Does Early Check In Help?????

[bom_noite]

Here is a question to the wise people on the board:

Last year we stayed at OKW for 2 days followed by a 2 day stay at BCV. Since I am an early riser, on Tuesday morning I drove from OKW to BCV at 5:15 AM to check in (as you can imagine I was the first in line!).

Anyway, we got potenially the worst room in the joint. We were the farthest room away from the lobby (perhaps some like the room - we didnt).

This year, we are going to OKW for 5 days. I am arguing to my wife: Look, lets drive down Saturday - stay off property and then I will get over at 5:00 AM for check in on Sunday morning and get us a primo room! The alternative is we leave Atlanta at 6 AM and arrive at OKW at 1 or 2 PM.

My wife likes to remind me that this plan did not work real well last year - so - why spend the money on a hotel for an extra night?

So, the question is: Does early check in help when it comes to room selection?

Thanks all!

 

[AJKMOM]

We checked in at noon, and got a room so far from the lobby, I think we were 1/2 way to MGM>

 

[ErinC]

We have always stayed offsite on Sat. night and then I check in at 7:00 on Sunday morning. Our rooms have always been preassigned. If you can be there by 1:00 then I would go ahead and check in. My worry is arriving after 5:00. Then I think that you might get stuck with the leftovers. JMHO

 

[wbcincy]

My question is: 7 or 8 hours from Atlanta it takes you? I drove down from Cincinnati 2 weeks ago, stayed in a hotel between Atlanta and Macon, and still made it in 5 1/2 hours even from there. I assume you must live on the north side of Atlanta for it to take that long?

 

[CarolA]

Kind of agree with your wife. (Actually some of my favorite rooms have been those I got at midnight.)

 

[ryan840]

Am I missing something? I am going to OKW for the first time (on rented points) in May and I thought check-in was at 4:00... I assumed you could request early check-in, but 5:00am?? My flight arrives at noon, so I'm guessing we'll get there by two o clock by the time we get our luggage, pick up the car and stop at the grocery store... do I need to request early check-in and will I get an undesirable room?

 

[gofenmom]

Last year we checked in at OKW around noon after a few days at Animal Kingdom Lodge. At that time, we were told that they no longer preassigned rooms. As soon as you checked in you were given any room that was available. Our castmember said that the resort had changed the check in procedure because of a member survey. They proceeded to say that they really couldn't meet any of our requests with the clean/available rooms at that time. After the castmember made several trips to the backroom, we were given a one bedroom that met one of our requests. The room we were assigned overlooked the tennis courts on Turtle Pond. I called the front desk and expressed that we were staying 2 weeks and I did not want to hear people playing tennis or watch tennis courts. They offered (unkindly) to send us to Boardwalk - but they did find a one bedroom that did not overlook the tennis courts. This was just the start... near the end of our vacation my 19 year was followed from the store to the quiet pool (the rest of us were at Blizzard Beach and it was closed so castmembers would not let him in). After laying out for awhile a security guard hit him on his foot and asked for his ID - which he presented. Then the guard asked for a Driver License.(Who carries it to the pool?) My son said it was in the room safe - the key begin in the car at Blizzard Beach. He kept asking my son questions. There were two other men there alone - but were not questioned. My son then asked to talk to a manager. My son at that time had longer hair and looks 25, however they would not tell him why he was questioned. Even after I became involved they could not give us a reason for the fifth degree. It took us 3 days to finally get the answer that my son resembled someone that was sneaking on the property- my question if that was the case then why didn't they say that right at the time he was questioned. We did find out that he was followed from the store to the pool. The lady in the store had questioned him about his name and my name so we think that she was the one that started the whole thing. Going back again this year - keep wondering if they have a file on us?

 

[bom_noite]

My question is: 7 or 8 hours from Atlanta it takes you? I drove down from Cincinnati 2 weeks ago, stayed in a hotel between Atlanta and Macon, and still made it in 5 1/2 hours even from there. I assume you must live on the north side of Atlanta for it to take that long?

North Atlanta - 421.5 miles to OKW! For all those not familiar with Atlanta Traffic, WBCINCY is a brilliant man! Get through Atlanta before you stop! If you are driving through on a weekday it is frustrating and maddening to sit on I-75 for HOURS at 7 AM!

