Wondering what to do on your Disney arrival day? Look no further, as we have 12 tips and ideas for when you first arrive at Disney World!
12 Things To Do On Your Disney Arrival Day
Prepare For Your Room To Not Be Ready
From our post, How To Get The Disney Room You Want, you can find out how to go about getting these accommodations made!
Explore Your Resort
Exploring your resort is a great way to spend your Disney arrival day! There are so many hidden gems inside of Disney World resorts, such as coffee stands, restaurants, pools, gift shops, cafes, etc.
Exploring your resort when you get to Disney World means you’re saving yourself time later on in your trip and ensuring you know exactly where everything is when you do need it!
It’s also a great time to check out what food options are in your hotel! Try some places out and see how you like it so you can plan for the rest of the week!
Pool Day
If your plan is to explore your resort when you arrive at Disney, feel free to cool off in the pool on your adventure! It’s great to have at least a half of a day where you spend your time tanning by the pool and hanging out at your resort, relaxing. This makes it a perfect arrival day activity!
Better yet, when you choose to spend your first day by the pool, you’re building up even more anticipation to the first steps you’ll soon take towards Cinderella’s Castle. Additionally, you can go over your vacation plans one final time with your group and make sure everyone gets to see what they want to! It’s a win-win!
Choose Your Park Wisely
If you decide to visit the parks on your first day, as those with shorter trips tend to do, make sure to go to the park that is open the latest that night to maximize your time.
Magic Kingdom Park, for example, is usually open until 10:00pm and is a great choice for your first day arriving in Disney World!
Animal Kingdom, on the other hand, is only open until 6:00pm! Therefore, unless you arrive early in the morning, we wouldn’t suggest visit here first! Save the safari for a longer day!
By choosing the park that is open the latest, you are getting ahead of the game and making sure you get every moment you can of Disney magic!
Visit a Disney Water Park
Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks are great options for when you arrive at Disney World. With amazing roller coasters, huge slides, and wave pools, there is so much to do at either of the Disney Water Parks, even just for a few hours!
On your Disney arrival day, there tends to be a toss up between adventuring and relaxing, depending on the person. Luckily, at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach water parks, you can get the best of both worlds! Riding some intense water slides and coasters before cooling down in the lazy river will definitely start your vacation off on the right foot.
With two awesome Disney owned water parks, it’s a wonder which one you should spend your Disney arrival day at. That being said, we have broken down the amazing attractions at both of them and have everything you need to know HERE.
Order Grocery Delivery
Ordering groceries to be delivered to your resort on your Disney arrival day is a great way to save yourself some money and time during your vacation. Whens settling into your resort on your first day at Disney World, it is great to go over your plan for the rest of your vacation!
If you are utilizing the option to make your own food on your trip, whether you want to be healthier, cost effective, or think it’s easier to get your entire group together in your room, you will want to opt into grocery delivery.
Read more about grocery delivery to Disney World on our post HERE!
Relax at a Character Dinner
A great way to unwind on your Disney arrival day is to have a character dinner booked for that night! Disney character dinners are one of the most amazing parts of Disney, as you get a multitude of options when it comes to type of cuisine, and you get to enjoy seeing some of your Disney favorites while dining!
When booking your character dinner on your first day at Disney, be sure to give yourself at least 3 hours, preferably 4, after your arrival time. In doing so, you will have allotted time for any flight delays, traffic, or anything else that may take away some unexpected time from you!
Explore Disney’s Boardwalk and Surrounding Resorts
Disney’s Boardwalk Resort is home of a pretty pastel set of buildings with dining and entertainment for everyone! The boardwalk can be visited via boat from Epcot and is most beautiful at night when it’s lit up and you can walk around the lake!
Disney’s Boardwalk is home of pools, arcades, dining spots, a dance hall, and much more! It is a great way to settle into vacation mode! Stop at the Boardwalk Bakery for your caffeine fix and some delicious baked treats!
Stop by the Yacht Club and Beach Club Resorts along the way! You can get there by boat!
Go Hotel Hopping
Visit Disney Springs
Another great idea for what to do when you arrive at Disney is to visit Disney Springs! For some, shopping at Disney Springs is one of the most fun activities you can do during your trip! That being said, in the Florida heat, it’s not easy spend more than a few hours in the high temperatures!
Spending your arrival day in Disney Springs is a great way to familiarize yourself with the dozens of gift shops, restaurants, and treat stands in the area! It can especially be helpful if you don’t plan on using dining reservations for every meal of your stay, and are looking for somewhere else to go!
Know How Much to Tip the Staff
When it comes to Disney tips, this is essential knowledge! On any given vacation, it’s always a wonder what you’re supposed to tip, and who? When it comes to the happiest place on Earth, this mystery is amplified, given the amazing service and lovely staff at the beloved theme parks and resorts.
A few things may run through your head when thinking about tipping in Disney World. From servers to mousekeepers to drivers, it is all different! Therefore, we broke it down for you HERE!
It is so useful to find out this information early on in your trip to make tipping a breeze during your Walt Disney World vacation!
Keep Your Arrival Day Short and Sweet!!
11 Best (And Worst!) Pools At Disney World
I agree that magic kingdom can be a great first day but the problem is that if your first park day is Monday you run into the issue of crowds! There were so many people in line to go to magic kingdom on Monday morning we are so glad that we did animal kingdom as our first park day. We did Disney springs in our first day/half day at Disney. It also helps for you to deal with the buying expectations of kids. You can say hey these are just the beginning of the stores and so you need to know that there are gift shops everywhere and we won’t be buying most of them! This worked really well with my 4 year old daughter. Also there is walking but not an arduous amount, again this is a great opportunity to talk about how much walking we are going to to be doing so it is important to drink lots of water and sleep tonight. Disney springs worked so well that I would do it again as a first day! We won Disney no real meltdowns and I attribute that tov the planning and prep that we did with our kids. If you don’t plan and you go with kids you will regret it!
One of the things we do after we arrive is a Monorail Crawl. We stay at Ft Wilderness and start at Crocketts Tavern, have a beverage and a snack, then onto the boat to Wilderness Lodge for a beverage and snack at the Territory Lounge. Back on the boat to the Contemporary and up to the Outer Rim lounge, more beverage and food. Then on to the monorail for our first attraction. At the TTC we get on the EPCOT line just for the ride, then back to the TTC and on to the Polynesian to the Tambu Lounge for a Lapu Lapu and snack, back to the monorail and onto the Grand Floridian and to the Enchanted Rose ( last time we were there it was Mizner’s). Back onto the monorail and get off at Magic Kingdom and take the boat back to The Fort. This makes for a nice afternoon/evening, an we look through all the shops at the resorts as well.