you first day @ disney

[uktigger]

hi
just out of interest what do you all do on your first day at disney we are going for the second time in october and i'm starting to plan our days i really want to miss out on the welcome meeting(i've learned more from these boards)and make the most of being up early
i look forward to your reply's

thanks eve

 

[keswick1uk]

I'm missing the welcome meet too. Our children are 6 and 7 and we have a 30 day FITS pass.

We are going on Monday, Eve, and our first day, next Tuesday, will be at Magic Kingdom. Many people say don't do it first day but its what my children imagine Disney to be; The lagoon, Main Street, the sight of Cinderellas Castle and Dumbo is what they are waiting for.

We plan to be up early go to MK, do some rides early in Fantasyland, which they have been very excited about, then visit Belles storytime. We will buy an autograph book and holiday character toy for cuddles. Whether we do more rides, visit Tom Sawyers Island or go back to the hotel for a swim will depend on our stamina.

Our main aim here is not to go mad, we can do that another day, but to take in the atmosphere and start to chill out.

 

[gingernick]

Our 1st full day is Sun 4th April & we are going to Chef Mickeys for a character breakfast at 8am, then shopping at Premium Outlets. I know it's going to be busy shopping on a sunday but I think it'll stop my wife spending too much!

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

First time we went as a family, I was determined we would do MK the first day. When I visited Florida for my first trip back in the 80s it was specifically to see Winnie the Pooh - one of my lifetime's ambitions. When I got back, I made the promise to myself that if I ever had children, I would do everything to to take them to experience the magic I did at MK and Epcot (that's all there was back then - not even Universal!).

Before we went - back in 1999 - I had read that one of the things you shouldn't do with children is to visit MK on the first day because anything else would disappoint them afterwards

Well, it had to be MK in my book - and we did it and everyone (DH, MIL and more importantly DD, then 5 1/2) had a great time

IMHO for children a visit to MK IS Disney and all it has to offer and all the other parks are not second best to it, they just add to the magic.

Saying that, however, now we're seasoned veterans and DD is older, we prefer to pace ourselves and (sorry all you Disney fans) prefer Universal, so we tend to to USF or Animal Kingdom.

 

[Miffy2003]

Sorry but I'm going to have to echo the others here - I'm not in WDW until I've walked up Main Street!

Again I know all the guide books say "save MK till last as the other parks will disappoint in comparison" but that is not my experience at all. My girls (4 & 7) particularly love Epcot, supposedly the least "kid-friendly" park but like me they have to go to MK first!

Thanks


Karen

 

[keswick1uk]

I honestly can't imagine my two not enjoying MGM (our day 2), AK and EPCOT (we will do the world passport and eat around the world). The water parks they'll love to. Gosh, if they like our local 25m pool how can they not?

So, I decided to go for it and itinerise MK the first day against the guide book....so pleased you all agree and have tried and tested it!

 

[Melcatfish]

Animal Kingdom first day.

It is our first visit to WDW but have been to DLP and I sort of agree that MK IS WDW but I am hoping to take advantage of our early wake up due to time zone changes and go early to do the safari and have a Character Breakfast at Animal Kingdom.

Having read reviews on this park it seems that some people say it is a half day park and others say that you can spend hours looking at detail - either way it seems like a slightly slower pace which will (I hope) suit our party after a long journey.

If we feel like it we may park hope later in afternoon \ evening over to MK.

Theres my 2p worth!
Regards
Mel


ps plus AK is listed as being light on that day by SimonVs wonderful guide book!

 

[Scottish_Maleficent]

Personally I find the first day a bit tiring - adjusting to the heat and time difference, so we just like to 'chill' on our first day - usually go to Wal*Mart for supplies, and take things easy. Last year we had booked Chef Mickey's for early dinner (around 5-ish), and we parked in the MK lot, took the monorail to Contemporary and had our wonderful meal. We then went into MK - just to soak up the atmosphere and get that magical feeling. It was amazing!!!!!!! The kids (and adults...) were really excited about it. It really was an excellent start to our trip.

Cath

 

[sharon78]

Our 1st day were going to TL to hopefuly chill out a bit and get over the flight, we shall have an early night and be up bright and early for our 2nd day at MK.

