Going straight to park before check in

[gmadvm]

I couldn’t find this on search, but driving down from Punta Gorda and staying at Caribbean Beach. Our first park is AK. Can we drive right to AK and park there without an extra charge if we show we have hotel reservations? Because we can’t check into the hotel that early anyway, and then we would just be adding extra time to catch a bus over there. Or I guess we could technically check in but not access our room which is fine. What would be the least complicated? Is it best to go to hotel first and activate everything or can they do that at the park. We don’t want to miss rope drop but on the other hand I don’t even know when that is anymore...it’s been awhile since I’ve been to Disney. When I last went, RD was when the park was scheduled to open. From looking at these boards it seems like it’s earlier than posted times? And rides are open? Rather than corralling you in a land to stagger the amount of people swarming the turnstiles.
TIA

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Yes, you can park for free on your check in day.
Each park has been opening 45 minutes to an hour before the posted time. The parking lots open around that time as well, so keep that in mind. Some rides will be running early, others will not. FOP is usually open early, but the Safari I believe does not open until official time.

 

[Castlequeen5]

You definitely want to at least do the online check-in first. We did the exact same thing and went straight to AK our first morning before checking in. We had no problem parking. They just scanned a magic band, so there was no charge. But when we tried to go inside the park, we were flagged. We had to go over to guest relations and be manually checked in at our resort. It was definitely a pain and we lost about 30 minutes. I had tried to do online check-in earlier, but we had some kind of error message.

 

[Robo]

1. You definitely want to at least do the online check-in first....
2. I had tried to do online check-in earlier, but we had some kind of error message.

1. Yes. Do the online check in days to weeks in advance. Your MDX will offer the early on-line check in option.
2. Sounds like you experienced an infamous MDX GLITCH.
Generally, once you have all of your reservations booked, you have traditionally been able to do the online check in days to weeks in advance. No need to wait until you're ready to leave home.

 

[figmentfinesse]

You definitely want to at least do the online check-in first. We did the exact same thing and went straight to AK our first morning before checking in. We had no problem parking. They just scanned a magic band, so there was no charge. But when we tried to go inside the park, we were flagged. We had to go over to guest relations and be manually checked in at our resort. It was definitely a pain and we lost about 30 minutes. I had tried to do online check-in earlier, but we had some kind of error message.

What did your hotel have to do with entering the park? That’s so weird.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I couldn’t find this on search, but driving down from Punta Gorda and staying at Caribbean Beach. Our first park is AK. Can we drive right to AK and park there without an extra charge if we show we have hotel reservations? Because we can’t check into the hotel that early anyway, and then we would just be adding extra time to catch a bus over there. Or I guess we could technically check in but not access our room which is fine. What would be the least complicated? Is it best to go to hotel first and activate everything or can they do that at the park. We don’t want to miss rope drop but on the other hand I don’t even know when that is anymore...it’s been awhile since I’ve been to Disney. When I last went, RD was when the park was scheduled to open. From looking at these boards it seems like it’s earlier than posted times? And rides are open? Rather than corralling you in a land to stagger the amount of people swarming the turnstiles.
TIA

We always drive to WDW and do this fairly regularly and have never had an issue. Depending on where we are staying, we sometimes go to our resort first and take WDW transport over to the park. We park our car, leave our bags in the car. You are welcome to park at your resort even if your room isn't ready, the guard will just check ID and confirm your reservation. Guard may know your building area so you at least have an idea of where to park so you are close to your room, but if not, just park near the Jamaica bus stop since that's the first stop. It really won't matter a ton since you aren't unloading your car then anyway.

AK from CBR by bus isn't the fastest but most of the time we're at WDW, the last thing we want to do is drive around Orlando. If you go to the park first, they'll scan your MB to confirm your resort stay so parking will be free. There has never been anything to activate but I suppose there could be some delays if there is something flagged on your account. When we hit the park first, we have never had any issues, we use our magic bands and/or phone to tap into the park.

