Arriving a night early

Hi Everyone.

We are thinking about flying in the night before our scheduled vacation. We were thinking it would be nice to take the late 8pm flight since at this point we are already awake and it will be easier for our DS who is 4 years old. We dont want to do the 330am shuffle to the airport which pretty much drags the entire first couple days with extra exhaustion.

So my question to everyone is this... If we come in a night early we were thinking it would be nice to spend the night somewhere cheaper than the disney hotel since we will be missing th entire day anyway. We were leaning on a couple options but are not familiaer with any hotels or know anyone else who may have done this. Would it make sense to get a cheap hotel room near the airport and then take a shuttle back to the airport in the morning to use DME? or does it make sense to stay in a Downtown Disney area hotel? We are staying at POFQ so I guess we could take the boat from DD to POFQ? Do they even allow luggage on the boat? Beter yet, is it even reasonable to lug luggage through DD to the boat?

I just cant see spending $150 to add a night at POFQ for the convenience of waking up there, either way we will be in Florida and only have to get to the resort, much nicer then dealing with the airport so early in the morning.

Thank you so much for reading this long winded question! :mickey:

Is staying at Pop Century or one of the All-Star Resorts an option? They're pretty cheap (though not as cheap as off-site hotels) and Disney, so you know the quality is going to be high.

Plus, you'd be able to take Disney's Magical Express to the hotel. I'd pick up my luggage at baggage claim and put them under the DME bus since you'd be getting in late and leaving the next morning.

Also, I think, but don't know for certain, that Disney hotels will transfer your luggage to another Disney hotel for you. That way, you could check out of Pop, have your luggage transferred, take a cab to POFQ (or bus to DTD and boat to POFQ), check in and head out to the parks nice and early. Then, when you get back to POFQ you can pick up your luggage (not sure if they'll deliver it to your room for you) and head to your room.

Last fall we had the same questions for our group, which included several children. I was trying to work out an inexpensive way to get from the airport to the off property hotel near DTD, where I had already booked our "night before". When I read a post here that suggested staying at an on property value resort that night, I checked into it, and it was actually cheaper than the discounted rate I had booked for off property, and we still got to use DME. For our group, it worked out really well. However, the latest any of us arrived was late afternoon, so the 30 min DME ride wasn't a problem. If you would be arriving late in the evening, it may be easier on your family to stay nearer the airport. I'm not sure how DME would work the next morning, though, since they schedule your ride based on your flight. Hopefully someone else will know what to do in that case.

As for taking luggage through DTD and onto the boat to get to POFQ if you stay off property, it sounds like "an adventure";) , but maybe one I wouldn't want? It would probably be worth the cab fare to POFQ, and would be much quicker, too.

Have a wonderful trip and let us know how it works out for you :mickey:

We have always arrived before our package begins because we want to start our Disney trip refreshed and ready to go, so good choice.

We have always added a room only night on to our current package and never thought anything of it...paying too much to do so. Kathy at Magical Journeys said that she is going to try to roll everything into one package I would speak to them to see if there is anything they can do for you...they are great!!

If not then I would say a room at Pop or All Stars would be good too.

We had a 10 day hopper last time we were in WDW with reservations offsite. (Timeshare Dec.07) and stayed at a $50 dollar/nite hotel the day before checkin and the day after check out so that we could take full advantage of our tickets. After driving 14 hrs from NC, it allowed us to get a good nights sleep and head to the parks the next morning fresh and ready to go. Just make sure you know what kind of hotel your paying for. The night after check out we stayed in a hotel that was nasty!!

We're actually trying this for the first time this year. We're staying near the airport (my DH travels a lot for business, so we are using reward points for this night). Since we're renting a car I wasn't concerned about ME. Hopefully everything will work out fine.

Thank you everyone for the usual great and speedy feedback. I think we are going to go ahead and book Pop Century for the night, it is about $70 cheaper then POFQ, that makes me feel good. We will arrange for them to transfer our bags and then we will head off to DTD for breakfast, then take the boat to POFQ and check in. for ten fun filled days!!!

Thank you again for all your wonderful feedback. If anyone does do this and has an expereince they want to share that would be great, always up to different ideas.

This sounds like a great plan!
However I would keep my eyes open just in case a fantastic room only rate comes up which would bring the POFQ price down and you would not have to do the transfer. Just a thought.
You are staying on grounds either way, in my eyes, your vacation got an early start! :dance:

We've done this the past few years. It's a great way to explore the other Disney resort to see where else you might want to stay.

