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.

 

[coachwnh]

we usually have an idea of where we are going, but its never the same. it all depends on what time we get in and where we are staying. We arrive next Saturday and plan on enjoying the resort that first day. We will be at AKL and booked the club level. We always say we are going to take some time to just enjoy the pool and club for a day, but we never do. So this time, we decided to stay one night at AKL, then head out for a few days to see some other central FL sites (first legoland, then universal). After we get back from our side trip, we will be 100% into WDW! Since our first 2 stops will then be POR then Yacht Club (both a first for us), I'm sure we will take in some of what these resorts have to offer. I can't wait, but naturally I'll be looking forward to that first day in a park!!! This year, we plan on MK our first morning!!!!

 

[littleroo]

We run to Epcot everytime! This August, will be my 7 yr olds first time that he can remember. I have reservations at Garden Grill. I think it is going to be so cool that he gets to see the characters and dive into the excitement right away. I know he will never forget it!


Then it is off to the various countries to sample some of there spirits for my husband and I. Win, win situation all the way around. 44 days to go!!

 

[Kita79]

This will be our first trip to Disney World for my daughter 5th birthday from Oct 29-November 4. I plan on checking into our room at Port Orleans Riverside (we will get in around 1130am) and explore it a little bit. Jump on the boat to Downtown Disney and have lunch there and explore there for a few hours. Take the bus to the Grand Floridan for our 6pm dinner at 1900 Park Fare with Cinderella and Family. After dinner we will take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom and spend the rest of the night there since it does not close 12am that night.

 

[gccgrad1996]

We drive down each year, about 16 hours. We are normally on the road by 7am and drive until almost the SC/GA border. We tried driving straight through once and hated every minute of it, we won't ever do it again. Plus our kids loving stopping and staying in a hotel. Then we are back on the road by 7am and arrive in Orlando in the early afternoon. We always head directly to Downtown Disney and walk around and take in the fact that we are finally here. Then depending on time either go check in at our hotel, we always stay offsite our first night, or head to dinner, which has now become a tradition of eating at the T-Rex Cafe. I have a 11 year old, 8 year old and 1 year old (this Aug. will be his first trip) so they love it there. After dinner we usually head to our hotel and swim for a little, but always get to bed early so we can be at our resort checking in by 7am to get our park passes. If our room is ready will usually go check it out, but don't unpack the car yet, and then head directly to one of the parks. This year that park will be Epcot. When we finally come back in the afternoon we unpack the car and then head directly to the pool. This year my husband and I will be taking turns with taking a nap with the one year old (that's if he isn't too excited to sleep). I know when we took my daughter when she was 1 she was on excitement overload for the first few days and didn't finally take her afternoon nap until probably our 4th day. Thankfully she slept wonderful at night. After our swim we normally have dinner reservations somewhere to get to, but this year we are doing quick service, so who knows where we will be eating. I thought the quick service plan would be easier with the 1 year old, we won't need to worry about waking him from naps to make it to dinner reservations or rushing around in the morning with 3 kids to make breakfast. All I know is that we will be doing MK in the evening.
Writing this is making me so excited, I will be arriving in Downtown Disney 3 weeks from today!!

 

[prekteacher]

Our frist day is lunch or dinner at Rain Forset Cafe and then the pool. When head to the parks the next day.

 

[Disney61]

Previous visits have included a stay in Downtown Disney on arrival day...Early check in the following morning...Off to the Magic Kingdom with dinner at Kona....That's all out the window this year! This year it's all about Epcot.... from where we're staying to our opening day park to where we'll dine our first night. This year it's all about being outside of our comfort zone... and I think we'll do just fine....besides it's all Disney!

 

[EvilQueen-T]

our only real tradition is that no matter what our first lunch or dinner is we eat it backwards...dessert, entree, then maybe an appetizer . it started after a trip where the kids wanted to do it for all our meals but after 2 days we were all so sick of dessert all we wanted the rest of the trip was salad lol. otherwise when going to disney we drive so we usually get to the resort around 630-7am, check-in, drop off the bags if the room is available, sometimes unpack then head to whatever park has emh that night. when we do just a weekend i pick up the granddaughter right from school where she LOVES to make sure everyone knows where she's going then we hit the resort for check-in and sometimes grab dinner but mainly we just head right to the park of her choosing. this is the first trip where we've actually scheduled a day mid trip to just sleep in, play at the resort, maybe rent a sea racer that kind of thing. maybe that will be our new tradition.

