Checking in late (12:00am) question?

[CountryDuck]

We have decided to check in as soon as we can at the Poly. Due to travelling arangements which I am starting to worry about, (Will be travelling all day by plane with 2 children ages 6 & 8) and then having to drive about 4 1/2 hours, we won't get to the Poly until around midnight.

Has anyone ever checked into a resort this late? What is the chance of getting a good room? I am planning on faxing in a room request and reminding them about our late checkin.

Any other suggestions on how to make this easier? I was thinking about packing one small bag with the stuff we would need for one night so that we wouldn't have to worry about dragging in all the luggage.

 

[LindaR]

Due to weather delays we checked in late one time (11pm). We were staying at POR and had requested a room in the Bayou as far from the main bldg as possible. That's exactly what we got. Our luggage (and us) was loaded onto one of those golf cart thingys and taken to our room immediately. We still had time to order a pizza to be delivered since we had missed supper.

Now, I don't know what you consider a "good" room, but this would be a prime opportunity to ask if they could upgrade your room!

Have fun!

 

[strawberryblonde]

Back in March '99, for spring break time no less, we arrived to SOG after midnight. I had requested two rooms, with a door between, ground floor, facing the pool. That is exactly what we got, it was perfect! Best wishes.

 

[hookedup]

Due to our train arriving late we got to the CBR at 2:45 a.m.! Actually by the time I was checking us in it was after 3:00 am!
We had requested a King room (which we got - in a GREAT location) and they took care of all our bags and had a box I had shipped ahead ready to go. Loaded it in a van and drove us to our room and took care of the bags (like any hotel bellman should).

There was no one else checking in - so no wait or lines to get our room. At the same time we were arriving there was a family of three (about our age with small son) leaving - looking very sleepy heading for the airport for a very early flight. I guess due to security lines and such to get a 5ish a.m. flight you have to leave WDW around 3:00 a.m.

Due to the fact our lateness was a big bummer for us (esp with a 2 year old) it could not have gone better. We were in bed and sleeping before 4:00 am and slept in to about 11:00 and then headed off for Epcot to begin our week of fun!

So my experience was that arriving late did not hurt my room selection and we certainly got individualized attention! LOL!

 

[CountryDuck]

Once again great info! Thanks.

 

[Magic2000]

Last year, our flight arrived the Wednesday after Thanksgiving around 12:30 AM. We were staying at the All Star Movies, and my little girl was really hoping to stay with "Oddball" in the "102 Dalmations". She fell asleep in the car going to the hotel, but when she heard the CM say we were in Dalmations, she got her second wind and danced to the room!!!

 

[LvsTnk]

I have done this many times. Just did it for the 4th of July at the Polynesian. All 3 times we did this at the Polynesian they greated us by name (not too many people check in that late) DH goes in and checks us in while I get all of us and our bags loaded on the cart with the valet. We are in our room and sleeping in no time, and we have had our requests met as well.

I do make sure to call the day of our arrival to remind them how late we are checking in. We only had our ressie cancelled once at the BWI but the situation was more than rectified.

Have Fun!!

 

[jds]

We checked in at the Animal Kingdom Lodge last Thursday night (actually Friday morning) after midnight. Had no problems; no upgrades were available but we got a standard view room very close to the lobby/pool/restaurant area. The check-in process went quite smoothly (and quickly), though we were surprised that we weren't the only people checking in at that hour. (And even ran into a family with kids on their way to the pool!!!)

 

[Disneyluver4Life]

I am going to be at AKL in 3 weeks and have a standard view booked. You mentioned your room was close to the lobby/pool and restaurant- so my question is what trail and floor were u on? Also, what did you view from your balcony? How were the rooms? I would appreciate your help- so I maybe could request and pray I got what you had. Glad you enjoyed your vacation

 

[TyGuy]

Our flight doesn't arrive untill around 11:00 on Friday, Nov 1st. Do you think we have a good chance at getting an upgrade at the Yacht Club at that time? The only time I have ever got an upgrade was when I arrived at 8:00 am

Ty

 

[jds]

disneyluvr--

We were in room 5007, on the Ostrich trail. The rooms on the other side of the hall had pool views. We were just a few steps from the area that overlooks the lobby (great views from there!), on the same level as the hanging bridge, and just around the corner from the main elevators that take you down to the lobby and the restaurants and pool area.

Our "balcony" was very small and dark--no room for chairs or a table, but we could step out onto it. There was a wall about waist high (maybe a bit higher) and then a small "window" above that that looked out over the porte cochere and parking lot. (Sorry if this sounds confusing, it's a bit hard to explain! The "window" is an opening that appears cut out of the building's roof. We were basically looking down from the inside of the roof!)

The room got very little light from outdoors, even with the curtains open, so it was pretty dark even during the day, which wasn't a problem until we started looking for something that one of us had misplaced--then we could have used a flashlight!

But we spent little time in the room, and it WAS quite conveniently located! We'd gotten a great deal for agreeing to sit through a DVC presentation (basically, we got 4 nights for $444), so I wasn't about to complain...

 

[DocRafiki]

We were in room 5007, on the Ostrich trail. The rooms on the other side of the hall had pool views.

The map I'm looking at calls that corridor the Giraffe Trail. The corresponding trail to the left side of the hotel is named Ostrich Trail. The map might be wrong... just a warning in case you're looking at a map and getting confused.

AKL map link

 

[jds]

Just looked at my map--- docrafiki is right! We were on the Giraffe trail, I just got confused!

 

[Disneyluver4Life]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY SMALL BALCONY? ISNT ALL BALCONIES AT AKL THE SAME SIZE. I THOUGHT ALL CAME WITH CHAIRS TO SIT OUT ON? I WOULD APPRECIATE YOUR HELP !!

 

[jds]

No, not all rooms have "real" balconies, though I think most of them do (and the ones we could see from the savannah overlooks and the pool looked very nice). I'm not sure if other rooms have no balcony at all, and/or how many have the mini-one like ours... that's just what we got.

Maybe somebody else on this board knows more about this...