Earliest check in

[Kaylasmomma]

I apologize if this question is posted somewhere but I didnt see a search function (kinda new here havent used this site in years lol)

What is the earliest we can expect to check in at our hotel??

If we are driving in (all night) arriving at 6am should we just pay for the night before? We will take turns sleeping but most likely need a nap before hitting any parks or DS


staying at PO Riverside if that matters

 

[CrankyDad]

3pm is when you should expect to check in. You can ask of course when you get there but not till 3ish at best


If you want to room that early you have to rent it the night before

 

[Beer Me]

What are your plans for arrival day?
At 6am there’s a very slim chance a room will be ready. However you can check in, leave your luggage with bell services and use hotel amenities (pool, restaurant, etc) until the room is ready.

(Uninvited commentary) I always hated driving all night. The whole next day seemed to be wasted feeling exhausted and drained. Personally I’d rather stop somewhere the night before and get a decent sleep even if I have a few hours drive the next day. But everyone is different.

 

[bama_ed]

The "next day" rolls over at 6am.

If a room in your category is available, you can go right to it if you don't care what building/floor/area it's in. If it's what you booked, Disney will let you have it if it is available (for example if it was not used that prior night).

Note I said "if it's available".

If it's not available, you have to wait. Or pay the diff for an available room for the length of your stay. The room has to be turned over and cleaned.

I would stay someplace near Orlando overnight if I were you and roll into WDW the next morning after you have had some sleep. You might end up waiting still (although you could store your bags and head to a park if you wanted to in that case).

That 6am rollover time can work in your favor. If you can book that same level of room as a 1 night reservation (even if it is at rack rate) and you might get in at 2am, it could be worth it to book that extra night and roll in during the late night/morning hours and then sleep in the next morning. That's the other side of the coin. As long as it's the same level of room, you won't have to move when your original multi-day reservation comes up for check-in. Just tell the CM about it when you arrive.

Some people might have a discount of some type and may not be able to add the extra night on the same discount (without losing the discount on the original reservation). If having a room when you arrive early in the a.m. is important to you, book it as a 1-night at the same type/level at rack. The peace of mind and sleep is worth the price.

Bama Ed

PS - if I had to bet $100 of your money, I doubt a room would be available early at 6am for you at your hotel. That strategy sounds good in theory but the odds are WAY in favor of you having to wait to get to a room.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I apologize if this question is posted somewhere but I didnt see a search function (kinda new here havent used this site in years lol)

What is the earliest we can expect to check in at our hotel??

If we are driving in (all night) arriving at 6am should we just pay for the night before? We will take turns sleeping but most likely need a nap before hitting any parks or DS


staying at PO Riverside if that matters

Yes, pay for the night before. Rooms aren’t guaranteed ready until 3pm which turns into 4pm with surprising frequency in my experience.

Personally I concur with @Beer Me to break up your drive. For what you’d pay for a night at Disney you can have a nice hotel on the way to the World, a safe drive and keep your bodies on a somewhat normal clock (unless you work night shifts obviously then the last 2 don’t apply).

 

[dansdad]

Yes, pay for the night before. Rooms aren’t guaranteed ready until 3pm which turns into 4pm with surprising frequency in my experience.

It's a very common misconception that all rooms will be ready by 3PM, when actually the check process In officially starts at 3PM. They just allow you to go through the check in process any time after 6AM. There is no time official time that your room is to be available.

 

[teddygurl28]

So you can check in at 6am but no guarantee of a room being ready before 3pm. I’ve had rooms ready at 8:30am and 10am but also not available until almost 4pm. Depends on room type and occupancy levels

 

[Dave006]

If we are driving in (all night) arriving at 6am should we just pay for the night before? We will take turns sleeping but most likely need a nap before hitting any parks or DS

If you want a room to be available at 6 AM. You should book for the night before and make sure to have your reservation noted that you will be arriving after midnight so they don't give your room away and indicate that you are a no-show guest.

Dave

 

[ClapYourHands]

I agree with others who suggest getting a room outside of Disney. If you drive until, say, 2am, sleep until 6 or 7, and finish your drive in the morning, then you can still be enjoying the parks before lunch. Except this way, you won’t be a tired zombie while you’re doing it.

 

[skyp4WDW]

I often fly in on the Red-eye, and have checked in and got a room at 6am Many Times...but not always. It absolutely depends on the time of year and how full your Resort is.

