Early Check-In?

[Fintastic]

It takes us about 12 hours to drive to WDW, and we're thinking about doing it overnight. We're staying at ASM. We won't be going to any parks that first day, mostly just hanging out. How early will they let us in? Thinking one of us can sleep and the other can take the kids to the pool or whatever.

 

[loves to dive]

You can check in as early at 7 am but that doesn't mean your room will be ready. They can't guarantee when it will be, I always put early check in as my first preference in on line check in and normally put at least 2 hours before I think I'll be there. I think my room has been ready about 40% of the time. They will store your bags for you and will do their best to find you a room that is ready if you don't mind changing some of your preferences but there is a good possibility you won't have a room.

 

[Fintastic]

You can check in as early at 7 am but that doesn't mean your room will be ready. They can't guarantee when it will be, I always put early check in as my first preference in on line check in and normally put at least 2 hours before I think I'll be there. I think my room has been ready about 40% of the time. They will store your bags for you and will do their best to find you a room that is ready if you don't mind changing some of your preferences but there is a good possibility you won't have a room.

What do you do while you wait for your room?

 

[loves to dive]

What do you do while you wait for your room?

We always just go to the parks. I don't have a little one any more but even when I did, that was what we did. You could hang out at the pool, I believe they have bathrooms you can change clothes in so you could just put your suits in a carry on. You could also just go to one of the restaurants and eat, some people go to DS but I'm not a fan.

 

[Hopefully]

What do you do while you wait for your room?

Not to be fresh but whatever you want.
You are a resort guest from the time of check in. You can use all resort amenities including the pools and food court.
You could take a bus to Disney Springs and check it out and have some lunch
You could take a bus to the MK and from there catch the Monorail to tour the Monorail resorts, or catch a bus to another resort to check it out.
You could go mini golfing at Winter Summerland near Blizzard Beach or Fantasia Gardens near the Swan/Dolphin.
You could rent a water sprite from a Monorail resort or an Epcot resort.
You could visit Fort Wilderness and explore the campground.
The list is nearly endless - there are so many things to do.
Good Luck

 

[Fintastic]

We won't have park tickets for that first day. I don't sleep great in the car so I was hoping I could take a nap or something while my husband took the kids to the pool. Or maybe I'll just find a pool lounger and konk out for a couple of hours. lol

 

[rwdavis2]

We won't have park tickets for that first day. I don't sleep great in the car so I was hoping I could take a nap or something while my husband took the kids to the pool. Or maybe I'll just find a pool lounger and konk out for a couple of hours. lol

How many days do you have tickets for? Adding days after 4-5 days is somewhat inexpensive.

 

[IsThatYouTigger]

The best shot you would have is to do online check in and mark that room being ready at the time of arrival is more important than any other request you may make. Just realize that your room may still not be ready when you get there, even with doing this. I always see people sleeping on the chairs or couches and just assume they are waiting to leave or waiting for their room to be ready. You also could definitely find a shady spot at the pool and sleep!

 

[JennyDrake]

I've had rooms ready as early as 9:30 and I've had to wait as late as 4:00 pm. FWIW the trend lately (I go 4x/year) is for the room to not be ready until 2 pm at the earliest.

 

[Shanti]

Do online check-in and pick the earliest check-in time, & indicate that early check-in is more important than any other consideration.

When you arrive, if they say your room is not ready, ask if there is possibly any other room that is ready that they could move you into. This is possible, & they won't check auromatically if you don't ask. It's worth a try.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

It's really hit or miss whether or not your room will be ready when you arrive - no matter what time you arrive. Last year we did a triple split stay (2 different hotels before a cruise, then one night after the cruise). The first hotel (AKL), I got the text that our room was ready around 8am - we hadn't even left home yet for our flight. For our next hotel (POR), we took a cab from AKL around 11am to POR. When we arrived, our room was not ready so we headed to DS. Around 330pm, we still hadn't received our text yet but I was exhausted so we headed back anyway. While waiting in line for our bus I got our text. The last part of our stay, we arrived after our cruise to POFQ around 10am. That room was not ready, so we headed to MK. I think I got the text around 2pm that our room was ready.
A couple of years ago, I did a solo trip at Pop. I requested 50's and top floor and put in my ETA as 7am. I arrived at 9am and I was pleasantly surprised that my room (meeting both of my requests) was ready. It was a great way to start the trip, only because I wanted to unpack my car before heading to the parks.

We won't have park tickets for that first day. I don't sleep great in the car so I was hoping I could take a nap or something while my husband took the kids to the pool. Or maybe I'll just find a pool lounger and konk out for a couple of hours. lol

I have done this a few times! I used to think I needed my room cleaned every day of a vacation, and on one of our trips it never failed that either our room hadn't been cleaned yet when we came back for our afternoon break, or they were cleaning it as we got there. We would head to a quiet pool and lay down and usually we would all fall asleep for a little bit.