Early Check-in??

[domiii]

Is there such a thing? We are interested in checking in early for a 1 bed-room in July 2009. After driving 17+ hours, I'd hate to wait until 3p to get to my room!! Any info would be approciated.

 

[Judy WI]

Is there such a thing? We are interested in checking in early for a 1 bed-room in July 2009. After driving 17+ hours, I'd hate to wait until 3p to get to my room!! Any info would be approciated.

No there isn't. You may be lucky and get in early but the check in time is 4pm or after.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

If checking in early is important to you, book the night before and check in for that night late. Just be sure that the front desk knows you will be late and are not a no show. -- Suzanne

 

[Donald is #1]

I agree with the other posters. Check-in time for DVC is 4 PM and even then your room may not be ready. On my trip last month, we checked in at about 12:30 or so and our room wasn't available until 5.

 

[TDC Nala]

There is no guaranteed early check-in available.

Check-in time for DVC villas is 4 PM or later - not 3 PM.

You might get in before that but you might not.

 

[Deb & Bill]

And the bad part? It could be after 4PM, like closer to 5 or 6PM. It depends on when in July. If you are talking about 4th of July, it will be crowded and rooms may empty out more slowly. Occupancy at DVC resorts are always in the neighborhood of 95%, so you won't find vacant rooms just waiting for someone to check in.

What time are you planning on arriving? You may want to stop along the way to sleep and then drive in the rest of the way after you have rested.

I've checked in at 7:30AM and my room wasn't ready until nearly 6PM. And there was a trip that our room was ready when we arrived at 1:30PM.

If you have requests, that makes it harder to get into a room earlier.

 

[domiii]

We lucked out this last time an got right in at 2p. We had a parking lot view, but it didn't matter!

I hope to leave NJ by 9p on Sunday which would have us arrive some time 2 or 3p on Monday July 6th. I know it's a busy time and I won't expect a miracle, but it would be nice!!

 

[pixie08]

No. We have been lucky a few times to check in early with cash ressies but mostly with DVC we have not been able to. We check our bags, get something to eat and try back in a few hours.

 

[n2mm]

We've have never been able to get into our room before 5:00PM whenever we rent a 1 bedroom or 2 bedroom. When we rent a studio, we have gotten in once by 1:00PM out of 20 stays. OP, sorry, the news is not encouraging, but your chances are not good. I would suggest you renting a cheap room at one of the values for your arrival. We find whenever we rent a room for one night we generally can get the room immediately. Prepare for the worse.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Actually, you can (and should) check in early...but that doesn't mean you will get a room before 4:00.

You can check in as early as 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning. If you happen to be on any plan (such as the DDP) you have to check in to tbe able to utilize the features. You check in, they give you your room keys, activate them for room charging (if desired), load on your admission media (if desired), and give you a phone number to call to check on availability of your room. If you arrive early you may have a better chance of them finding something that is available right away, and sometimes we have gotten a room right away, but there are no guarantees. When we aren't able to get a room right away our villa is usually ready by early afternoon. Your results may vary, because we don't travel at peak times.

So, arrive, check in, get all the business out of the way, and hope for the best. Maybe you'll get lucky......

 

[Jeremy&Susan]

As others have said, you can and should check in as early as possible so that you can get a room as soon as possible.

It also makes it much easier to get a room quickly if you have no special requests. If you just ask for whatever room is available first, you will get into a room much earlier than asking for a lake view or close to an elevator or whatever.

We rarely ask for any specific room and have always been able to check into and go to our room immediately upon checking in. Normally we check in around 1 PM after our trip from the airport.

 

[n2mm]

As others have said, you can and should check in as early as possible so that you can get a room as soon as possible.

It also makes it much easier to get a room quickly if you have no special requests. If you just ask for whatever room is available first, you will get into a room much earlier than asking for a lake view or close to an elevator or whatever.

We rarely ask for any specific room and have always been able to check into and go to our room immediately upon checking in. Normally we check in around 1 PM after our trip from the airport.

Yes I absolutely agree. If you have NO requests your chances are better. Just this October when we checked into the BWV at noon we were indeed told our studio was ready. Of course the room they wanted to give us was right outside the loading dock where the luggage trucks pickup and deliver all day and night and the constant beeping would be heard. Once we entered the room and realized where we were we quickly went back to the front desk and asked to be moved and was willing to wait until something else openned up. We were lucky and did get moved (we tried in May and was stuck with what we got for 12 nights). The only other time we got into our room early was also at the BWV and it was the room next to the ice machine and the room smelled of mildew. Housekeeping had to put a machine in our room for the entire afternoon to help with the odor (we were not allowed to be in our room during the process)--we don't have very good luck at the BWV, but love it anyway. So be careful what you ask for.

