Charging Before Check-In?

[Shanti]

We ended up having a large credit on our resort reservation. We will be going to the Magic Kingdom first thing in the morning, before checking into our resort. We have our Magic Bands. We did online check-in, and indicated check-in "Before 7am" that morning. I know the park tickets should work, but what about the ability to charge breakfast to our Magic Band? Could a visit to Guest Services at the park make this possible?

A few details, if they help:

• This is a room-only reservation with linked tickets, not a package.
• We have "Streamlined Check-in", where we're supposed to show our ID upon arrival at our resort.
• This trip is complicated, so I'll avoid boring you with all of the details & just reiterate the fact that checking into our resort first will not be an option in this case.

Thanks!

 

[Wood Nymph]

We ended up having a large credit on our resort reservation. We will be going to the Magic Kingdom first thing in the morning, before checking into our resort. We have our Magic Bands. We did online check-in, and indicated check-in "Before 6am" that morning. I know the park tickets should work, but what about the ability to charge breakfast to our Magic Band? Could a visit to Guest Services at the park make this possible?

A few details, if they help:

• This is a room-only reservation with linked tickets, not a package.
• We have "Streamlined Check-in", where we're supposed to show our ID upon arrival at our resort.
• This trip is complicated, so I'll avoid boring you with all of the details & just reiterate the fact that checking into our resort first will not be an option in this case.

Thanks!

We have been able to charge to our MB's without checking in when we have received the room text alert message.

 

[Shanti]

We have been able to charge to our MB's without checking in when we have received the room text alert message.

Had you booked a package or room-only? Were you straight-to-room check-in or "streamlined check-in", where you have to show your ID upon arrival in the lobby? Thanks.

 

[AngiTN]

The issue I see could be you can't check in prior to 6 AM. Their computers are still operating on the prior day until then. Come 6 AM they can check you in, even without a room assignment. And once that happens, you can charge. Any reason why you can't change the time to after 6AM?

 

[Shanti]

The issue I see could be you can't check in prior to 6 AM. Their computers are still operating on the prior day until then. Come 6 AM they can check you in, even without a room assignment. And once that happens, you can charge. Any reason why you can't change the time to after 6AM?

Oops- I meant to put "before 7am"- just edited that. That is just the online check-in time I listed- the earliest one- to ensure that my park tickets will be activated that morning. I can't really check in until mid-afternoon at the latest

 

[AngiTN]

Oops- I meant to put "before 7am"- just edited that. That is just the online check-in time I listed- the earliest one- to ensure that my park tickets will be activated that morning. I can't really check in until mid-afternoon at the latest

You should be fine. I would either bring a back up form of payment or stop by the GS counter once you arrive in the park and have them check. I had them fix a charging issue at AK last April so I know they can do things to correct issues with charging on bands.
But what I do on check out day, since we've had a time or two where our charging ended before we left property, was to bring the same card I use to link to our MDE. That way, it really makes no difference in the end.

 

[rabidstoat]

I'm not sure about the particulars here, but I wanted to note something about charging early in the day. If you have a credit, assuming you don't exceed it you should be fine, but apparently there can be issues with charging if you don't have a credit. I was able to do this, after a resort check-in, but then instead of texting me my room number I got a text saying there was a problem and I had to see the front desk. By the time I got to the resort I had to wait over 20 minutes to see someone. Turns out, by charging the room I created a negative balance on my account (even though I had a credit card linked), so the system showed that I owed money and wouldn't let me check into the room until I paid up -- this despite already having paid the full price of the room, it was just the $15 lunch charge that had me negative. Kind of annoying, so now until I get my room assignment in text I just use cash, to be safe!

 

[jpeden]

If you have a problem, Guest Services can usually fix the charging issue. I've had great luck with fixing the charging issues with the MagicBands at the Guest Services counter in the Magic Kingdom.