Coping with Time Differences

[jaqsdad]

Coming from Oregon, we have a 3 hour time difference to deal with. In general, we stay on Pacific Time while in Florida. This means missing out on rope drop but staying through evening EMH. We also eat during our normal meal times, which means we are eating later than most others.

What are your tips for dealing with the time differences?

 

[Tattylou]

We live on the east coast- just outside of Boston. We went to Disneyland a few years ago and we just adjusted to west coast time pretty easily after a day. The first morning my son and I were awake super early, but after that I feel we adjusted pretty quickly...probably bc we were exhausted from being up so early and then all day at the parks... we went to bed pretty early after the first park day and the next morning seemed adjusted. We are heading back to California next February, so I'll see if it is different with the kids being a little older.

 

[Summer2018]

We live on the east coast- just outside of Boston. We went to Disneyland a few years ago and we just adjusted to west coast time pretty easily after a day. The first morning my son and I were awake super early, but after that I feel we adjusted pretty quickly...probably bc we were exhausted from being up so early and then all day at the parks... we went to bed pretty early after the first park day and the next morning seemed adjusted. We are heading back to California next February, so I'll see if it is different with the kids being a little older.

That's good news.

 

[PerfessorZ]

I think it’s easier going west than east.

 

[natfrac]

We are also Oregonians and we do not adjust for the time. We prefer to stay up late and sleep in, so it works for us.

 

[jaqsdad]

I think it’s easier going west than east.

I agree, East to West is easier. I am a night owl anyway and I prefer to stay up later. I would like to make it for rope drop one day but my body just won't get out of bed when it thinks it is only 4 AM. Morning EMH is out of the question.

 

[Hoosier John]

I agree it seems easier going east to west (so your return trip should be better)
The answer is head toward Japan-Europe-Florida, then you're ALWAYS going east to west

 

[Summer2018]

We flew into Phoenix, Arizona from JFK last night. It’s a 3 hour difference, and I feel lousy. Granted, I drank champagne during most of the flight which doesn’t help. I made the mistake of taking my meds on AZ time, and I felt really unwell as a result. So, I haven’t adjusted. My family isn’t doing much better.

 

[StarSeven7]

We don't really have any issues adjusting between time zones. I feel like your travel day is always exhausting, so we're usually ready to go to bed whenever we need to if traveling West to East. If traveling from East to West, we just make ourselves stay up later and try to go to bed as close to our "normal" time in the new time zone as we can. We adjust our watches as soon as we land and just go with that time from then on. Exposing yourself to sunlight helps your body adjust. After the first day we're usually completely adjusted.

 

[Summer2018]

We don't really have any issues adjusting between time zones. I feel like your travel day is always exhausting, so we're usually ready to go to bed whenever we need to if traveling West to East. If traveling from East to West, we just make ourselves stay up later and try to go to bed as close to our "normal" time in the new time zone as we can. We adjust our watches as soon as we land and just go with that time from then on. Exposing yourself to sunlight helps your body adjust. After the first day we're usually completely adjusted.

We woke up feeling more normal this morning at 5:00am. I couldn’t sleep in later. We set an alarm to take our meds 3 hours earlier and that helped. Our meds are time-sensitive, so we have to take them at 7:00 pm instead of 10:00 pm.

 

[disneycat321]

We're coming from CA. Our strategy last trip was to get on FL's time zone right away, which means a bedtime the first night of the trip that feels very early so that we can rope drop MK the first morning. This year, we don't have to leave for the airport until 8:00, but we're planning on being up by 5:00 since that's 8:00am in Florida. I'm hoping that helps us adjust more quickly. An early wake up time on departure day did work for us last trip.

On our first trip, we didn't really ever adjust. But we did have an amazing EMH at MK our first night until 2am. We were wide awake since it was only 11pm to us!

