Just came to say that you have the 2nd best username here. I hope you have a great trip! 
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When we went in April 2016 we took a red-eye flight that arrived to MCO just before 5am and were at All Stars Movies by about 6:30am-ish taking Magical Express. It was mostly deserted at that hour but we were one of three families waiting to get help at the front desk. We had to hang out with our luggage until bell service opened, but it wasn’t too much more time beyond us getting changed in the restrooms. We were also able to mill about in the food court & the kids’ TV area (I don’t remember that anything was being shown at that time, but possibly?). We weren’t there for very long though before being able to get breakfast.
I also wouldn’t push arriving too much earlier than 5-6am just because they probably would discourage you being in the lobby longer than 2-3 hours prior to bustling operations and there’s nothing worse than being an exhausted traveler with no place to rest. A nearby IHOP/Denny’s or other 24 hour breakfast place sounds like an ideal stop, as is finding a rest stop close enough to the last bit of the drive for the driver to get in a 2 hr nap before the final pit-stop at breakfast.
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I have done this before! well, similar. Stayed at MK until 11PM, went back to pop to pack and “sleep” caught DME at 3AM, at work by 8:30! I was EXHAUSTED that day.
It was pre-kids. No way I could have done it with kids.
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Go Blue!!!
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This is very smart, thanks!
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Yeah, that’s pretty crazy! This would be solo travel, I hope, right???
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Thank you for sharing your experience, that’s very helpful!
No probs.
I was inspired by my daughter.
Somehow - in 5 and 10-minute increments - she always manages to add hours to any task.
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Yes
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Yes and you can hang out in the lobby all night. Depending on where you are staying there might be places to doze. There are balcony seating areas at RR. If you’re at a value you should be able to sit in the food court booths. There’s lot of little places to sit and sprawl out in the Poly lobby too.
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Thanks! We are staying at All-Star Movies, so unfortunately not as many places to sprawl out, but I would just be happy if we could get into the parking lot and not be considered loiterers!
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Oh… well, that’s where we hung out in the food court area for hours 
they have lots of booths w/ squishy bench seats. I don’t know when you plan to arrive:
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never mind I looked at your starting thread, Perkins won’t work
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I would suggest not leaving at 2 am. I would say leave at like 9 or 10 am and you would miss rush hour Then if u make good time you are looking at 10 am arrival and if u are a little slower you are closer to normal check in time at Disney.
If you must leave at 2am I would suggest a cheaper hotel on the way a couple of hours outside Orlando so you could maybe arrive at Disney well rested or at least better rested than 24 hours straight in a car.
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Ooh, thanks, super helpful!
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Thanks for the advice! A cheap hotel is definitely always a backup plan if we are just too tired to manage it straight thru. But this is the 4th time we will be driving down, and DH has always ended up preferring to drive straight through. So a big part of it is when he will do best driving, so that’s where this idea comes from. He typically goes to bed early, like 8 or 9:00, then often wakes up shortly after midnight and has a hard time getting back to sleep. So he figured maybe try this plan. Our other trips we have left either early or late afternoon, hoping to get a good chunk done overnight while the kids sleep in the car, but now that they are a little older (12 and 7) it’s not as much of a concern, as they are pretty good at entertaining themselves.
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I think you will be fine. Not at Disney, but we did arrive at our hotel in Florida pre-dawn once. We left earlier than planned because I was too wired to sleep. We slept in the car in the parking lot for a bit. We usually do something similar driving all night and swapping out driving duties. 16-18 hour drive for us. Our last trip to FL, we split it up into thirds with two hotel stays. We spent so much daylight driving, I told DH I preferred the all-night method. I remember as a kid my parents once checked into a roadside motel early-afternoon and checking out around dinner time (same day). They had a sleep and were completely refreshed.
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Oops - wrong person. 
@EMgoblue
Why not simply leave the next night?
With that departure your all night drive brings you into Disney in your check in window.
Isn’t it a resort day anyway? 
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Glad you clarified, because I was trying to figure out what you were talking about.
EMgoblue’s plan makes sense to me. They are basically leaving when the main driver wakes up for the day. That time just happens to be 2 am. Bonus is that they get past the rush hour traffic before it starts.
I think it is the 2am part that confused people because not many people wake up then. Add 6 hours and it makes more sense to people. As it is, they can take plenty of breaks and even a nap at a rest stop and arrive at say 6 am. Then enjoy a leisurely breakfast and then pool time until their room is available.
Another thing EMgoblue’s family and mine have in common is starting with a rest day. Fly or drive, we need a rest day first.
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