When do you like to arrive?

[symon]

We live on the West coast and are considering taking a flight that leaves at 11:30pm. We would get to Florida about 6 or 7 am. This way we don't have to waste a day traveling or an extra night in the hotel, however I worry about how tired everyone will be if they don't sleep well on the plane, plus throw in the time change and are we really going to be messed up? We would take it easy our first day, nap, explore the hotel, DTD maybe.

 

[relloron]

Well for us we always visit our families first. Early in the morning (around 6-8) we leave and it takes about and hour and a half to get to Disney. We pre-check in around 8:30-10:00 so we dont have to stand in the large line at 3:00. We park our car and pre-check in then go to a park. Around 1:00 we call our hotel and go back for a while. We go to our room and chill for a while then, we go back to a park.

 

[swimmom]

We usually get the earliest flight out of Chicago around 7:00 a.m. and function off adrenalin the first day. The second day we take a slightly layed back aproach to catch up on lost sleep so they we don't burn out by the end of our trip. Last year we decided to take a long weekend in early December and we flew out of Chicago in the evening so that my daughter would only miss two days of school. We would arrive in Orlando about 10:00 p.m. and get to our resort by 11:30ish and hit the parks first thing in the morning. One thing we didn't consider was the weather. It started snowing about an hour before my daughter got out of school and the usual 45 minute drive to the airport took us 2 and a half hours. Luckily we didn't miss our flight because it was delayed. However the delay ended up being 4 hours. So that put us in Orlando at 2:00 a.m. DME was very uncrowded and I don't think we saw more than 5 cars on the way to WL. It was about 4:00 a.m. before I got to bed only to get up at 7:00 so that we would have three full days in the parks. Long story short, since your trip is in December the weather can be uncooperative and ruin your plans.

 

[marni1971]

I lile to get there when MCO Immigration finally let us in. And after we`ve got to the front of the hire car queue....

 

[Dragonrider1227]

We usually leave early in the morning 'cause we drive.

 

[shoppingnut]

I want to leave now for WDW, I can't wait for July to come, seems so far away.

 

[TwoTigersMom]

I usually send DH to bed around 5pm the night before we leave. Then at midnight I wake him up and we transefer the kids from the bed to the car and head out. He drives and I sleep hehehe. We usually stop around 6am for breakfast then arrive at our resort between 8 - 9am. We usually drop of our luggage and go to a water park the 1st day. That way DH can get a little more sleep on the lazy river. I check on him periodically to turn him and slather him with sun screen. Since we usually do a package, our last night is always a room only. We wake up and play in the pool till about lunch time and head home.

 

[ilovepluto23]

I never hit the parks as soon as I arrive basically b/c I hate wasting a ticket when I'm not there for a full day!
Since I live in SE Louisiana, it's about a 10 hour drive from my house. I will be flying on my next trip (first-time flyer!) in January, and am arriving around 5pm. I like to do some shopping in downtown Disney on arrival day.

It's always great to start fresh in the parks too!

 

[crxbrett]

I live in Los Angeles and have always been on a flight that left LAX no later than 10 AM, sometimes as early as 8 AM. Usually, I would end up checking into the hotel by 5 PM. One year a huge thunderstorm hit the airport just as we landed which halted the baggage service out on the tarmacs. I didn't get into my room that trip until around 8PM. Anyways, I always unpacked and then went straight to the MK (take in mind I only stayed at the Poly, had I stayed somewhere else I might have gone to EPCOT). Even though that first night was short, it was always very exciting. This year I am arriving around 5 PM in Orlando. The awesome thing is my flight home doesn't take off from MCO until 7:30 PM so I get a whole day to enjoy the parks on my last day! It's always depressing to have a flight at 4 or 5 PM on your last day since you have to be back to the hotel for your shuttle by 2. I suppose if I lived closer I might want to arrive somewhere around 2 PM.

 

[HoW]

Growing up in Tampa, I still have a lot of family and friends in the area. so we usually spend a weeknd with the family to start the trip, then leave early enough to get over to the World, "check-in," and be in the parks when they open. This way we maximize the amount of time we have in the parks on our first day, as well as being able to use that last day to catch up on favorites/things we might have missed during the rest of the trip.

 

[maxime29]

Take the 8AM flight. Get to MCO before 11AM. Get to the resort close to 1PM. Out in the parks after that.

 

[Craig & Lisa]

I want to leave now for WDW, I can't wait for July to come, seems so far away.

I know how you feel, we are going for a short stay in Aug. and that seems so far away, but then think about this, we're in the middle of June the year is half gone already!! Before you know it the visit will be almost over.

 

[trr313]

We usually always go down on a Friday in the afternoon and check in and then head to MK on the first night. It's nice and relaxing the first night usually.