We always drive to WDW, and we have stayed offsite for our first night several times when we are arriving after 10pm. I usually find a really cheap hotel just outside WDW on 192 for about $50 for the 4 of us. We get up early (6am) the next morning, drive all of 5 minutes into WDW, check into our WDW resort, leave our bags and catch one of the first buses to the park of our choice and we are there by park opening. It's great to check in really early, no waiting, even if the room isn't ready.

BUT, If I were flying into Orlando, I'd really check into staying the first night at a WDW value resort, since you'd get to use DME, and that would be a huge convenience to me.

Great plan. We do this on pretty much every trip. We can never wait until our "official" arrival date and always leave home early. We usually stay at Pop or Allstars. It doesn't make alot of sense to pay almost as much at a hotel in Orlando which might save you $20-30 and not have the Disney atmosphere. Also you know what you are getting with Disney which is safety, cleanliness, and the ability to make it right if something goes wrong. We always love that first night and usually spend it at DTD, exploring the resort, swimming, shopping, or occasionally at a park.:thumbsup:

we have learned that the day we fly in-- we are pretty useless. we have tried to go to parks but we wind up tired and cranky. so we don't even count our first day there.

kate

You could always stay at a value like Pop for the night. I think if you stay at a disney resort they will transfer the luggage for you but if they do, make sure you have some stuff with you for the day. We stayed at some hotels in DTD like the Hilton and we stayed at the Wyndham Palace Resort & Spa which was like 88 dollars a night. You could always have dinner at DTD and relax at your resort pool for a little while. We usually get a 7 or 8 am flight and then stay up all day. But the next day I'm usually shot but we don;t stay for many nights so we try to do the most each night until I collapse.

Last year and this year coming up we took a later flight...last year we got in about 830pm and this year about 730pm - we do like booking the night at our resort - we like to get in, unpacked and stop at the general store to get some drinks for the week. I love not havin the hassle of changing hotels. We do the dining plan and since last year we got in late and did not have dinner - we did a signature dinner another night...worked out well for us. I wouldnt recommend switching hotels....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by brian2000boston

Thank you everyone for the usual great and speedy feedback. I think we are going to go ahead and book Pop Century for the night, it is about $70 cheaper then POFQ, that makes me feel good. We will arrange for them to transfer our bags and then we will head off to DTD for breakfast, then take the boat to POFQ and check in. for ten fun filled days!!!

Thank you again for all your wonderful feedback. If anyone does do this and has an expereince they want to share that would be great, always up to different ideas.

---

If you stay on site you can still use DME. They will bring them to where ever you stay the first night. You can leave word with bell services to keep them at bell services and then get them transfered to your new resort in the morning. We did this for our last trip and it worked out really well. We were still able to use DME, just packed our first night things in the carry on. Just a suggestion for you.
Have a great trip!!!:mickey:

update:

Ok so as you all know things change fast around a Disney vacation :mickey:

So we went ahead and booked the night at our current resort. We decided the hassle of moving and feeling rushed was going to be undisney for us, so we decided to not be cheap :blush: and add the extra night, with the value of the free dining that night gives us brings the cost of $167 /night to $77 which was cheaper then going to a value resort. We love the idea of going to a signature dining one night and having those credits may not be a bad thing.

As always thanks for the great input, it really shaped us in making our decision!

We did this and stayed at a hotel right next to DTD and it was cheap. I can't remember the name off hand. We rented a car for the night and then the next day we drove to our hotel returned the car there and went on our merry way.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by brian2000boston

update:

Ok so as you all know things change fast around a Disney vacation :mickey:

So we went ahead and booked the night at our current resort. We decided the hassle of moving and feeling rushed was going to be undisney for us, so we decided to not be cheap :blush: and add the extra night, with the value of the free dining that night gives us brings the cost of $167 /night to $77 which was cheaper then going to a value resort. We love the idea of going to a signature dining one night and having those credits may not be a bad thing.

As always thanks for the great input, it really shaped us in making our decision!

---

Like you we fly in a little bit later. We take the Magical Express to our resort. We pack our swimsuits in our carryon and anything we will need right away. Then we go out for nice dinner at DTD or one of the resort restaurants. We ride the monorail. We love it all the first night. You will too!! Have a great trip.

Brian, I think you have a good plan. Once we took the late flight from Boston and stayed at a cheap hotel near the airport. The shuttle from the cheap hotel back to the airport was hourly, so we had to rush to make sure we did not miss that. Never again. It just wasn't worth it.

We don't mind taking the early flight out, but we're early birds.