First Day: Full day or do you ease into the magic?

Jessica Meier

Jessica Meier

Well-Known Member
On our last trip we stayed off site and visited DTD but had a pretty full day and they woke up and were out the door by 6:30 to check into the Contemporary by 7 and we were at AK by opening. We were out until almost midnight with The Pirates and Pals Cruise. In retrospect, I wonder if we over did it and maybe that is why Cadence got sick. So for our next trip I am contemplating driving in and arriving late afternoon ADR and then calling it a night with a easy day the next day to ease us into the magic.

How do you prefer to do it?
 
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luv

luv

Well-Known Member
My first day often began around 5 a.m. at the Georgia/Florida border. Got to bed early the night before and up with (or before) the sun, finished the drive and arrived at a park for rope drop! :)

We'd stay until 2:00ish, then go check-in, clean/unpack, swim, have dinner and get to bed early again to be up bright and early for Day Two.

That was my favorite way. :)
 
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lunchbox1175

lunchbox1175

Well-Known Member
We usually get the resort by 11:15, get checked in, and then head to lunch. We usually then go to AK as we don't hit up a few rides in that park anyways. Then go to dinner around 5:30 and head to the MK after that.
 
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rob45

rob45

Well-Known Member
After our 10 hour drive, we relax in the room for a bit then head over to the MK till about 6 p.m. We try to leave very early in the morning arriving at WDW around 11 a.m. We eat at Chef Mickey's or Whispering Canyon then back to the room.
 
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brifraz

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Historically, we drive overnight, arrive at our resort around 6am. We check in and then head to whichever park has EMH. We tour until late afternoon, then back to our room (which should now be ready) for a quick nap, change of clothes, and then off to dinner somewhere and some more park time in the evening. So...that would be a full day - and a full day on far less sleep than usual. But we are all too excited to do much less! That has been our usual approach the last 10 or so visits. This summer, we are planning a half day at a water park after we arrive in the early morning, a nice dinner at a resort, then Wishes. Much lower key, but still pretty active. We'll see how it goes!
 
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P

PHS79

Active Member
Our last trip was my first in 14 years and it was also my DD and DW first ever trip to WDW. We got to AoA about 2pm, got checked in and then walked the resort. We then went to the room and let our DD (then 3) take a nap, our luggage showed up about 1.5hrs after us, so we changed and grabbed a quick bite at the resort. Then we went to DTD for a couple hrs, then back to the room for a good nights sleep so we could be up and out the door for rope drop at MK.

Our next trip we are probably going to the same thing.
 
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HouCuseChickie

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
We've tried a number of different approaches during our visits with the girls...
2010- Our flight arrived at 11am and we hit MK as soon as we had everything situated at our resort. We ended the night with dinner at Chef Mickey's and fireworks from our room balcony. The only real break time we took was longer naps or sleeping in one morning.
2011- This was a road trip. We didn't arrive at WDW until 7am on day 3, but right after check-in, we hit our pre-park opening ADR at Crystal Palace and spent the day/night/EMH at MK - minus a nap break in the afternoon at the resort. We did have non-park days built into the end of this trip.
2012- This was another road trip and this time we drove non-stop (started in the evening hours). We arrived around 3-4pm and after settling into our room, we went for ice cream, walked around DTD, and then had a late dinner at T-Rex. We had break days built into the beginning of this trip and also spent time with family after a week at WDW.
2013- Well, this certainly didn't go as planned. :rolleyes: Still, even though it didn't go as planned- we still didn't jump into any of the parks until nt 2 of our trip.

I don't think there's any right or wrong way to approach it. I think some of it may be the overall stress of a trip and exposure to tons of germs while there that can cause trouble.
 
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3Caballeros

3Caballeros

Well-Known Member
zurgandfriend said:
We arrive between noon and 1pm usually, we always stay in the magic Kingom resort area so after check in head right to the Magic Kingdom. We jump right into the magic.
Click to expand...
You took the words right out of my mouth. I was thinking that we jump right into the magic!! We arrive around noon, eat lunch at the resort and go to MK.... either to peter pan or buzz light year.
 