 

[agamble]

We're coming from CA. Our strategy last trip was to get on FL's time zone right away, which means a bedtime the first night of the trip that feels very early so that we can rope drop MK the first morning. This year, we don't have to leave for the airport until 8:00, but we're planning on being up by 5:00 since that's 8:00am in Florida. I'm hoping that helps us adjust more quickly. An early wake up time on departure day did work for us last trip.

On our first trip, we didn't really ever adjust. But we did have an amazing EMH at MK our first night until 2am. We were wide awake since it was only 11pm to us!

What time is your flight from CA PST and what time will you arrive FL time? I kind of want to do a red eye when we go because a 7 hour flight with a 3 hour time change makes it seem like a whole day is gone.

 

[disneycat321]

What time is your flight from CA PST and what time will you arrive FL time? I kind of want to do a red eye when we go because a 7 hour flight with a 3 hour time change makes it seem like a whole day is gone.

We got a nonstop, leaving at 11:00 and landing at 7:20 FL time (so 4:20). 5 hour and 20 min flight. I wish we could leave earlier, but we don't have the kind of options we used to flying out of LAX back when we lived in southern CA. But yes, a whole day is basically gone. I just can't personally sleep on planes, so the red eye isn't a great option for me.

Technically you gain the 3 hours back when you return to CA....but that's not at Disney, so what's the point, really?

 

[Kauai4life]

We visit DW once a year from Hawaii, its either a 5 or 6 hour time difference. What works best for us arrival day make no plans just relax and then get to bed early. Start day 2 on Florida time not think about what time it is at home we do rope drop to close, we also go to the parks every other day this seems to help us catch up on rest too. Just go have fun and enjoy.

 

[Oneanne]

I fly from Seattle and used to take the red eye just about every trip, but more often than not the room wasn't ready, so that can make the first day a pretty tired cranky start to the trip. For my upcoming trip I'm doing the daytime non-stop, landing around 4:30pm, and have pretty laid back no-plan plans for that evening... I'll Uber from POP over to The Boardwalk to have dinner at the bar at Flying Fish (no ADR commitment), then head over to EPCOT to wander around WS and soak up the vibe.

My normal work day up-time is 5am, so keeping on that schedule at WDW, I'm up at 8am and out the door by 8:30am, so usually at a park just after rope drop... getting up earlier than that for EMH at the beginning of the the trip can be brutal, but I'll do if I really, really, really want to. I always head back to the resort for afternoon naps and a freshen up, then get my second wind to be out later in the evening.

 

[biochemgirl]

I fly out of Portland, OR and try to get a direct flight with Alaska Airlines which puts us in around 4pm at MCO, but we have to leave our house no later than 4am to get to the airport. This makes for a long day and helps to absorb the 3 hour time loss when we head east.

I adjust well to the time change under these circumstances and would want to rope drop if my teenager could make the adjustment! He has trouble waking when we are home and even more so when we change time zones I've had a great couple trips with a happy kid by letting him sleep in and then enjoying the parks until close.

 

[bdiddy]

We are on EST and when we went out to DL a few years ago we had a 7am flight so we were up at 4am. We’re in CA by noon there time. Did some quick sight-seeing then went to our hotel and took a late afternoon nap for about 2 hrs. We got up and ate a little later dinner than usual then did some more quick site-seeing. We were back and in bed by 11 PST time. Woke up the next day normal time and we’re ready to go! We didn’t feel any jet lag at all!

 

[Summer2018]

We basically adjusted to western time after about 5 days. After 10 days out west, 3 in Arizona and 7 in California, we flew into JFK, arriving home at 2:00am. The nice thing is that it actually felt like 11:00pm. We woke up at 10:00am refreshed.

Back to work tomorrow. It will be interesting trying to go to bed early tonight for my 5:30am alarm.

 

[starry_solo]

I'm from the west coast too. Basically rest the day after flying in and then on East coast time thereafter

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't seem to have much of an issue with the time change but I'm in Central time zone. Being tired the first day of vacation usually has to do with when our flight is either early in the morning or late in the evening.

The hardest time change though was going to Hawaii. Going there was ok coming back was rough especially with an overnight flight.