first day of trip suggestions

[jwb0323]

:confused:What do people do the first day? Do you usually hang out in the hotel or get some part time in. What does everybody think about this idea? If we're arriving at the airport around noon and then going to the hotel, we were planning on having lunch at the hotel, going to a park for a few hours, and then going to dinner reservations. Seems the best thing to do to get some park time in, but I don't want to be too tired the next day.

[bruin1344]

I like you're plan. Thats usually what I do. I play it by ear after dinner. If we are too tired or we need to get to park early the next AM, then we will head back to resort and relax.

[BMan62]

We always take the earliest flight down to Orlando so we can get checked in and have a full day in the parks. On our last trip in September, we were in MK by 10:15am.

Of course, the parks aren't open extremely late in September, so we really don't get worn out that first day....

[BigRedDad]

We take the earliest flight so we get almost a full day in. We will get in around 10:30AM at the resort. Checked in and settled by 11AM. We will hop which ever bus comes first or just wait for AK. The reason we do AK is our DD is only 4. Getting up early will wear her down and she will most likely not nap the first day. AK closes at 5PM. We get a good 5-6 hours in the park, watch the parade, and back to the resort for pool and relaxation. Then, usually 7-8PM, she is out like a light for the night. This way she is rested for MK bright and early.

[Joannelet]

The first day of arrival we never go to a park. Its all what you feel like doing. We stroll around the hotel, go to dinner and usually head to downtown disney for the night.
Next day is bright and early for the parks!!!

[Ms. Mode]

This last trip we spent the first day at DTD, didn't have to use a park ticket and there's plenty to do.

Of course, when we stayed at AK there was plenty to see and do at the resort too.

But personally, I like as much time in the parks as possible. :thumbsup:

[Disney4us2]

Our first day starts with arrival at MCO at 6:30am. We check into the hotel, check our thing with the bell services and head to Epcot. Have lunch at LeCellier then head back to the room for a nap before dinner and the evening at MK.

[retiredfigment]

We try to get there early. Usually checked in and at a park by 2:00. Make reservations at a TS for lunch, this year Coral Reef, and then just spend the rest of the time enjoying our time.

[disneymom15]

When we have AP's we head to a park. This trip (Feb 2-7 no AP's) we arrive around 2pm, will hang out by the pool and then head over to DTD for dinner.

[Iluvpooh]

We usually get in around 3 pm. We check in, take a shower, and head downtown to see a movie and eat or over to Winter Summerland to play some golf and try and get in the bed early for a full day of park touring the next morning. Have fun!

[Gregandmel]

We are staying at POFQ on our upcoming April trip. OUr flight lands at 10:45am and we should arrive around 12:15 or so at the resort. Our plan is to just chill the rest of the day. HAve lunch at the food court, check in, unpack, swim, then visit the POR area and we DO have 5:30pm carriage ride reservations. We simply like to check out our resort and not have anything structured. We know the next day we want to hit a park at park opening and after getting up at 3:30am to hit the first flight out, we are ready to hit the sack around 8:30pm. So.....everyone is different, you just have to know what your "speed" is. Some people hit the park running as soon as they land it seems. But we will be there for 8 days, so there is no reason to rush the first day we are there. HAve a blast!!!!

[Genie1953]

We are arriving on April 10 (last day of peak season) for a 9-night stay so we did room only reservation for the first night to save money on our dining plan for the rest of our trip. We will get in around 10:30 in the morning. Since our vacation package with tickets and dining plan does not start until the next day we decided to do Downtown Disney that first day and will also spend some time exploring our resort a bit more and maybe do a carriage ride that evening. Works out well because we have to be up early to get checked in for our vacation package in order to make it to Crystal Palace for an early morning reservation.

[Tink#64]

Our WDW tradition is to head over to DTD after we check in (usually aroun noon - 2), shop, have dinner & return to Pop for some pool time & then unpack & try to hit the hay at a decent hour so we can be bright eyed & bushy tailed for our first park day! We almost always leave home on the earliest flight - 6 - 7 AM & so we're already tired that day & we want to take it easy & get to bed early enough to catch up on sleep so we don't start our vaca tired! This has always worked great for us. :thumbsup:

[mom2morgan]

I'd just say to prepare to be flexible. Both times we travelled we ended up with HUGE travel delays - the first year we expected to arrive between 4 and 5 so we were talking about dinner, swimming, maybe even hitting a park....yeah, we got there at 10:00 :-( The next time we expected to get there at 8 and didnt' get there until nearly midnight! So, plan for the worst and hope for the best, I guess :-)

[Kathy Jetson]

We always get there around in the am and eat breakfast at resort, play and look around resort, then we like to just go ride the monorail loop for fun, then its downtown dis for shopping and dinner. This year we will arrive at 11:00pm and just sleep and get up and do everything the same but be more rested.

[mudpuppysmom]

We take the first flight out of PIT in the morning and usually arrive at MCO around 9:30ish......we grab our car, stop at a grocery store for "supplies" then head for the hotel to check in. Sometimes our room is ready (most times it has been) we drop our gear, change into warm weather clothes if need be and get going.....we hit the ground running and continue until we go home!

Our first day though, by the time we get into a park it's usually around 1 pm, so we do DHS and we're usually finished by 6 or 7 pm (it's not our favorite park and we have boys, so there is a little less to do there for us we feel).

This last trip though, DH threw a wrench in our traditional plans.....he thought we should just RELAX and take it easy the first day!!! Man were DS1 and I bored.....DH and DS2 seemed fine with the pace though (DS2 is 18 mo). We did ride the monorail around the loop, stopped in the CR and kicked around and shopped, then rode over to Epcot and back; then we went to DTD later in the afternoon/early evening and back to the hotel for dinner around 7ish.....it was just too slow of a day for DS1 and I, but it worked -- we should have "accomplished" something though, b/c both kids took turns being ill during our week stay.

