A quick checking in question

[milomummy]

We arrive on a Monday, hoping to get there around lunchtime. I know we can leave our luggage in the Santa Fe from 11am (am sure I have read this somewhere!) and I am also sure that I have read that we can't check in until 3pm. If we got there at, say, 1pm, can we dump our bags, get our park tickets, and go straight in? Do we HAVE to check in at 3pm or is it open all evening for checking in? It's EMH that evening, so the plan was to arrive, dump bags, go to park and then check in when we eventually get back to the hotel at around 9pm.
I have heard that the check in queues are pretty busy, and after an 8 odd hour drive, the last thing we want to do is stand in a line waiting and waiting..
Can anyone advise on this?

 

[astrodrummergirl]

We arrive on a Monday, hoping to get there around lunchtime. I know we can leave our luggage in the Santa Fe from 11am (am sure I have read this somewhere!) and I am also sure that I have read that we can't check in until 3pm. If we got there at, say, 1pm, can we dump our bags, get our park tickets, and go straight in? Do we HAVE to check in at 3pm or is it open all evening for checking in? It's EMH that evening, so the plan was to arrive, dump bags, go to park and then check in when we eventually get back to the hotel at around 9pm.
I have heard that the check in queues are pretty busy, and after an 8 odd hour drive, the last thing we want to do is stand in a line waiting and waiting..
Can anyone advise on this?

When I went in January, we arrived before we could get the room. You can check in and get your tickets as well as dump the bags in the luggage room and go to the parks and get your hotel room keys when you return. And yes the queue for checking in can be quite long sometimes, especially if a coach load of people have come in from the airport, this is probably because checking in takes a fair amount of time. To think about it, you don't need all of the party at check in so maybe some people can check in and the others can dump the bags at the same time. Hope that helped and wasn't a bunch of jibberish