when to leave :'(

[Rattpack]

I'd rather use a half-day on the final day, just to get one more taste of Disney before I go.

 

[AngelDisney]

It also depends on how much that extra day costs. For us, it is $10 a day per person. It's only DD and I, so $20 is worth that extra park time. If it would have been more, probably I would just sleep in, enjoy a character meal and then leave for the airport.

 

[mindeola]

I wouldn't go at noon on a party day. Just have a great lunch somewhere and then head to the park at 4:00. They will let you in then.

 

[BobC]

I have a similar plan for the upcoming August trip. Great to know that it should work fine. I have a late departure this time at 6:45 pm. Usually we would have a character breakfast and not visiting the park for any earlier departure. This time I will visit DHS as Tower of Terror is DD's most favourite ride. Then go to Epcot for lunch. Hope the line for Food and Wine booth is not too bad on the Sunday. Then get back to Beach Club for luggage at 1:30 the latest. I am planning to arrange a 2 pm pickup time. I should have plenty of time to wait for my flight and not miss it, right?

You should be fine, especially with that late of a departure. I always have an hr or 2 to kill in the lobby waiting for the bus anyways

 

[WDWNY]

I wouldn't go on your last day. We usually take a late flight (8-9pm) so we aren't leaving the parks until 3-4ish depending on where we are staying. The last day we are usually packing up and trying to get out of the room and usually aren't out by 10. By the time you get to the park (depending on where you're staying- can you walk there, bus? etc) and then its time to leave you probably will only have 2-3 hours in the park. Id rather spend that time by the pool

 

[happymommy]

We almost always go to a park on our departure day! Matter of fact, I just changed our flights so we arrive at 9:30am and depart on an 8:00pm flight.

We get packed up, drop our checked bags with RAC, then carry ons go to the bell services (if we have any, which I'm thinking about not doing this trip).

We could take an Uber from a park directly to the airport instead of using DME. We have TSA precheck, so usually not much of a security line. That's our plan next trip!

 

[adisneyaunt]

I'd get a nice lunch meal on arrival day .. u said noon. And head to park by 330.. you ll get in at 4 and have from 4-midnight. A no brainer.
Been there, done that .. worked great. Enjoy!

 

[Aliceacc]

Where are you staying? Are you close to a park?

As a family of 5, we stay in one of the deluxes that can accommodate 5 people. The parks are always a walk/monorail ride away, so we always hit a park the morning of departure (arrival too, and every day in between.)

 

[DizDaD7]

so the earliest we can get in is noon.
we can do a half day before the halloween party or we can take the am off and then go to the party at night

the latest we can fly out is 430, which means we have to leave the hotel by 130, which means park by 1230.
would you spend your half day at the park that am or would you do it before the party. let me know and why?

As others have stated...I as well wouldn't park it , in the a.m. either.
We usually get up early , take the bags down & check them in, get a nice breakfast & just resort day it. We also try and have been successful at getting late afternoon or after dinner flights back home.. I find it to be waay more relaxing after a weeklong(or more) trip.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

We had this dilemma on our trip... nearly the same times you mention, too!

What we ended up doing was, First Night was a "relax-in-your-resort" day because we weren't in the WDW area until 4:30-5pm. We had a small gathering in our hotel that night, but if we'd had tickets to MMNSSHP, we would have headed out to the park.

Last Day, we had to be at the MDE bus stop by 1pm with hardly any park time, so it was a quick hop over to the Contemporary to eat at Chef Mickey's and then visit Disney Springs, then we caught the bus back to the hotel, finished packing everything, and lounged around the resort until the MDE arrived.

TL/DR; Enjoy your amenities, you are paying for them and they are there to be appreciated! Yes, it's all about Mickey but it's really all about having a great time! Who says, "Wish I hadn't lounged by the pool for 30 minutes"????