[Touchdown]

We usually are coming from Universal on our first day at Disney (this year we are going to be driving from Savannah.) We usually go grocery shopping around noon and checking in to our hotel. That night depending on the schedule we go to a park, if the MK or Epcot are the Evening EMH that night we go there, if DHS has Fantasmic that night we go there, and if neither of those are true we would probably go to whatever park is opened the latest (Epcot or MK.)

That is also the night we dont use a TS meal so that we can do a character breakfast one morning and still have dinner at a TS.

[Suz36]

I think my kids would mutiny if we said we weren't going to the parks on the first day! We get there as quick as we can after checking in, and it's always MK!

[SillySymphony]

I'd need a bit more info to give you some thoughts. You didn't mention, for example, if you're staying with the Mouse and have dinner ressies in a Park. The obvious slant being: if you're already in a Park... grab some attractions. If you're on property and have plenty of Park Pass Days, the same goes... But, if you are either staying outside or having dinner somewhere outside a Park, or are not interested in burning a day without getting your bang, then I'd suggest something similar to what we have done so often- We'd pull in before lunch, walk the grounds and settle in. Take a swim, have a cold one and "be" the vacation. Later, we usually had ressies for O'hana (a family fave) and took the long way there... Bus to MK, Monorail to Poly, have dinner, watch Fireworks across the Lagoon, take a Water Launch back to MK and bus back home. Just a different kinda "day one"....

[kemps@wdw]

Since we usually drive in (12-14 hrs), our arrival time is around 4-5 pm. So, our 1st night is spent in DTD at one of the hotels there. A light supper, and a stroll around helps stretch our legs after being in a vehicle that long. Also, gives me an opportunity to get most of my shopping done. And then, early to bed and early to rise. Check in @ our resort around 7-7:30 am, (to get our preferred accomodations), check our luggage, and off to our chosen park for the morning!:thumbsup:

[LudwigVonDrake]

I take the earliest flight out. Hopefully get into my room. Eat something at the hotel and then head off to the parks :mickey:

[LVT]

Tickets are cheap after you have 5 days and up to the 10 day limit. If you can add 1 day for a pittance it would be hard not to go a park.

[finaldynasty]

My family usually arrives around noon and after we put our things in our room...we get our bearings, grab lunch, go to the pool, go to DTD, have dinner and turn in around 9:30 pm to have an early day at the parks. We usually leave our room around 7:15am like the kids are going to school so we catch the EMH. Just my 2 cents...:mickey:

[Jennifer_and_Chris]

On our last trip, we had Ohana ADR's for 6:45pm. We drove down and were doing great on time. Until we hit a major accident 1.5 hours away from WDW. It took us over an hour to go 5 miles. We got to our ressies at 6:55 but, we were all sweaty, checked into our Treehouse but, didn't get a second to rest. We had planned on getting to the resort about 3-4pm.

We won't be doing that again!

We plan on checking in when we check-in. We are staying at AKL and hope to explore the resort, have dinner at Mara and/or go to DTD for dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express or Earl of Sandwich.

If we eat at AKL, we will probably just unpack, get ready for the next day and take in the wonderful resort that is AKL.

When it was just DH and I, we would check in, eat and run to the nearest park. "Run" to the nearest park means something TOTALLY different timewise when a 5 and 2 year old are involved!:thumbsup:

[WVParkfan]

We almost never go to a park on the first day, because we like to get organized. Plus, our kids love to go swimming.

We try to arrive around 4pm to check in. We like to unpack and get settled in our room, and then we like to explore our resort. We usually have dinner at the Boardwalk, and then return to our resort to swim. Then it's off to be early so we can be up early for AM EMH at our first park the next morning.

[mjm12000]

Because it takes us about 7 to 71/2 hours to fly there we leave as early as possible to arrive usually in the late afternoon or early evening. We usually get all checked in, then head for the Magic Kingdom and stay until close, we then go back to the resort and if it is somewhere we have not stayed before we usually do a quick walking tour so we get to know our way around before heading to bed for the night... usually this is very late, but luckily I am an early riser so getting up the next day is not hard.

[eeyorepoohfan]

If I was able to get to WDW by around noon, I think I would definately go to a park. And for me, I always have to go to the Magic Kingdom for the first park of our trip. I would settle into your hotel room, if it's ready, get cleaned up if needed, then head out. I don't have the opportunity to get to WDW that early in the day due to flight times out of our airport and connections (no direct here). So we can't get to our hotel until around 3 or 4PM. We then check-in, get cleaned up in our room and unpack. Plus, the MVMCP was going on that night, causing the Magic Kingdom to close at 7PM. My hubby and I toured the monorail hotels, Wilderness Lodge, then went to DTD. We did learn that we need to stop to eat dinner a lot sooner than 9PM!!! We ran out of steam! But we grabbed a salad and sandwich at Earl of Sandwich and were able to explore DTD until 11PM, when they closed. But as I mentioned, if I got to my hotel around lunch time, and the parks are open late enough, I would head to a park that day!! I'm all about getting as much park time as possible! :mickey:

[jonahbear2006]

we usually go straight to the parks and try to be there for emh, so we get there around 7, check in and go to the park with emh, however, this time we will have a newborn. I am expecting to spend the first half of the day by the pool, waiting on our family to arrive who wont fly in till about noon, getting there prob around 2pm. We always go to Magic Kingdom the first day though. The kids have been in the car for 19 hrs and they want nothing more than to see the castle and ride their favorite rides.