 

[gatormom2tots]

Only time we have gotten a room prior to 10AM (usually more like 2-3, once is was 5PM at BLT a few days before Christmas) was a few days after Labor Day at BLT back in the days when there actually was a "slow" time. It was around 7:30AM if I remember correctly. I definitely would NOT plan on getting in that early.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I completely agree with stopping the( late night ) before, grab a much less expensive room. Sleep and In the Am whenever u show up, you ll be refreshed. Check in any time, leave ur bags in the car and head out to wherever you choose. You may luck out with a ready room. But if not, you ll be rested to actually enjoy a park etc.
we often arrive by 9am.. and rarely have gotten a room at POR.. (perhaps preferred room being even less likely?? )
Whatever you decide, safe travels and Enjoy!

 

[Luvs Mickey]

Agree with others that breaking up your drive a bit and staying somewhere around 1 or 2 will make arrival day so much better. We drove straight through the night on a road trip once and it took us almost two days to recover. Good thing for us it was at the end of our vacation.

I realize everyone handles this differently, however, with all the walking you’ll be doing while at WDW some good sleep prior to arrival will be beneficial.

 

[Hi Pluto]

I will echo the pps' advice to get a room somewhere along the way. We are driving down and stopping twice on the way there (it's almost a 16 hour drive for us, not counting stops). First night we're leaving after work and aiming to only drive 4 hours, then stay at a Drury Inn with free breakfast in the morning. Then 6 hours of driving with a long lunch break and a stop at the World of Coke in Atlanta. Drive 3-4 more hours to Valdosta, GA to stay at a La Quinta that has a evening happy hour plus free breakfast in the morning. Then it's a "quick" 3 hours to Disney! We'll be there before 11am and will feel refreshed and ready to go.

If you are driving all night and will need to sleep a bit anyway when you get to WDW, you might as well stop along the way and sleep a little more mid-night. Pushing yourselves through the night will have you dragging through the entire first day.

 

[cakebaker]

If POR has availability, renting the night before your arrival is not a bad idea. As long as it's the same category, you'd very likely not have to change your room the entire stay. I wouldn't deal with renting at Disney the night before if I couldn't get the resort I was staying at during the trip. Outside of that, if you have to have a nap before going to the parks, I'm with the others who say get a hotel within a couple of hours of Disney and finish the drive the next morning.

 

[Kaylasmomma]

Thank you everyone!! We have stayed on property before and gotten into our rooms early like mentioned (10am) but I have never tried that earlier so wasnt sure. We have also waited until 4pm
It is a busy week (thanksgiving) so I think I will look at the suggestions of staying somewhere else and compare price difference
we have a wee little one with us so sometimes its just easier to not have to move places
(the people who do split stay amaze me lol too much stuff to move one day we will get to travel lighter lol)

 

[Imamom2]

Driving down during Thanksgiving is a tough call - you could call your resort before you arrive and see if they have a room available. We have always called when our plane landed in the morning ( between 9:30 and 10:30) and several times we got a text shortly after saying our room was ready, always before noon. Once our room wasn't ready until early afternoon but we were in the parks. Good luck!

 

[Praying Colonel]

Back when we were younger and crazier we did a Thanksgiving trip where we drove all night, checked in at 7 am, grabbed our park tickets, dropped our luggage and headed out for RD at AK. We only planned on spending part of the day so it worked out OK. But we didn't think our room would be ready until after 3.

(I'm glad we did it once. I wouldn't do it again.)

 

[hawgndodge]

it's about a 18 hour drive for us. we do 8 hours the first day, 9 hours the next, and then get up early and do online check, drop our bags at the counter and go straight to the parks. last time we left on friday after work, slept in saturday a bit, then got up sunday morning and had a 1 hour drive to CSR. we were on space mountain by 930am. i've found that way to be a much more relaxed way to go.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Until our trip last year, we always left around 3:00 pm (after school) and drove through the night. We arrived between 6 and 7 a.m. and checked in. Sometimes our room was available, sometimes it wasn't. We never bothered with room requests. If our room was ready, we unloaded the car, got breakfast and hit the parks until after lunch, then came back and took a nap. If our room wasn't ready, we got breakfast and went to the parks until our room was ready and then slept a few hours.

The whole point of not splitting the drive was to get a full park day in. It doesn't work for everyone, but neither does spending an extra night on the road and arriving later in the day. My husband is used to working 24 hour shifts.