Direct to Room Check-in Experience

[Buffalo2Disney]

Just returned from 9 days / 8 Nights at Pop Century. Did online check-in, had a credit card on file, had magic bands before we arrived, and accepted to do direct to room upon arrival.

We landed on Thursday April, 30 around 2:30PM, turned my phone on once we landed and had both a text message and email from Disney saying "Please see the front desk about your room assignment when you arrive at your Resort. Thanks!"

Ugh Oh! The whole ride on the magical express we were wondering if something had gone wrong and how come they didn't tell us our room number?

Well we got to Pop and went into the lobby and to the Online Check-In line, luckily which had no one else in it so we got right to the next CM.

He did the usual online check-in procedure and come to find out we had been upgraded to a preferred room!

Was this possibly the reason we needed to go to the front desk? We never found out but if you receive the same text message we did don't panic, you may be getting a room upgrade!

 

[dismomtfj]

Congrats on your pixie dust! Thanks for the info!

 

[Sue M]

Interesting. I wouldn't think an upgrade would be a reason to go to desk? You should have asked out of curiosity! Glad everything worked out. We stayed at Pop one night, for our arrival day a couple of Augusts ago, and lines at check in were horrendous. This sounds like a vast improvement.

 

[ELSA711]

Hmmm, what is the direct to room check in, something new?!!
I want it.

 

[Sweeney1996]

What a great bit of Pixie Dust! I am planning to do online check-in for our stay in August, but anticipate having to go the the desk, as we are using a military discount for the room, and they will probably need to verify the military affiliation, before we can enter the room, LOL

 

[toni nicole]

Is there something you have to do to accept direct to room check in? I got the email and have already done online check in but wasn't sure if you need to confirm it, I don't see a button or anything

 

[wdwrich]

Hmmm, what is the direct to room check in, something new?!!
I want it.

If you receive your MBs in the mail and do the advance on-line check in via MDE and put in a credit card and establish a pin for MB charging, the straight to your room should be automatic. I imagine there are a few circumstances where you do all those things and still have to go to the front desk. I'm thinking things like a military or AP discount where you might have to show your pass or ID to the CM at the front desk.

 

[ELSA711]

Hmmm, okay - I do all that but never had that luxury. Maybe this is new after last October...we weren't offered this at POR in October...hopefully we will this year at CBR

 

[Buffalo2Disney]

Yes this is a new service they started offering maybe a month or two ago.

We ended up being in building 5, room 5104. It was directly across from the children's pool which is behind the main pool on the first floor. The location was awesome and very close to buses/food court.

However, if we had young kids with us who needed to take mid day breaks that involved naps I don't know if I would have liked the preferred locations. They are very loud during the middle of the day. The have pool parties every day and music playing loud by the pool until late at night. For us it was perfect because we were in the parks all day. But had we wanted to come back and take a mid day nap, there's just no way with the noise. Something for people to consider when booking the preferred rooms at Pop.

 

[wdwrich]

Hmmm, okay - I do all that but never had that luxury. Maybe this is new after last October...we weren't offered this at POR in October...hopefully we will this year at CBR

Yes, it is a recent feature that was fully deployed over the last few months.

 

[Motherofcats8]

We did the straight to room in March and it worked really well. It's a nice little bit of pixie dust to be able to go straight to the park and bypass the front desk and know all of your tickets, room key and charging privileges are on your Magic Band. It allows you to dive right into the middle of the fun.

 

[wdwrich]

We did the straight to room in March and it worked really well. It's a nice little bit of pixie dust to be able to go straight to the park and bypass the front desk and know all of your tickets, room key and charging privileges are on your Magic Band. It allows you to dive right into the middle of the fun.

Just to clarify, none of that information is actually stored on the band. The band simply acts as a key that allows access to the information in your MDE account. A combination of the band and a PIN is required for making purchases.

 

[WDWKOOK]

Just returned from 9 days / 8 Nights at Pop Century. Did online check-in, had a credit card on file, had magic bands before we arrived, and accepted to do direct to room upon arrival.

We landed on Thursday April, 30 around 2:30PM, turned my phone on once we landed and had both a text message and email from Disney saying "Please see the front desk about your room assignment when you arrive at your Resort. Thanks!"

Ugh Oh! The whole ride on the magical express we were wondering if something had gone wrong and how come they didn't tell us our room number?

Well we got to Pop and went into the lobby and to the Online Check-In line, luckily which had no one else in it so we got right to the next CM.

He did the usual online check-in procedure and come to find out we had been upgraded to a preferred room!

Was this possibly the reason we needed to go to the front desk? We never found out but if you receive the same text message we did don't panic, you may be getting a room upgrade!

This happened to us in March at CR. Got the text about 30 mins. prior to our check-in estimate that our room wasn't ready and that we would receive another update as soon as it was ready. We arrived and I went to the check-in desk, just in case our room was ready. I was told room still wasn't ready, but I would be texted the room number when it was ready. A few hours later, we received a text that we needed to come to the front desk. Went to the front desk and anticipated having to show my military ID, but was never asked. I asked why I had to come to the front desk and a manager told me that there was no reason. He said that more than half of the time the request is sent out by mistake. He blamed it on a glitch. I don't know if this is in fact the case, but that's what he told me.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Was this possibly the reason we needed to go to the front desk? We never found out but if you receive the same text message we did don't panic, you may be getting a room upgrade!

We were able to go straight to our room at the BC when we arrived April 15th. When we got to the room we discovered that we were upgraded from a garden view to a lagoon view, which was a wonderful surprise. They didn't make us go to the front desk first.

 

[Buffalo2Disney]

We were able to go straight to our room at the BC when we arrived April 15th. When we got to the room we discovered that we were upgraded from a garden view to a lagoon view, which was a wonderful surprise. They didn't make us go to the front desk first.

This is good to know! It seems more as a glitch in their system that we received a message like we did. The person at the front desk asked if we received a text and I said that we did and it told us to come to the front desk. The CM didn't raise an eyebrow or seem baffled as to why, he just proceeded on with normal online check-in procedures.

 

[Motherofcats8]

Just to clarify, none of that information is actually stored on the band. The band simply acts as a key that allows access to the information in your MDE account. A combination of the band and a PIN is required for making purchases.

YOu are correct, Rich... I did forget about having to set up the pin number. Only takes a second when you do return to your resort.... but everything else is ready for you to go and enjoy!