Getting into your room early?

[psimon]

We are driving to WDW overnight and expect to arrive around 9AM (barring traffic). We will be staying at AKL-K. What are the odds of getting our room that early?

Any suggestions on where to change and maybe grab a shave prior to going to the parks if I can't get our room that early?

What is the earliest you have gotten your room?

Thanks...

---Paul in Southern NJ

 

[Disnydad]

I've gotten into rooms as early as 7 AM several times. Most of the time we arrive about 11 AM and maybe half the time we get right into the room.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Only at OKW have we gotten into our room between 10 and 11. That happened both times that we stayed at OKW. Once it was for a studio and once for a 1 bedroom!

Bobbi

 

[tjkraz]

We've arrived at our resort by 9am several times. Sometimes we got a room immediately. One time we didn't get a room until after 2pm.

There's really no good way to handicap your odds. So many factors (resort, day of arrival, how many guests check-in before you, how many rooms were vacant from the night before, helpfulness of front desk CM/room assigner, etc.)

If you just need a place to grab a shower and change clothes, try the pool area. All of the Disney pools I have visited have showers in the locker rooms.

But hopefully you have a plan to get some rest during the car ride. Doing the zombie walk around the theme parks while waiting on your room isn't much fun.

We drove 18 hours once and arrived at 9am. That was the time we didn't get into the room until 2pm. Not exactly a day that I remember fondly.

If you're going to need a nap mid-day to recharge, it might be worth it to just tweak your travel plans and arrive later in the day. After all, whether you're in the car that morning/afternoon still driving down or napping at the hotel, you won't be out enjoying the parks.

 

[disneykidatheart]

I think it often depends on the day of arrival and season. We have been given our room at OKW as early as 9:00 but for the last several visits it has been close to or after the official check in of 4:00.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We've gotten our room early at OKW a couple of times, but most often it's around 3-4 before it's ready.

 

[DebbieB]

One time we got into CSR at 8:30am. I stayed at Kidani last year and arrived around 11:45. A room was not ready but they took my cellphone # and I got a text that it was ready around 1:00. The latest was 4:00 at BWV.

I noticed you are leaving in a week. From what I understand, the DVC resorts are soldout so that reduces your chance of an early room. For a room to be ready at 9:00am, it would most likely have to be empty the night before.

 

[com_op_2000]

We are driving to WDW overnight and expect to arrive around 9AM (barring traffic). We will be staying at AKL-K. What are the odds of getting our room that early?

Any suggestions on where to change and maybe grab a shave prior to going to the parks if I can't get our room that early?

---Paul in Southern NJ

To change and shave, a couple of sggestions:
1. How about stopping at DTD before going to the resort. There are a couple of restrooms that you could use.
2. On I-4 before you get to the Orlando area there is a rest area. The rest area is located between the Lake Mary and Longwood exits. It is about 30 miles before the mouse house.

 

[psimon]

I noticed you are leaving in a week. From what I understand, the DVC resorts are soldout so that reduces your chance of an early room. For a room to be ready at 9:00am, it would most likely have to be empty the night before.

Thanks for the warning!

 

[disneynutz]

We vacation in March and December every year and sometimes in October. Our earliest check in time has been 2:00 the latest, 6:30 at SSR.

Bill

 

[dbs1228]

From what I have read do the on-line check in and put down your expected arrival time, they assign the rooms either late the night before or early in the morning, if by chance there is a vacant room they may the keys with your packet and you will be all set. If your room is not ready (after doing on line) you can always ask a CM if any are available, Good luck

 

[dallastxcpa]

The work out facility at AKL has fabulous locker rooms that you can use. I used them in July before my husband and I got on a plane late in the day. They have lockers, showers, a wonderful steam room, sauna, and then your standard restroom. They also provide towels.

I believe there are also locker rooms at Kidani. All you have to do is show your key to the world card and just let them know you want to freshen up.

 

[ems_mom]

We were totally shocked to get a room at 10:00AM. But then we learned we had been assigned a room (at BLT) that was the opposite of our requests. We were willing to wait until 6:00PM for any request and were pleasantly surprised when the CM got on the phone and found us a room that met our requests...available now!

 

[kendzee94]

I think getting in early is the luck of the draw and may be dependent on your requests. Two times with no requests, we got in at 12 and 12:30, other times 2o or later. With requests we've gotten our rooms at 3:00 and later. As far as the shaving goes, I think that you could use the bathroom next to the pools to do that. Not sure if you would get weird looks or not

 

[Sammie]

Never gotten anything before 3pm. Latest was 6pm at BWV.

 

[rlovew]

Your best bet to get in early is to not check in oline and not have any requests and when you arrive ask for any room that is ready.

 

[Mickeyfollowers]

We checked into BCV on Sept 18 around 7am and was surprised to find out our room was ready. We had a SV studio, but we could see spaceship earth and watch the fireworks from Epcot from our room. We did have a veiw of the road though but that was ok it was not noisy.

 

[TisBit]

It has been very hit or miss for us getting our rooms. This last trip we arrived at about 930 from an early flight at BCV and our room was ready! The CM's were amazed and just kept talking about it at check in. We did a split stay and our THV was not ready until early afternoon (maybe 2 or so) but we had switched what we were originally given, so I am unsure if the other one was ready or not. When we went to BWV, again I believe our room was ready in the early afternoon....but I am not 100% on this one...it could have been ready around noon too.

Other trips it has usually been between 2-4 that it is ready.

 

[keishashadow]

My 'special' requests as to view/floor have thus far been met by DVC, i consider the fact that we've rarely stepped foot into our room before 4 pm a worthy tradeoff.

OP, won't work for you leaving so soon, normally; i'd suggest leaving a day early if possible & stopping somewhere economical along the way a few hours from WDW, eliminating 1 night's usage of points @ DVC. All you need to do is then stop by in the early am @ your resort, check your luggage & enjoy the parks; knowing your room will be ready later in the day. If you room isn't ready & you really need to crash/sleep for a few hours, why not head out the main gate & find on the decent/budget off-site property that could accommodate you and take a nap

 

[Luckymommyx2]

We seem to be the odd ones because our rooms are never ready before 4pm and we don't even make special requests. Our most recent trip was just for one night in a studio at BCV. We did the on-line check in and gave our arrival time (10am) with no special requests. We didn't arrive in our room until 4 and found out that we had a HA room with a really odd balcony facing the quiet pool. Not thrilled since we only had about 17 hours left by that time. We were happy just to be at WDW but would have loved some pixie dust for our 15yr anniversary!!
The only trip that we've been able to get in early was SSR. The CM was great and showed us a map of what rooms were available and let us choose which one we wanted!! That was several years ago....