The GA DOT is also notorious for taking parts of 75 and reducing it to 1 lane for construction (on the weekend). Last year it took me 2 hours to go 10 miles on one stretch. Your best bet in GA is to get through it as early and quickly as possible.

Am I missing something? I am going to OKW for the first time (on rented points) in May and I thought check-in was at 4:00... I assumed you could request early check-in, but 5:00am?? My flight arrives at noon, so I'm guessing we'll get there by two o clock by the time we get our luggage, pick up the car and stop at the grocery store... do I need to request early check-in and will I get an undesirable room?

You can check in at 2:00 and they will not hassle you. They will also store your grocery items. You may not get a room until 4:00, but, you can check in. If they have a room they will give it to you. Have fun.

 

[DebbieB]

Here is a question to the wise people on the board:

Last year we stayed at OKW for 2 days followed by a 2 day stay at BCV. Since I am an early riser, on Tuesday morning I drove from OKW to BCV at 5:15 AM to check in (as you can imagine I was the first in line!).

Anyway, we got potenially the worst room in the joint. We were the farthest room away from the lobby (perhaps some like the room - we didnt).

This year, we are going to OKW for 5 days. I am arguing to my wife: Look, lets drive down Saturday - stay off property and then I will get over at 5:00 AM for check in on Sunday morning and get us a primo room! The alternative is we leave Atlanta at 6 AM and arrive at OKW at 1 or 2 PM.

My wife likes to remind me that this plan did not work real well last year - so - why spend the money on a hotel for an extra night?

So, the question is: Does early check in help when it comes to room selection?

Thanks all!

Was the room ready at 5:15am? If so, it was probably left over from the night before. If they are truely using room ready (which they don't always), they are supposed to assign you a ready room if possible. Primo rooms are not going to be ready at 5:00am.

 

[bom_noite]

Was the room ready at 5:15am? If so, it was probably left over from the night before. If they are truely using room ready (which they don't always), they are supposed to assign you a ready room if possible. Primo rooms are not going to be ready at 5:00am.

Yeah, I think the room was ready at 5:15. Actually, I guess I am trying to gain an advantage on others - since we are all members that is probably not fair.

The fairest way is to just throw everyones name in a hat and you get the room and the view that they draw for you! Or, ask for your preferred building numbers when you make the ressie - then work hard to accomodate it. In this manner those that reserve first get the best chance at the room / building they want.

 

[rayelias]

I would think the opposite. Since checkout isn't until later, no one has left their rooms. One would guess that the better rooms are given out first, and the worse rooms are the last. Therefore, since at 5AM, that time has the least amount of rooms available, you would get the least desirable room.

Just my thoughts, nothing scientific about it.

 

[Yippieskip]

I am !! I was told on this board (at least I think it was THIS board) to check in around 7 am at OKW to get best choice of rooms. Is this not correct? I was planning on leaving POP at crack of dawn the Sunday morning of our stay and hightailing it over to OKW. I WAS wondering though -what if I get there and they say "come back later." Do I keep going back and forth from MGM (our park of choice that day) til they have a room ready? Or do I sit there and wait? Or do I just say "oh well" and take what they have left at midnight when we get back from Fantasmic? UGH! What a mess! HELP!

 

[rayelias]

I WAS wondering though -what if I get there and they say "come back later." Do I keep going back and forth from MGM (our park of choice that day) til they have a room ready? Or do I sit there and wait? Or do I just say "oh well" and take what they have left at midnight when we get back from Fantasmic? UGH! What a mess! HELP!

Last time I was at OKW, I tried to check in somewhat early (around 11AM). I was reminded that check-in time was at 4PM. I told the CM I didn't expect to get in this early, anyway, but wanted to check my bags and let them know I was here, and I was going to hit the parks. They gave me a card, told me I could call to check on my room availability, so I didn't have to come back and forth.

So, fortunately, I wasn't stuck hanging around OKW all day. I called and trekked back to OKW right after dinner, so everything worked out great.

 

[DrTomorrow]

I would think the opposite. Since checkout isn't until later, no one has left their rooms. One would guess that the better rooms are given out first, and the worse rooms are the last. Therefore, since at 5AM, that time has the least amount of rooms available, you would get the least desirable room.

Just my thoughts, nothing scientific about it.

