When do you prefer to arrive?

[Kev1417]

I have arrived at the world early morning, mid afternoon and late at night when the parks are already closed. I think i prefer arriving late at night the best. When we get to check in no one is in the lobby and I get to walk around Boardwalk alone with the wife. We take a stroll around Yacht/Beach taking in the peacefullness of the resorts. LOVE seeing spaceship earth in the background all lit up. When we finally make it back to the room NOTHING beats waking up to the magic and heading out to the park in the morning for your first full day.

So what does everyone prefer? Getting there super early to hit the parks after traveling? Travel in the morning and hit the parks after lunch? Or getting there late knowing you can check in right away and wake up to the magic?

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

We (DD & I) like to go the airport the night before, I can usually get a room at the airport Hyatt at a pretty good rate - less than a Value, then head out on an early flight. We're checked in by 1030AM, and either drop our luggage if the room or ready of leave it with Bell Services and head out to the MK. Our return flight is usually somewhere between 5-7PM so it doesn't make it to late for hubby to pick us up.

 

[luv]

When I drove, I liked to arrive for rope drop. That's my favorite way to do it.

If I fly, I like to fly early...but I don't want to arrive too tired, so I don't want to get up too early. Flying sucks energy from me to begin with. I won't get up any earlier than 5:00, though.

 

[disneylemons]

We have arrived at a variety of times but the last couple of years we have taken an evening flight.. get to MCO around 9:30.. take ME... check in when its quiet..grab a snak.. unpak - relax on the balcony and get a good full day at the parks the next morning - I love this routine.. so much easier for us!

 

[bigorangeandy]

It just depends on how many days we will be on vacation. Last year we did it a few different ways, the first trip I drove down (I was in Tampa the week prior for a conference), then the family arrived after work and school late at night. I had driven over after the conference unpacked the van, did laundry, and hit up a few attractions before the family arrived. For our Thanksgiving trip we drove down on a Saturday and arrived later than expected due to issues along the way, so we just grabbed a late dinner and called it a night. The Christmas trip we showed up just about dark, unpacked, and then the kids took the bus to MK for a few late night rides, while me the wife rested.

 

[bethymouse]

Well, we go Sunday to Saturday. I pack on Friday, and we leave before midnight. We drive 14 hours: no traffic at night and the boys sleep most of the trip. We get there around noon (sometimes earlier we're so anxious). The boys are ready to play, so we go to the pool, watch them swim, and have a relaxing drink. We hit the park the next day early. We have 2 travel days ( we leave around 6am when we go home). We get a 5 day base ticket. That's our usual plan.

 

[maryszhi]

early morning to be able to get as much disney fun is as possible <3

 

[foreverbelle]

For us things have changed. We used to get the earliest flight we can get, hitting the parks pretty much as soon as we got there. But we now have an almost pre-schooler and getting him up and us out at 4 in the morning has not been easy, so if we fly, we try to get a morning flight but not super early...and we have moved from hitting the parks for thing to enjoying the first day.

Lately we have been driving more often from our residence of the DC metro area. Which means we are getting in around 2-4 in the afternoon the day after we leave home. We enjoy the evening, rest and then hit the parks the next day.

Now if its just the hubs and I....well its back to flying out as early as possible and hitting them right away...