Arrival Day and MK for just a couple hours

Jessirip

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 12, 2016
On our arrival day, I'm planning to take our time checking into All Star Sports, giving the kids a little pool time, and making our 5:15 ADR at Chef Mickey's our first venture out. Thinking we will walk from the MK bus stop to the Contemporary.

After dinner, planning to hop the monorail (I know the kids will want to after seeing it during dinner) over to MK and guessing we'll be there around 7:00 and staying for the fireworks. Any thoughts on what to do between 7-9? The kids are 6 & 3, so we're not going to go crazy running around. We are also planning 2 more full MK days (with afternoon breaks).

I almost didn't even bother with a ticket for this first day, but the package price made it a non-issue. Thank you for any thoughts and inspiration! :)
 
That sounds like a very intensive first day for young ones. I'm impressed! We're thinking of going to Epcot our first day so we made fast passes to meet Mickey at the character spot and I picked two nearby rides. If I were you I would probably meet Mickey and use the railroad to tour the park and maybe go on a ride near one of the stations.

Are you planning a later start the next day? Just curious because I'm not sure how my two will do if we stay up late.
 
I agree if you could get a FP to Mickey in Town Square, that would be a great start.
Then maybe take the full railroad trip. Then find a spot for the fireworks and maybe get a snack.
 


We had a 3 hour visit to MK our first day and I really wanted their first ride to be Peter Pan so we had that as our first fastpass then 2 more fastapsses in Fantasyland.

If you are meeting Mickey at dinner not sure I'd use a FP to meet him again even if it is the talking one.
 
What time are you planning on arriving at your resort?

At MK, you probably want to be finding your spot for HEA well before 9. Like 30 mins or much more if you are really picky about where you want to be in front of the castle.

When I need to kill some time at MK, PeopleMover and COP are my go to spots.

You probably know this but you’re not likely to get back to your resort until well past 10pm, just FYI.
 
I would also book a few FPs for the time you’ll be in the park. What could it hurt? If you don’t use them no biggie.

My choices for little folks would be Peter Pan, Mickey’s Philharmagic and Pooh. I would also take a trip around the park on the train as a pp suggested. And the Peoplemover is a great first ride IMO.

We always hit the MK on arrival day if only for a few hours. The first thing we do is head up to the train station platform and just look down Main Street to the castle for a bit. :cloud9:
 


That sounds like a very intensive first day for young ones. I'm impressed! We're thinking of going to Epcot our first day so we made fast passes to meet Mickey at the character spot and I picked two nearby rides. If I were you I would probably meet Mickey and use the railroad to tour the park and maybe go on a ride near one of the stations.

Are you planning a later start the next day? Just curious because I'm not sure how my two will do if we stay up late.

Hmm. Too much? I was hoping some down time at the resort before Chef Mickeys would help. Maybe even a snooze if we can check in early. And yrs the next day the plan is to sleep in. We have an ADR at Crystal Palace for 12:15.

What time are you planning on arriving at your resort?

At MK, you probably want to be finding your spot for HEA well before 9. Like 30 mins or much more if you are really picky about where you want to be in front of the castle.

When I need to kill some time at MK, PeopleMover and COP are my go to spots.

You probably know this but you’re not likely to get back to your resort until well past 10pm, just FYI.

Thank you! Our flight gets in about 1, so figured we'd arrive by 2:00-2:30? And we're coming from central time so counting on a late night being not too bad. If they are done we won't force it.

The train is a great idea, thank you all!
 
I think your plans are wonderful. Now, is this your first trip? If so, you have a great opportunity to start your WDW traditions - LOL! First day at MK, and first ride is ___________. You can do that every trip!! For your little ones, I'd go with Peter Pan. We STILL do that ride and we are oldies with grown kids!!! One of the first FPs I get.
 
Hmm. Too much? I was hoping some down time at the resort before Chef Mickeys would help. Maybe even a snooze if we can check in early. And yrs the next day the plan is to sleep in. We have an ADR at Crystal Palace for 12:15.



Thank you! Our flight gets in about 1, so figured we'd arrive by 2:00-2:30? And we're coming from central time so counting on a late night being not too bad. If they are done we won't force it.

The train is a great idea, thank you all!

Got it. Keep in mind your room could be be ready when you arrive, but it might not be. It’s been rare but occasionally our rooms have been ready well after 3. That may bump up against your schedule a bit. Sorry if you already know that.

If this were my kids, NO WAY would I ever get them out of the pool at that point... so GOOD LUCK! :-)

Have fun.
 
