Early arrival need suggestions

[kitkat4622]

JetBlue has changed our flight leaving Boston to 5am. I know our room won't be ready by 9am but we will need some sleep before hitting the parks. Any suggestions on how to do this shirt of sleeping on a chair at the pool

 

[Disneydawg74]

How many are in your group? Which hotel? I have seen people sleeping in hotel lobbies in the past.

 

[Her Dotness]

Any kids? Simpler if only adults, IMO.

 

[Kat_M]

try for early check in, you might be in luck. sometimes there is a fee but ive been in scenarios where they just give you the keycards. always worth a try

 

[kitkat4622]

Any kids? Simpler if only adults, IMO.

no kids,myself and my 23 year old grandson.

How many are in your group? Which hotel? I have seen people sleeping in hotel lobbies in the past.

2 of us and POFQ

 

[snikki]

With two adults I would hit a park for a bit because there’s no way I would be able to sleep on a beach chair or lounge. I would also put a request for early check in and hope your room is ready a little bit early.

We’ve had these early flights before and gone straight to a park and stayed until close. It can be brutal but fun. So I wouldn’t hesitate to go straight to a park and leave the park early for some rest.

 

[CynBeth]

We visit every few years alternating between moderate and deluxe and we always take early flights so when I do online check-in request early arrival but usually the room is not ready. What we do is go to the front desk and see if we did not get the room is ready text due to a glitch and if ours is not open the CM will check to see if another one is ready and we have been so lucky they have been able to find a room for us. The most recent time this happened was at CBR the Friday before last Thanksgiving.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I’d hit the parks, find espresso first thing and schedule a late-ish TS in park lunch.

The only way you can guarantee a room to sleep is to buy another night & for 2 adults that wouldn’t be necessary to me. Also you’ll be kicked out at 11am unless it’s the same room you’re in for the rest of the trip.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

JetBlue has changed our flight leaving Boston to 5am. I know our room won't be ready by 9am but we will need some sleep before hitting the parks. Any suggestions on how to do this shirt of sleeping on a chair at the pool

We've had rooms at 9am on many stays
We almost always pick flights that get in 8-9 am.
So don't assume you won't have a room
When you do online check in select you'll accept any room available, if you will of course.
Provide your arrival time, and maybe you'll get it
If room location is important then yeah, you'll probably not have a room ready early.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

try for early check in, you might be in luck. sometimes there is a fee but ive been in scenarios where they just give you the keycards. always worth a try

FYI - Disney doesn't have any fee to let you get in your room prior to check in time. At least nonDVC. We don't stay DVC so can't comment there.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I’d hit the parks, find espresso first thing and schedule a late-ish TS in park lunch.

The only way you can guarantee a room to sleep is to buy another night & for 2 adults that wouldn’t be necessary to me. Also you’ll be kicked out at 11am unless it’s the same room you’re in for the rest of the trip.

I've done that once before too.
We had a party that night and it was the only night of the trip we could do that party so we knew we needed sleep
I decided it was worth it to go ahead and pay for that night before, it was cheaper than a later flight.
So if you absolutely, positively feel you have to get a room for some reason, it's not the worse idea
It did work

 

[kitkat4622]

thank you everyone. I am going to request early check in. Staying at POFQ room location doesn't matter to us the resort is so small.

 

[sponica]

thank you everyone. I am going to request early check in. Staying at POFQ room location doesn't matter to us the resort is so small.

Another option is to see if the airport hotel has anything in their "day use" inventory. I'd try their first and if they have something crash there for a couple hours then head out...

 

[FeliciaB23]

In December 2019 we took a 5:00am flight from NJ (I will never do that again LMAO)… we landed at MCO around 7:30am, was at CSR by 9am. Not only were we given a room at check in, but we were upgraded to a water view from a standard view, in the building we asked for AND on the floor we asked for. I was SHOCKED! So, there’s always a chance they’ll have a room for you

 

[holden]

I’d sleep on the plane.

 

[kitkat4622]

I’d sleep on the plane

I wish I could, never have been able to

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

Our last few trips have involved very early flights, young kids and early arrivals, where we typically arrive to the resort between 10-11am.

What I do is pack one carry-on back pack to use as a park bag. In it, I pack a change of clothes for the family, bathing suits, toiletries to refresh in the lobby bathroom, and sunscreen along with whatever other necessities we need. We get to the lobby, check in physically at the front desk so they know we're there, and leave our bags with the hotel to store. Freshen up in the lobby bathroom and then head to a park, usually stopping for a snack or a small lunch along the way. I make sure to have a lunch reservation around 1-2, because by then it's hot, we are tired from getting up early and travel, and it's nice to have an air conditioned place to sit and relax while you wait for the room to be ready. Usually our room is ready by the time that meal ends, but if not we can always head back to the resort and hang at the pool a little until room is ready. I don't usually do dinner reservations for that evening, because I just like to see how we feel and be able to turn in early if we're tired.

With where you're staying, and because you don't have any little kids, you could easily just hang at the pool in the morning, go to Disney Springs to putz around and for the lunch reservation, and use your time that way instead. Just make sure you have your pool/park essentials in an easy to access bag so you're not rooting through your luggage for your bathing suit in the resort lobby

 

[JBRB828]

Back in August our flight from NJ was at 7AM. (We all were awake at 3AM). We landed around 9:30. Went to CR by 10:45. We gave our luggage to bell services and then was escorted to CL. Our room was not ready yet so we headed to AK until I was notified our room was ready around 1:45. We headed back to CR and we all relaxed, some took naps, and then we headed back to AK at 4:30 for dinner and some more rides. This worked out for us.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

thank you everyone. I am going to request early check in. Staying at POFQ room location doesn't matter to us the resort is so small.

Good luck. It may be a good time to give the Touring Plans room finder a shot, if you don't regularly use it. I know how nerve wracking early flights are. I can never sleep well, so nervous I'll oversleep (something I normally never so)
I've used it when we had very early arrivals and really hoped for a room ready early, and included in the notes that a room ready early is our #1 request, any location is fine.
The last time I did this was July 4th trip this year. That trip we flew in very late, stayed at Swan Reserve using points and walked over to BWI with our bags and had requested a room ready early in hopes to get to go straight to a room vs. storing bags, etc. Wouldn't you know it, we got a text with our room at 7:30 am. Before we'd even gotten out of bed, LOL

 

[Husker Mike]

You know your family better than we do, but honestly, I'd check in and hit a park in the morning. At lunch time, wave the white flag and head back to the room and take a good nap. You'll get more things done in the morning than in the afternoon, and the excitement of being at Disney will be lessened. You'll have a better chance of having a room with an actual bed at 1 pm than 8 am.