First Day

[Love Disney210]

We usually arrive around noon on first day. We always head to MK. It seem like it started when my grandchildren where younger and we still make our tradition to go there. Anyone have a first day tradition?

 

[Kcgaido]

We head to Disney Springs! I can’t remember when it started, but we have dinner there and everyone shops for ears/hats and magic bands for the trip

 

[wisblue]

If we get in early enough we like to go to Epcot or maybe DHS in the afternoon or evening, especially if we are staying at one of the Epcot resorts.

If we get in later we like to go to Disney Springs for something to eat, especially when we are at our home resort of SSR.

We like to start at MK on the morning of our first full day.

 

[MainMom]

We always do Epcot on arrival day. I think I started planning this when tiering started with FP+. Then I could get 1 of the tiered rides for arrival day and the other another day. Plus it’s usually a nice low key park to start vacation in after a morning of travel (we fly out early.)

 

[glocon]

We used to start our trip with a Chef Mickey’s reservation. DS lost interest as a teen so now.

 

[Love Disney210]

I know how you feel. My GS who is 16 has no interest in meeting characters. That makes me so sad.

We used to start our trip with a Chef Mickey’s reservation. DS lost interest as a teen so ☹ now.

nowi

 

[DisneyFive]

No first day traditions except NOT doing MK our arrival day. We want to save MK for a full day experience, so it’s normally our first or second full day. Used to love the welcome show outside the train station

Dan

 

[MainMom]

No first day traditions except NOT doing MK our arrival day. We want to save MK for a full day experience, so it’s normally our first or second full day. Used to love the welcome show outside the train station

Dan

We also loved the welcome show. My entire extended family was so sad when it stopped. The castle stage opening just isn’t the same for us.

 

[snikki]

MK is always our first park. Usually on arrival day since we always land (drove a few times) around 9-10 am. Drop our bags at the resort or leave them in the car and head to MK by 11-12. We then stay until closing.

Next trip we are flying in the evening before, having dinner at the resort, unpacking and doing MK at RD the next day.

 

[SeanWM48]

I am a Disney Springs person on the first day/night. I feel like it's the perfect introduction to the whole experience. It's a lot of Disney and it impresses me, but then the parks take things up 5 notches the next few days.

We usually explore the resort for a while, hit the merch/food shop (Fort Wilderness Trading Posts), get all unpacked and then go to Springs.

 

[TaraS29]

We fly from the UK so arrive later in the day but I still insist on a park visit because I just can’t wait to feel the magic! It’ll be Magic Kingdom on a Saturday night this trip.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We get in by noon. Dump our bags at POR. Head to MK to do our walk around, enjoy everyone else's misery for a bit, hit Pirates, Mansion and IASW. Wait in line for Slash. We the take the boat to WL and have a few drinks at GP. We eat WC at our two top in front of the fireplace. Head back to POR, grab our stuff, head to room, have a few beers from the GG order. See Yehaa Bob. Terrorize the little twerps at the pool and hot tub. Then pass out.

 

[Boopuff]

when we lived in Illinois we’d take the first flight arrive before noon and head to Epcot. No idea why, but we’ve always done it! Now we’ve moved and it’s a 4 hour flight, so new plan is Disney springs for shopping and dinner, start the parks the next day

 

[djc9699]

We always drive from Texas to Lake City, FL and stay the night. It is about a 4 hour drive from there to Disney. We check in, grab a quick bite and then go to Magic Kingdom. We always ride the Magic Carpets first because it was my daughter's very first ride at Disney. We start every trip with this ride. We are taking her son who will be 19 months old at Christmas and that will be his first ride as well.

 

[elvispursley]

We take a red-eye from Seattle and generally get into MCO by 6:00-7:00am. By the time we get to the resort, dump bags, do a little grocery shopping, and eat breakfast, we head to one of the water parks. Once there, we stake out chairs in the shade and let the teens hit the slides, do a few loops in the lazy river, and catch a cat nap until our room is ready. Once back at the room, we shower, take another nap, and head to Epcot for the evening where we generally have an ADR. We'll typically ride a ride or two and then head back and go to bed early, trying to adjust to east-coast time (so hard)!

 

[Donald Duck Family]

MK is the first park we go to, but we wait until the first full day of the trip. It also tends to be the last park we visit before ending a trip. We like to bookend our trip with MK since it is the original and since our boys are young they seem to enjoy it the most. We rope drop MK the first time we visit and will stay until closing on our final night.

Our arrival day tradition is typically to go to Disney Springs.

 

[DduzDis]

Ours started when my girls were younger and FP+ tiers were in effect. We would start at EP to knock out a Frozen FP+ so that we could focus on Test Track and Soarin' on our other EP day. None of that is really applicable anymore and my girls are hit or miss on riding Frozen these days, but we still tend to head straight to EP on the first day anyway. They still LOVE Soarin' so it the tradition continues...

 

[disneydreamer1980]

We always go to chef mickeys dinner on our first night. Kids get to see characters before we go to a park and we get our first monorail ride of the trip. Our first and last park days are always MK.

 

[loves to dive]

Not really a tradition but usually we head to Epcot. We drive down from north Georgia and get to WDW between 1 and 3. We don't stop to eat on the way except for a quick breakfast, we do what we call car snacking. By the time we arrive we are pretty hungry and there is usually a festival happening at Epcot so we go and chow down at some booths and just walk around.