Does early magic hours due to onsite resort require check in?

[Thestamos23]

Hi, im staying at the dolphin this weekend. My first day at the parks will be early and I may want to head there before checking in. If I want to use the early morning benefit and get their an hour early do i have check in to the hotel first? I have the resort stay loaded into our magic bands, but not sure if they will require a room key as well. Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks

 

[sorahl1]

according to the email sent out.. no.

 

[sharonabe]

Hi, im staying at the dolphin this weekend. My first day at the parks will be early and I may want to head there before checking in. If I want to use the early morning benefit and get their an hour early do i have check in to the hotel first? I have the resort stay loaded into our magic bands, but not sure if they will require a room key as well. Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks

When you do your online check-in, just make your arrival time 7:00 a.m. or so. If you've already done it, go modify it. This should guarantee you have no problem heading to the parks first.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Because Dolphin is considered an onsite resort and your reservation is linked to your MDE account, you'll be able to enter EMH prior to checking into Dolphin.

The CMs only check room keys if the Guest doesn't have MagicBands.

 

[Buzzed Lightbeer]

I realize my questions are not exactly along the same lines as the OP, but I didn't want to start a brand new thread on it and this was the most recent one I could find with anything relating to Extra Magic Hours in the title. We are going to WDW in late March 2018, and our ADR booking window opens up this coming Sunday. I am still in the process of figuring out some of the things I want to try and book, but one thing that I cannot seem to find more info on no matter where I look online is whether or not MK ever gets "additional" extra magic hours during busier times of the year. I read somewhere that they do at times, and we will be there during a relatively traditional spring break time of year, but I cannot find anything that actually definitively states this or how it might work. We're looking to do the parks on a Saturday and Sunday, and it appears that MK does not normally have extra magic hours either of those days, but again, I'm just wondering if they might open things up a bit due to anticipated crowds (we were last there just before Christmas, and this seemed to be happening then if I recall correctly). The main reason I'm trying to determine whether or not this might happen is due to the ADR - I don't want to book a breakfast thinking it's for an hour before the park opens only to later find out it's for when the park actually opens (we'd rather just grab something to go from the hotel in this case or get room service delivered and then get to the park early if that's a possibility). Does anyone know if there is a way to better determine this, or if it simply does not happen on days other than the regularly scheduled ones? Would help with the planning. Thanks in advance!

 

[Hopefully]

I realize my questions are not exactly along the same lines as the OP, but I didn't want to start a brand new thread on it and this was the most recent one I could find with anything relating to Extra Magic Hours in the title. We are going to WDW in late March 2018, and our ADR booking window opens up this coming Sunday. I am still in the process of figuring out some of the things I want to try and book, but one thing that I cannot seem to find more info on no matter where I look online is whether or not MK ever gets "additional" extra magic hours during busier times of the year. I read somewhere that they do at times, and we will be there during a relatively traditional spring break time of year, but I cannot find anything that actually definitively states this or how it might work. We're looking to do the parks on a Saturday and Sunday, and it appears that MK does not normally have extra magic hours either of those days, but again, I'm just wondering if they might open things up a bit due to anticipated crowds (we were last there just before Christmas, and this seemed to be happening then if I recall correctly). The main reason I'm trying to determine whether or not this might happen is due to the ADR - I don't want to book a breakfast thinking it's for an hour before the park opens only to later find out it's for when the park actually opens (we'd rather just grab something to go from the hotel in this case or get room service delivered and then get to the park early if that's a possibility). Does anyone know if there is a way to better determine this, or if it simply does not happen on days other than the regularly scheduled ones? Would help with the planning. Thanks in advance!

You will get more information if you start a thread that asks your questions and gets readers attention
There is no better way to know if, or likely when, Disney will extend park hours. It is common during busy periods

 

[CAS239]

I realize my questions are not exactly along the same lines as the OP, but I didn't want to start a brand new thread on it and this was the most recent one I could find with anything relating to Extra Magic Hours in the title. We are going to WDW in late March 2018, and our ADR booking window opens up this coming Sunday. I am still in the process of figuring out some of the things I want to try and book, but one thing that I cannot seem to find more info on no matter where I look online is whether or not MK ever gets "additional" extra magic hours during busier times of the year. I read somewhere that they do at times, and we will be there during a relatively traditional spring break time of year, but I cannot find anything that actually definitively states this or how it might work. We're looking to do the parks on a Saturday and Sunday, and it appears that MK does not normally have extra magic hours either of those days, but again, I'm just wondering if they might open things up a bit due to anticipated crowds (we were last there just before Christmas, and this seemed to be happening then if I recall correctly). The main reason I'm trying to determine whether or not this might happen is due to the ADR - I don't want to book a breakfast thinking it's for an hour before the park opens only to later find out it's for when the park actually opens (we'd rather just grab something to go from the hotel in this case or get room service delivered and then get to the park early if that's a possibility). Does anyone know if there is a way to better determine this, or if it simply does not happen on days other than the regularly scheduled ones? Would help with the planning. Thanks in advance!

You really won't know until your trip is right there. They can add emh up until that same day.

Your best bet is to make the ADR's you want, but keep in mind they could add emh, or what would be more likely is for them to just open the park an hour early. So as your trip gets closer you'll want to keep checking park hours to see if they change. You don't want to be surprised by an early opening on the day your have your PPO adr

 

[sharonabe]

We are going to WDW in late March 2018, and our ADR booking window opens up this coming Sunday. I am still in the process of figuring out some of the things I want to try and book, but one thing that I cannot seem to find more info on no matter where I look online is whether or not MK ever gets "additional" extra magic hours during busier times of the year.