Hmm. Too much? I was hoping some down time at the resort before Chef Mickeys would help. Maybe even a snooze if we can check in early. And yrs the next day the plan is to sleep in. We have an ADR at Crystal Palace for 12:15.



Thank you! Our flight gets in about 1, so figured we'd arrive by 2:00-2:30? And we're coming from central time so counting on a late night being not too bad. If they are done we won't force it.

The train is a great idea, thank you all!

Your flight is SCHEDULED to arrive around 1 PM. Flight delays are common. How are you getting from the airport to your resort?
If you are taking DME, the average time is 90 minutes from the gate - not touch down. Taxing could take 20 minutes or longer. So best case if your flight gets in on time you might arrive at your resort around 3. Your room may or may not be available.
Disney suggests allowing 90 minutes to get to ADRs using Disney transportation. Sometimes you don't need that but many times you do. So for a 5:15 Chef Mickey's you should think about heading out about 3:45 - 4:00.
So much for a swim or nap.
I find travel day exhausting.
Personally I think that you are trying to do too much with a 3 and 6 year old on arrival day.
Good Luck
 
Your flight is SCHEDULED to arrive around 1 PM. Flight delays are common. How are you getting from the airport to your resort?
If you are taking DME, the average time is 90 minutes from the gate - not touch down. Taxing could take 20 minutes or longer. So best case if your flight gets in on time you might arrive at your resort around 3. Your room may or may not be available.
Disney suggests allowing 90 minutes to get to ADRs using Disney transportation. Sometimes you don't need that but many times you do. So for a 5:15 Chef Mickey's you should think about heading out about 3:45 - 4:00.
So much for a swim or nap.
I find travel day exhausting.
Personally I think that you are trying to do too much with a 3 and 6 year old on arrival day.
Good Luck

Got it, this is the kind of thing I need to hear too. I don't want to over do us the first night. I was hoping having 4 hours between touch down and an ADR would work but don't want to stress, so now I am re-thinking Chef Mickey's. I really liked the idea of starting the trip with the Fab 5, but we have a Tusker House lunch later in the week.

Maybe I'll just FP talking Mickey for a big character start, Peter Pan's Flight (it's my fav too!), and something else for after 6:00, planning to do quick service in the park? And maybe we'll head out before the fireworks and catch them later in the week. This is our first trip with our kids, we've been twice before just us two and I'm trying not to over plan things. It's hard with so many options and that 180 ADR window is so much fun to play around with once it opens!

Got it. Keep in mind your room could be be ready when you arrive, but it might not be. It’s been rare but occasionally our rooms have been ready well after 3. That may bump up against your schedule a bit. Sorry if you already know that.

If this were my kids, NO WAY would I ever get them out of the pool at that point... so GOOD LUCK! :-)

Have fun.

Thanks and you know I was imagining the room would be ready at check-in, you're right I should plan on it not, then be pleasantly surprised if it is. And you're right on the pool too... having never been it will be hard to get them out if they don't know what "Let's go to the Magic Kingdom!" even means. :D Maybe we'll do a pool break another day. Can't predict weather will be perfect either right?

Thanks all for your advice, really appreciated!
 
OP - I was sort of thinking something similar to @Hopefully if I’m honest, although only you know your family and your tolerances (and heck, I’ve probably done worse on arrival day so I’m not one to talk).

May not apply to you but one thing I’ve learned in our travels is that I try to keep a somewhat normal schedule on arrival day. I’ve run everyone too hard on arrival day before and it has backfired on me later in the trip.

I’m always so torn - travel adrenaline just makes you want to go make something of the day, and a bit of MK time is always great. But my kids work best later on if I can get them asleep early.

Whatever you do, have fun!
 
On our arrival day, I'm planning to take our time checking into All Star Sports, giving the kids a little pool time, and making our 5:15 ADR at Chef Mickey's our first venture out. Thinking we will walk from the MK bus stop to the Contemporary.

After dinner, planning to hop the monorail (I know the kids will want to after seeing it during dinner) over to MK and guessing we'll be there around 7:00 and staying for the fireworks. Any thoughts on what to do between 7-9? The kids are 6 & 3, so we're not going to go crazy running around. We are also planning 2 more full MK days (with afternoon breaks).

I almost didn't even bother with a ticket for this first day, but the package price made it a non-issue. Thank you for any thoughts and inspiration! :)
You could still plan some pool time on arrival day if the weather is good. The kids will be very excited just to be in a hotel room so spending a little time letting them run around and have fun sounds like a good idea to me. Most people get into trouble when they try to rush around too much with young children. :)

If you do end up spending some time at the resort after you get there then dinner in the food court would be a lot easier and far less chaotic than eating in the park. I like your idea of running over to the Magic Kingdom for a few hours. You can plan some fastpasses so that you can do some of the favorite rides before the fireworks begin. Then a nice place to see the fireworks would be in the Hub right in front of Caseys. We have had good luck finding last minute viewing spots there.
 
