Originally Posted By LuLu I'll be booking airfare to WDW soon (for next summer). I think it was seanyoda who suggested getting a red eye flight, which I initially thought I couldn't deal with. Now I've found a good fare for nonstops on flysong.com. It's a tad more than Southwest, but worth it to go nonstop. My choices are: leave LAX 10:30am, arrive MCO 6:05pm OR leave LAX 10:45pm, arrive MCO 6:16am (which will feel like 3 in the morning, ugh!). With the 3 hour time difference, I guess I'll be dealing with jet lag issues whether I arrive early in the am or in the evening. So I'm looking for suggestions on how you deal with the time change, either way. Get there in the evening, maybe you're tired from the travel so going to bed early and getting on the new schedule isn't a problem? Or do the early thing and crash at your hotel in the afternoon? (Intending a short nap, but I'm afraid I might sleep til the middle of the night!) OK, what do you guys do, for WDW trips, business trips, whatever? Just wondering what works for you, as I like to say, "I don't get out much!" :-D
Originally Posted By hopemax We did the red eye thing 4 times, and the recipe was always the same. Get there early, and just go all day, no afternoon naps. We did this in the off season, so all the parks except Epcot were closing about 7 anyway, so we'd get back to the hotel room the first night, fall into bed and then wake up bright and early and on the correct time. You may think, how could I go that long without sleep, but your at Disney World! Adreneline takes over (and a little caffeine) and you can do it. At least that's how it worked for us. And if you can get a little sleep on the plane (I never do) then you have a little bit more energy for the play day.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip We've never taken an overnight flight, but have taken flights that required us to get up between 3:30 and 4:00 AM and arrived at Orlando about 11:00 AM Florida time. We've found that adrenalin keeps us going through that first day. We usually hit the bed about 10:30 PM that first night and sleep REALLY well. The main problem with an early flight is that you generally can not check it to your room that early. We usually leave our luggage with bell services and head for Epcot. Your red-eye flight would get you in to MCO way earlier than we’ve ever been there. In my opinion that would be too early. Given your options I would take the flight that gets you in about 6:00 PM. We’ve been taking later flights (arrive at MCO between 6-7 PM) lately to avoid having to get up so early. We enjoy using that first night to check in at the Boardwalk and then go out for Nachos and Margaritas at the ESPN club.
Originally Posted By smedley We are usually coming the other way, having been up all day, due to the 5 hours Florida is behind the UK. My fix is to always stay up as late as possible the first day. Usually 9pm lol, as this means I've done a 20hr-ish day, this then helps to sleep properly overnight, and you're into it the second day. I would advise against the afternoon nap, it encourages your body not to adjust.
Originally Posted By iceknyght Every time I have flown back to Florida, I have taken the red eye and I love it! I am one who can actually sleep on a plane, so I get a little rest there and by the time I am in Florida, I am ready to go for the day, even if I only got an hour nap or so... You also don't lose a day to travel, which I find as a *big* bonus... I hate having to waste a day just to fly in a plane and get to where I am going... I stay at a friends house when I go back there, so I don't have to worry about hotel check ins, but if you can do the red eye thing, I definitely recommend it...
Originally Posted By Big Thunder I rarely fly red eye [although I almost booked one for next week] However I have had to deal with 4 hour time changes. For me, I just try to get an hour or so sleep on the plane and accept the fact that I will lose some sleep time one day. To be honest, it's not a big deal for me. The first day I am a bit sluggish, but that night I go to bed and actually fall asleep and then fall into pattern. That's actually a plus for me, because when I travel closer to home, I have trouble falling asleep in hotels the first night, but when I am worn out from a long flight/time change, I hit the pillow and I'm out, the next day I am fine and my bodies clock is now set for local time and I have one night of hotel accomplished and the remaining nights usually work out fine. BTW I've never been to WDW, but my friends who go regularly from CA like the red eye plan.
Originally Posted By Big Thunder you might try taking Melatonin, Mrs Thunder does because she has a wackey work schedule and she claims it helps, but I have never noticed a difference.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 I've done both. I can do the red eyes with no problem. As IceKnyght says, you just go about your day and fall right to sleep on the East Coast time come bed time. The absolute worst for me is to get to the East Coast anytime after say 8 or 9pm and just go straight to the hotel. I end up climbing the walls because it's really only 5pm and I can't convince my body to go to bed. I end up staying awake till 2am - 11pm PST. Then I'm dead for meeting the next morning. So, I try to get there the day before around 6pm or so and go do something that will tire me. A walk, a movie, sightsee. For me it's never really that big of a deal. Now, coming home...that's the killer.
Originally Posted By Ursula Ambien. We have people who fly back and forth to New York from LA all the time and take red-eyes. This only works under a doctor's care, and if it's used sparingly. Or you can make sure you drink loads of water on the plane and sleep the whole time.
