A couple of quick questions.....

[kimis]

My dh and I have been to WDW many times but not since online check in and magic bands. It is better to check in online? We will be there January/February. Also I am still confused about our magic bands. Do they arrive already linked and ready to go? Thank you!

 

[GinnyT]

My magic bands arrived all linked and ready to go with memory maker and campground reservation. We arrive in 20 days. I think we may have received them a little early since we changed our dates to arrive a little later. I'm still trying to figure out the online check in and whether or not I should call and/or FAX site requests. The online check in had a grayed out check marked for awning and our Loop request (my husband made reservation over the phone), but it would not allow me to uncheck anything or edit anything. I want to uncheck awning and check woods view in hopes of getting an outer loop site. I think I'm going to have to call, but not even sure what number to call.

 

[minnie mum]

There is no real reason not to do online check in. If you register your credit card and give them your ETA and contact info, it may allow you to bypass the check in desk altogether. They text you your room number when the room is available. At the very least it will shorten the check-in process, since they will have all your paperwork ready for you when you show up. If you need to make a room request more specific than the options in the online check in boxes, you would have to phone the reservations number.

Your magic band will be attached to your MDE account. You shouldn't have to do anything else to access anything. But since I don't trust them to be glitch-free (we've had problems in the past) I always ask the front desk to check that they should access my ticket, room door, charging privileges, etc before we leave the lobby.

 

[Disney127]

There is no real reason not to do online check in. If you register your credit card and give them your ETA and contact info, it may allow you to bypass the check in desk altogether. They text you your room number when the room is available. At the very least it will shorten the check-in process, since they will have all your paperwork ready for you when you show up. If you need to make a room request more specific than the options in the online check in boxes, you would have to phone the reservations number.

Your magic band will be attached to your MDE account. You shouldn't have to do anything else to access anything. But since I don't trust them to be glitch-free (we've had problems in the past) I always ask the front desk to check that they should access my ticket, room door, charging privileges, etc before we leave the lobby.

Thanks for this, we will be heading to WDW in March - last visit was 2009 and all this will be new to us. And also since we are Cdn, I think that we have to pick up our magic bands at the check in desk.

 

[minnie mum]

since we are Cdn, I think that we have to pick up our magic bands at the check in desk.

Yes, you will have to do this, so no bypassing the front desk for you ( or me).

 

[unwritten01]

Online check-in for us was great - the magic bands are linked as well allowing them when you arrive to already know who you are and do the awesome Hello Mr/Mrs xxxxxxxx Welcome home!

 

[SCPixie]

I chose not to do online check in the last time I went to DW because I wanted to request a certain building at Old Key West. If you don't have a preference, you should definitely do online check-in. It's so much faster!

 

[minnie mum]

I chose not to do online check in the last time I went to DW because I wanted to request a certain building at Old Key West. If you don't have a preference, you should definitely do online check-in. It's so much faster!

There's no reason you can't do both. If you phone and make a special room request, you can just leave the request section blank on the online check in.

 

[Hootch]

I am now a big fan of online check in. We were driving down and received our room assignment. It wasn't in the building that we requested. I know that requests are not guaranteed. I called and they gave us a room in the building we wanted.

Also, we wanted to head to the MK once we arrived. Having all the paperwork done was helpful. If you are arriving early when your room is unlikely to be ready, your tickets will be activated already.

If you are buying tickets at an authorized reseller, you will have to type your ticket numbers into the MDE app. It's pretty simple.

 

[keahgirl8]

I've done it before, but never with a room-only reservation. When do they charge your card when you do that?

 

[Hootch]

Looking at the bill for our trip last May, it looks like we had the up front room reservation as a credit when we checked in and the remaining room expenses were charged at check in and credited as the days came up.