Can I arrive day after "check in" day if I check in online?

[WDW1979]

Hi, I will be making a winter trip to Disney and I have to travel from the snowy north. It is possible that a last-minute snowstorm could delay my arrival at Disney. If I arrive a day late, will I be okay if I had already checked in online (i.e. would I not lose my reservation)? I would think I would be fine due to the online check-in, but I'm not certain.

 

[Lynne M]

You would need to contact Disney and modify your reservation if you can't get there on your arrival day. If you just don't show up and they don't hear from you, your entire reservation will be cancelled.

I get that guests don't always appear at the desk to check in, with the advent of online check-in, but they still know that you're there - or not there. They can tell if your room door hasn't been unlocked, for example.

 

[AngiTN]

We did without issue this past August. Intentionally.
Our flight landed at 8:00 AM. I wanted to be certain we had a room when we got to the Resort so I booked a room the night before. I did not tell them exactly what we were doing but did give them a flight that landed after midnight and told them we would arrive very late.
Ironically, we got our room ready text about noon the day before we flew out. Killed me to know we had our room sitting there waiting. I was expecting them to assign our room last, since they knew we wouldn't need it till late.
Anyway, we got there before 9:00 (we used Uber from the airport) and had no issues at all. We were able to lay down and get the nap that was important enough to our plans for me to pay for a night we knew we wouldn't use.
With online check in, our entire bill had been paid in full, our room assigned. They knew we were coming. There just wasn't any problem. Now, had we not been there by check out time that day, it might have become a problem. But I knew we would be and it was not.

 

[beesly]

In addition to @Lynne M's good advice, I would add that it's worth calling anyway to see if they will refund the first night's room charge if you're delayed by an entire day due to the weather. YMMV, but it's worth asking. I was delayed by a day once last summer due to the Southwest network outage, and Disney refunded several things for me (including that night's stay) that I thought I'd be out of luck on since I was past the cancellation deadline and had already checked in online.

 

[AngiTN]

In addition to @Lynne M's good advice, I would add that it's worth calling anyway to see if they will refund the first night's room charge if you're delayed by an entire day due to the weather. YMMV, but it's worth asking. I was delayed by a day once last summer due to the Southwest network outage, and Disney refunded several things for me (including that night's stay) that I thought I'd be out of luck on since I was past the cancellation deadline and had already checked in online.

Excellent point. If you arrive late due to circumstances beyond your control I bet they will refund the unused night. Especially if you aren't in the room till later in the day.
In our case, we did it on purpose. If we were delayed and got in the room early morning, like 9:00 AM like we did, then I'd probably be grateful for the room and not get the refund, since I got to use the room.
But they are quite understanding about delays and changes in plans. They'll work with you

 

[WDW1979]

Thanks all of your replies.

 

[bumbershoot]

But they are quite understanding about delays and changes in plans. They'll work with you

Yep.