How tired are you on the day of arrival??

[bsmartin2000]

Here is my question: How tired are you on the first day of arrival. We need to be on our flight at 6AM and we arrive at MCO around 11:20. This is the first day I will have grandkids with us, age 5 and 1. Normally when we arrive we are ready to go go go! Not sure if I should do an ADR for later that evening or just eat at the resort? What do you do?

 

[Goofyernmost]

For me the first day is never a park day. I check out the lay of the land, maybe make a trip to a local store for supplies, look through the information about activities and chill out. I recharge and hit the parks refreshed and ready to go in the morning. Besides I don't ever want to waste a days ticket on just a few hours.

 

[PUSH]

Usually I'm not that tired after traveling and I'm pumped to be there. I typically am up for a park that day, but it doesn't always happen. Ask everyone in your group what they want to do and then go from there. Some people might want a big meal after being on a plane all day, some might not.

 

[Bob]

We used to hop on a pre-dawn flight, get to our resort around lunchtime and then head on off to the parks for 1/2 day. By the end of day we were dead to the world and even felt it the next day. The last time we went, we took and early afternoon flight, got to our resort in time for a late dinner, relaxed in our room and were ready to go to the parks early the next morning. We definitely enjoyed that more so that will be how we do it going forward.

 

[disneygirl76]

Here is my question: How tired are you on the first day of arrival. We need to be on our flight at 6AM and we arrive at MCO around 11:20. This is the first day I will have grandkids with us, age 5 and 1. Normally when we arrive we are ready to go go go! Not sure if I should do an ADR for later that evening or just eat at the resort? What do you do?

With kiddos, I would make a character meal ADR - get them a bit excited for what is to come! I told my friend to do this with her girls for their first trip to WDW. They arrived, did the pool and playground at AOA - they had a Finding Nemo suite. Then off to 1900 Park Fare! Their heads exploded! They could have left at that moment and would have had the time of their life. I think its a nice tease. Plus, kids love hotels and pools so they will be so happy to just do this.

 

[draybook]

I'm not tired as in sleepy, but more of a tired from driving for 13 hours. Our arrival day consists of checking in, and then getting changed and heading down to DtD. Later that night we will enjoy some pool time, and then hit the sack for a long week or so of gung-ho park touring!

 

[disneycouple07]

I'm tired from just the car ride to hit the parks. We normally check in and go to DTD to shop and have ADRs to Planet Hollywood.

 

[RedDad]

Have only ever done a park visit on travel day once, and that was because we had stopped over at our condo in Fernandina the day before and only had a 3 hour drive to WDW. We got up early and got there close to opening, but it was a long day. We only have a 6 hour drive from home, but still prefer to just take it easy that first day. We usually hit DTD or a resort for dinner. Highly recommend dinner at O'hana and then watch Wishes on the beach at the Poly!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

My girls were 4 and 2 on their first trip. We had a 7am flight (CT) and landed at MCO around 11am (ET). It was around 1:30pm by the time we were ready to do anything (i.e. DME, checkin, room was ready so we checked it out, etc). We were all ready to go...so we headed to MK. The kids were full of energy for HOURS after this. My younger one, who really had just turned 2, finally fell asleep in the stroller just before 6:30pm. She woke right back up for our 7:20p ADR at Chef Mickey's. We went back to our hotel right after that (which was probably 8:30p by the time we got back- at least). The girls were asleep in bed almost instantly, and DH and I retreated to our balcony to watch what we could see of Holiday Wishes.

Soooooo...we did a lot.

 

[real mad hatter]

We drive over 2 hours to get to the airport and have to be there 3 hours before take off,then it's a 9 hour flight,and a 1 hour coach trip from Sanford to Disney.So after being on the go for well over 15 hours,when we arrive at our magical destination,are we tired.? Like Hell we're not.I'll do all my sleeping when I'am gone. When I arrive it's Rock n Roll time with Mickey & Co.

 

[dave&di]

We fly in from London, Once we arrive at a WDW resort which is around 8pm we have been awake around 18 hours! We then have to take 5 hours off out time due to the time difference so I normally go to sleep after a 20 hour day. I may walk around the resort for 20 mins but that's all!! Zzzzzzzzz

 

[Spikerdink]

I do one of two things... either its the early morning flight from my local airport which gets me in MCO at 930 and on site around 11 or I fly the latest flight and arrive at my hotel around 11 pm.