Originally Posted By Big Thunder <<"The absolute worst for me is to get to the East Coast anytime after say 8 or 9pm and just go straight to the hotel. I end up climbing the walls because it's really only 5pm and I can't convince my body to go to bed. I end up staying awake till 2am - 11pm PST. Then I'm dead for meeting the next morning.">> I should clarify, the above ^^ is exactly what I mean. I.E. I am departing LAX at 4;30, arriving Indianapolis 11;30 PM, I will be up most of the night watching TV and get about 2-3 hours sleep that night, the NEXT day I will be sluggish, and that night I will sleep like a baby. In this case, I am OK with it, my first meeting is at 1;00 PM so I can sleep in once I finally get to sleep. My other option was to take a red eye from LAX, hope for a couple hours sleep on plane, arrive Indy early AM, then I'd have to wander around somewhere till noon to check in, then go to a meeting at 1;00 PM, that option sounded less attractive, but I could have done it. If I did, I would have gotten through the first day sluggishly, then hit the sack for an early night of sleep.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Advice from one of my favorite Christmas movies... "Ya wanna know the secret of successful air travel? After you get where you're going, ya take off your shoes and socks. Then ya walk around on the rug barefoot and make fists with your toes. Better'n a cup of coffee and a hot shower for the old jet lag. I know it sounds crazy. Trust me. I've been doing it for nine years." -- Die Hard
Originally Posted By LuLu Thanks for the great advice, everyone! (and 2oony too! :-D). Decisions, decisions. You guys are kinda talking me into trying the red eye. I know DD will love it as she loves to try anything "different." The only time I did anything similar was flying to Europe, I remember getting out of the plane and thinking, My God it's SO BRIGHT (being early morning when it would've been nighttime in LA). But this was half a lifetime ago, practically! I appreciate the pointers, I'll be sure to remember NO NAPS (darn, I love naps so that will be tough, but I already figured that wouldn't work). If I go with the evening arrival (as I did 4 years ago) I'll be sure to do lots of walking to tire myself out. YES, I hate wasting a day travelling, then getting there at nearly bedtime! So who knows what I'll decide... ***practices making fists with toes***
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 And here I was just about to vote against the red-eye! You'll spend the same amount of time traveling whether you do it in the evening or the day, and, IMHO, you'll pay equally for it either way. If you travel during the day, you still arrive in time to lounge by the pool, spend the evening wandering DTD, relax over a premium meal, check out your hotel, unpack, or go into one of the Parks. Then you wake up early and refreshed and begin your exploration of WDW in earnest. If you travel at night, you get to enter a Park as soon as it opens. And if you're like me (can't sleep effectively on planes, need more than three hours sleep), you find yourself wandering around that Park dazed and emotionally flat. Instead of, "Wow, the Tree of Live is REALLY cool!" it's, "Yeah, it looks like the pictures of it." Fly during the day: you pay in QUANTITY of time at WDW. (Which could be resolved by adding an extra day.) Fly during the evening: you pay in QUALITY of time at WDW. IMHO, this trip is too precious to diminish your Park time like that. I've done the "no sleep" thing going into my Disneyland trips for the past three years and really regret it. In my case it wasn't because of the flight schedule (since I fly east to west) but because I had to stay up the night prior to my early morning flight. The effect is the same, though. In order to maximize my vacation time, I do sometimes schedule red-eye flights for the way home. I hate traveling that way. I feel like a zombie on the drive home from the airport, I arrive home disoriented, I go to bed from 8am 'til 1 in the afternoon, and I'm still completely out of it for the rest of the day. It's worth it to me to have the whole last day in the Park. But I wouldn't voluntarily do it going *into* the trip. I'd only schedule my zombie day to occur at home. But your mileage may vary! Whichever you choose, LuLu, I'm sure you'll have a great vacation!
Originally Posted By Clopin I think red-eye flights are the best. That's how I travel when I go visiting in CA from here in HI. I usually work the day I leave, fly all night and arrive LAX at 5-6 AM. Sleep a bit on the plane, sleep a bit in the car on the way to my folks' house and usually I'm good to go. I think it depends how much sleep you're used to getting at night. I'm a night owl, so those 5 hours are usually enough to ease me into Pacific time... I hope you have a great time at WDW, whichever time of day you decide to fly!
Originally Posted By LuLu I really appreciate your input Mark. Much as my mind wants to say "red eye," I know my body wants to say "sleep in a real bed for Pete's sake!" So, as I posted before, who knows what I'll decide... stay tuned! :-D
Originally Posted By LuLu See, all the youngsters vote "red eye" while us, um, seasoned folks think differently... I used to be able to function on a few hours sleep, but I'm not so sure any more!
Originally Posted By Big Thunder >>"CA from here in HI. I usually work the day I leave, fly all night and arrive LAX at 5-6 AM"<< That's how I always return from working HI myself. Its my only work destination that I actually go west to, it's strange getting up and being the early bird cuzz my body is on PST. Anyway, as a visitor to HI, that red eye totally works for me on the return. I usually return on Fridays at the end of a work week, I get home early Saturday morning, my body is on HI time so I have enough wake in me to drive from airport.
Originally Posted By Ursula Well, now the last WDW trip for us we took the 10am-ish flight out of LAX. I tried to nap on the plane, but it was just so odd wasting a whole day on the plane (it seemed) only to get there at night. I did feel like I wasted the whole day. One the way back, we left at 7 pm and arrived home at LAX at 9pm. That math just makes my head spin.
Originally Posted By Big Thunder Clopin: just curious, what works for you going back home to HI when leaving CA?
Originally Posted By Big Thunder Lulu I say take the red eye. I think I know you well enough to say that probably goes against your grain. You are a healthy lifestyle, eat right, exercise, go to bed decent hour, get plenty of rest kinda gal. But be bold, let that teenage daughter drag you around, wake up the kid in you, throw caution to the wind, stay up and have fun, in fact run yourself ragged. You've earned it, plus you take care of yourself so you'll recover quickly, just take an extra vitamin or something