It depends on how full the place was the night before. If virtually all of the rooms were full, then what you said makes sense; they're going to give you a room that won't be ready for a while anyway, so they'll probably try to give you good one.

OTOH, if there were any empty rooms the night before, it stands to reason that those rooms are, on the whole, some of the least desireable ones (no reason to keep great rooms empty); since it is these rooms that will be "ready" at 5 AM, those will be ones they give out.

Pre-assigned rooms throws the above comments out the window....

 

[bobbiwoz]

Just remember that your perfect room may not be my perfect room. Our only stay at OKW got us our "perfect studio" when we checked in before 10AM. Someone had posted that they didn't like this room at all. This was on a Saturday in October.

Bobbi

 

[dizplanner]

If a resort was using Room Ready, I would guess the best time to check in would be about noon. It is late enough that a fair number of rooms would be cleaned and available, but early enough that they wouldn't be picked over. Any earlier and the number of rooms cleaned would be limited (particularly if you are talking about 5 am or 7 am) and you might just be offered the leftovers from the previous night. If you get too close to 4pm, the rooms will start to get picked over by people who checked in before you (although you can still get lucky by getting a great room that was cleaned later). Since all rooms should be cleaned by 4pm, your choices would continue to drop after this time as more and more people pick their rooms before you.

Now, if they are pre-assigned, techinally it shouldn't matter when you check in as your room is already assigned and saved for you. In reality, it still matters, because until you get your room number and keys, they can still switch rooms around (maybe the previous occupants decided to stay another day and didn't leave, or other people checked in earlier and didn't like their room and so the CM gave them your room, etc.). So likewise, you want to check in late enough the room is likely to be ready (because people have checked in early and been told they got all their request only to return to the resort later and find the room they are given couldn't be further from their request - obviously being checked in does not prevent switches, although if I was a CM I would switch someone not checked in before someone who was in hopes the former never shows) but early enough that your rooms hasn't been switched (or there are still rooms available to switch to in case the room is unacceptable). So it comes down to about the same noon to 2 pm is probably the best.

So my recommendation would be to drive in, arrive your planned 1 to 2 pm and check in immediately.

 

[DrTomorrow]

[A coherent and reasonable suggestion]

That makes sense. This actually applies to DW and I, as for our trip (soon!!!) we're staying Sat - Fri in a 1BR at SSR, but due to an airfare deal, we're flying down Fri and staying in a VWL Studio for one night (first time away from "home" ). We'll have a car, so we won't have Disney transport our luggage, and I was wondering what time to show up at SSR to check in. Since it'll be a Friday, I'm assuming (yes, always deadly) that a lot of folks will be checking out to avoid higher points, so the 'arrive after check-out time' makes sense.

Be well!

 

[debbie in Seattle]

Aren't vacations supposed to be relaxing? All of us would love to get the 'perfect room', but like life, not all is perfect. If this trend continues, the poor night shift folks who are used to sneaking naps and taking it easy are going to have lines like one sees at 3-4 pm, the REAL check in time!

Next thread is going to be checking in the night BEFORE to beat the folks who checked in at 5am!!!

Not bashing anyone but just find it all rather funny.

 

[DrTomorrow]

Aren't vacations supposed to be relaxing? All of us would love to get the 'perfect room', but like life, not all is perfect. If this trend continues, the poor night shift folks who are used to sneaking naps and taking it easy are going to have lines like one sees at 3-4 pm, the REAL check in time!

Next thread is going to be checking in the night BEFORE to beat the folks who checked in at 5am!!!

Not bashing anyone but just find it all rather funny.

I agree with you 100%. I'm laughing, too, because on another thread I've been abused for being "too accepting of whatever room I get".

In this case, though, we added our one night at VWL for airfare reasons, and since we have to check out of there and into SSR at some time, I was just wondering what time would be best.

 

[lllovell]

We are just going to "take our chances" and check in around 4 on Sunday. I expect a line. I am hoping that my ressies are linked properly, so that both studios I have are in the same building.

I have commented before about this checking in "early" stuff. I keep waiting for a time when people are no longer allowed to check in before 4 pm since so many are getting there earlier and earlier (5 am - my god man...if I am up at 5 a.m. on vacation, its not pretty!!!). My only real concerns are checking in very late and we will probably do what others have advised, staying elsewhere until the next day if we get in super late during a busy time.