 

[CarolA]

As others have said, you can and should check in as early as possible so that you can get a room as soon as possible.

It also makes it much easier to get a room quickly if you have no special requests. If you just ask for whatever room is available first, you will get into a room much earlier than asking for a lake view or close to an elevator or whatever.

We rarely ask for any specific room and have always been able to check into and go to our room immediately upon checking in. Normally we check in around 1 PM after our trip from the airport.

While my luck is not as good as this poster I will say that I generally do get the room before the 4 PM time and have only been "later" twice in umpteen stays.

I agree the secret is FLEXIBLITY. I make no requests.... I have had the room at BCV that "overlooks" the road, trash area etc. Actually was a great room! Standing on the balcony I could watch both Wishes and Illuminations! (I have never bothered to go ask for a different room....)

 

[Dean]

Is there such a thing? We are interested in checking in early for a 1 bed-room in July 2009. After driving 17+ hours, I'd hate to wait until 3p to get to my room!! Any info would be approciated.

I'd do the night before (esp if not Fri/Sat points) or one day off site for this situation. Just let them know you're arriving late.

 

[CarolA]

I'd do the night before (esp if not Fri/Sat points) or one day off site for this situation. Just let them know you're arriving late.

I would stop on the way and get a cheap hotel... Then you arrive both refreshed. Plus it is just so much safer....(Really drowsy driving is dangerous so unless one you routinely works the night shift.....)

 

[Dean]

I would stop on the way and get a cheap hotel... Then you arrive both refreshed. Plus it is just so much safer....(Really drowsy driving is dangerous so unless one you routinely works the night shift.....)

I would unless they're using ME then I'd likely stay onsite somewhere either at DVC with cash or points or a value depending on the day of the week.

 

[Flyerfan]

Check in as early as you can. When we checked into SSR last week at 9am a room was ready for us. It wasn't the section we requested, but we took it anyway. If you're flexible you might just luck out.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I just wanted to share our most recent experience which happened at OKW. It was mid-September and not terribly busy so we thought we'd try out luck at checking in around noon. Nothing was available. We did the usual run down to DTD, stopped at SSR and walked around the resort until 2. The kids were too tired to really do much more so we just sat in the lounge by check-in. There we met four other families who were all waiting, one in particular had been there since 11am. Another was actually sleeping in one of the chairs! Anyhow, we kept checking and hoping something was available...we even said that we would take any 2bedroom available but no luck.
All of us kept taking turns calling the house phone to see if our rooms were ready and magically they all became ready at the exact same time...4pm! I truly believe that they were ready a long time before that but for whatever reason they held them. Maybe they're trying to prevent people from trying to check in before the time listed. From now on I'll plan to check in at 4 or later and just head to the park--if we're doing a "park" trip.

 

[Donald is #1]

I just wanted to share our most recent experience which happened at OKW. It was mid-September and not terribly busy so we thought we'd try out luck at checking in around noon. Nothing was available. We did the usual run down to DTD, stopped at SSR and walked around the resort until 2. The kids were too tired to really do much more so we just sat in the lounge by check-in. There we met four other families who were all waiting, one in particular had been there since 11am. Another was actually sleeping in one of the chairs! Anyhow, we kept checking and hoping something was available...we even said that we would take any 2bedroom available but no luck.
All of us kept taking turns calling the house phone to see if our rooms were ready and magically they all became ready at the exact same time...4pm! I truly believe that they were ready a long time before that but for whatever reason they held them. Maybe they're trying to prevent people from trying to check in before the time listed. From now on I'll plan to check in at 4 or later and just head to the park--if we're doing a "park" trip.

I *think* that they open the rooms in blocks. When I was at AKV last month, at least one of the times when I called, the CM mentioned that they aren't done with that floor yet. So it sounded to me that they don't release the rooms one at a time. Instead they release them in blocks. The other confusing part was when I checked in, the CM circled the "spur" that our room would be in. When I asked what the room numbers would be, the CM didn't know and said that I would have to wait until I called and the room was ready to find out. This really confused me. If they knew down to about a 10 room area where my room was, how come they didn't know which one it was?

 

[dianeschlicht]

I *think* that they open the rooms in blocks. When I was at AKV last month, at least one of the times when I called, the CM mentioned that they aren't done with that floor yet. So it sounded to me that they don't release the rooms one at a time. Instead they release them in blocks. The other confusing part was when I checked in, the CM circled the "spur" that our room would be in. When I asked what the room numbers would be, the CM didn't know and said that I would have to wait until I called and the room was ready to find out. This really confused me. If they knew down to about a 10 room area where my room was, how come they didn't know which one it was?

I agree with this thought. I think they release all the units that an individual housekeeper services. At OKW, one housekeeper is responsible for one building. I can imagine that they don't release any rooms in that building until she checks in as "completed". It actually makes sense to me.