Worse for kids to stay up late or get up early?

[Mainebound]

hi all,

We have two options on arrival day:

Leave Maine at 2:30pm, arrive at MCO at 9:30pm (get to bed at about 10:30pm if all goes well).

Leave Maine at 5:30am (awakened at 4:00am), arrive MCO at 11:00am.

Both are connecting flights.

The kids (3 and 5) go to bed at 8:00 every night and get up at 7:00 every morning and we stick to that at WDW as well.

Obviously, we can't stay on schedule the first day, so which would be worse?

 

[dzneelvr]

Some benefits to taking the earlier flight: 1) when the destination is WDW, you will have NO problem getting the family going out the door. Believe me, our kids were always on their best behavior those days. Never had any issue with waking them. 2) flight delays are less likely to occur with the first flights of the day. Delays occur as connecting flights miss their marks, and it all tends to build throughout the day. So less chance of having a 2:30pm flight actually leave at 4pm. 3) you get to the resort with the rest of the day ahead of you. We don't schedule time in the parks that day. Just take time to get to know your resort. Enjoy a leisurely meal. swim. Make a PS at a DTD eatery and go to DTD the first day. You can be back in your room anytime you want and then hit it hard the second day.

 

[cepmom]

I agree with dzneelvr -
I would rather get down there earlier and have the whole day ahead of you. If you're lucky, the kids might nap on the plane on the way down. You could try putting the kids to bed early the night before, so when you have to wake them at 4:00, hopefully they won't be too tired.

Once you get there you can hang out at the resort, swim, have a nice dinner etc. Have them go to bed at a reasonable time the first night, then you will all be well rested for your first full day.


If you go down later and arrive at 9:30, by the time you get to your resort, check in, get to your room, the kids could either be miserable (overtired) or wired (unable to fall asleep) to finally be in Disney.

 

[Mainebound]

You are convincing me to do what I want to do anyway (love the DIS for that!), but, I see I forgot to add a crucial piece of information: this year, for the first 7 days of our trip, we will be staying at a pool home in Kissimmee (Emerald Island). We cannot get into it until 4:00pm.

I guess we could use the common pool and facilities, but it's not like a WDW resort.

Does it still make sense to get there early?

 

[pumba]

and then we can veg or do whatever we want until we get to our room.....I think the kids will probably want to relax too.......then that evening get to bed a t a reasonable time and then the next day up and at them at the regular time....our grandkids did better with the early flight too.....then even snoozed a little ....whatever it is have a great trip

 

[cepmom]

You could still get there early, go to lunch somewhere (I am assuming you will have a rental car) maybe hit Seaworld or something that's good for a half day.
We went down in 2002 very early in the morning ( I think we left our house at 4:30 for a 7:00 flight with our 3 kids (they were 12, 5 and 2). The 2 younger kids slept on the plane for a little bit and once we got to Orlando, we got our car, got lunch and went to Seaworld. After we were done in Seaworld, we made a quick trip to Publix to pick up some snacks, juices etc and by that time it was around 4:00. Then we were able to check in at our resort and still relax, get dinner, unpack, go to bed at a reasonable time and get up the next day well rested for a long day in the parks.

Is there any flexibility to your check in time? Could you request an early check in - maybe 2:00 instead of 4:00?

I like to get there as early as possible so we can start the vacation right away!

 

[tw1nsmom]

Actually, I think it would be pretty easy to eat up five hours on your arrival day. It will probably take you as much as an hour to get your luggage and rental car. That brings you to around noon. Drive to the Disney/Kissimmee area (takes around 30 minutes). Have a nice lunch somewhere fun. Maybe Downtown Disney/Rainforest Cafe? Lunch, from start to finish, will take at least an hour. Spend time exploring Downtown Disney. Go to a grocery store and pick up your food for the week... (buy a cheap styrafoam cooler at the store). By the time you do all that at a leisurely pace, it will be time to check in.

 

[gigi1313]

even w/the later check-in time, i think it would be wiser to head down early rather than later... to "kill" the time you could shop for provisions for your stay... you could buy a few souveniers at the tacky I-Drive gift shops instead of at the higher priced parks... you could visit gatorland... play mini-golf... go out to lunch... etc...

 

[Del]

My vote is to wake them up early and head on down!! They won't be sleeping in the afternoon because they'll be too excited. so you can kill time by shopping and having lunch and then check-in. RElax, swim, take a bath and everyone to bed early for an early park day. Just my 2 cents...have a blast! Del

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

I will wake the kids early every time over letting them stay up late! Also, I am fortunate that DDs will transfer fairly well early in the am. SO, DH and I get up and ensure everything is packed, then we get DDs (6 and 3 now, but we have done this several times) out of bed and into the car in their pjs. We usually change them into clothes in the airport parking lot or the airport itself. DDs usually still sleep thru the trip to the airport, so this has worked well for us.

