Check In Time

[potc]

We are planning on arriving at Disney's Art of Animation around 11:00am. Does anyone know what time check in is or if it possible to check in early. We are trying to make a 4 PM reservation at Planet Hollywood on our arrival day. Also, can we have lunch in the food court while we are waiting for our room to be ready?

If we are not allowed to check in early then what would you guys recommend doing between like Noon & our 4PM reservation while we are waiting to check in? Visit nearby resorts?

Thanks!

 

[Verstehen]

I stayed at CBR a couple of weeks ago, and arrived around noon. They had a room ready for us (though check in took longer than expected; I'm unclear if our early arrival played a factor). But official check in time for all Disney hotels isn't until 3, I believe, so it was a gamble. However, the hotel will hold your bags if you don't have a car, and I believe if you have any perishables they can keep them cold for you.

You can definitely have lunch in the food court. Disney puts no restrictions on who can eat where. I once ate lunch at the counter service restaurant at GF during one of my day trips. You might even be able to use the pool before you check in, but I'd ask and keep in mind that you can't pool hop, so the only pool you'd be able to use is AOA's.

As for things you can do while you're waiting, why not head over to Downtown Disney? They've got a lot of really cool shops, both Disney and non-Disney related. During my father's day trip a couple of weeks ago, my Dad, who isn't the biggest Disney person in the world, found plenty of stores he spent hours exploring. And of course, if you like Disney stores, there's a gigantic one that's horribly addicting.

 

[cluvsdisney]

I believe official check in is at 3 or 4pm but you can check in as early at 7:00am. There's always a chance your room will be ready early. Of course you can have lunch in the food court (you don't need to be a resort guest to do that) and you will be free to use the resort ammenities. You will receive a call or text with your room number when it's ready.

have a great trip!

 

[AmyLand98]

Check in time is usually 4:00pm but there are times when your room may be ready but from my experience, it is rare. We have been 5 times and only once was our room ready before the 4:00pm time. You should be able to still get your Key to the World Cards (for park tickets or dining) and check your luggage (and whatever else you have) with luggage assistance. When we went earlier this month they asked if we wanted a voice call or a text with our room number so you should have that option.

You can go to the parks and start having fun or do whatever you want from there!!

 

[dansdad]

Anytime we have had an early arrival, we have done online check-in. With online check-in you specify what time you expect to arrive at the resort. Everytime we have done this our room has been ready. A couple times during free dining when CBR was extremely full. Once as early as 8:15AM.

 

[Missytara]

We are planning on arriving at Disney's Art of Animation around 11:00am. Does anyone know what time check in is or if it possible to check in early. We are trying to make a 4 PM reservation at Planet Hollywood on our arrival day. Also, can we have lunch in the food court while we are waiting for our room to be ready?

If we are not allowed to check in early then what would you guys recommend doing between like Noon & our 4PM reservation while we are waiting to check in? Visit nearby resorts?

Thanks!

You can check-in as early as 7:00 am when the computers roll over.

Your room may or may not be ready when you check-in. Officially rooms are made available no later than 3 p.m. at the regular resorts and rooms start getting doled out at 4 p.m for DVC, although people have reported they have definately been able to get rooms earlier.

The new computer system will either show if your room is available, or assign the next available room.

If you do early check-in, they will give you the first room available; it may not be the one you requested. You can politely ask if they will honor your requests and either they will tell you there isn't one available or will give you a room later in the day that suits your needs.

Hope that helps!

 

[disnut8]

We are planning on arriving at Disney's Art of Animation around 11:00am. Does anyone know what time check in is or if it possible to check in early. We are trying to make a 4 PM reservation at Planet Hollywood on our arrival day. Also, can we have lunch in the food court while we are waiting for our room to be ready?

If we are not allowed to check in early then what would you guys recommend doing between like Noon & our 4PM reservation while we are waiting to check in? Visit nearby resorts?

Thanks!

When you get to Art of Animation, you simply go and check in. It doesn't matter what time it is. Once you do that, you are officially a Disney resort guest. You can do whatever you want from that point on until midnight of the day you check out. You will be given you room key and your tickets (if you don't have them already). If your room is ready, you can then get your luggage in there. If it's not, you will have the option of having Disney call you or text you the room number once it is ready. If your room isn't ready, you can store your luggage with Bell Services. Then go on doing whatever you want to do.

As far as doing something between noon and your 4 PM reservation, you can do whatever you want. You can hang around Art of Animation, swim in the pools, go to a park, go to Downtown Disney, whatever.

 

[jdubs808]

For our recent stay at BLT, we checked-in at the Contemporary Resort at around 7:30 am or so due to our early flight arrival. We were given our room key cards, but the rooms weren't ready yet. They sent me a text telling me that the first room was available at 12:30 pm and the second room became available at 1:00 pm. We were happily surprised and couldn't wait to get to our room and relax for a bit. Our travel time from Hawaii was approximately 12 hours. We spent the time exploring the Contemporary Resort, eating breakfast, and shopping at Walmart for supplies.

 

[raven69david]

Check in time is 3:00pm, however if a room is already available you can check in immediately once you arrive. If your room is not ready when you arrive, simply leave your bags with bell services and go out and head towards your PH reservation. They can notify you when your room is ready via text. Once it's ready, they will automatically take your bags to your room so by the time you head back and pick up your room keys, all of your luggage will already be there.