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JohnD

JohnD

Well-Known Member
Depends on the schedule. On my first trip 9/29-10/5, I checked in around 1:00 pm and hung out at DTD before going to MNSSHP at MK around 4. On my third trip on Veteran's Day weekend, I checked in about 1pm and headed directly to HS. My next trip will be with my folks who don't have an AP but have 3-day tickets. It would be foolish for them to waste their first day of their tickets on the same day as check-in. So, we're checking in on a Saturday and hanging out in DTD, including seeing Cirque du Solei and ADRs at Raglan Rd. We'll starting visting the parks beginning the next day.
 
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wdisneyw2000

wdisneyw2000

Active Member
For all of our trips, we drive down from PA. We get to our resort between 11 & Noon, check-in & un pack. Then we usually go to DTD eat, head back to the resort & veg for the night early to bed refreshed for the next day to the parks. But it does depend on you & your family, you may react differently (which i'm sure you do) then how others react. throughout the week, We usually do a park or two then split up the week to rest feet & your bodies; a day at the resort pool, a water park (depending on weather & the time you go), or mini Golf. But do what best fits your family & schedules.
 
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71dsp

71dsp

Well-Known Member
In the past we arrived around lunchtime or a little later. We usually head straight to the parks after checking in. We'll usually come back a little early to unpack stuff and get it ready for the week. The last time we stayed at Bay Lake Tower and enjoyed watching the fireworks from our balcony. We're doing the same this year, but to save $50 per person on the flight, we're flying out at 6:15am. Did I mention that we're an hour from the airport? o_O I thought we had done that before (and I remember it being a bit brutal), but my wife showed me that the earliest we had flown out before was 7:15am. Getting there an hour earlier is going to be...interesting.
 
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polynesiangirl

polynesiangirl

Well-Known Member
I don't think I've ever done a park the first day, except once when we had been staying elsewhere in Florida prior to arrival so we got there at like 8am. Other than that, we are almost never on property before 1pm and we usually don't use park tickets unless we have a full day to work with.

We used to do DTD a lot on the first day but in the past few years we typically just settle in at the hotel.
 
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allgiggles

allgiggles

Well-Known Member
We ease in to things. We have a 2-day drive from PA and we do most of the driving on day 1 but still get a good 8 hours of sleep at a hotel in the Savannah area overnight. We typically arrive at Disney World around noon the next day (which is usually a Sunday). For a few trips we wouldn't hit a park the first day. We'd just check-in, have lunch at the resort, unpack, swim a little, then take a bus to Epcot and then do a few monorail loops before heading to DTD for a late dinner (usually counter service or Rain Forest Cafe) and walking around. We then would head back to the room by 9:00 to get a good night's sleep so we could get up early and hit the ground running in the morning.

A few trips ago, thanks to a Buy 4, Get 3 free deal on tickets (and room nights) we had admission tickets for every day of our stay (other years we usually had 5 days of tickets and didn't want to "waste" one on just a few hours in a park). We still checked in around noon, had lunch at the resort, and unpacked a bit but then instead of swimming, monorail, and DTD, we decided to head to Epcot. We got to Epcot around 3:00 and spent a few hours hitting a few attractions and having dinner in Future World (we were able to get FPs for both Soarin' and Test Track even though we didn't arrive until 3:00...on a Sunday in May...during the Flower & Garden Festival. Still can't believe our luck that day...but we paid for it as it turned out to be Monsoon Week 2009.). We were back in the room by 9:00 for a good night's sleep.

That's now our preference -- to hit Epcot for a few hours the day we arrive (we now also always buy tickets that cover every day of our stay -- even if we know we'll only spend a few hours in the parks on 2 or 3 days. It's worth the extra few $$$ for those 2 or 3 extra days. It allows us a much more relaxed style of touring). This also allows us to sleep in a little bit on our full-day at Epcot because we've already managed to ride a few things on that first afternoon/evening.
 
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Figgy1

Figgy1

Well-Known Member
After our long drive and maybe spending a day or 2 at KSC, we stop over at DTD so I can get my first shopping fix in and then we go to the supermarket for supplies and try and get a good night's sleep before 11 or 12 days of non-stop action.
 
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