leave home on a mid-morning flight, arriving early afternoon. It gives us time to make a grocery stop, settle into our room, have a swim in the pool and a nice welcome to WDW dinner.

On the return flight, I like getting a mid-afternoon flight, maybe 2 or 3-ish. This way, we hang out and take one last swim at the resort, before finally loading up and getting to MCO. We also like getting to MCO mid-day so we can avoid the afternoon rush getting thru TSA checkers, when things begin to get frustrating.

 

[nativetxn]

I always take an early flight <i>to</i> Orlando and a late flight home.

 

[poohbear2]

We always go early and leave early. However, last year we went a day later and took a night flight in order to safe $ plus get there a day earlier.

WELL...I wouldn't do that again.

I hated waiting around most of the day to get to the airport, and it seemed like forever until we got to Florida. We were really tired by the time we got in Orlando and it was late because we couldn't get off the plane for 1/2 hour after landing. We stayed that night at a airport hotel( from priceline) and were so tired the next morning we opted to just have breakfast, sightsee and go to our permanant hotel to swim and wait to check in.

I will now always take early flights!!

 

[Bill From PA]

On trips when I can get on the ground at MCO before 10 am, we shoot straight to a park, usually Epcot and capture the day. Much later that that, we won't burn a Hopper Day but will do Disney stuff that doesn't require a pass. This March we checked into Swan about 1:30 pm and strolled the BoardWalk, hitting Big River Brew and the ESPN Club the on to PI that night. Got me in the mood!

Bill From PA

 

[SondraD11]

I always used to take the early morning flight but recently changed to a flight the afternoon of the day before I want to hit the parks. There are a couple reasons for this. Our local airport (Fort Wayne) usually doesn't have the great deals that I can get flying out of Indianapolis or Chicago Midway so my flight starts with an approx. 3 hour drive to the airport. This means an overnight stay in the departure city if I want to be fresh that first day. I decided that I'd rather spend that extra hotel night on Disney property.

The other reason for flying out the day before is my stamina level. I'm 56 years old and can usually outlast my son(s) when we tour, but I just don't do as well when I don't start the day with a good night's sleep. By arriving at the parks first thing in the morning and well rested, I usually have a great day.

For our December trip, I'm splitting our stay between Pop Century and Wilderness Lodge since I'll be staying 6 nights instead of 5. I actually saved money even with an additional night by getting the special fall rates ($55 a night for Pop). We always take the last flight home so that our last day can be a full park day. I'd rather be tired at the end of the trip than the beginning.

No matter what you decide for your situation, I'm sure you will have a great vacation!

Sondra

 

[cnids00]

We leave on the first or second flight out from K.C., we have 1 layover as we haven't tried Southwest yet and the layover is usually in Chicago. We flew out on our last trip at 6:20am and didn't get to Orlando until 2:30PM. My DH was the only one who had to pay for his planeticket as myself and DD, 9 has frequent flyer miles to use and we had to fly United/Ted to use them.

Which I didn't mind at all

I like the early start, the sooner I can get there, the better LOL

 

[SStJean]

For the past few years, we've been leaving on an ~8am non-stop (thanks Southwest) out of Providence and getting to Disney around 12:30-1pm. Since we usually had a UPH, we would just pop over to a park to start the vacation off right.

This year is our first with DVC and PHPs, so we are going to sleep in a bit and take a ~10am non-stop from Providence and get in to SSR around 3pm. Since we really don't want to burn a day off the PHPs, we'll probably do a grocery run and then head over to DTD for some early commando-style shopping.

I guess I should probably keep my paycheck direct-deposited into Mr. Eisner's account for now...

 

[ErinInCT]

We take an early flight, but not the earliest since we are not morning people & it is too hard to get our 2 kids out the door. But it is still early enough that there are other flights shortly after ours (in case ours gets cancelled or something!). This time we went to the parks when we got in (3:30pm) but we felt too rushed (room was not ready). When we got back to the hotel we were pretty exhausted from the park & I still had to run out to grocery shop. If I had to do it again, I would not go to a park the 1st day. I would let dh take the kids to the pool & I would go grocery shopping. Then we would go to Contemp, ride the monorail, have an early dinner at Chef Mickey's and get to bed early! Then we'll be fresh for the next day!! It is hard not to just want to run over to MK as soon as you get in! Then we take a later flight home so we can take our time in the morning packing up.

 

[TDS373X]

In the past we had usually flown out of Indy before the birds were even up. Which meant a 2 hr drive to Indy after work the night before to stay with my best friend. Try an settle dd down for sleep only to get up afew hours later to go to the airport. This year we flew out in the 5pm area and it worked a whole lot better for us. Had a late dinner at POR lovely walk back to the room and off to sleep. it kind of cost the whole first day of vacation but it was worth not being stressed out when we got there

 

[Jen D]

On all my previous trips, including the one I just returned from, I have taken flights no later than 6 or 7am that get me into Orlando before 10am. My logic was that we would have the whole day ahead of us! After three trips, it is time to face up to the fact that that plan has failed. We are always too keyed up and busy to get to bed early the night before our flight, and then we have to get up 4am or earlier to get to the airport.. and as a result everyone is just dead exhausted the first day. And if you can't get your room right away the wait feels endless on no sleep. It makes the beginning of the vacation feel less exciting-- on the town car ride in we we'ren't even excited, we were all just snapping at eachother we were so tired.

Next time we'll either go the night before or just take an early afternoon flight.

 

[powellrj]

Originally posted by nativetxn
I always take an early flight <i>to</i> Orlando and a late flight home.

This is what we usually do too!! This year we have an 8am non-stop flight to MCO and Leave at 9:30pm!!

 

[dgaston]

We fly Southwest out of Providence too. We like to leave on the last flight out and stay at a Priceline hotel the first night. Although on DH's extravagant birthday trip, we stayed at Pop Century before moving to WL on Saturday am. We like to take the last flight out of Orlando because it lets us pack up and enjoy the pool for the afternoon before leaving for the airport. We even had time on this last trip to play at MK a little bit before our brunch at Crystal Palace. It was raining on our return to WL and DH took a nap on the 4th floor sitting area before the rain stopped and we could use the pool.