We will be doing this again with a 5:40 am departure at an airport 90 minutes away in the fall!

 

[Mainebound]

Why am I not surprised all the DISers are telling me to choose the oprion that gives us MORE TIME AT DISNEY??!!! Ok, I am going to go for it. These are great suggestions. Thanks everyone!

 

[the kabuki]

Had a 7am flight, woke up kids at 4am, they were completely awake and ready to go and we went to Magic Kingdom later that day with an EMH late night. No way my kids would skip a day at the park. Plus, if arrival time's at 9:30pm, they probably wouldn't even get till sleep till midnight with all the excitement.

 

[lazarru]

I woiuld get up early and handle it that way. There's always a ton of things you can do to spend some time especially if your renting a car. As some suggested have a nice lunch when you get down, we're runners so one time down we stopped at a one of the state parks, can't recall the name of it, but we did a run and then the kids got to play at the park for a couple of hours, there were animals there, playground equipment etc. it's a good way to unwind from the flight and get ready for rest of the vacation.

 

[annabelle]

Maybe I'm the minority... but given our situation, we're taking an evening flight.

We're going to be in Orlando for a whole week with extended family and only doing parks 1 (maybe 2 days). So,it would be easier on us to wake up at normal time, pack everything throughout the day, have our younger 2 take a good nap, then have our neighbor drive us to the airport (something I wouldn't ask her to do at 4 am, we'd pay for parking if it was too early). Also, DH can get some last minute work stuff done for his job and make sure his work is squared away before leaving for so long.

When my kids take a nap over an hour, they're in great spirits sometimes till 11 o'clock at night (which can be a bad thing)... but in the case of taking an evening flight... it's a good thing.

 

[fran99999]

I am in the minority also. I have tried the early am flight. I have gone on the 3:15 flight out and have gone on the 6:45 flight out. I have tried all the flights for my DS6 sake. He hated to get up at 430 for the 7 am flight. He whined, and figited the whole way to the airport. He then fell asleep just prior to flight time. Had to carry him on the plane. Yes he woke up and it started all over agian. Yes that was me trying not to stangle him.

ON the 3:15 flight we arrived at about 7 pm. just in time to eat, swim and go to bed. He wants to go to the parks as it is still light out but by the time you check in and eat its almost 9:30. it would take another 1/2 hour to get to the parks for what maybe an hour or so.

I now go on the 6:45 flight arriving at 9:30 pm. I give him some benedryl (per dr. helps with his ears) also sleeps for at least an hour. buy the time we get to the resort it is dark and he goes right to sleep. We get up in the am and off we go to the parks. We always start with a character breakfast. It is now a tradition.

Guess it would also depend on the ages of the child(ren). My 2 DD16 hated to get up at 4:30 even more than my DS6.

 

[Mainebound]

I now go on the 6:45 flight arriving at 9:30 pm. I give him some benedryl (per dr. helps with his ears) also sleeps for at least an hour. buy the time we get to the resort it is dark and he goes right to sleep. We get up in the am and off we go to the parks. We always start with a character breakfast. It is now a tradition.

Hmm... this does sound nice! My older son is 5, younger is 3. I guess it's win win whatever I decide -- we're going to be at WDW in 20 days one way or another!

 

[ilovemyears]

We leave around 5:00 p.m. and arrive in Orlando around 9:30 p.m. We use our entertainment card and stay in a hotel close to the airport. Next morning, we're up bright and early (and not tired at all) - ready to spend our whole day at Disney.

 

[DVCLiz]

We took a 6:10am flight this past Christmas (two DDs, 11 and 16). Arrived in time to drop DD16 at Epcot for the 9:30am Segway tour, then checked into Wilderness Lodge. No room ready yet, but not to worry - Mom had a plan!! DD11 and I rented a Water Mouse and headed out to Bay Lake. What fun!!!!! Until we jumped the ferry's wake and were drenched with a lapful of ice water!!! Mom got to buy a new cell phone!!!! And we had no room to go to - ended up buying DD11 flannel pajamas in the gift shop, then I sat in wet clothes in the laundry room drying our shoes and eating lunch still damp (Where was our luggage? Oh, in the rental car in valet parking because I was sure we would rather have it in the car than in storage at the resort!) Moral of the story - if you take the early flight, don't try anything fancy that would require the use of your room - you might not be in it until after 4pm!!!!!Having said that, the lure of the early flight is irresistable, isn't it? The reality for us, boating accident aside, was that everyone had lunch (we got into our room about 1pm thanks to the concierge staff!) and took a four hour nap, waking in time to attend MVMCP at 7pm. It was just too early for my girls, who are late risers under the best of circumstances. I vote for the later flight!!!! But you will have a fantastic time no matter when you arrive!!!!