Evening EMH on day of arrival

[SuckingDiesel]

We land at Sanford at 2pm and are staying on-site at Wilderness Lodge. Our transfer is with tui.

MK have emh that evening until 11:00pm (one of only two evening emh during our stay). Are we likely to have enough time to go or should we just relax in the resort and hit the parks the next day?

[AliceCooper9]

I think you would have time to get to MK. I would guess you would be able to leave WL around 6pm to MK. 4 Hrs for immigration/travel/checking in etc. So you could get 4 hours in the park.

BUT if you have kids you might struggle to do it so I would not bet on it.
Plan the night (just FPs, no ADRs) at MK but ultimately if it does not happen then plans change.

I planned AK and FOP for the first night but it never happened.

[waiting4disney]

You should have the time but it's whether you have the energy.

I admire people that can go straight to the parks. We usually have a very early might then rope drop the next morning..

[katie786]

When we went last September we landed at MCO at 2 and we were in MK by 5 - we got super lucky with waits at immigration and baggage claim, and got to the Magical Express just as it started boarding.
However we were definitely falling asleep standing up by the time HEA started at 9pm. We pushed through cos it was the only chance we had on the trip to see it, but I wouldn't do it again. If you want to do something to keep yourself awake for a bit, head out to Disney Springs for dinner, but I would just have an easy night if I were in your shoes! You have another chance for EMH, plan on using that one instead.

[Guest]

I will caveat that we are an all adult party, buy wouldn’t even think twice about it if we arrived at 2pm! I have landed at 5:30pm and been in MK by 8pm, spent a couple of hours there for a few rides and the show. Meant getting to bed quite late but then having a good nights sleep and waking up the next day with no jet lag and raring to go. In my opinion it makes sense to do something first evening to help with the time zone change.

[Mazbar]

If you leave at 11pm local time on your arrival day your body clock will be 4am then you have to get back to wilderness lodge and your room so say midnight ( 5am uk time ) all this after travelling half way around the world. We have never made it past 9pm before falling into bed.

[mandco]

Honestly go with how you feel when you arrive

Previously I would never have considered doing a park on arrival day but last time we only went for a week and before we went I had only been able to get a tsm fastpass for arrival day so as ds felt up to it we headed to hs for the evening. We actually stayed till closing and due to the late night we didn't wake up till about 7am which was great.

[chmurf]

Well, one very important question, do your tickets allow you to do that ? I mean, length of stay vs. length of tickets.

now, I would never do it, even landing at 2pm in SFB ...
I know we would be too shattered, even though it's always a good idea not to go to sleep too early, in order to beat jet lag.

but, it's always tempting to overdo it on arrival day, especially if you arrive quite early like you do

you will just need to listen to your body, and not underestimate how tired you are
because even if you feel so great and hyped on your first night, you might just pay for it the next morning and the next day

it's not just how you'll be tired after the flight, but how you will add weariness on top of fatigue, and you won't know that on the first evening, you'll know that mid-day the next day, and a couple of hours in MK on arrival night might have you call it a day at 2pm the next day, and miss out on whatever you planned

at the end of the day, only you are in position to decide and know your body, so you'll cross that bridge when you get there
just note that the vast majority of people here will most probably not schedule anything for the first evening
So, I would not schedule anything, but just decide if I'm up to it, when I'm there
don't over hype that first night, you won't miss out if you go to bed at 11pm without having paid MK a visit, it might be the opposite actually
but leave that an option. Just don't plan on it.