Arrival at POR

[Chester07]

Hello
we will be arriving at POR around 9-10pm on a Friday night after a long flight from the UK. We have two young children so I would like to keep the check in process as smooth and as quick as possible, without dragging them half way around the resort in their tired state!
Can anyone help with the arrival process? We will have a rental car and have booked a Royal room but I am not sure if we should check in online (I think I read it's sometimes best not to, for room allocation, although I'm not sure if that's correct) or when we get notice of what our room number is etc. Can we just go to the parking lot for the Royal rooms and then one of us walk over to the reception area to sort out the paperwork etc? Is there usually sufficient parking? We are travelling from the UK so I believe we need to go to reception to collect our magic bands etc, hopefully it's OK for just one of us to do this.
Many thanks

 

[Wood Nymph]

If you do online check in then you could receive a text with your room number before you arrive at the resort, although that doesn't always happen. But if you do receive a room text and have a MagicBand attached to your MDE account from a prior trip, then you could head right to your room. Then you could pick up your new MB's later.

If you don't have a MB from a prior trip and have not received a room text, then you will need to go to the check in desk. It shouldn't be too busy at that time of night. I would just drive to the registration area, leave the family in the car, and run into the registration area for a quick check in. That way you would know which building you were in and which parking lot to go to. The royal rooms are in two different buildings and they would give you a map at check in to show you exactly where your room is.

 

[nkereina]

We will have a rental car and have booked a Royal room but I am not sure if we should check in online (I think I read it's sometimes best not to, for room allocation, although I'm not sure if that's correct)

I would do online check-in in your case, with a late-ish arrival. It lets the resort know what time you're expected to arrive, and minimizes the chance they will move you out of the room they have you blocked in in order to switch room assignments around for another guest.

I'm not sure if its offered to UK guests, but if you are able to receive a text with your room number, completing online check-in will allow you to receive that once your room is ready. And then you can bypass the front desk entirely and go straight to the room.

 

[Chester07]

Thanks very much, that's very helpful. This is our first time so we don't have any magic bands - so presumably, even if I checked in online, I would still need to go to the desk to collect magic bands in order to open the room door? I don't think they mail magic bands to the UK, it says I need to collect them there I think.
Thanks again!

 

[nkereina]

This is our first time so we don't have any magic bands - so presumably, even if I checked in online, I would still need to go to the desk to collect magic bands in order to open the room door? I don't think they mail magic bands to the UK, it says I need to collect them there I think.

Yep, that's right. You would need to get them from the desk first. I would still do online check-in though because it will let them know your arrival time and will still expedite the check-in process for you. Have a great trip!

 

[Chester07]

Thank you!

 

[buzznina]

Yes you will need to check-in but you can park in the lobby lot and after checking in drive to your room location. We always arrive very late 1AMish and my DDs have always wanted us to wake them up so they can go in with me when I check-in, they get soooo excited.

 

[bgirl29]

We also used the MDE app on our phone to open our room a few times during our July visit so maybe that is an option for you as well. We had a couple times when our magic bands were not opening the door but our phone worked.