 

[YoungNY]

I would like to head to Mk first, cause besides seeing the welcome sign, seeing the castle means you've really arrived. Unfortunately on this next trip, I don't think we're gonna have the time before our first ADR.

 

[MaverickCSX]

We just got back from our first WDW vacation (5 days/4 nights).. We took the 8am flight from Montreal and was at the resort by about 12 (we stayed at All Star Music).. Since our room wasn't ready, we dropped off our luggage and headed to Downtown Disney for lunch (ate at Bongos). Walked around Downtown Disney for awhile until we got texted that our room was ready. Got to the room and washed up, relaxed. By about 5:30 we were at MK.. We decided to just walk around and take as many pics as we could until our dinner reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table at 8:30pm. By the time we finished we were able to catch the Electric Parade and the Memories show..

 

[crosswagon]

We always do our reservations for the first day for room only. Our drive is around 12 hours and we go to the outlets for a little extra Xmas shopping since we go in December. Check in later in the afternoon, eat, get a great night's sleep and hit the ground rolling the next morning for MK. Unless something unusual happens we always make MK our first park visit. We love laying our eyes on the castle, to us that is the ultimate landmark for Walt Disney World and it means we have arrived!!

 

[BamaDisneyFan]

We arrive at the Wilderness Lodge. If our room is ready we go and unpack. If not we go to the pool. Later we eat at Whispering Canyon, and then hop over to the Boardwalk.

 

[WDWNooby]

Our first trip we checked into the resort then headed to the transportation center to take a "tour" of Disney then back to the hotel for our dinner reservations for the luau. After the luau we called it a night. Our first full day was spent at MK.

This time around, we have very late arrival. Probably won't get to the hotel until around 10:00 p.m. We'll probably tour the hotel that night then spend our first day at Epcot.

 

[LudwigVonDrake]

I always arrive in WDW in the early morning. Most times the room is ready so we dump the luggage and then go to eat something in the hotel. From there 99% of the time it's time to go to the Magic Kingdom

 

[DisDadWoz]

We normally leave Chi-town on one of the first flights out in the am which gets us to our resort just before lunch so it's usually off to Big River Grille for lunch (And a beer of course!) and then over to EPCOT to just walk around all afternoon.

 

[Mr. CPA]

We always head over to Downtown Disney to get all that shopping out of the way.

 

[mcstensrud]

We leave bos on the first flight out and usually arrive at our resort of choice at around 11:am,check in if room is ready we go there first if not we head to our ADR for @1:00 at the Plaza. Hit up some rides then head out to do some grocery shopping and Dinner off property. Maybe play a round of Mini Golf and then call it a night with a swim. Then wake up early to grasp that coveted TSMM Fast Pass @HS

 

[boopuff]

I always book the earliest flight possible (5am) and we snooze on the plane, get to DW and hit the ground running! Most times we go to the park where we have dinner res. but this year our first day is w/o dining so we might just wing it!

 

[D M C]

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.

We always go to WP Express at DT Disney, our fav. Cs rest. This trip in Oct. we are then heading over to Epcot WS for
Biergarten, new exp. for us.Will finish with the fireworks and then back to AoA Little Mermaid. I am ready to get the fun started.

 

[mousefreak]

Our flight arrives at MCO at 9:38am on Sun, Sept 2. Right now we're leaving that 1st day up in the air. We may check in and go directly to Animal Kingdom or spend the afternoon at the pool with some Downtown Disney. We have ADR at Whispering Canyon at 6:45.

 

[countrygrl4]

Since my flight is usually 2 1/2 hours (PVD->MCO) and only been to Disney 2wice, I drop my stuff off, check out my room and then get whatever I need for the rest of the day at the parks and just skip out the door. I usually try to arrive between 10am-12pm. Last time I was there, I was solo so my idea was whatever bus came first meant that was the park I was going to! It worked out lovely!