Second Guessing Arrival Day Plans

[MagicSoup]

We just got back a few weeks ago from taking our kids for the 1st time (6yr, 4yr and 2yr).
My kids wanted nothing to do with relaxing on arrival day. They were so amped up with excitement so we did Epcot for half a day but still called it an early evening. It cost only $40 and was totally worth it. I got us fp for FEA so we rode that, had dinner at Biergarten (a place that it was cool that they were loud and they danced to get some excitement out) and we called it an early evening. It was just an enough taste of the parks to get them ready for the rest of our vacation.
We are going again this winter and I have a similar plan. A low key half day at the park with only 1 fp and a dinner. If we ride more than 1 ride, awesome. If not, that is cool too.

I'm thinking he might be pretty amped up and that's my husband's prediction too. Adding a day to our tickets is definitely tempting (although my husband laughed at me like I was kidding when I suggested it) and would be less money than Chef Mickey's. It looks like we can only upgrade our tickets in person (which is good since we can wait until we see how travel goes to decide). It also looks like you can only make fastpasses for the number of days on your ticket, which means that if I made just in case fastpasses for arrival day I wouldn't be able to make them for another day we are definitely planning on being in the parks. Does anyone know what wait times are like to meet Mickey at Magic Kingdom in the early evenings?

Travel days can be quite unpredictable, so, IMHO, I would drop CM altogether in case something happens (flight delay, meltdown, etc.). If Raglan Road is non-negotiable, I would make a reservation for your arrival day on opentable.com and not through the WDW site. You can reserve on opentable without a cc hold and can cancel day-of without penalty. That way, you can arrive at your resort and then decide what you are up for - head to DS and go to Raglan Road, go to the Lego Store (the giant Disney lego sculptures are amazing!), go to World of Disney or head over to MK to ride the monorail, grab a QS meal (or a TS if something is available day of!), go to the Poly or add a day to your tickets and head to a park! I find having an ADR on arrival day to be quite stressful so we always arrive and then go from there. We can then hit the ground running with our ADR's, etc. the next day.

Opentable is a great suggestion! I'll check that out! Lego Store is on the list for when we go to Disney Springs. They still have a selection of ear hats at World of Disney, right? Maybe let him pick something out that he can wear during the trip!

Chef Mickey late lunch or dinner would be disaster without going into MK with most of my grandkids. to be that close to the park and not go in would be a meltdown in the making. the monorail ride would make it worse as they could really see in the park but not go in. I would get the extra day do your FP+ rides and maybe a train ride. maybe a counter serve dinner. bribe with a pool swim to leave early well before parade and fireworks. that is what works with our grandkids

It's been a while so I didn't remember that you can see into the park from the resort monorail. I think where he doesn't know anything yet we could explain it without a meltdown, but something to consider!

I think Chef Mickeys above Raglan Road if you are trying to choose between the two situations. I am also an advocate though of having a low key arrival day. Who knows what type of naps will or won't happen on the plane?? Maybe just get situated, go swimming, check out the playgrounds, eat at the food court, and get plenty of rest for the next day!!

Chef Mickey's does sound more magical for a four year old, but definitely not lowkey!

After getting up early and traveling with two little ones I would let them swim in the pool, eat lunch in the Pop quick service, and get a nap. It's also fun to take a walk around the Pop Resort and then over the bridge to Art of Annimation to see all the themed icon statues. A four year old might like Rain Forest Cafe or T-Rex for dinner at Disney Springs.

I really like the idea of walking over to Art of Animation! My husband and I have stayed at Pop before and we would probably enjoy exploring over there as well!

We've learned through experience to use the first day to decompress. Your 4yo may insist he wants to go straight into the park, but stay strong! Don't give into the temptation!

Here's our plan for November. I'll already be down in Orlando for board meetings, so I'll wake up and check out of my hotel at DS and go to Beach Club to drop my bags and get us checked in. I'll then meet my wife and kids (DS4 and DD2) at the airport and take the Magical Express with them back to Beach Club. Depending on the weather and how the kids are doing, we'll either wander around or let them swim. They'll either nap in the stroller during a walk, or in the room if one opens up early enough, then it's dinner at Boardwalk around 5:15 and an early bedtime for the fun to begin the next day.

I'm a planner, so it's tough for me to just play it by ear, but trust me, it'll turn out better in the long run.

I'm right there with you with the planning! I know that with my kids ages that playing it by ear is probably the best "plan" but it's so hard to resist making the best strategy to maximize our time. The fastpass+ system is killing me, having to decide what time we want to go on rides 60 days out is sending me into overactive planning mode.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

When my kiddos were little we always relaxed by the pool on arrival day because flying can sometimes be exhausting!! Especially if there are delays or unpredictable things can happen. I would hang by the pool ang get an early dinner somewhere.
As someone else said there will be plenty of Disney Magic maybe even overload for little ones.
Have a great trip!!

 

[MagicSoup]

I think if you are eating at Raglan Road one day anyways arrival day is perfect. There is much to see at DS, I really think may 4 yr old would love the playing at the Lego store, just walking by T-Rex and the WOD store

Raglan Road is either arrival day or our scheduled day off from the parks with Chef Mickey's being on the opposite day if we do it. If we forego Chef Mickey's altogether then I think arrival day dinner will be Earl of Sandwich and a big sundae at Ghiradelli's!

 

[MagicSoup]

When my kiddos were little we always relaxed by the pool on arrival day because flying can sometimes be exhausting!! Especially if there are delays or unpredictable things can happen. I would hang by the pool ang get an early dinner somewhere.
As someone else said there will be plenty of Disney Magic maybe even overload for little ones.
Have a great trip!!

It would be terrible to start off on the wrong foot, which is what started my second guessing to begin with!

