Are rooms assigned before check in? (online check in vs check in when you arrive)

[Dave006]

"Just as it is worth noting that your room number can change between being sent it and arriving at the resort. "

If you get your number and like it (but plan to actually get into the room later since doing a park first), is there anything you can do to up your odds of holding onto it? I'd be pretty irked if they told me my room was X and then I got there and it had changed w/o me asking for a switch.

The only way to 100% Guarantee that your assigned room is your's is to actually have someone stop by the Front Desk or the physical room ASAP after receiving the Txt or Email with the room number. When we want to hit a park first, we draw numbers to see who get's point to swing by the Hotel to actually claim the room if the specific assigned "room" view or location was important for this particular trip.

Note: this is not an issue for the vast majority of Guests but on the odd occasion rooms may be changed after assignment but before you actually "claim" the assigned room(s).

Dave

 

[morrik5]

Will they text a Canadian number when the room is ready?

We got our 10 day prior email today from Disney and when I looked at the online check-in it said for the telephone number that it was only available for US phone numbers. Not sure what would happen if you did happen to put in a Canadian one though if you have a roaming plan.

 

[morrik5]

So is it worth doing the online check-in and if so, how many days ahead can you do it?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

So is it worth doing the online check-in and if so, how many days ahead can you do it?

These days, 60+ days in advance.

 

[sndral]

Not likely because if they switch your room out after it's been sent to you then it was probably because something happened and the room didn't clear inspection for some reason.
In all our stays though, we've never had a room number change after we got our notice. I think it's pretty rare and takes pretty extenuating circumstances for them to take away an assigned AND notified room. Assigned and NOT notified yes.

Like you I had never had our room number changed after it was texted to me until last Dec.. That trip when I turned my phone back on after the plane had landed I had 3 room assignment texts in a row. The first was for AKL Jambo, but on the 3rd floor - I knew that couldn’t be right since we had a DVC 1 br and in Jambo those are all on the 5th/6th floors. The second text was for a villa at Kidani, which also couldn’t be right since we’d booked Jambo. The third text was for the villa we ended up in. I assume there was some sort of room assignment programming or human error rather than another guest who arrived earlier bumping me.

 

[DJFan88]

Wondering if you receive a text on your room as you are enroute, And it is not exactly what you're looking for, is there anyway to reach out to them Sooner while you are still enroute via phone to see if you can be assigned a different room, Or is your only option at that point, a stop at the desk for a different location?
Also, someone posted about stopping by the desk to "claim" their room. If you do not, is your room "claimed" upon your entry into the room?

 

[AngiTN]

Wondering if you receive a text on your room as you are enroute, And it is not exactly what you're looking for, is there anyway to reach out to them Sooner while you are still enroute via phone to see if you can be assigned a different room, Or is your only option at that point, a stop at the desk for a different location?
Also, someone posted about stopping by the desk to "claim" their room. If you do not, is your room "claimed" upon your entry into the room?

Yes, you can call when you get the assignment and ask to speak to someone regarding a room change. I know someone who did that and did get a change.

 

[buzznina]

FWIW, we always arrive after midnight and we have room requests added to our reservation (as well as faxing) and I can tell you that the majority of the time we get what we requested and a number of times we were bumped up a room level

 

[ColoradoMom12]

I did online check-in for our most recent trip--last month--and we were not texted the room number. Furthermore, all of my phoned-in room requests had been ignored, although I was able to get my requests met at the front desk after seeing the room they'd assigned us. And, crazily, after we'd checked in at the front desk, I got a text message saying our room was ready . . . at an entirely different resort from the one where we were staying. Yes, I did go back to the front desk, since I was concerned that there was a chance they would charge us for this nonexistent reservation. Weird. And the last time I'll do online check-in.

I had the same experience the one time I called in a room request. When we received the text, the room was entirely what we didn’t want. I was able to get it switched at the desk, but I’ve never called in room requests again. I now use Touring Plans and have been successful with it.

Very strange that you got a room ready text for a different resort! Sounds like an issue with Disney IT. It’s a very glitchy system. Once I had park tickets show up in MDE for another family. The names were totally unfamiliar to me, and I am not linked to anyone, so it didn’t happen that way. We are passholders so it also was not a mixup from tickets I had purchased. I called, and the tech people didn’t know what to do about it. One day the tickets disappeared out of MDE. I really hope they went to the correct family!

 

[otten]

Will they text a Canadian number when the room is ready?

No. They will email you.

 

[Newcastle]

I have fond that the later I arrive the less desirable the room location. I think it may be in part due to other guests taking the more desirable locations. Even if they were not assigned one, they may have been moved if they wanted something else. Just my experience.

This is true. I used to work front desk in a hotel (not Disney), and all the rooms were pre-assigned in advance. If a guest checking in asked for a room change for whatever reason or had some kind of issue we needed to remedy, we would often swap their room for someone else's who hadn't arrived yet.

We will be arriving at the Poly fairly late in the day after a long day on the road. If I do the online check-in in advance, does that eliminate the chance that I will end up with a less desirable room since I will have already "checked in" prior to arriving? Since they assign all rooms a few days in advance, do they only re-assign rooms to other guests (i.e. those who are not happy with their original rooms) if the guests who were initially assigned the room have not checked in yet? I hope that makes sense (it sounded weird when I read it back to myself ).

 

[AngiTN]

We will be arriving at the Poly fairly late in the day after a long day on the road. If I do the online check-in in advance, does that eliminate the chance that I will end up with a less desirable room since I will have already "checked in" prior to arriving? Since they assign all rooms a few days in advance, do they only re-assign rooms to other guests (i.e. those who are not happy with their original rooms) if the guests who were initially assigned the room have not checked in yet? I hope that makes sense (it sounded weird when I read it back to myself ).

No, it does not eliminate your risk of an undesirable room. Has no impact on it at all.
Yes, they can still move the rooms around, until you walk in the door of your room. Though again, I think the times they move a room after it's been assigned and room number provided to the guest are very small. Move before guest notified, yes. After, rare. But can happen.

 

[Newcastle]

No, it does not eliminate your risk of an undesirable room. Has no impact on it at all.
Yes, they can still move the rooms around, until you walk in the door of your room. Though again, I think the times they move a room after it's been assigned and room number provided to the guest are very small. Move before guest notified, yes. After, rare. But can happen.

Thanks so much AngiTN...your explanation is very helpful. So just to clarify (and this is likely further to the discussion above about "claiming" your room), is it the activation of the room's door lock via MagicBand that notifies the hotel that you have claimed your room? I have always visited the front desk upon arrival as I am from Canada and we have to pick up our MagicBands at the front desk and I rarely receive a room assignment email so I wasn't aware of how they identify when online check-in guests have arrived at the resort/their rooms.

 

[AngiTN]

Thanks so much AngiTN...your explanation is very helpful. So just to clarify (and this is likely further to the discussion above about "claiming" your room), is it the activation of the room's door lock via MagicBand that notifies the hotel that you have claimed your room? I have always visited the front desk upon arrival as I am from Canada and we have to pick up our MagicBands at the front desk and I rarely receive a room assignment email so I wasn't aware of how they identify when online check-in guests have arrived at the resort/their rooms.

Ah. I would say in your case once you've gotten to the check in desk that is all you have to do. When we get the room text we can go to our and never interact with the desk so walking in the door is what let's then know we have arrived.

 

[Newcastle]

Ah. I would say in your case once you've gotten to the check in desk that is all you have to do. When we get the room text we can go to our and never interact with the desk so walking in the door is what let's then know we have arrived.

A delayed thanks to you AngiTN. That does help to clarify how the process works .