Late-Night Arrival

[MrPeetrie]

How many of you arrive late (very late) to check-in on Disney property. What are your thoughts?

We always spend the night before a trip at a hotel near the airport. We wake early (before 3 am,) dress, use a shuttle, and take a 6 am flight to Orlando. Then Magical Express to resort. Change. Bus to Animal Kingdom and lunch at Rainforest Cafe. We've been using this formula for a while. For next trip, wife wants a change. Instead of spending night at Hotel by airport, she wants us to take a late flight to Orlando and spend that night on property. That way, we wake up in Disney World fresh and ready to go on first full day with "pressure" if travel behind us. We would be arriving in Orlando after 8 pm. What do you think?

[Jeff]

We have done first day/ travel day both ways. Last Febuary, because of flights n work, we did not arrive into Orlando until midnight. With Magical Express and online check in we were at Pop and in our room by 1:00 am and ready for a day at WDW in the morning. Although I would prefer to not be that late at check in it is great to be all set in the morning. One draw back was we had to have 2 different "reservations"; first night was room only, then in morning a quick stop at the desk to settle the "package" reservation. They were able to keep us in the same room.

[faline]

We've had early arrivals and late arrivals. We've stayed at the airport near home the night before and taken an early flight; we've gone straight to the airport day of travel and taken an early flight; and gone straight to the airport for a late flight.

Personally, I would rather not have a very late arrival at the Florida airport. By time we get settled in our room and get some sleep, it doesn't feel like we've got much of a head start on a full Disney day. I typically do better if we fly early and arrive at our resort by lunch or early afternoon.

On our next trip, we're changing things up a bit - we will have a late flight to Orlando but will spend the first night in an Orlando area hotel before shuttling back to the airport for transfer to Disney.

[Imalismom]

Through a horrible mix up with our airlines, we did not arrive at our resort one evening until after 9pm... we were extremely tired - but after a good nights sleep, we were up and ready to go the next morning. I'd say go for it. But I would also do it in two reservations, if you have more than a room only reservation.

[Genie1953]

We usually take an early flight and are at our Disney resort by 11:30am. We never go to the parks the first day. We head to Disney springs for lunch and a little shopping and then go back to the resort for a much needed rest. We head out later for dinner at Disney springs or one of the resort hotels and then back to the resort to turn in early. That way we are refreshed and ready to hit the parks the next day. Also taking that early flight gives us some wiggle room if there is a problem with the flight.

[MissionDisney]

We travel from the north and have gone to WDW multiple ways (via driving or by airplane). We have driven straight through roughly 18-19 hours and got to the resort at 10:00-11:00pm, as well as stopped in GA to stay the night, grab breakfast, and were at the resort by noon. We have flown early morning mostly. We are flying this December and will not get to the resort until almost midnight so we do not have to take the kids out of school.

We basically look at cost first. How much is the monetary impact? We determine is it worth the extra $ to stay on site. In our opinion, it usually is. We prefer to get as much travel out of the way as we can, so it does not feel like you are losing part of your Vacation the next day dealing with check-in etc... We are also switching hotels this trip. When we arrive we are in AKL just to sleep the first night and are moving to POR. The resort will move our bags, so we just are going to sleep and go.

Our next strategy is to plan our next day accordingly. We plan a breakfast at the hotel, enjoy the pool/resort for a bit depending on the season, or make a late breakfast reservation at a park to give everyone a chance to get their bearings from the travel night before. By the afternoon, we are in full Vacation mode and ready to go. We will enjoy AK the next day, and grab the bus at the park to our next Hotel where our bags will be waiting.

Good Luck.. Hope this is insightful..

2008 - Poly
2009 - POP / Wilderness
2010 - Animal / Contemp.
2011 - Beach Club
2012 - Port Orl. River
- Animal
2013 - Boardwalk / Baylake Twr.
- Old Key
2014 - Animal
- Boardwalk
2015 - Wilderness
- Art of Animation
2016 - Poly
- Beach Club later this year...