Having read so many bits of info and using many, one thing seems to have been lacking. If travelling from Europe, 5 hours extra on landing seems brilliant but there is a price to pay. Being awake at 4.30am ready for the parks and ready for bed at 8pm for the first few days does through out the late night fireworks and dessert partying. So, what to do… Being on site for two weeks, we looked for all the early morning 8.00am openings in the first week and left the parks by 5.00pm. Second week, started at approx 11am and were able to go through the parks until late night. Following our body clocks rather than the norm made us able to see and do everything without being totally exhausted. Another thing when we get home to being 5 hours ahead but that is another story…
If you come in September for SW:GE, being wide awake at 4:30 will be an advantage for those 6am starts!
We never have any trouble going there. As you say, we wake up early but excitement keeps us going on the first day and by day 2 or 3 you’re on US time anyway.
Coming back is a nightmare for me, it takes me weeks to feel right again. I try to get straight back on UK time by staying up when we get home and going to bed about 9pm, and getting up around 8.30 next morning but it doesn’t help.
I’ve done a fair bit of transatlantic travelling for both work and pleasure. Going west is never a problem - I just stay up until my usual bedtime on arrival, say 11pm, and get up around 7am the next day. East is worse, mostly because the flights are during the night, but not really near long enough to get a “proper” night’s sleep. If I have to be reasonably rested when I arrive I have dinner at the airport and go to sleep as soon as I can once onboard. I sleep through breakfast (usually awful anyway), they wake you when you have to put your seatback up again which can mean as much as 7 hours sleep. Saying that, I rarely struggle to sleep on planes (or anywhere) whereas DH never manages, even on the upper/1st “bed” seats, and suffers from jetlag for over a week, both directions, so I think it varies a lot between individuals. Guess our body clocks are just set slightly differently.