If we decide not to do Chef Mickey's I'll make sure to talk up something special about arrival day so he understands it won't be straight to the rides and things. Unfortunately, my guy is just beginning to get over a fear of the water so I don't see pool time being much of a draw.

 

[tami82]

Try and see if you can get earlier reservations. You would have to check very often for cancellations but they do happen or sometimes times open up closer to the trip.

 

[monorailsilver]

Oh no! My kids will typically fall asleep in the car so I was banking on them napping at some point during our travels. Rushing is never fun.

My kids always fell asleep in the car...and woke up as I got home...sigh..

When we took our oldest, she was 15 mo old. She still napped, actually I stopped her am nap on that trip. We had an afternoon flight, 1pm. Do you think she passed out? Nope. When we landed at about 4-5 and were on DME she fell asleep. Luckily she went to bed that night with out a problem.

 

[MagicSoup]

My kids always fell asleep in the car...and woke up as I got home...sigh..

When we took our oldest, she was 15 mo old. She still napped, actually I stopped her am nap on that trip. We had an afternoon flight, 1pm. Do you think she passed out? Nope. When we landed at about 4-5 and were on DME she fell asleep. Luckily she went to bed that night with out a problem.

Fall asleep for the 10 minutes in the car and no nap for the rest of the day All too familiar. I'm glad we're getting in early so that if they fall asleep anywhere along the journey there should be little risk of disrupting bed time.

I can do my best to predict what will happen, but at their ages who knows what nap time will look like in 3 months?

 

[MagicSoup]

Try and see if you can get earlier reservations. You would have to check very often for cancellations but they do happen or sometimes times open up closer to the trip.

Must have hit the site at just the right time and got a 5:45 pm for arrival day for Chef Mickey's!

Still need to decide if it's the best choice for us since you all had some awesome suggestions for other things to do on arrival day, but at least this time will have us doing a lot less rushing if we decide to go that way!

 

[BoatDriver]

Speaking of our arrival plans, I spent a good portion of last night on the phone with a rep from American Airlines. I know I said in a previous post that I was going to remain flexible, but they darn near pushed me over the edge yesterday.

I received an email from them around 7:00pm last night, politely telling me that our 8:00am flight due to arrive in Orlando at 1:00pm was no longer being offered, so they graciously re-booked everyone on an 11:30 flight that stopped for two hours in Charlotte and landed in Orlando at 7:00pm.

I can't even imagine what that day would be like if we put the kids on an airplane just before nap time and, after two hours in the craziness that is Charlotte, didn't get them into the resort until bed time. Suffice to say that would NOT be a good start to the vacation. Not to mention, we already have reservations and I'm already there on business just waiting for the wife & kids to arrive. Could you imagine my wife's face when she steps off the plane with two hungry, sleep-deprived hellions, knowing I've spent the day waiting for them beside Storm Along Bay?

In the end, the representative from American was great. She kept apologizing for putting me on hold, but I continually assured her that if she could fix this, I'd happily stay on the phone with her all night. Turns out they didn't actually eliminate our flight, they just assigned it a new flight number, and the American computer system, in all its brilliance, decided to re-book us on a later flight instead of just changing us over to the one that took its place under a new number.

 

[forevertrueblue]

I'd say skip dining reservations altogether on arrival day so you don't feel obligated to go anywhere. We always do parks on the day we get there but if you know you\ll be tempted by fireworks I'd suggest staying at your resort for the day or checking out Disney Springs.

 

[MagicSoup]

Speaking of our arrival plans, I spent a good portion of last night on the phone with a rep from American Airlines. I know I said in a previous post that I was going to remain flexible, but they darn near pushed me over the edge yesterday.

I received an email from them around 7:00pm last night, politely telling me that our 8:00am flight due to arrive in Orlando at 1:00pm was no longer being offered, so they graciously re-booked everyone on an 11:30 flight that stopped for two hours in Charlotte and landed in Orlando at 7:00pm.

I can't even imagine what that day would be like if we put the kids on an airplane just before nap time and, after two hours in the craziness that is Charlotte, didn't get them into the resort until bed time. Suffice to say that would NOT be a good start to the vacation. Not to mention, we already have reservations and I'm already there on business just waiting for the wife & kids to arrive. Could you imagine my wife's face when she steps off the plane with two hungry, sleep-deprived hellions, knowing I've spent the day waiting for them beside Storm Along Bay?

In the end, the representative from American was great. She kept apologizing for putting me on hold, but I continually assured her that if she could fix this, I'd happily stay on the phone with her all night. Turns out they didn't actually eliminate our flight, they just assigned it a new flight number, and the American computer system, in all its brilliance, decided to re-book us on a later flight instead of just changing us over to the one that took its place under a new number.

I think that situation would push anyone to the limit of their flexibility! I don't think I'd personally want to do our short 3 hour direct flight with both kids by myself, let alone an all day affair with a two hour layover. Glad you were able to fix it (especially for your wife's sake), but how silly that it was even something that happened to begin with!

 

[scrapquitler]

First....You can't ride the monorail to Pop, it does not go there. Second, while Chief Mickey is a MUCH better dining choice for a 4 year old, I would be concerned that min-afternoon travel day would be meltdown tired time for your little ones. I would consider checking into your room, grab lunch at the resort, and if your room is ready, rest or grab a nap and them have or make plans for an early dinner. You could do Chief Mickey for an early dinner after a rest or nap or something in DS, maybe without a reservation. The kids would love the lego store and the world of disney store. You can also add a park day to your tickets for very little more, maybe do the afternoon, evening at Epcot. kids really do enjoy WS when they don't know what they are missing somewhere else!

I read this as "eat at Chef Mickeys, then ride the monorail loop around, then head back to the hotel." Not "ride the monorail to Pop".