Torn between and early and late flight heading home from WDW

[Disney Sheri]

I have done both and have to say I prefer taking a late flight home. The last time we were there, we had to be at the bus pick up at 5 am and my phone turned off so my alarm didn't go off. We made it but it was crazy and I HATED it! I like ending with a 1/2 day at a park. We usually don't make plans that day and pick a park that we want to return to. It's nice to take it all in one last time. I wake up normally at 4:15 in the morning but I would rather be at Disney than get a good night sleep. From now on, I will take the later flights and enjoy me one last day of Disney. Good luck with making your choice!

 

[tarak]

We've done both and I vastly prefer leaving later. I just hate spending money on the hotel to leave that early in the morning.

Which DVC resort are you at? I'm pretty sure there are free laundry facilities for the studios, but I'm not positive on the locations.

 

[ChimCher-ee]

I vote for the early flight. It has been mentioned here, but flight delays late in the day are really difficult to deal with. We were delayed many hours due to thunderstorms, making it very late getting home. It erased any of the good vibes we picked up during our extra morning time.

 

[OutNChiTown]

'm in a studio - where is there free laundry?

Depends on what resort you're staying at. If you're staying at OKW, there's free laundy near all the pools. AKV has it on every floor (if I remember correctly) and the other resorts, for the most part, all have communal laundry. You have to have your own laundry detergent, but the machines are free.

http://dvcnews.com/index.php/dvc-pr...ws-27910/2968-new-disney-resort-laundry-rooms

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Again, I say it sounds like you know which option will work best for you.

Here's another solution: instead of lugging around 9 days worth of clothes, bring less, then plan to do laundry earlier in your vacation! That would be far easier than waiting until day 9 to do laundry!

You can maybe finagle things a bit and do a combo of buying one new outfit, extra undies/socks, leaving four days of clothes at home, and doing laundry mid-vacation and again near the end of your post-vacation work week?

The last time I did laundry at WDW, it was under the KttW-card system. All the machines took ONLY KttW cards, so that was several years ago! Most of the WDW resorts have a laundry facility near the pool, so if we have to do laundry we usually just combine it with a trip to the pool area.

 

[Micca]

Take the late flight and call in sick on Monday. If you have kids, call work and tell them you'll be in as soon as you can get the kids into the doctors office, then sleep for a few hours.

 

[brockash]

Come on Carmen, suck it up and have fun. But I understand. I always do the later flight and just deal with the lack of sleep at work the next day.

We do as well when Disney is concerned, but the practical side of me def. says going for the early flight is much smarter and easier, but that's not what we do at Disney lol.

 

[JaimeK]

Laundry is the worst, don't let it decide what you do.
Do you really NEED clothes from your trip on your first day back? Even if that were the case and you only owned 9 sets of clothing - I'd pack 7 outfits and do laundry during the trip.

 

[yeheyprincex2]

I would take the late flight home, suck it up the next morning. sleep in late to make up for the sleep you are going to loose flying home late. Do a load of laundry at the resort, have a relaxing day. Do some thing around the resort you would not normally do. I have always wanted to visit the horses over at Wilderness lodge, fishing is available at several resorts, just some thoughts.

 

[ScrampShopper]

DVC resorts have free washing machines and dryers, and now you don't have to sit and wait because you can monitor your machines with an app.

We squeeze every minute out of our trips, Disney or elsewhere so we book the first flight to our destination and the last flight home. On our upcoming trip, we are arriving in Orlando at 9:10AM on a Sat and departing on Mon at 7:30PM, 10 days later. We will be in the parks all 10 days, go about our business on Tues, and go to bed early Tues night. We have done this hundreds of times (flights/road trips) over the past decade, and will continue to do this as long as hubby can function at work the next day! We've even taken a red eye in the past, gotten home in the morning, showered and dressed, and gone about our day. If my dad catches us at home on a Sunday evening, he asks if everything is alright!!! We maximize our fun time. Even if we got home a day before work/school, we wouldn't be relaxing at home. We'll rest when we're dead.

 

[Pmlocke]

My question is why you would pay to stay the extra night, get up real early and fly home to do laundry. You have paid for a night that wasn't necessary. We fly home on the latest flight, usually 9 PM which gives us all day until 6 PM to enjoy another day in the park. We fly home so that I am off that very next day to do the laundry, picking up the mail, going grocery shopping etc. If you stay that extra night, do you really get more for the vacation that way? Just a thought.

 

[Accident]

I always leave late but I generally have a day off before I'm back to work and generally I need it. If it's a short trip, that's the only time I will even think of cutting it close and I always regret it and didn't feel like I had time off from work longing for time off.

 

[summerw]

We opted for the late, which was fine, but then they moved it 2 hours later and offered to move us to the crack of dawn flight. We stuck with the late one. Our last trip to Disney World was in 2012 so I want to squeeze all the fun out of it. Only you know how hard you drag at work the day after Disney. If you are dreading that, take the earlier flight. Otherwise, why waste a moment of possible Disney?

 

[lustergirl]

On my solo trip last month, I took the late flight, getting into Buffalo at 11:35pm. I regretted that as I had to get up the next morning for work, uggh. Next Trip in May we are taking a mid afternoon flight home.

 

[DWillowBay]

A vote for the later flight here. You've paid for the night already...might as well enjoy the day in the park. Those early flights are such an abrupt end to the magic. ....just one more ride!

 

[JimmyV]

We just had the decision made for us, so we have no choice. We were booked on a 10:00 a.m. flight, non-stop. After we booked that flight, the schedule changed and the one and only non-stop now leaves at 6:30 p.m. My first instinct was to have the airline re-book us earlier in the day on connecting flights so that we would not land so late, having to collect luggage, our car, and then make the long drive home. But then I got to thinking. With all the closures at DHS, I decided to make DHS our "day of departure" park, and we will hit it from Rope Drop until 2:00. We will then head back the resort to pick up our luggage, hop in a cab or Uber, and get to the airport in plenty of time. The "full day" that we had previously allocated to DHS in the middle of our trip then became a "full day, two park pass" at US/IOA. So the airline's unilateral schedule change wound up dropping Harry Potter right into our laps. I know that I will hate starting the car at 10:00 p.m. to make the drive home at the end of our trip. But the tradeoff will be worth it.

 

[Mainemama]

Tough call. If you do decide to do late... Shop before your trip for a couple days worth of meals that will not require shopping... That will give you Monday night to come home and unpack, do a bit of laundry. Or simply leave the luggage zipped until the weekend. Laundry can wait! I would want to do the late flight. But I probably would do the early one.

 

[larissawbb]

I'm in a studio - where is there free laundry?

The laundry is by the swimming pools at Old Key West and Saratoga Springs. You only have to buy soap or sometimes housekeeping will give you some if you ask nice.

 

[cluvsdisney]

As much as it would suck, I would take the early flight on Sunday. A day at Disney plus travelling until midnight is a long and exhausting day for me...I would be wiped on Monday and it would just make for a long week trying to get back on schedule.

 

[AngiTN]

I always pick the latest flight out I can, even if it costs more.
We typically get home about midnight.
Laundry can be done at home eventually.
Sleep is for home, not Disney