jet lag issues from Australia

Hi all you long haul travellers

We are arriving in LA at about 5 pm on a Tuesday night with the intention of spending the next 8 days park hopping and cramming as much into the time as we can (kids orientated stuff - 8 and 11 year old). For those of you who have done this what is the impact of the long flight and time differenc.

Should we take the first day easy eg. shopping and delay the parks? Or should we just hit them hard and get over it that way.

How are the kids sleep patterns likely to be affected.

Ta

jet lag issues from Australia

I would definitely spend the first day getting over the jet lag. Theme parks are exhausting, especially when you%26#39;re doing 5 in a row as you have planned.

jet lag issues from Australia

I agree. Even though I live an hour away, I always try to get to sleep early before my day at DL!

You might want to visit Downtown Disney on your first night, however just to cruise around and see what it%26#39;s like as well as get an early bearing on your surrounding. However, It%26#39;s not good to do this if you need to take a shuttle. If you do it, you could get a bite to eat there. You could always stay in and order in. A TA member who visited DL posted that they found a place that is called Bucket of Spaggetti or something and they just loved it.

Hi. We have arrived in Anaheim about 12.00 ish midday after landing about 10.00am. When we arrived we got out of our cool weather clothes and hit the parks for a few hours. When double vision kicked in we went back and had an afternoon sleep. We showered then headed back to the parks after about 3 hours. If you land at 5.00 ish it will take you a couple of hours to go thru customs and immigration then make your way to Anaheim. If the park closes early say 8.00 ish, if you feel like it, take a walk thru Downtown Disney. It is fabulous to build up for the next day. Other wise it really is see how you are all coping. I say go for it if you feel up to it!

It did not take long to get in the groove but we did miss the early entries as we could not wake up early enough. We found the home trip took about 1 week to get over the jetlag, maybe because there was nothing to look forward to whilst when you are overseas there is sooooo much to see and do in a limited time.

Have a fab time

hi we frequently do this trip from NZ and we have two kids 8 and 10. I suggest that you take a look a t the disney opening schedule, and any early entry privileges, and work your schedule around that. Jet lag is not too bad if you get a good night%26#39;s sleep, and chances ard your kids will be pretty excited and ready to go.

Given Disney%26#39;s busy days though, I would advise that you go to DCA on Wednesday - it opens later than DL, so you can sleep in if need be.

Thurs and Fri are Early entry days - pick one based on your tiredness and opening hours (sometimes this means being there by 6.30am ). Use those two days for DL.

I really wouldn%26#39;t advise being the parks sat sun if you can avoid it. if you are really tired, save DL for Mon tuesday of your stay.

It all depends on how much time you want to spend at disney and the other parks in the area. You can do it without a rest day, but get to the parks early and take a break in the middle of the day.

Ignoring the fact that you are ';losing a day'; when you travel, you will arrive 6 hours later than the current time in Australia (or, at least, Sydney). In other words, 5 pm in L.A. = 11 am, Sydney time. Now a lot depends on how well you slept on the plane.

If you didn%26#39;t sleep well, then you%26#39;re going to be tired. While the temptation might be to take a nap, I would wait until your regular bedtime (in California) and go to sleep then; otherwise, you%26#39;ll be on ';Sydney time';.

If you slept well, and feel rested, then a walk around downtown disney will fatigue you a bit. This is good because you might not feel tired on the first night since midnight in L.A. = 6 pm in Sydney. If you don%26#39;t get to sleep on time, however, then you%26#39;ll have trouble getting up in the morning. So, try to make yourself tired if you aren%26#39;t feeling that way naturally.

This feeling of disorientation can go on for 2 or 3 days!

Have fun!

Actually we gain a day on the way over and lose a day on the way home. I leave in Jan on a Mon afternoon in Sydney but land in LA on Mon morn.

We leave Wed night to come home and land on a Fri morn.

Quite bizarre!

Hi - great question. I read a similar question in the Las Vegas forum from someone doing London/Las Vegas. Someone suggested around 1 glass of water per hour of flight, sleep, sleep, limit caffine and alcohol.

Good luck with it - we%26#39;ll be doing the same trip next year.

Hi there!

We arrived in LA at 7.00 am from Brisbane. Our kids are 7,9 %26amp; 12 and at most probably had two hours sleep, so by the time we arrived which was midnight here, we were all absolutely shattered. We left our luggage at the hotel and changed into something cooler then wandered over to Downtown Disney. It all seemed weird and surreal because we were so tired we couldn%26#39;t even be bothered looking around. All we wanted was some catch up sleep, which we managed once we were able to check into room about 2.00 pm. I set the alarm so we would have a two hour sleep. I woke after about an hour and felt slightly better, but had great difficulty waking the kids. I%26#39;m sure they could%26#39;ve slept through until the next morning. Our intention was to then have an early night ready for Disneyland the next morning but it was still about 11.00pm before we went to bed. The next morning we hit Disneyland and didn%26#39;t stop for the next 8 days, we had a blast but it was extremely exhausting. If we do it again I would definately have a day or two at the start to get used to time difference. I know this is hard when you want to fit as much as possible into your trip but I think it takes away from the excitement when you are utterly exhausted.

Just my thoughts, maybe your kids cope better with less sleep.

Great question! We leave Melbourne on Monday to fly to LA with our kids and am worried about the same thing. Our plan is to try and take the first couple of days easy and then go hard at the theme parks. We%26#39;ll see how it goes! :)

Lillisa76, we leave SYDNEY on Monday for LA! We%26#39;re going AirNZ, which means that we arrive in LA an hour before we left Sydney. Our plan is to sleep from NZ to LA as much as possible (we stop over in NZ for 2 hours on the way), and then try and check in when we get there, have a shower to wake up a bit, and head out. We always try to stay awake until ';normal'; sleeping time, to kick our body clocks in. Definately take it easy, but we don%26#39;t go to sleep until it%26#39;s the *right* time. Re original post, I%26#39;d say that hopefully you%26#39;ll be so exhausted when you arrive that you%26#39;ll sleep right through, and be fine for the parks the next day. Good luck everyone, and have a great trip all of you who are leaving soon!

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