We have a long drive - should be skip parks our first full day?

[Disney Princess 6]

We leave tomorrow! But it's a very long drive. In fact, we're only going half way tomorrow. We'll stay over with friends, then drive the other half on Saturday. So, Sunday will be our first full day.

I'm wondering if we should let the kids (ages 2 &4) sleep in on Sunday and just make that a lazy shopping/resort day. I don't want to push them too hard since they'll have gotten up so early for two days straight.

I thought they could go to the pool or play in the fountain at Disney Marketplace or something. We're going to MK Monday for sure because we have a Cindy's PS. What do you all think? We'll be there until the following Saturday. We plan to do MK again on Friday because that's the only time SpectroMagic is happening while we are there. We plan to skip Epcot, so that leaves MGM & AK.

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

We also drive and arrive mid-day. We never go into the parks on arrival day. We get the pop-up set up at Ft. Wilderness, have lunch and then the kids and DH go to the pool for the rest of the afternoon. This leaves me to putter around our site, getting everything just so.

In the evening we will ride the buses to some of the other resorts and maybe even go on a monorail ride.

Then it's early to bed so we can be at one of the parks for opening!

 

[Disney Princess 6]

That's why I'm not sure we should do the parks the next day. The kids are going two have 2 days of long driving.

 

[deb305]

We drove from Dayton, Ohio in January. Left Thursday morning, spent night in Georgia, and got to WDW by noon on Friday. Husband wanted to take kids (DD 4.5 yrs, DS 1 yr) to MK. We didn't because they had been up at 5:30 every morning and were tired. Needless to say I was the bad guy. Instead DH took DD on the monorail, crossed the lake twice on different boats, toured the hotel etc. We had a character dinner in the hotel, (where they both almost fell asleep) and kids were crashed in bed by 8:00. By 6:30 next morning they were completely rested and went full speed for rest of trip.
On a previous trip we got to WDW at midnight (we flew down then), and in parks at 8:00 next day. DD never got to full speed, she was always exhausted.
On another note, our 4.5 yr old daughter hated Downtown Disney (Market place). As she kept reminding us she came to ride, not shop.
Only you know your kids. For ours, without their rest, they are virtually impossible in the parks.

 

[staylor]

We'll be doing the same thing next weekend. My kids (3 & 7 and 9 neice) would kill me if they couldn't go to a park on Sun. But, I'm traveling w/ older kids. So, I would probably go w/ your gut. Just see how they are doing.

 

[Jackie824]

Thats what we are going to do too. We are driving down too. We are leaving late Friday afternoon and will stop over somewhere and get there on Saturday. I dont want to waste our park hopper tickets on a partial day. Im going to try and schedule a character meal for dinner our first nite, to get the kids into the mood. They are 8 and 3 and I think this would be fun for them, and even more for fun for me

 

[Jordan's MOM]

We often arrive around 5 or 6 and we just chill for the rest of the afternoon and go to bed early.We are always ready to hit the parks on the first full day.


Jordan's mom

 

[deirdrefitch]

On two of our trips we opted for the "family drive to disney!"
We drove from Texas to Pennsacola, and then drove the rest of the way to Orlando which took approx 9 hrs. We felt pretty rested, and excited to hit the parks the day after our arrival.
The second day is when we were really pooped. On the second trip, we slept late, swam in the pool, and ate dinner at the ESPN on the boardwalk. We returned to the room, and went to bed early. What a difference this made. We were rested, and had no ill effects from our long trip. Parents and children all needed that extra rest.

 

[grinningghost]

If you have little kids, it's probably wise to skip it. We'll also be arriving later in the day, but I'm going with two 14 year olds who will have UPH passes. I'm fairly certain there's no way they'll be skipping a park with those in their hot little hands.

 

[kimmar067]

....from No. New Jersey straight through (wrong move!!); we left at 7:10 PM Friday and arrived at DxL at 2:45PM the next afternoon. By the time we checked in, unpacked, and just stretched our muscles after the lonnnnngggggg ride, we relaxed by the pool (around 5-ish) and it was off to the food court around 7 for dinner. We were all pretty bushed by 9-9:30, so it was "lights out!". But, we were fresh as daisies by 7AM the next morning, when we headed off to Chef Mickey's for our traditional "lst Disney Breakfast" and, finally, a bee-line to MK (no one complained about being tired!! )

 

[eeyore#5]

If you have little kids it is probaly a good idea to skip.

 

[MrsPete]

Given those circumstances, I would definately NOT do a major park on your first full day. The kids will be tired and fussy, and you'd have to waste a hopper pass day on half a day's fun (unless you have APs, of course).

Two suggestions:

1. Spend the day exploring your resort, swimming in the pool, shopping. Renting water mice would be another fun idea. That would be a whole day for me.

2. Can't stand the idea of not going to a park? Go to a water park instead. Your kids will enjoy being active after being cooped up in the car for so long, and it will be less expensive.