Park on travel days?

[Cbh02b]

Hello! My Disney agent just informed me of some discounts for our dates. We are staying 4 days in the parks. The upgrade is for club level rooms and an extra park day ticket. Would you go to the park on a travel day? She was suggesting we use the extra park day ticket to visit a park before we head out to the airport. Would you or have you done this with little ones? We will have a 2 yr old and a almost 5 yr old. Thanks for any insight!

 

[momma2ethan]

Really depends on your flight time. For example, if departure is at noon, Magical Express pick up will be at 9am or a little before. Doesn't make sense to even try to go to a park. If your departure time is 7PM, DME pick up will be closer to 4pm which would leave you a decent amount of park time. We live on the west coast so our arrival time is always in the evening but I book the last flight possible home to give us that extra touring time since we gain 3 hours coming home. Our last trip we had a 7:20pm departure and went to MK. We got there shortly after opening and left at 3 to get back to the resort for our DME ride.

 

[SweetMissy]

Yeah it depends on the time. If the flight isn't leaving until evening, then maybe.

 

[littlbugmom]

We typically don't visit parks on travel days. Tried it once when the kids were younger and we didn't like it. Felt too rushed and busy after the flight, airports and car rental. Now that they are older, I think we'd be fine but they are creatures of habit and want that travel day to relax, unpack and hit the pool. So, that's how we plan it.

That said, if we were given an extra day, I wouldn't waste it! We always book early arrival flights so an evening in a park is the way I'd go.

I don't think I'd like a park day before flying home, though. Too much before hitting the airport. We always book late departure flights and spend the early afternoon at Disney Springs. It's relaxing and still gives us a Disney feeling before heading home.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Hello! My Disney agent just informed me of some discounts for our dates. We are staying 4 days in the parks. The upgrade is for club level rooms and an extra park day ticket. Would you go to the park on a travel day? She was suggesting we use the extra park day ticket to visit a park before we head out to the airport. Would you or have you done this with little ones? We will have a 2 yr old and a almost 5 yr old. Thanks for any insight!

If you don't know this, if you're starting CL you have access to the club level lounge the entire day of check-in and check-out. This can be very helpful for arriving super-early (well before check-in) or leaving late (well after check-out). Some CL lounges have convenient restrooms which is very helpful with little ones.

We stay CL and almost always book a flight that arrives very very early. We either swim or go to a park for a bit until the room is ready. As DS has gotten older (and doesn't need to nap) I've been booking later flights home as well to get more use out of the final day, be it in a park or just swimming at the resort.

Things are a bit tougher with a 2 year old... the more hours either on arrival/departure day you don't have a home (room), that can wear on your a bit, IMHO.

 

[kamerino]

It really depends on your departure time, but my daughter and I often do a park on our departure day. For us, it's usually a run to Epcot to ride a final Spaceship Earth and grab lunch in France and a snow cone in Japan before returning to Miami. Last time, we enjoyed Animal Kingdom so much that we used our travel day to go back there and go on an early morning Safari and walk a couple of more trails (she also wanted to finish up her Wilderness Explorer book). It's up to you, you know your family best, but it works for us and we always have a blast that last day revisiting that vacation's "favorites" one last time!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

It really depends on your departure time, but my daughter and I often do a park on our departure day. For us, it's usually a run to Epcot to ride a final Spaceship Earth and grab lunch in France and a snow cone in Japan before returning to Miami. Last time, we enjoyed Animal Kingdom so much that we used our travel day to go back there and go on an early morning Safari and walk a couple of more trails (she also wanted to finish up her Wilderness Explorer book). It's up to you, you know your family best, but it works for us and we always have a blast that last day revisiting that vacations "favorites" one last time!

I love this post!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I agree with the others. It really depends on when your flight time is (DME will pick you up about 3 hours prior to your flight) and how tired you are from the rest of your trip. Personally, if you are on the fence, I would keep the tickets as is and decide at the resort if you want to add that extra day or not. I'm a little confused about your reference to the discount and an upgrade. Did your agent find a discount and then upsell you to a higher room category and extra ticket? Is there a discount that was applicable to your existing reservation so you could actually save money instead of taking the upgrade?