Were not going to the welcome meeting either,with the use of guide books and the boards i think we should be o.k


What date are you going we fly out on the 23rd for 2 weeks

 

[uktigger]

hi all
thank you so much for taking the time to let me see how you do your first day
so know i guess i should tell you all how i was thinking of planning our day
first of all i thought about going to animal kingdom getting there when it opens(not sure if it is emh or not)and getting a ps for donalds breakfast then in the afternoon go back to our hotel pool to relax and let the kids have their swim(they love the pool at the movies)then depending on how we feel maybe head to the boardwalk,when i suggested this to the kids, ds2 was unhappy because he wants to ride what he calls the golf ball at epcot
but how can you go to disney and not walk down main street and see the castle so now i'm thinking lets go and do a loop on the monorail and then off onto magic kingdom for when it opens spend a couple of hours here and when we are feeling tired we can go back to the hotel so kids can swim and me and dh can relax and then maybe still do the boardwalk or beaches and cream for dinner we have not been to b+c and the boardwalk so we are really looking forward to doing this
sorry for a long winded post
eve

 

[marv]

Our first day plan is to hit the premium outlets to get clothes and things. Have a slow pace and chilled out day. That night Mk is open untill 11pm so we'll go and see Wishes.

Marv

 

[KayleeUK]

Our first day is exactly what you 'thought' you were going to do Eve

We get an early PS for Donalds Breakfastaurus (about 8.10am) then spend the morning exploring Animal Kingdom. At lunch time we head back to the resort and spend a few hours by the pool.

In the evening we head to a resort or Epcot for dinner

 

[Paul and Shirley]

We go to BB on the first day, second day it is to the shops to get it out the way and have some clothes for the holiday.

 

[uktigger]

hi
paul and shirley,
thanks for your input where do you plan on going shopping?

kayleeuk
i am still hoping that the kids will want to do the donalds breakfast i think thats a nice way to break into a park(although we haven't done a character meal this will be our first)i have just found out that mgm is the emh on our first morning,so will animal kingdon be busy
how did you find the donald's breakfast,i know it can get some bad reveiws

thanks eve

 

[pigby]

AK is a good bet for the first day - hopefully we'll combine it with Donald's this time. I find that we're up at the crack of dawn and it's an early start park.

You could also try to get Cinderella's breakfast - late breakfast after EMH as we were staying on site -this was our favourite first day.

 

[KayleeUK]

Hi Eve

We love Donalds , we usually get an early PS even if the park doesn't open until 9. We have done this three years running and it is always a good feed If you head in to the park early I don't think you will have too much problem with the crowds - when it starts getting busy around lunch time then thats the time to pack up and head somewhere else.

 

[March Hare]

Hi
Went to Disney in '02 for the first time with young children and on the recommendation of friends did Animal Kingdom on our first day - a good choice for the following reasons:

1) We spent nearly 22 hours awake the previous day just getting there before we all finally fell asleep

2) Despite this everyone was up by 5.00am local - DD was 5 and DS's ( twins ) were 8

3) Arrived at AK at 7.50am - opened at 8.30am and there can't have been more than 500 - 600 people there at his time ( 5th August '02 )

4) Did the whole park in the morning including the safari TWICE without feeling stressed - saw all the animals awake (apparently in the summer a lot of them sleep in the afternoon with the heat )
and were back at the villa by 2.30pm - kids all asleep for an afternoon nap by 3.30pm!

When we did MK for the first time two days later although it was really busy, the children really enjoyed it, which I don't think would have been the case had we gone there on the first day when they were still jet lagged There were a lot of other youngsters there who looked as if they had been dragged out for the day and would rather have been somewhere else!

We're going again this August with my brother and his family and will do AK again on the first day - we'll do MK a couple of days later when the children can really appreciate it



Mark

 

[shellbell]

Were arriving on Friday 3rd sept and going to walmart to do abit of shopping (getting pram, food for the villa) but for our first full day there Saturday were going to Sea World.

We wanted to do something but thought we might be a bit too tired for magic kingdom and DD would be too tired so we thought Sea world would fill a day but not too tiring.

 

[UKDEB]

The first time we went back in 1992 when our girls were 7 & 5, we went to MK first. They loved all the parks (just MK, Epcot, MGM and US back then - no AK or IoA), but especially Epcot.

The next couple of times we did Epcot on our first day (I think because it happened to be the day after its EE day) and now it's a tradition. Once I tried to slip AK into the itinerary for the first day and the girls were in high dudgeon!

 

[uktigger]

hi all

thank you all again for your comments i would like to do ak first so that we can get a ps for donalds breakfast and maybe leave about lunch time

but

the kids want to go to mk first(ds7 wants to ride space mountain first)at least if i go with this option i could try and get cindy's breakfast(i'm the only princess in my house)my boy's might have something to say about this or i could just grab snack breakfast from main street bakery

anyway i have a bit of time yet to decide,we don't go untill october,no harm in planning

eve