Post-Check In Activities

[Raineman]

I've noticed a good percentage of people staying at a WDW resort will hit one of the parks before or right after checking in to the resort. Personally, especially after a flight or a long drive, we like to save our first park day for the next morning. Last visit, our first stay at POR, we checked in, got settled in our room, and took the water taxi to DS to check it out and have dinner. After dinner, we took the water taxi to POFQ, had some beignets, walked back to POR then back to the room to bed. We will most likely be doing the same thing in November when we stay at POFQ for the first time.
What are your usual post check-in activities?

 

[Stellajack]

Our post check-in differs, but we have only done a park on our first day once! That was enough for us! Usually, after DME drop off, we eat breakfast in food court, OR water taxi down to DS when the boats start running. We have also checked in, spent the afternoon at the pool, and then to a resort for dinner or a dinner show. (1900 Park Fare, Boma's, Whispering Canyon, OR the Hoop de Doo!) This time after arrival we will probably do the same thing, pool or DS; then, to Boma's for 8 pm ADR-bus afterwards to DS and water taxi back to POR.

 

[Mainahman]

i finally got my wife to understand after driving 11 hours id like to relax ha! We sit pool side with drinks and enjoy the pool

 

[KarateExpl0si0n]

Since we (Me, Wife, Mom, & 5yo Daughter)are flying across the Country from the West Coast, we are "itching" to get immersed in the Magic! We always make Dining Reservations for Liberty Tree Tavern @ MK for the first evening when we get in. We will shower & relax before we head out. We cap the night off with a ride or two, and then the Fireworks. It's a very slow paced evening for us as a family, and its a great way to kickstart our trip.

 

[stratman50th]

I'm going back in time now but we always drove. We would normally get in around 11:00. We wore park clothes in the car but had a pool bag too. We kind of decided when we got there. We also always had length of stay park hoppers so we had a lot of flexibility. My mom was the ringleader and had them call her phone when the room was ready. Of course that was the days after cell phones. Before, she would hang around the resort and check regularly. Everybody else would do their thing. If I recall correctly she never had to wait alone.

 

[Janir]

Last trip we spent time bumming around Disney Springs once DME dropped us off. Had lunch , Did the VOID and dinner, pretty low key first day.
We have done parks first thing after driving in nearly 24 hours before however.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Drinky-poos.

Seriously though, we usually wait to hit a park until the following day as well. Mainly because half the day is already taken up with travel, checking in, etc. This year, we've got 14-day Ultimate Tickets on a ten night stay - and we're staying at one of our faves, the Swalphin. Being literally around the corner from Epcot - guess where we're going at some point...

 

[Mainahman]

We drive, so we do all the pre check in crap, and usually get the room ready text while were still in the car a couple hours out. That helps us know what building to park by. So we park, find our room, dump our stuff, crank the temp down to a reasonable temp on the AC, and head to the pool... I have to see a castmember about a Pina colava, and a pool chair of course!

 

[KaliSplash]

Generally depends on where I'm coming from. If it's from the in-laws on the East Coast, we often checkin and then head straight to a park. If we're driving in from SC, as we did in August, we got in about 4 at CB, headed over to AKL for dinner, and did the first park the next morning.

 

[belledream]

We were drop-bags-off-get-on-park-bus people until this year with our 1 year old. Now it's things like celebrating that the room is ready so we can have a proper nap and eat food court lunch in the room. How times have changed.

But later that night, we did the opposite of you. Walk from POFQ to POR for dinner, then back to POR.

 

[Genie_naughty_whispers]

We like to ramp up to the magic by hitting downtown Disney. Next day hit the parks hard

 

[mdcpr]

We fly in at 8:30 am, so we will have brunch/lunch at the hotel, and then to Epcot. Just doing a couple of rides, and walking around the pavilions. Pretty relaxed.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Vigorous lovemaking.

Just kidding -- since the kids are with us and always champing at the bit to get to a park, that's where we go. If it was just DH and me, a leisurely dinner at our resort's table service restaurant, a relaxing walking tour of the resort, and a cocktail by the pool would likely be just the ticket.

 

[Bartledvd]

Well we used to get a taxi and head to publix, Now we stay at the hyatt at orlando international as we arrive around 3/6 pm from the uk no point checking in and paying for a quarter of a day.

so we now stay at the hotel jump on the DME check in pick up our bands go to a park until the room is ready then we grab a taxi to publix/wallmart return to our room put all the shopping away then relax for a while before going to watch one of the evening Fireworks/projection shows.

 

[Raineman]

Vigorous lovemaking.

Just kidding -- since the kids are with us and always champing at the bit to get to a park, that's where we go. If it was just DH and me, a leisurely dinner at our resort's table service restaurant, a relaxing walking tour of the resort, and a cocktail by the pool would likely be just the ticket.

Nothing wrong with some early "fireworks" when arriving on property.

 

[Mainahman]

Vigorous lovemaking.

Just kidding -- since the kids are with us and always champing at the bit to get to a park, that's where we go. If it was just DH and me, a leisurely dinner at our resort's table service restaurant, a relaxing walking tour of the resort, and a cocktail by the pool would likely be just the ticket.

Phew i thought we were the only 2! hahahaha!

 

[mdcpr]

Vigorous lovemaking.

Just kidding -- since the kids are with us and always champing at the bit to get to a park, that's where we go. If it was just DH and me, a leisurely dinner at our resort's table service restaurant, a relaxing walking tour of the resort, and a cocktail by the pool would likely be just the ticket.

I like your style Weather Lady!

 

[BraveGirl]

If I can't get to the parks at rope drop, I consider it a wasted day

So, we always just hang out at the hotel, go to the pool, the arcade, etc, and then head over to DS for some shopping and dinner.

 

[Disneyfreak Jen]

I fly in, usually land by 8:30am. I go right to the parks as soon as I get off DME. I drop my bags with the bellhops and just go . I change into shorts at the bathroom in the airport if I don’t wear them on the plane I pack my park backpack with any necessities for the day and put it in my carry on bag. I’m wiped out by late afternoon/dinner time (I’ve been up since 2:45am and probably got a lousy nights sleep on top of it), so I head back to the resort about then and eat dinner, get unpacked, am passed out before 9:00

One year I flew in a day earlier than originally planned because airfare was so much cheaper. I did what you do and have a resort day/DS day. Just relax and wander.

 

[AndyS2992]

It depends on how early or late our flights are on the last day. They are usually early so we hit Magic Kingdom as soon as we check in which is around 4/5pm, we've paid for 14 day tickets so we intend to use those 14 days, however we take it slow and just do a couple rides and take photos. If our flights home are late, then we will go to the parks on the last day so we spend the arrival day either just chilling in the room or we head out to Disney Springs to get something to eat and look around.