I think you will be OK - but you may not have a ton of time to swim/rest. The one thing (at that age) that would have been tough for my boys would be to get into the pool and only a 20-30 minutes later being told it was time to leave. My kids LOVE the pool, though. I know some kids are happy enough to play just for a few minutes before leaving for something else.

We did something similar a few years ago and had a blast (though our schedule was earlier and we did EPCOT instead of MK). We were up very early in the morning for a flight (about 5 am). We landed in Orlando at 9 am (our flight was due to land at 9:20 but was early!) - stopped quickly for a snack, then went to the Magical Express and we were at our resort by 10:30 am. Obviously the room wasn't ready yet, so there was no rest and swim - we just turned right around and hopped on the bus to EPCOT. We were in that park by 11:30 am (storing our carry-ons in a locker). We returned to the hotel at about 3 pm, organized the luggage in our rooms, and went to T-Rex cafe for dinner. My oldest son did end up with a headache - I think it was a little much for a first day, but we all had a blast. This time we're taking it easier on arrival day - just doing Disney Springs and swimming on arrival day.
 
The huge difference between the pool and themepark/ADR is one you have to commit to in advance the other you don't. Forget about the pool at this point and just ask yourself if you want to go to your ADR and MK that night. You do not have to commit the pool into the day until it is time. If your travel is faster than expected and you have time to kill before MK, you can utilize the pool time. If you don't, you can skip and go straight to ADR / MK. My gut reaction guess is that sounds like a lot for one night, but there are a lot of variable time estimates. Determine how committed you are to MK/ADR and base your day on that part. If you have extra time, you can always change on the fly to do the pool, but I would set expectations with family that the pool is "if we have time."

Not sure if that helps, shrug.
 
I’ll be the lone wolf who doesn’t think that’s too much. Lol. My daughter managed that type of day just fine at age 3, but obviously everyone is different. You know your kids best. If you think they can handle it, then go for it.

The only other thing I as thinking was that CM is temporarily moving to the convention center. So if you’re traveling soon, that may affect your decision as well. Same characters and such but you won’t see the monorail.
 
I’ll be the lone wolf who doesn’t think that’s too much. Lol. My daughter managed that type of day just fine at age 3, but obviously everyone is different. You know your kids best. If you think they can handle it, then go for it.

The only other thing I as thinking was that CM is temporarily moving to the convention center. So if you’re traveling soon, that may affect your decision as well. Same characters and such but you won’t see the monorail.

I was just getting ready to type the same thing! My kids would have had no issue with that type of schedule so if you think your kiddos can handle it I would go for it. The pool time can always be locked down later if you have time so I would focus on the ADR and FP for the night. Then if you have time hit the pool for a few before hand. My kids are always excited to get into a park so they really could care less about the pool or if it's only 10 minutes before we head out.
I would choose FP for Pooh and Peter Pan to start. I'm assuming the 3 year old may not be tall enough for the 7DMT?
 
Thank you so much all - made the executive decision and cancelled our ADR for Chef Mickey's. The more I thought about your advice, I don't want our first night to be hurried in any way shape or form. So now the loose plan is to get there when we get there, eat an early dinner at the resort, then head to MK. I will figure some possible FP's closer to (and if we don't make them no biggie). Just stroll around, grab some ice cream, and if we are OK stay for the fireworks since we can sleep in the next day (which will be Easter Sunday, so we are loosey goosey depending on crowds that day also).

One of the things I am trying to focus hard on is that this is their "little" kid trip where all the tiny stuff will be magical, and we really don't have to try to hard to make sure they have a good time. And also remember I've done it... and I'll have more fun if they do! We'll go again in about 3 years when they are a little older and we can do different things then that require more stamina.

Thanks again.
 
[One of the things I am trying to focus hard on is that this is their "little" kid trip where all the tiny stuff will be magical, and we really don't have to try to hard to make sure they have a good time. And also remember I've done it... and I'll have more fun if they do! We'll go again in about 3 years when they are a little older and we can do different things then that require more stamina.

Great attitude to have. Our first trip my older boys were 3 & 5. The things they talked about loving the most were the bus rides to the parks playing I Spy with grandpa and sitting on a bench at the resort eating ice cream & watching the fireworks with garndma. We did a ton of other stuff & they loved it all but those were their fondest memories. Have a wonderful trip.
 

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