Where to go 1st day?

[mom2four]

Our plan lands at 9:30.

My plans keep chaning. We do not want to do MK because we are doing a full day there the next day including P&P Party.

It will be a friday. My plans right now are HS during the day and evening EMH at Epcot.

Or..

We might just do Epcot.

Or....

Animal Kingdom until they close and then Epcot.

So many choices.

Thanks! Less than three weeks to go and a terrible Blizzard in Michigan this morning Brrr!

[Pirate Granny]

We don't go to any parks the day we are doing a special ticket party...we just show up at MK at 4pm and are prepared to enjoy the party to the very end (meaning walking down main street at 12:30am). You might want to just do mini-golf or sleep in and lay around the pool. Especially if you are arriving at 9:30am the day before that means if you're leaving dtw around 7am you're up pretty early the day before...and planning a full first day...
:pirate:

[KayDee]

We believe you should just do Epcot. Having just arrived that day you will be tired from having gotten up early and checking into your hotel. You likely will not want to switch between parks. There will be some exciting rides to start off your trip or your family could chose to leisurely walk and look through World Showcase which has many shows for your family to enjoy. We always like starting off there with children as it is not the most exciting thing for children at Disney.

[Kidsmom]

I agree for Epcot. The day you arrive you don't want to be hopping around as you are probably tired of travel.

Just enjoy a slow pace at once place.

[MickeyChick]

You're going to be pretty tired. Take a nap, enjoy your hotel/resort for a little while and then hit Epcot for EMH.

[DisneyDD2]

You're going to be pretty tired. Take a nap, enjoy your hotel/resort for a little while and then hit Epcot for EMH.

MickeyChick makes sense. Unless you are too excited to relax, then head straight to Epcot. I wouldn't do more than one park, however. I like to squeeze the most out of every park and wouldn't be able to do it if I were in transit between two parks. But if that were the only chance you had to do AK, then go for it.

Have a great trip! :thumbsup:

[Matt's Dad]

Plane lands at 9:30 ..... luggage and through airport 10:15 .... resort around 11:30 ...... check in, (or check bags if room not ready) 12:00.

Hmmm, would NOT do AK, it doesn't stay open very late, and would not want the in-and-out feeling.

Depends on how many days you are staying, and your tickets (length of stay vs daily, parkhopper?)
If length of stay, hit as many parks as you want.
If daily ticket, would be tempted to do Epcot or Studios day 1 ... stay as late as possible ... which one has EMH? Day 2 sleep in a little, enjoy the resort/pool for a few hours, then head for MK in the 4:00 time frame when they start to let party goers in, and stay for the party (Party ticket then covers day 2).

Of course, if your on the daily ticket plan, and your spending like 8 days, and not taking the Never Expire Option, the cost of an extra day is like $5 a person at that point ... so buy the extra day and have fun.

Wow .... way to many variables. And we haven't even discussed what to do it if rains, is too hot, or where you are staying.

[JerseyMouse]

Epcot would make the most sense. Your plan is similar to DW's and I in the fact that we do MK our first full day. We usually use arrival day to rest up for what's to come.

[mom2four]

I have 7 day PHopper tickets so no problem there.

Also, we are not planning on doing tower of terror and probably won't do RRollercoaster.

My original pan was Epcot all day but then I was thinking maybe get MGM out of the way, we are going to do MGM EMH later in the week so I could hit anything I miss.

I just do not know if it is too much running around.

Also, we have a big day the next day.

Thanks!

[Frog]

I would also vote for epcot.
Relax and enjoy some rides during the day at a slow pace! Get into the whole Disney deal.
Then, as the sun is going down, head over to all the great countries with them all lit up! Makes me want to go right now just thinking about it!

[WDW24]

I believe MK would be perfect for the first day!:joy:

[LW_DFREAK]

We are arriving at the same time of day. We are planning on checking in at the Poly and relaxing by the Pool (since we will have been up since 4am!) and then heading to Epcot late afternoon since we have an ADR at Le Cellier that evening - can't wait! Magic Kingdom will be the next day, so we are going to take it easy on our arrival day. We did something similar last time around and it worked out perfectly for our family :mickey:

[JPooh]

Assuming that your plane lands on time and everything goes smooth with checkin you probably will be in your room by 11:30 -12:00. I don't know about you but traveling wears me out. I would do something that would give me an early night's rest. Considering you will be having a long day MK the next day.

[jclightchasr]

based on your timeframes I would tend to lean toward your own inclination of going to HS and getting it out of the way. If you are not doing TOT or RNRC then you have to major timetakers out of the picture. Plus you can sit down on bleachers (sp?) to take in Fantasmic which would be better than the ground (for illuminations) after a hard day of traveling. Not to mention the park is smaller and the walking wouldn't be so bad. MGM/HS is beautiful at night much more so than AK.

[Tink#64]

On arrival day we're always excited, but I know that we're not going to be able to endure the week if we run ourselves ragged. So we check in & eat lunch in our food court & then we head to DTD for some shopping & just be into the whole Disney - we're here thing! We have dinner there & then head back to the resort, DS's always want to swim & it gives us a chance to unwind. We go back to room & I unpack a little & get everything ready for the next day - our 1st park day - YEAH!

This works well for us, I tried to change it last year & DH & DS's said no way!

I looks like your staying a full week, so try to fight the urge to overdo it! Make sure you plan some down time each day! I didn't do this on our 1st trip & by day 4 we hit the wall! We were exhausted! We had friends that visited for the first time last year. My friend was convinced that since they were a high energy family that they would not be taking breaks! She called me , in tears, she, the DS's, DH, & DM were all screaming at each other. All the others wanted was a break - but she had a plan! :blush: It's more tiring than we expect, but you want to make it a wonderful trip.

I hope you make magical memories! :magic: