Is this a crazy plan?

[kandyk]

We are flying in on a red eye from Seattle and will be arriving at 7:15am in Orlando on Aug 14th. Currently we are booked at THV from Aug 13-28. I know check in isn't until 4pm and I know we will be exhausted by the time we get there. So we reserved the day prior so we would be able to go straight to our room and take a nap.

What I am concerned about is will we be even less likely to get our room requests since we won't be getting there until the next day and will a room for sure be ready for us?

We will be on the dining plan so that will add an extra day and $$$ but I am sure I can put those credits to use.

Is this a silly idea and a waste of points/money? If we dropped the 13th and did online check in are we likely to have a room ready for us early.

Has anyone else had this dilema?

I hate second guessing myself so I figured it was time to get some expert advice.

Thank you for your help!

 

[christinec68]

It does seem like a waste of points/money to pay for an extra night you don't intend to fully use but I dont see an alternative to getting a guaranteed room early. I would make quadruple sure your reservation isn't forfeited by not physically checking in on the 13th. Is a later flight an option? If you are planning to take a nap on arrival, is it worth the extra money to get there so early?

If you change your arrival date to the 14th, there is no guarantee a room will be ready at that hour whether you check in online or not. It will be contingent on when rooms become available and turned for new guests.

 

[kamikazecat]

While it may be expensive, I think it is smart. We did a red eye flight from San Fran last year and got in at 7:00 am and our room ended up not being ready until 5:00 PM. This was at SSR as well.

This year, we are flying in a day early and staying at The Swan. We got a great teacher rate. We will then head over to BLT in the morning to check in and head to the parks.

 

[TeamStitch]

It does seem like a waste of points/money to pay for an extra night you don't intend to fully use but I dont see an alternative to getting a guaranteed room early. I would make quadruple sure your reservation isn't forfeited by not physically checking in on the 13th. Is a later flight an option? If you are planning to take a nap on arrival, is it worth the extra money to get there so early?

If you change your arrival date to the 14th, there is no guarantee a room will be ready at that hour whether you check in online or not. It will be contingent on when rooms become available and turned for new guests.

All rooms are held until check out time the following morning. So as long as they get there by 11am on the 14th they are fine. Just be careful flight isn't delayed.

 

[MrsLS]

No I don't think it is crazy. We've done that before. Not for a Disney trip but other trips. If you have a TS on your dinin plan, then go to a 2 credit place or 2 ts in a day vim sure too you'll use it. Maybe reduce your ticket days by a day to save a few $s.

 

[justkem]

From a purely pragmatic standpoint, I would take all that extra money you're spending on a dining plan you won't use and a room you'll barely use and check into something nice by the airport.

Rent a car for the day, and drive into Disney once you're well rested.

Maybe put some of that extra saved $$$ towards a spa treatment before you go?

Just a thought...

 

[OKWAnneMarie]

from a purely pragmatic standpoint, i would take all that extra money you're spending on a dining plan you won't use and a room you'll barely use and check into something nice by the airport.

Rent a car for the day, and drive into disney once you're well rested.

Maybe put some of that extra saved $$$ towards a spa treatment before you go?

Just a thought...

great idea!!!

 

[kaytieeldr]

I'm HONESTLY not sure about this. To the best of my knowledge - i.e. with the education but never put to use - reservations are held until 6 AM the following morning, not check-out time.

I think justkem's idea is better.

 

[Luvamouse]

I'm HONESTLY not sure about this. To the best of my knowledge - i.e. with the education but never put to use - reservations are held until 6 AM the following morning, not check-out time.

I think justkem's idea is better.

Can they cancel it if it is a package prepaid 45 days out? (I didn't notice if the OP mentioned that part)

In 2007, my cousin arrived at 2 p.m. the day she thought she had changed her arrival to-- and the day the rest of our GG arrived. The TA never followed through in changing the arrival from Sun. to Mon. and the ressie had been cancelled. (I know this only because my cousin CC'd me every e-mail that went to the TA) This was Thanksgiving week. Luckily, they got it all fixed, but I know for a fact they were paying the room only at check in since they had AP's. Does make me wonder though...

Personally, I'd rather spend the extra money and know the room would be ready.

 

[csaribay]

I'm HONESTLY not sure about this. To the best of my knowledge - i.e. with the education but never put to use - reservations are held until 6 AM the following morning, not check-out time.

I think justkem's idea is better.

Reservations are held until check-out time the day after arrival - 11am. This is standard policy, consistent at all resorts. At that point, any deposit is forfeited and the reservation is checked out.

However, if you call your resort ahead of time (or a call center, as it may be) on the day of the scheduled arrival, you can say that you plan to arrive at such and such time on whatever day, and your reservation will continue to be held until that time. Notes will be left on the reservation and Cast Members will be advised to not check it out until such time.

Having said that, an airport hotel may be the best option for the overnight.

 

[Sunshine1987]

If you could fit in a Value or Moderate resort (not sure of your family's size) you could make a different reservation for one of those for less than $100- $150 bucks. You get to experience a little magic but not worry about spending all that extra money by adding an extra day to your package. You also can then have Disney transfer your luggage instead of doing it yourself.

We are doing something similar this year, albeit for a little different reasons. We want to check-out the POR resort because if Disney wasn't offering the 40% room rate, we would probably stay there but we decided to stay at the Poly with the discount (I am in heaven). However we are doing the drive in one day instead of two (we would be paying for a hotel anyway) but decided to drive the extra 5 hours and try the POR. We won't arrive until 7 or 8 PM which just did not justify adding an extra day to our package so we booked a separate reservation! Kinda covered two missions for us, an extra day at Disney and checking out a different resort...

Anyway, good luck with whatever you choose!!!!

 

[TeamStitch]

Can they cancel it if it is a package prepaid 45 days out? (I didn't notice if the OP mentioned that part)

In 2007, my cousin arrived at 2 p.m. the day she thought she had changed her arrival to-- and the day the rest of our GG arrived. The TA never followed through in changing the arrival from Sun. to Mon. and the ressie had been cancelled. (I know this only because my cousin CC'd me every e-mail that went to the TA) This was Thanksgiving week. Luckily, they got it all fixed, but I know for a fact they were paying the room only at check in since they had AP's. Does make me wonder though...

Personally, I'd rather spend the extra money and know the room would be ready.

Yes. Even if the reservation is fully paid in full, they will auto cancel the reservation if they don't show up. Had they arrived prior to 11am that day, their reservation would've been intact. The reservation is marked as a "no show" after 11am. Now, whether or not they hotel can/will reinstate the reservation is determined by a variety of factors when the guests do show up.

And as Csaribay stated, calling the Resort in advance can also be an effective way to prevent this as well in the case of a delayed flight, etc...

 

[NWgoofyfamily]

We flew into orlando from seattle on the red eye on our first WDW trip a couple years ago. None of us slept on the plane, although I was sure that we would - at least a little. When we arrived we were all so excited to be there we hit the ground running. We checked in at the hotel, our room was not ready - I think we got there around 8 am, we left our baggage, and went straight to the parks. We were tired in the afternoon, but we just kept going, until bedtime that night. It was my husband and I and our kids aged 10, 10, and 11. Although we had been to Disneyland many times, we were so anxious to experience WDW, I can't imagine going into our rooms and napping. Our adrenaline was in full gear. Good luck with your decision. Oh, and dh reminded me that although he and I hated the red eye - it was so painful - our kids have nothing, but fond memories of it and want to take it on our next trip! LOL.

 

[Sue M]

I may be in the minority here, but I wouldn't waste $ on an extra day. Mid Aug. isn't as busy, and you may get an early check in. Ask them to make a note on your res. of your arrival time, it may help.
Last Aug, we did a split stay with POR/WL.. We arrived at WL at 8:00 am to get our KTTW with our dining credits on it, not expecting a room to be ready but it was.
If your room isn't ready, you could change into bathing suits and relax by the pool. Bell services will hold your luggage.
Good luck with your plans.