Do make sure your MDE app is updated and watch for when your room is ready/assigned in the app. We don't always get our notifications at WDW so I periodically check the app. Online check in is pretty much mandatory so there's really no reason to go to the desk, and there hasn't been for some time unless you have a random request/need.

We were last in AK last month and arrived about 30 min prior to opening and FOP and EE were open early. There is no major crowd hold like back in the pre covid days. Little bit of bottlenecking in certain spots but it's nothing like before.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I couldn’t find this on search, but driving down from Punta Gorda and staying at Caribbean Beach. Our first park is AK. Can we drive right to AK and park there without an extra charge if we show we have hotel reservations?

Yes, the only real catch - in my experience - is the FL heat. The heat can impact a variety of items, not just food. It can be a problem for many medications, and cosmetics, for example.

A travel cooler bag can help for some time. I can't tell form your post if you live in Punta Gorda, or you are vacationing there. If you are vacationing, some places have full size fridges and some, like WDW, only have small dorm fridges. Some small dorm cubes have a freezer, but many don't. Some hotels will freeze your cold packs, some won't.

A little trick I have learned is to sub cold, un-opened soda cans. Mind, they won't keep food to safe temps, but if you just want to keep non-foods for getting over 80 degrees, cold soda cans work for some time, maybe half a day? (that's actually sometimes our strategy, hit rope drop, then go to our room mid-day when crowds are at their peak.

You can do online check-in AND you CAN actually check-in at the hotel that early. Sometimes our room has been ready at 7am, other times it wasn't. Either way, you can always leave some or all of your bags with bell services. then they will be kept in air-conditioning. They can also store items (food, meds) in a real fridge for you.

Somehow we always end up with chocolate at WDW. So we end up taking it to bell services to be kept cold. Bell services will also hold your luggage on departure day.

Almost always, if you are going to AK, it will be faster to drive to the park than taking WDW's free transportation, if you do opt to go by the hotel before the park. Of course you'll arrive even faster if you go directly to the parking lot. If you are arriving very early you are also very likely to get a great of very good parking spot. I don't think the trams are running, but it is usually a pretty short walk to the park.

One last thought is that rush hour traffic can be a factor in the Orlando area. Maybe use a traffic planner to get a sense of how much traffic normally impacts traffic on your route, and pay extra attention that morning if arriving early is important/feasible. Also, in the before times, WDW often had speed traps!

 

[gharter]

What did your hotel have to do with entering the park? That’s so weird.

I wonder if its because their park pass was associated with their resort stay rather than tickets or AP.
If thats true, your park pass might not be active until you check into the resort, since they were not able to do online checkin. So they had to manually check into the resort at the park to have their park pass active.
At least that would be my guess as to what happened.

 

[Castlequeen5]

What did your hotel have to do with entering the park? That’s so weird.

We were at Pop. But our hotel and tickets were a package deal. Since we hadn’t checked in our hotel, it messed up our tickets. I think because they weren’t “activated” yet. It wasn’t a big deal, but we did lose time at the beginning of the day. So you definitely want to do the online check-in, especially if you have a package.

 

[gharter]

We were at Pop. But our hotel and tickets were a package deal. Since we hadn’t checked in our hotel, it messed up our tickets. I think because they weren’t “activated” yet. It wasn’t a big deal, but we did lose time at the beginning of the day. So you definitely want to do the online check-in, especially if you have a package.

that makes sense

 

[mickeyluv'r]

We were at Pop. But our hotel and tickets were a package deal. Since we hadn’t checked in our hotel, it messed up our tickets. I think because they weren’t “activated” yet. It wasn’t a big deal, but we did lose time at the beginning of the day. So you definitely want to do the online check-in, especially if you have a package.

When tickets are part of a WDW package, then the tickets can't be used until the package is activated. The easiest option is online check-in. In-person check-in is the second option. They can also be activated at the park, but it is more time consuming, and can only be done- more or less - the day you are supposed to arrive.

In the past, CM's would sometimes activate tickets one of two days before your scheduled arrival , but that changed a few years ago (when WDW changed to the new tightly date-restricted tickets).

 

[gmadvm]

I already did online check in. Hope that does the trick.