 

[Missytara]

Check in time is 3:00pm, however if a room is already available you can check in immediately once you arrive. If your room is not ready when you arrive, simply leave your bags with bell services and go out and head towards your PH reservation. They can notify you when your room is ready via text. Once it's ready, they will automatically take your bags to your room so by the time you head back and pick up your room keys, all of your luggage will already be there.

As several of us have stated, you can check-in at any time in the morning, as early as 7:00 am when the computers roll over.

That means you are already a guest and can receive your tickets and meal plan (if applicable) and you are ready to go.

The "check-in" time as shown at Disney indicates the latest room availability.

 

[raven69david]

As several of us have stated, you can check-in at any time in the morning, as early as 7:00 am when the computers roll over.

That means you are already a guest and can receive your tickets and meal plan (if applicable) and you are ready to go.

The "check-in" time as shown at Disney indicates the latest room availability.

Thanks for reposting the stuff mentioned in this thread already. My thread provided Disney posted check-in times and is the reason I stated

.....however if a room is already available you can check in immediately once you arrive.

The 7am info was already posted so I did not restate that.

I've checked in just after 7am but not because the computers had just rolled over...it was because I was there super early checking out of a room offsite on multiple trips (stay offsite saturday and check-in on sunday when rates are cheaper). I've been able to check in prior to 10am for most of my visits. It's extremely rare that I've had to wait for a room to be ready and this only happened when we did not go during value season which we normally don't do. If anyone goes during the summer/busy months, do not expect the room to be available upon check-in, but it would be nice.

OP: You're gonna love AoA. My family and I totally enjoyed it and it's definitely our new favorite Value resort. I have a post with some pictures from our room if you or any others would like to check it out.

 

[fieldboss]

We will not be using a rental during our stay..coming directly from airport. Does the "near-by" Walmart make deliveris, and can you order on line?...thanks

 

[dansdad]

We will not be using a rental during our stay..coming directly from airport. Does the "near-by" Walmart make deliveris, and can you order on line?...thanks

Holy hijack Batman!


No. But there are services out there that do.

gardengrocer.com
wegoshop.com

Just to name a few.

 

[tinkerbellybutton]

Officially rooms are made available no later than 3 p.m. at the regular resorts

This is not always the case. We've always been able to check in as soon as we arrive, usually around 8-9am. However, on our last few trips the check in CMs were very specific that while your room may be ready early, rooms are "officially" ready STARTING at 3pm. That does not mean that you are guaranteed to be in your room by 3pm. This was at several different resorts. We did get our rooms before or around 3pm at most resorts, but at CBR we didn't get our room till after 4pm, and during another stay we didn't get our room at WL till around 5pm! It made for a very hectic time getting dressed for dinner ADRs after spending the afternoon at the pool.

 

[Momoftwins+1]

Getting lucky does happen, so although being assigned a room at 3 is normal check in time we checked in Monday just before 7 am and got our room and with my request to be near the elevator at the Contemp ( due to dh broken foot ). It was very welcome news to us as it was pouring rain!

 

[Reddy]

On our last trip - we got to the hotel 6:30am - boys woke everyone up earlier than usually - so we just head on over
I got check-in but room wasn't ready but we had the park tickets so we headed over to MK & had fun waiting there (after a photo shot of the hotel icons)

 

[Patrickprincess]

On our last trip - we got to the hotel 6:30am - boys woke everyone up earlier than usually - so we just head on over
I got check-in but room wasn't ready but we had the park tickets so we headed over to MK & had fun waiting there (after a photo shot of the hotel icons)

Now if my airline changes the flight from 1:00 pm to say 5:45 am then i will arrive around 3:45 on thursday after september 20th then i would get a two day ticket. I may call the airline and see if they would do it.

 

[Hoosier37]

In March 2011, I did the online check-in for Pop. I estimated we would be there an hour after our flight was scheduled to land, and that ended up being fairly accurate.

The CM said our room wasn't ready, but then told us to choose a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd floor room. We chose a 3rd floor room, and minutes later we were in Building 6, in a room facing the lake.

So for our next trip I will also be using online check-in, but I'm not sure about the time because we are driving down. I've got plenty of time to figure that out though.

 

[Patrickprincess]

In March 2011, I did the online check-in for Pop. I estimated we would be there an hour after our flight was scheduled to land, and that ended up being fairly accurate.

The CM said our room wasn't ready, but then told us to choose a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd floor room. We chose a 3rd floor room, and minutes later we were in Building 6, in a room facing the lake.

So for our next trip I will also be using online check-in, but I'm not sure about the time because we are driving down. I've got plenty of time to figure that out though.

sounds like you lucked out. I will be using online check in. It's nicce to know that i have aroom waiting for me.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

Online check-in does not guarantee a room will be ready earlier, even if you put an early arrival time. There are a lot of factors that go into determining what time a room is ready. The fewer requests you have, the easier it is for the resort to get you into a ready room, but in some cases, even if you have absolutely zero requests, you still may have to wait until the "official check-in time" or shortly after for a room to become ready.