Your First Day When you Arrive at your Resort!

[real mad hatter]

So Iam curious to what you do when you finally book into your resort the first day or night,depending when you arrive.We arrive around 4.00pm,all going to plan flight wise.So it's off to MK for Haunted Mansion and then something to eat at CHH then just spend that first night strolling around and take in "Wishes". Do you have a plan of strategy that first day/night? Also is there something you always do as a family tradition that first day/night.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Whether we've driven (takes 2+ days) or flown (takes 3-6 hours), we've always arrived between noon and 2:00pm. Family tradition dictates that we spend that first partial day in the Magic Kingdom, beginning with Adventureland, and typically dining at Pecos Bill's for dinner. We don't make ADRs, just in case our travel plans are delayed. There was the year we got a walk-up table for dinner at The Plaza! On a Saturday! During Easter break! For 6 people!... but I'm pretty sure that was a cosmic fluke.

 

[ishmael0316]

My first day is a Magic Kingdom love fest. Start off with Peter Pan, over to Pooh, hit the mountains, early dinner at CHH, hit Haunted Mansion and IASW, then back to the hotel so I can get cleaned up to meet the princesses!

 

[pixiesteno]

As we drive down and arrive mid morning. If we have the RV we set up "camp" have lunch, take a swim, hang out, then head to DTD for dinner at Cooke's of Dublin. If we are staying at a hotel it is unpacking, lunch at resort, relax and then figure out where we want to go. Probably dinner at Cooke's of Dublin then too.

 

[Joshua&CalebDad]

The first day is never a full day for us so we go to Downtown Disney, get our tickets in order for the week and then head over to Disney Design-a-Tee to let our boys make some shirts for themselves. The fun begins the next morning after a good nights sleep.

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

I usually book an early flight from Pittsburgh and generally arrive around 11AM. We check in, drop our luggage either in the room or with Bell Services, then head over to the MK. First thing is ALWAYS riding the complete loop on the WDW railroad, then we head for Swiss Family Treehouse - it's been a tradition since our first trip when DD was 3. The rest of the day we go where the wind takes us.

 

[Bowler Hat Girl]

Since I usually drive in from Chicago, I never plan for anything on the day I check-in. It's hard to gauge when I'll arrive, in case there's traffic or construction. Even if I get in early, I don't go to a park on my first day, so I can recover from the drive. If I get in early enough, I'll go to DTD or resort hop a little. If all goes as planned in two months, I'll be arriving in time to go to Wolfgang Puck Express for dinner. No matter what, as long as I get to check into a WDW hotel, it's the perfect first day for me!

 

[nbgrif4060]

We always try to get the first flight into MCO from Atl (Around 1hr flight) and are usually at the resort and ready to hit the parks by 12. We don't have a certin park we go to. It depends on where the EMH are for the night.

 

[DisneyJunkie]

Typically we arrive around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, get ourselves checked in, and then quickly head off to the Magic Kingdom to do whatever we can in the time left in the day/evening. That usually includes grabbing something quick to eat at Cosmic Ray's and then eventually we'll drift back to the hotel and be in the rest of the evening.

 

[JillC LI]

It's completely dependent on our flight arrival time. If we arrive midday, we'll probably hit a park. If we arrive late afternoon/early evening, we'll probably hit Downtown Disney. On our upcoming trip, we won't get to our resort until almost 11pm, so it will be straight to bed for an early start in the parks the next morning!

 

[Disnee4Me]

We ususally arrive early to mid-afternoon, if we've been visiting my mother down in Delray Beach first. We check in, and then head to DTD for a late lunch or early dinner. We get to bed by 10 p.m. so we can do early entry at whatever park has it that day and then spend the whole day there (or hopping to another park) until the park closes. We do this for a couple of days, then take a day off and then start all over again. Can't wait ... next trip won't be until Christmas 2013.

 

[maryszhi]

i usually head to hollywood studios for lunch and tot and rnr then head over to mk, or vise versa...but always fireworks at mk.

 

[LowesChevy]

I take it you've already made that ADR for those restaurants quoted for your first night.

