Arrival Day Entertainment

[kditty]

My husband and son are going on a surprise birthday trip to US and IOA in October. Their flight gets in at 10:30am on the day of arrival. They are staying at Cabana Bay but check in is not until 4pm. That evening they will be going to dinner some place in City Walk and seeing Blue Man Group.

Does anyone have any suggestions of something they can do to entertain themselves from the time they arrive until check in at the hotel? Has anyone been able to get into their room early if the hotel is busy?

 

[sherlockmiles]

It is very possible they will be able to checkin when they arrive.

If not, they can check their bags with the porter and go to the parks or city walk. We usually land at MCO between 9 and 11 am and have never had an issue. Sometimes we can go to the room, other times we just go straight to the parks. If they've never been, obviously they can walk around the resort - but for me I'm jonesing to get into the park from the moment I get up that first day......

When we pack, we will put our "park needs" (change of clothes, shoes, sunscreen, etc) at the top of our bags so they're easy to grab out. We'll change in the hotel restrooms, grab our pack, put everything else into the suitcases, lock them up, check them, then go!

 

[bchbetha]

Adding on park days is usually super cheap so consider just adding the park that day otherwise I'd pack a quick pool bag as i bet they can swim. Truly, between all there is at the hotel- like simply exploring or bowling- and everything at CityWalk they should be able to fill their time just fine.

 

[Disney Ron]

 

[georgina]

Have them take their swim things and hit the pool. There are showers, lockers, and changing rooms in the fitness center on the 2nd floor.

 

[wookiebeck]

You can 'check in' as soon as you get there. As PP said, you can leave your bags if a room is not available. From that point, CB is a great place to hang out. There are two pools, they can have a nice lunch, the second floor has the bowling lanes and the gym. If they still don't have a room and they are dirty from traveling or the Florida heat, there are showers back behind the gym.

Jumping on the bus to City Walk is very easy, too. In City Walk there is mini-golf and movie theater. They will have no trouble having a fun time on vacation.

 

[Parker Clan]

We head to the pool if rooms aren't ready

 

[macraven]

If their stay is for a weekend, quite possible rooms won't be ready until the afternoon

With hhn going on, room turn over not as quick as other time periods at some of the hotels
HRH is the smallest hotel with 650 rooms
Waits can be common for some time periods of the year

I go through the wait for my room every year when my check in date is on a Friday-Sunday

Last two years my room not available until 4:00 pm which is standard check in time

With Cbay having a large number of rooms, it is possible their room could open by noon or earlier if they want to go with any available room

When someone books and has specific room type/ location requests, that can delay being assigned a room

Guests can check in any time and use valet to hold their luggage

You can ask for an email when your room is ready and go direct to your room and bypass the front desk
Your hotel key will work as it would be program when the room is assigned