AS or AKL for late arrival?

[KateandEmysmom]

Hi! I tend to hang out on the cruise board, but I hope you can help me.

We will be arriving very late (11:30) 2 days before we sail on 12-4. We were originally planning on arriving on 12-3, but we moved the flight so we didnt have to get up so early on 12-3. We have 1 night reserved (12-3 to 12-4) at AKL. So, my question is this - with arriving so late on 12-2 now, should we try and add the extra night to AKL or stay at one of the AS resorts? Will we get charged a full night if we are arriving after midnite on 12-3?

I dont even know if that all made sense. Any suggestions would be very helpful.

TIA!

 

[portocall]

I would save the $$ and stay at an all-star resort the first night. Then you counld have fun "exploring" it for an hour or so before you leave for AKL. We are spending our first day on the road and I just couldn't justify the cost of a late arrival and $400 on the Poly just to sleep so we are staying at ASsports (the boys picked after much ammusing debate and research) the first night. No park tickets or anything, just time for a quick swim, walk, and sleep.

 

[Disney grandma]

If you were staying more than two nights at AKL then I would go for an all stars for the first night, but if there is a room available for both nights at AKL I would do that. The money spent would be worth it to me to not have to move right away the first morning. Maybe go to a standard room instead of a savannah. There are so many places to sit and watch the animals and so much to do at the resort that it wouldn't be that important to me for two nights to have a savannah view. We have stayed in both types and enjoyed our standard room almost as much as our savannah room.

 

[livie1205]

i would just stay at AKL because it saves you the trouble of having to move again...you can use the first night to get settled in, we are going in dec and we added a night there instead of somewhere else and we are going to use that time to put our little tree up and get settled...then you can sleep in instead of moving lol have fun its a GREAT resort!!

 

[skuttle]

Our flight arrives at 10pm. We are staying at AKL and decided it was worth it to us to not have to move around, so we booked AKL for our arrival night as well. I'd rather be able to check in and get settled right away and not have to worry about switching resorts the next day.

 

[mmmears]

I prefer not to change hotels except for a split-stay where we are looking forward to each resort. I've often thought about doing what you are thinking about -- since we always arrive really late at night, but the last thing I want to do the next day is have to move again.

And yes, even if you are checking in after midnight, you still have to pay the entire charge for that night. (We've had to do this several times). Check-in for the following day isn't until 3pm and they have to hold the room for you whether or not you use it. Too bad, though, I could use a discount!

 

[disneyorvegas]

We tried staying at a value for our late arrival and then transfer the next day, and the experience was HORRIBLE! By the time we finally arrived at 2am (our flight was delayed), the employee (notice I didn't say cast member) at the desk did the bare minimom - at most - and gave us a room. If you are planning on tranporting your own luggage and not using DME, you need to be prepared to get it to your room yourself (which is SOP for the values, and we were intellectually prepared for that ). We had a sleeping 2 1/2yo in the stroller, and the individual told us they were not sure if they could provide a bed rail . After I pointed out that this would not be safe, he claimed he would send someone with one. They never showed up!

The next day the aggravation of transferring hotels really put the cap on it. For the $$ it saved us, it was not worth the hassle and lack of service.