checking in late - WDW resort or offsite?

[skiingwife]

Hi, for any of you who have arrived in Orlando late at night (we're arriving at 10:30p.m.) did you just stay at your Disney resort the first night or did you stay offsite at a less expensive hotel? We're staying at Polynesian and it looks like we can stay offsite for a lot less. If you did this, where did you stay and was it decent? Then did you go to your Disney resort early or head to a park first? Thanks for your help.

 

[allaboard]

I would recommend you stay off-site if you are getting in that late. It is cheaper and you can start using your resort package the next day. After you spend the night at a hotel, check out early, head to your resort to check in. Then you can spend the day at a park!

 

[alwayspooh]

We have not arrived as late as you but we have come in as late as 9 - 9:30. We stay at the hotel because to us it is so much easier to get checked in, sleep a little in the am then start our day at the parks instead of checking in at another hotel, check out, check in again but you know your finances and weather you want to check in and check out for just one night.

Think of it this way, you won't have to wait another day for disney!!

Hope this helps

 

[tiki23]

If it were me, if I was staying at the All Stars or Pop, I'd check in - not that much price difference. If I was staying at the Poly, I'd book off-site the first night - that's way too much $ to spend if I was just going to fall into bed. I could deal with the pack up and check out/check in hassle to save that amount of $.

But it's not me, it's you! so do what feels best for you.

 

[Tinkaroo]

We came in at 1:00 a.m. in April. I was not going to pay AKL prices for that night! So, we looked into getting a hotel room near the airport (like a Hampton Inn, Fairfield Inn, etc.) - and lo and behold - it was about $30 cheaper to spend that 1st night at Pop using my AP discount than to stay at one of those spots! We got to try out another resort, and our checkbook was the happier for it.

(To make it easy - we packed a small overnight bag with our stuff for that 1st night/morning, so we didn't have to get into our huge suitcases. Worked great!)

 

[GeorgiaTiggerGirl]

We checked in around 11:00 one night after deciding to drive all the way instead of half way. We checked the All Stars, and they were full. We were able to find a room at what was then Dixie Landings. We just grabbed a change of clothes, etc. out of our suitcases and left everything else in the car to go to our resort the next morning.

 

[ahappydisneymommy]

We are going to be coming in late also and are staying at the WL for our trip. But we are going to stay at Shades of Green for the first night because it is much cheaper and right down the street from the WL.

 

[skiingwife]

That's good advice to pack a bag just with the things we need for overnight and a change of clothes the next day. I was planning to put that stuff in a carryon bag anyway in case luggage gets lost.

 

[michellejed]

We arrive at 9:30 in Sanford/Orlando and are just staying by the airport for the night. Hollidayexpress,(they have a late shuttle)

We tried to get just a hotel add on to CBR with our package and they would not guarentee the same room, so we thought why spend the extra if we still have to move.

 

[tessqt]

We are leaving very early in AM to return home and we are checking out and staying at a hotel near the airport, haven't booked it yet but that's the plan.

 

[BrerMama]

We just stayed at an aiport hotel the first night. They had a shuttle to the hotel, then we had the towncar service pick us up early the next morning and went to the resort, where we checked in by 8 am. Our room was even ready! I was thankful we had done this because our flight was even later than expected and I would have hated worrying about the towncar being late or paying a lot of money for a room.

 

[jonestavern]

We came in at 1:00 a.m. in April. I was not going to pay AKL prices for that night! So, we looked into getting a hotel room near the airport (like a Hampton Inn, Fairfield Inn, etc.) - and lo and behold - it was about $30 cheaper to spend that 1st night at Pop using my AP discount than to stay at one of those spots! We got to try out another resort, and our checkbook was the happier for it.
(To make it easy - we packed a small overnight bag with our stuff for that 1st night/morning, so we didn't have to get into our huge suitcases. Worked great!)

We stayed at an off-site which wasn't much less $ than CBR-so never again. This Nov we'll get in around midnight & will be going to Pop or All Stars, then on to OKW. We arrive early for check in, any hold up & I will pop in & out to finish up while DS & DH head off to parks. We like to do split stays & have, knock on wood here, never had to hang out & wait.

Enjoy yr trip!

Jean

 

[bdlily]

We're also arriving late for our trip (we get in 11:45) AND we're staying at the Poly too. After much consideration we decided to just go ahead and check into the Poly. Our reasons were three-fold:

1- DH didn't want to pack up stuff and move again the next morning, he just wanted to be able to start our vacation.

2- We were going to have to get two rooms anywhere else we went and at the Poly we only have to have one.

3- We have the free dining package and staying another night gave us more meals to play with- we considered it a discount on the hotel room.

I don't know if that helps you out or not. If it weren't for the free dining and my DH's extreme aversion to re-packing and moving hotels I would probably have looked for a cheap place near the airport or done Pop or ASM (either).

 

[TN Traveler]

In June 2004, we arrived into Orlando around 4 pm after driving from Nashville which is a good 14 hr drive. We stayed at the Executive Inn off Irlo Bronson. BIG MISTAKE!! Don't stay there! The A/C didn't work, --even after calling Maintance twice to fix it it was still blowing only warm air through the fan and there were a group of kids (approx 30) that hogged the pool and were VERY rude. We didn't sleep very well at all despite being so exhausted from the drive so we were all grumpy the next morning. When I complained to the front desk about the A/C, the kids running around everywhere and all the noise, she only said "sorry" and didn't offer to compensate us on the cost of the room which was around $70.

You know the old saying, hindsight is 20/20? Well, looking back I would not have done this at all. We were staying for 5 nts at POR and for the little more it would have cost us, I would DEFINITELY stay onsite on our arrival night. We could have unloaded all our luggage, had a good dinner, stayed at the resort and played in the pool or gone over to MK and seen the fireworks and then gone to bed early for a GOOD night's sleep. When we go back (hopefully in 2007 or 2008) we will start our vacation AT Disney!

Karen aka TN Traveler

 

[MLAinVA]

We stayed at an I Drive hotel once because we had a late flight to Orlando. NEVER AGAIN. The hotel was disgusting. Yuck.
On our last trip to WDW last month, we arrived at the Poly at 1 AM and got a great surprise! We were upgraded from a SOG overflow rate reservation (standard view) to GVC in the Hawaii building! It probably had nothing to do with arriving late, but maybe it did.

 

[goin2disneyagain]

Anytime we are arriving late at night we stay at a value resort if we can get a good deal. Otherwise we stay offsite close by cheaply and then move over the next morning.

 

[dyna]

Even tho I always stay at a value resort in the world we stay the 1st nite offsite when we arrive late. Usually save at least 50.00 offsite over the value resorts. I pack a totebag for our 1 night stays that has the basics for the night and the next morning so we only unload 1 bag.

We drive so that helps.

We get up about 6:30 that mornin go over to the resort we stayin at and check in get our tickets usually the room not ready. We go on to the parks for the morning then afternoon break go back get our room make sure it's OK before we unload anything and spend part of our afternoon break that day unloading the car and unpacking.

 

[5kwallace]

This past December we arrived after midnight. We stayed at ASM. The next day we got up and went to the parks. Our luggage was transferred to the AKL. It was great. No problems whatsoever. We are going again in late November and will be arriving after midnight. We will stay at POP and then check into the Polynesian.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I usually book the first night of my trip at a Value resort, since I buy my flight online, and almost always end up coming in late (10pm-3am), especially with flight delays. This way it's still cheap ($60-ish with AP discount), and super convenient in the morning (Hop a bus to the MK, and have my luggage sent to my other resort!)