Traveling to and from - what time of day did you go?

[dancingnancy]

Flight time is 2.5 hours and the cheapest flights are either first thing in the morning or at night. Do we go first thing in the AM (like a 7am flight) and do a park that day, or is that too much for the kids? For reference my DD will be 8 when we go. For parks I am looking at 2 days MK, 1 day Epcot, 1 day AK, 1 day HS, 1 day US. 

[fancefpp]

We used CC points to book our flights and are leaving first thing in the morning on the way down and home. Thankfully, I was able to get nonstop flights, but that means we are there super early on the first day. I think we will ride the monorail a little, use the pool and have lunch before check in. It's going to be a long day!

[ilikedonuts]

We had a 5:30am flight this past trip. Got in at 7:45 and were at our resort by 8:30. It was our only option other then a 6pm arrival. Surprisingly it was ok. It was a stroller nap day because our room wasn't ready until 3:30.

[lala]

We always leave at the earliest direct flight. With an 8 year old I would probably do a part that late afternoon/evening after checking out the resort/pool/lunch. With small kids we've kept it a resort day.

For the flight home, I prefer early afternoon or later. I hate rushing out and losing that whole last day - plus magical express picks you up 3 hours before your flight. We squeeze in a few hours at the pool or a park.

[bronxgirl]

I like to get an early flight out and an evening flight back to maximize our time. On the first day we check in to our resort, have lunch, walk around, go swimming and in the evening go somewhere for dinner. On our first trip we went to DTD and last year we went to AKL to see the animals and have dinner at Boma.

[curbsideprophet]

We arrived late afternoon and did not do a park that day. We already had 5 park days planned. We left in the afternoon and did not do a park on that day either.

[alleinesein]

If you are staying on property fly in on the early flight. Stop by your hotel to drop off bags (carry ons, etc) and then go grab lunch at Disney Springs. Pack your swim stuff in your carry on and head to the pool in the afternoon (weather permitting) or hit up one of the water parks.

[littlemermaid]

We flew in on the morning flight. Definitely pack swimsuits in your carry-on. If you take the Disney Express to your hotel your bags will come about 2 hours after you get there. We checked into the hotel had lunch, then went swimming. By the time we were done our bags were in the room. Then on that first night we walked around Downtown Disney. We did not do a park on that first day.

[dcrunnergirl52]

This last trip, we left on a 2pm flight and arrived around 5:30pm. It was perfect b/c we just got to the resort, got dinner, went to bed, and were able to start fresh in the morning. The first time, we arrived around 12pm, and by then we were already tired, so it just didn't feel that "magical" going to the park after having such an early morning, dealing with the airport, etc.