If by late March you mean the week leading into Easter Sunday, then there is a good chance they will open earlier and/or add an EMH or two the closer you get to Easter Sunday.

 

[Buzzed Lightbeer]

You will get more information if you start a thread that asks your questions and gets readers attention
There is no better way to know if, or likely when, Disney will extend park hours. It is common during busy periods

Thanks so much, Hopefully. I have been on another forum or two where creating a brand new thread on a topic that is something one could maybe, kinda, sorta squeeze into an existing one instead was frowned upon and met with vocal resistance. This is a Disney themed forum though, right? I suppose I should have realized things might not be so harsh here I will take this into account in the future, though. Cheers!

 

[Buzzed Lightbeer]

You really won't know until your trip is right there. They can add emh up until that same day.

Your best bet is to make the ADR's you want, but keep in mind they could add emh, or what would be more likely is for them to just open the park an hour early. So as your trip gets closer you'll want to keep checking park hours to see if they change. You don't want to be surprised by an early opening on the day your have your PPO adr

If by late March you mean the week leading into Easter Sunday, then there is a good chance they will open earlier and/or add an EMH or two the closer you get to Easter Sunday.

Thank you both, CAS and sharonabe! It sounds like there's simply no way to know for sure about potential additional extra magic hours on the weekend we'll be there before the ADR booking window opens up, so I'll just need to work with that. Your advice to try and make the reservations I think we will want and roll with it, while continuing to monitor the park operating hours along the way sounds like a good plan.

I am indeed talking about the week leading into Easter Sunday, or more explicitly the final weekend prior to the weekend that features Easter Sunday (we leave for a Disney Cruise the Monday prior to Easter, part of the reason our time in the parks is so condensed). I suspect you're right about there being a higher possibility than normal of possible additions with regard to extra magic hours. I guess my follow-up question would be, if they do in fact grant extra magic hours at MK (or Epcot I guess, as we're headed there one day too) would there be one weekend day that is more likely than the other to have them added? Quite possibly another query that just doesn't have a definitive answer, I'm just curious if anyone with more experience at the parks has ever noticed any potential trends with regard to this in the past.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

Because Dolphin is considered an onsite resort and your reservation is linked to your MDE account, you'll be able to enter EMH prior to checking into Dolphin.

The CMs only check room keys if the Guest doesn't have MagicBands.

Our last trip we did a split stay -- first night at Port Orleans then moved over to Yacht Club. The morning of the switch to Yacht Club we went to MK for rope drop before checking in to Yacht Club and when we got to the gate our magic bands were not "activated," so we had to go wait in a relatively long line at guest services outside the gate to get them activated, and it was almost 20 minutes after park open before we actually got into the park. Don't know if that was a quirk for us or not.

 

[sharonabe]

I am indeed talking about the week leading into Easter Sunday, or more explicitly the final weekend prior to the weekend that features Easter Sunday (we leave for a Disney Cruise the Monday prior to Easter, part of the reason our time in the parks is so condensed). I suspect you're right about there being a higher possibility than normal of possible additions with regard to extra magic hours.

I think for that weekend, you're probably safe in regards to any additional EMH. The additional EMH and earlier hours usually occur ON Easter weekend. That doesn't mean you won't see an earlier hour opening, but I think you're 90% or more safe with no additional EMH.

 

[Grammy4Lizzy]

Our last trip we did a split stay -- first night at Port Orleans then moved over to Yacht Club. The morning of the switch to Yacht Club we went to MK for rope drop before checking in to Yacht Club and when we got to the gate our magic bands were not "activated," so we had to go wait in a relatively long line at guest services outside the gate to get them activated, and it was almost 20 minutes after park open before we actually got into the park. Don't know if that was a quirk for us or not.

Did you check out of the first hotel when you left for the day? I understand that if you do that it does mess things up.
I was told to not check out until you check into the new hotel so that your magicband will still be active.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

Did you check out of the first hotel when you left for the day? I understand that if you do that it does mess things up.
I was told to not check out until you check into the new hotel so that your magicband will still be active.

I did not affirmatively check out. Just dropped our bags off with concierge and headed over to MK.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

Our last trip we did a split stay -- first night at Port Orleans then moved over to Yacht Club. The morning of the switch to Yacht Club we went to MK for rope drop before checking in to Yacht Club and when we got to the gate our magic bands were not "activated," so we had to go wait in a relatively long line at guest services outside the gate to get them activated, and it was almost 20 minutes after park open before we actually got into the park. Don't know if that was a quirk for us or not.

 

[Buzzed Lightbeer]

I think for that weekend, you're probably safe in regards to any additional EMH. The additional EMH and earlier hours usually occur ON Easter weekend. That doesn't mean you won't see an earlier hour opening, but I think you're 90% or more safe with no additional EMH.

Gotcha, thanks again for the educated insight! Cheers!

 

[tlmadden73]

Yes. If you do online check in well in advance and make your arrival time as early as possible (which I would suggest), then you can use the EMH at park the morning of the first night of your stay.

My last short trip in March we had a reservation (throwaway room) at Fort Wilderness Campground for Sunday night. Our group hit DHS's morning EMH that morning with no issues. Well, the scan for the parking didn't work via Magic Band, but when we showed them our reservation they waved us in. We never even went to Fort Wilderness to check in as we were really staying off site.

For us, a CM came and scanned our bands while in line for security (before the actual ticket scan station) to ensure you have a resort reservation and should be in line getting in early.