Am i crazy? Long haul flight then straight to parks?

I'm going with my best friend for a week in late September, we land at MCO from London at 2:10pm, and that day is the only one during our visit where we can see Happily Ever After! Neither of us have been to the parks in around a decade and don't want to miss anything, but we're definitely planning some slower mornings and early evenings later in the trip. I've done plenty of Lon-NYC flights landing lunchtime/early afternoon, and always find that if I have something to do that first eve and power through til 9pm/10pm then I get a really solid nights sleep and feel pretty okay most of the trip.
We're going to book some fast passes for that first evening (but ones for rides that we'll have a chance to get on later in the week, in case we are delayed at all), grab some dinner, watch HEA and crash OUT!
 
Our first trip with the kids (4 yr old and 20 mo old at the time) we woke up at 2 am, drove 12 hours, checked in and went straight to MK from about 4 pm - 10 pm. It was just too exciting to be there and not go to the park.
But this started our trip off on a trend of keeping the kids out late and sleeping in. We had to sleep late that first morning to recover from the day before and never got back on track.
Point being, if you want to rope drop or get to parks relatively early, I’d rest after the flight and get a good night’s sleep.
 
Had every intention of doing this last October having flown from Manchester to Sanford. We got to Pop Century, our room wasn’t ready and by this point it was about 6pm, and we were TIRED!

Immediately we just thought, nah. Cancelled our fast passes we had in MK, got a bus to Disney Springs and ate at Chicken Guy. We had a little mooch around some shops and were back in our room for 10.

We then woke up at 5am and were at MK from rope drop to close. I’d personally say Disney Springs is a great option for UK long haulers on arrival night. You get a bit of Disney magic, can have a nice meal, and not get over tired.
 
We arrived at POR about 7pmish and really only had the energy to eat some dinner and go straight to bed. My stomach was in knots and I could barely even eat dinner. We were up fairly early the next morning and still didn't do much until the afternoon. For some reason I was really feeling out of sorts.
 


We fly from the UK in the morning and are set to land at SFB just after 4pm. Am I crazy to try and drag my exhausted husband onto FOP (provided we can get a FP) after a 9 hour flight?
Ha ha we did it from UK in June! Same arrival times and headed straight to Epcot for our FP soarin and mission space ride then pre-booked dinner reservation in Mexico - hacienda de san Angel- for a perfect view of the fireworks! Perfect day!
 
Ha ha we did it from UK in June! Same arrival times and headed straight to Epcot for our FP soarin and mission space ride then pre-booked dinner reservation in Mexico - hacienda de san Angel- for a perfect view of the fireworks! Perfect day!
So, no regrets? 😊 good to hear!
 
Had every intention of doing this last October having flown from Manchester to Sanford. We got to Pop Century, our room wasn’t ready and by this point it was about 6pm, and we were TIRED!

Immediately we just thought, nah. Cancelled our fast passes we had in MK, got a bus to Disney Springs and ate at Chicken Guy. We had a little mooch around some shops and were back in our room for 10.

We then woke up at 5am and were at MK from rope drop to close. I’d personally say Disney Springs is a great option for UK long haulers on arrival night. You get a bit of Disney magic, can have a nice meal, and not get over tired.
Did you feel that Disney springs was less tiring than the parks? I totally agree with the mooch mentality though!
 


Did you feel that Disney springs was less tiring than the parks? I totally agree with the mooch mentality though!
My 2 previous trips I was flying down from New York and landed mid-afternoon and we went to Disney Springs in that evening - it's definitely a more relaxing way to start the trip. No pressure to factor in fast passes or show times, you're entirely on your own time. This trip though we have halloween party nights to factor in + SWGE crowds, so we are dead set on getting to see HEA our first night. It depends on your priorities really. We know that most days we have a chunk of time carved out for a break in the afternoon if we need it, we're not really open to close people anymore, so I'm not too worried about having a busy first night.
 
We come in from Seattle on a red eye every year will land at 6am(aka 3am) spend the day at Disney Springs and go back to Pop around 8 or 9pm catch the tail end of the movie by the pool and crash. If we keep things as normal as possible no one is effected by the time difference and we are up for an early day at Animal Kingdom the next day!!
 
That's similar to my plan. Literally AK for FOP and maybe a drink and admiring Pandora at night then bed. We're are staying at AKL so that makes the journey shorter, DH may kip on the plane but I'm a nervous flyer (not the flying the space issue) so I'll either be full of nervous energy or dead as a door nail lol
[/ sounds like you should just go to dinner enjoy the Animal Kingdom Lodge grab some night vision goggles look at the Savannah get some rest Ben rope Drop Like psychos in the morning
 
Hi
We always go straight out.
Like others have said. We try to stay up to match the hours we are now in.
Although we usually just go to Disney Springs or Epcot just for a mooch about and a meal :)
 
If you land at Sanford at 4pm, by the time you get your luggage and make the commute (in rush hour traffic if a weekday), my guess is you'll be arriving at your resort 6-7pm. I would only go to AK if this night is your only opportunity to get a FOP fast pass, and you can snag one for after 8:30pm to allow for potential delays and the commute from your resort to the park. I think it can be difficult to get FOP FP on your arrival day though - people have better luck around days 4 or 5.
 
Don't forget to allow time to get through immigration and transport to your resort. If you land at 4pm you probably won't be able to hit the park before 7pm and then have to battle the queues for the bus at park closing, is it worth it when you'll feel tired. I would relax at the resort as you will wake up at stupid o'clock the next day and can hit the parks super early. I did the old 'hit the park' as soon as you arrive once and the next day I was so exhausted by the early afternoon I wasted half a day flat out in my room, it really wasn't worth it. Get the FOP FP+ later on in the trip. Remember that on 60 days out you can book FP+ for your entire trip at the same time so could even score more than just one.
 
I was literally just thinking of an 8.30 / 8.45 fp then grabbing a pongu Lumpia and hoping to bed. But a plan that looks good on paper doesn't always translate to a good time!
 
Don’t do it. (1) By the time u go through US customs, get luggage, get to mode of transportation, and get from the airport to WDW, I am betting AK will be closed; (2) odds of getting a fastpass for FOP in the narrow window you will be there on the first day of your trip=next to zero; (3) any flight delay and you will have paid admission for an extra day for nothing.
 
(3) any flight delay and you will have paid admission for an extra day for nothing.

UK tickets works a little bit different than US tickets actually, so they probably wouldn't loose any admissions as such. In the UK the majority buys either 14 day ticket or 21 day ticket depending on the length of stay, but it's not unusual to not use all the entries as people often do other things during their holiday as well.
 
UK tickets works a little bit different than US tickets actually, so they probably wouldn't loose any admissions as such. In the UK the majority buys either 14 day ticket or 21 day ticket depending on the length of stay, but it's not unusual to not use all the entries as people often do other things during their holiday as well.
Yes we have a ticket valid for the whole of our stay so that's not really a consideration. We've decided to veto universal and SeaWorld etc this trip as we did them last time and we may do them next time. The main worry is if we are too tired. I feel like I may book a FP and if we don't feel up to it I'll cancel it for someone else to us. It's the excitement of first getting there and getting to the parks!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top