Yup..Citricos starts the trip off right! BTW goodluck on your countdown here-these are the tough days.

 

[Plowboy]

Since we fly in from California, we usually arrive late afternoon/early evening. We usually head over to the Boardwalk area, eat dinner, and just call it a day. A very long day!

Okay. Here's how a typical day goes when flying from Sacramento, CA. (Assuming a 6-7:00 a.m. flight)

Get up at 3:00 a.m. pst. Leave home about 3:30-3:45 a.m. and drive the 65 +/- miles to the airport arriving about 4:45 a.m. Depart SMF about 6-7:00 a.m. and fly 2 hrs to DEN arriving 9-9:30 mst. Layover of approx 1-1.5 hrs, then fly 3.5-4 hrs to MCO. Arrive MCO around 5:00 p.m est +/-. Gather bags and go over to DME for the ride to the world. Arrive WDW around 6-7:00 p.m., check in, then hop a bus to DHS, and stretch the legs with a walk over to the Boardwalk area. Have a beer or three (and a cheeseburger) at Big River Grille. By now it's about 9:00 p.m. est (6:00 p.m. pst) and we've only been at it for 15-16 hrs. We still wander the boardwalk/Beach & Yacht clubs, have to hop a bus to Downtown Disney and transfer to our hotel. By now it's 11:00 p.m. est and we've been at it for about 17-18 hrs. I'm tired just thinking about it!

 

[Plowboy]

Well I messed that up. I was replying to realmadhatter's question about our itinerary and seem to have somehow replied to myself and not rmh. Sorry. I haven't mastered the new site yet.

 

[rufio]

We drive from North Carolina and normally arrive between 5 and 6pm, so we don't normally hit a park that night. We either relax around the resort and have dinner there, or we head downtown for a couple hours. Either way, we're at the World, so we're happy

 

[HouCuseChickie]

It's different for us every single trip. I'll spare you all of the pre-2010 pre-onsite trips...but in more recent trips:

2010: We flew in that morning and after the aiport, DME, and check in- we were settled into our room at WL by 1:30p-then took the boat to MK. After a quick m&g w/Pinocchio, it was off to Casey's for a bite to eat before touring.

2011: We got into the Kissimmee area around 6pm, but we stayed offsite so we could surprise our girls bright and early the next morning. So, we got on the road at about 6:45a, drove the 3.5 mi from our motel to the Maingate, checked into the Contemporary just after 7am, room was ready but we had adrs at Crystal Palace, so we headed directly to MK - got all those pre-park opening pics w/the castle & then breakfast.

2012: If all goes as planned, we will be driving through the night and arriving mid day at Beach Club. DH and I will take turns napping vs. entertaining our girls before dinner at Kouzzina. We figure we'll still need rest on day 2...so no parks until day 3

 

[polynesiangirl]

Our flight is about 2 hours so we usually get there late morning or around lunch time. In my more ambitious Young Person days we would immediately hit the parks as long as our flight landed on time, but more recently we've just hung around the resort, swim, and sometimes we go to DTD. We rarely have a real plan for that first day since travel delays, fatigue, etc are kind of hard to predict.

 

[bethymouse]

We drive through the night, and the boys sleep! 14 hour trip w/ only stops for gas and bathroom! ( I pack some sandwiches, fruit, drinks, etc...) My DH and I split the drive 1/2 and 1/2.
We check-in, I look around and take some pictures, and the boys are ready to go to the POOL! DH stays in the room and rests for a bit, then joins us later in the pool. We grab a quick service meal, and maybe a snack, then go to bed. The next morning, we're off....

 

[wiigirl]

We go and check in at the resort, drop the bags if the room is ready and head off to a park...normally MK.

Me too...maximize the time!

 

[acishere]

Usually we took an 8am flight out of Newark, got the resort in the afternoon, dropped off our bags and hit up a park (MK or Epcot). We were never any later than 4pm usually. When we were that late we went to Downtown Disney.

This year though we finally got to the resort at 7pm. My ears were still in pain from the decent. So I popped some Advil, ate in the food court, wandered for a little while, then watched TV. If I didn't love the show we had on I would have been out the moment my butt touched that bed.