 

[Allie B]

I personally like to spend time at and enjoy my resort the last day before flying out. It would be too stressful for me with young children to try and do a park. My daughter was 5 on our last trip and she wanted to swim in resort pool one last time bf leaving. Disney springs is also a good option before heading out if that is not in your plans already.

 

[monorailsilver]

I don't and won't. My travel days consist of me sitting by the pool and relaxing before or after the flight.

Last time DME picked us up at 4. I did laundry at 6am (yeah so relaxing but I was up), DH packed it when he got up and sent me to the pool to get our spot for the day. The kids eventually woke up and came out. He finished packing the room, got me and I made the kids sit at the table (oldest was going into 7th grade and had a phone) while DH and I grabbed the luggage and brought it to bell services. And then we hung out in pooltil 3, got changed and went to that awful meeting place and hopped on that awful bus.

 

[scrapquitler]

Hello! My Disney agent just informed me of some discounts for our dates. We are staying 4 days in the parks. The upgrade is for club level rooms and an extra park day ticket. Would you go to the park on a travel day? She was suggesting we use the extra park day ticket to visit a park before we head out to the airport. Would you or have you done this with little ones? We will have a 2 yr old and a almost 5 yr old. Thanks for any insight!

We always do. We usually arrive early in the day (before noon) and depart on the last flight of the night (around 7 or 8 pm).

 

[cheerguin]

We usually do not go to a park on travel days. We fly out of upstate NY so I'm hesitant to even book an ADR on arrival day. On departure day, we have gone to Disney Springs for a little while in the morning. I think it all depends on the timing of flights. I currently have a 5 and 7 yr old and we've been going to wdw for the past 4 years.

 

[kmann31]

As stated above, it depends on when your flight is leaving. If you have the time to do it and have hung out at the hotel enough, I recommend it! For us, that last travel day is great for when my kid gets courage to do a ride that he didn't want to do originally, or for us to ride three caballeros for the 50th time that trip since-for some reason-it is my sons favorite ride. My kids are the same age and are used to getting up and moving early to hit the parks and then we relax in the afternoon. But if this would be out of the norm for your kids, might just run around and explore the hotel a bit more before you head out.

 

[Mousemommy1]

If we have a flight leaving around 5 pm or later, we typically will hit at least one park on our travel date.

 

[mco65]

Arrival day, YES
Departure day, NO

We have done departure day once, it rained... bad idea..
When we fly (usually) we fly EARLY as possible both ways because we non rev and the earliest flights are the easiest to get on..

I think that if i were there for a short trip (4 days) and had a late (7pm) flight home.. i would have no issues with heading out to the park that morning.. Just pack the night before (who doesn't do that anyway) and give your bags to the bell hop in the AM to hold them and head out..

On longer trips 7-8 days.. i am ready to go home.. pooped if you will.. no more parks, please!

 

[Canooknic]

Our DME pick up is usually around 3 or 4 so we pack, leave our bags with Bell services and head to the parks for a last ride and lunch before heading home.
Usually we get to Epcot for opening and hit Soarin', grab an early lunch in WS and then head to MK for one last spin on Buzz.
We pick up cupcakes/snacks at the bakery and then head back to POR to wait for the dreaded bus

 

[twinmom2012]

We have done MK on departure day with a late Direct flight home. We are doing the same this next trip. On arrival day we have a morning direct flight and I have Fast Passes booked at Epcot in Future world. My plan is to spend the 3-4 hours at the park and then relaxing at the hotel for Dinner and an early bed time. On departure day we have an 8pm direct flight home and I have a BOG reservation for lunch and Fast passes to see the princesses and It's a small world before lunch. This lets us enjoy some last minute magic before we have to go home. We have 5 year old twins and our Moms traveling with us so it is easier to get a couple extra park days and spread out our itinerary so we feel are less rushed since we have to walk a little slower.

 

[AshleeH]

As others have said, it depends on arrival time. We got there around noon on our last trip and went to two parks that day. This time, I'm driving straight through and might get there by the time Wishes goes off.

 

[Shrfleen]

I like to arrive early when I travel but our cousin will be going to school on our check in day so we will not do a park that day. We will use that day to learn about the resort and prep for the next few days. We could go to the park on check out day but I think we are just going to unwind before we get on the plane.