Staying Unil Midnight

MichaelFromSeattle

MichaelFromSeattle

Disney Veteran
Joined
Feb 20, 2017
We are headed to Disneyland on January 28. Our flight from Seattle gets in to LAX at 11:00. We will be headed to the parks on the 28th. On the calendar it says that the park will be open until midnight. Is it worth it after a long day and being on the airplane to stay that late? Thanks for your help.
 
Will you be in the parks the 28th only, or do you have more park days on your trip? I think the answer would depend on your vacation plans.
 
So you get in on the 28th and will go straight to the park? If it were me, I'd stay till Midnight, since that'll give you about 11 hours in the park. As an aside, I'll be here that day too (here now, as a matter of fact).
 


That's a wonderful trip form Seattle. It's pure joy to leave in the morning and be in the park for lunch.
As for is it worth it to stay till midnight, I probably wouldn't do it anymore. but when I was a bit younger I would have.
It all depends on your energy level but don't tire yourself out for Monday - it's a long day!
 
We take the same flight from Portland and get there before noon. We are usually able to drop off our bags at our hotel (if the room isn't ready) and head into the parks. The room is usually ready for us around 4 and we go back to settle in and rest for a couple hours or so. Then back to the parks to shut it down! It's usually the best day for us!
 


so...I am doing the math, you arrive at 11:00, three hour trip so you left at 8:00, which means you arrived at sea at 6:00 and if you caught a transport to your terminal, are you arriving at 5:00, which means, ( are you staying the night before at the airport) which means you left the house at 4, woke up at 3:00...............leaving LAX with a 2 hour drive, arriving at 1:00, standing in line to check in luggage or the slims hopes into Your room, so arriving at Disneyland at 2:00 to find a place to eat, 3:00 ready for touring.............and in the back of your mind you have yet to check into your room??? if you stay to midnight where do you catch up on your sleep?

But then again, I value morning time more at Disneyland than that loooooong walk back to lodging at Mid-night.
 
the sad concept about early morning flights.....it is really crowded at drop-off at the terminal or waiting for an empty bus in the PDX parking lots. If i remember correctly about SEA is that your drop-off area is longer than PDX. At pdx we can walk directly to our gate after passing thru a long TSA after waiting in a long line behind the check-in Kiosk in the early morning. If I leave Salem at 3:15 am, arrive , park and enter the glass doors at 4:30 and find a kiosk and wait till 5:00 opening, pass in hand by 5:30, in TSA line, that 7:00 gate departure is shrinking......a good pillow always helps......so bring a pillow for everyone to sleep and arrive fresh.
 
I say go with whatever works that day, and you won't know until it happens. If you are having a great time and have lots of energy, great! Have a wonderful time. However, don't stay just to make yourself miserable just because you feel like you have to. Exhausting yourself on your first day (travel day) could mess up the rest of your trip. We are first time AP holders this year and one perk I have loved is that the day we get there, we go for just a few hours. It is a great introduction to our trip but we don't feel like we have to stay late and do everything. I'd rather get a good nights rest and hit rope drop the next morning.
 
If it’s a choice between staying up late and getting a later start the next day, and getting to sleep at a earlier time and starting the next day early, I would go with the latter. You can get a lot done in the parks the first couple hours of the day...it’s really the best time to get in the most rides.
 
I personally would do it but I have more energy than most people when it comes to Disneyland. If you don’t have enough energy for that, I’d go to the park, check into your hotel as soon as you can, take a nap, and go until midnight. A couple years ago, we went to WDW and had an overnight flight that landed at 5 AM. The park opened at 9 AM and we went straight there. We were exhausted from the overnight flight but we were able to check in to our place early at 12:30 and took a nap. We woke up refreshed and went back to the park until midnight and had a great time.
 
I would personally find something else to do that travel day. I used to do the parks on my incoming travel day, but stopped a few years ago. Basically, I'd be getting up at the crack of dawn for the short flight, anxious to get to the parks, and then not want to waste a second in the parks, so I was tired from being up at 4am to get my flight, and trying to make up for the time I want in the parks due to the flight.

So, now I plan other things in my incoming flight day. Beach, Knotts, just hanging around the resort hotels, an afternoon nap, drinks over at Trader Sam's, a nice meal overt at Garden Walk, etc.
 
Also to consider, the parks don’t open until 10am on Monday. I’m arriving on Sunday and planning to head to the parks at least for a few hours, and should still get enough sleep and be able to be at rope drop on Monday!
 
Considering the length of your stay and how little additional days for Park Hoppers are - difference between 3 day vs 4 days is only $20 - I'd for sure go the day you arrive. Whether you stay until midnight or leave a bit earlier is then up to the night and how your day went. I would factor in though, that while your flight lands at 11 - there is still a lot of jigging around to do before you'd arrive at the gates for the park considering the drive in from the airport, checking it etc.

If buying your tickets in advance, then you could buy a 3 day PH and then if you do go on the Sunday, just add an extra day to your ticket once you are there.

We have gone on an arrival day flying in from Calgary - landed around noon, picked up car, went to hotel, checked in and ran some errands for groceries even before heading over to the parks around 5 - mind you that was when we had APs so using that extra day was not a big deal - we only ended up staying until around 10 though because it is a long day considering we'd been up very early for our flight.
 
I am tired just reading this

chickapin parterre said:
so...I am doing the math, you arrive at 11:00, three hour trip so you left at 8:00, which means you arrived at sea at 6:00 and if you caught a transport to your terminal, are you arriving at 5:00, which means, ( are you staying the night before at the airport) which means you left the house at 4, woke up at 3:00...............leaving LAX with a 2 hour drive, arriving at 1:00, standing in line to check in luggage or the slims hopes into Your room, so arriving at Disneyland at 2:00 to find a place to eat, 3:00 ready for touring.............and in the back of your mind you have yet to check into your room??? if you stay to midnight where do you catch up on your sleep?

But then again, I value morning time more at Disneyland than that loooooong walk back to lodging at Mid-night.
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