I prefer the arrival at 11 since I know there is very little I can do but unpack a bit, wander the hotel for a tad and then get to sleep for an early morning start at my vacation.

But, when I do the early am, I am so psyched to be there the energy level and adrenelin keep me pumped and powered through the whole day. I will get on a bus as soon as I drop my stuff at the resort and decide to get something to nibble on... but I am right to the parks as soon as possible.

Since you have the grandkids, it changes the dynamic. While you want to go, go, go you really need to keep them as close to their usual sleep schedule as possible. The one thing I hate seeing at Disney is a child in meltdown mode because the parents have kept the child out till midnight even though a normal day has him/her in bed by 7 and the next day the kid's system is out of whack and mom and dad are frustrated and no one is having a good time. Maybe the best thing for you that day is to do a pool day, relax a bit and do a fun ADR like Bethymouse said. (As much as I hate Chef Mickey's, it would be great for the kids...)

 

[gwhb75]

We normally fly out early in the morning (around 6), which means we're normally up around 3am. When we arrive we go to a park for a few hours, and then back to the room for a mid afternoon nap, then back out for dinner and whatever else we feel like.

 

[onesandzeros]

I fly the red-eye from California … depart 10:30pm / arrive 10am.
Not being able to occupy room til around 3pm makes it a long day.
I usually drive over to Celebration for breakfast at Market Street Café
and then pass the time visiting resorts and/or DTD. On some trips I’m shot and
vow to never fly overnight again and on other trips there seems to be
minimal effects. After a good night’s sleep ..... I’m ready to get my Disney on!

 

[Pooh Lover]

I always try to get as early flight as possible so I can maximize that first day. We are normally tired after the end of the first day no matter when the day starts, so we might as well have as much fun as we can. Now traveling with grandchildren may be a different story as they may burn out much quicker so I would probably make an earlier ADR either at your resort or a park. That way, if anyone still has energy after dinner, you can keep going or head back to the resort if everyone has had enough fun for one day.

 

[wendysue]

Here is my question: How tired are you on the first day of arrival. We need to be on our flight at 6AM and we arrive at MCO around 11:20. This is the first day I will have grandkids with us, age 5 and 1. Normally when we arrive we are ready to go go go! Not sure if I should do an ADR for later that evening or just eat at the resort? What do you do?

We usually arrive about the same time, but it seems like when we get to our room, I unpack, we change clothes and get our second wind and OFF we go.

 

[Stellajack]

We used to hop on a pre-dawn flight, get to our resort around lunchtime and then head on off to the parks for 1/2 day. By the end of day we were dead to the world and even felt it the next day. The last time we went, we took and early afternoon flight, got to our resort in time for a late dinner, relaxed in our room and were ready to go to the parks early the next morning. We definitely enjoyed that more so that will be how we do it going forward.

Exactly this ↑.

We normally take an early 6 a.m. flight (cheaper ), spend the day relaxing at the resort (POR), head to DTD, and the next day is a full park day. Only once have we arrived and gone to the park, ending the day at Hoop-De-Doo. We were exhausted and decided never to do this again.

 

[George]

The time I jogged the 1003.24 miles from my house to Animal Kingdom, I really wasn't into wading through the sea of people for my KS fastpasses.

 

[littleroo]

I think the key here is how many days are you there for and how long is your hopper pass. For us the difference is minimal between 7 days and 8 days and so on. For half a day at Epoct we are there! We are in the airport by 4am for our flight and always hope to sleep at airport or plane but are way, WAY too excited! Normally we go to Epcot and have reservations at the Garden Grill to get the kids all geared up too! This is probably are earliest night in bed

 

[Susan Savia]

Our arrival day begins back in South Carolina when we hit the road (our 2nd day of travel) at 6am. We make a stop at Daytona Beach to check out the ocean and stretch our legs and then finish up at our resort about 2:30. We check in, unpack and head to Epcot for 4 or 5 hours. Long day, but w'e're on vacation and ready to go!!!