Having Room Ready on Arrival

[poohbear158]

Hubby and I will be traveling to the World with our 5 month old daughter for the first time in December staying at AKL. The past 3 times we have stayed there, our room was never ready until 4pm or after. I know that the check in time is 4pm, but has anyone requested an earlier time with MS and gotten it? I was thinking about calling MS and requesting to have the room ready as early as possible. We should be arriving at the lodge around 1pm and I would like to be able to go to my room instead of hanging around the lobby for hours with my little one.

 

[Deb & Bill]

You can request all you like, but it will not be guaranteed. With DVC resorts being 95% sold at all times, you are going to have to wait for someone else to move out and the room be cleaned prior to you getting it. December is always packed for DVC.

If you arrive on a Saturday, I'd bet you have a better chance since there tends to be a few more rooms vacant on Fri and Sat night because of the higher points.

 

[crisi]

We've only had to wait past 3pm once.

Several times we've checked in around 1pm and had our room ready. This year my parents arrived at 1pm and the room wasn't ready, but by the time the rest of us showed up around 2:30 our rooms were ready.

But do have other plans - pack a swimsuit in your daybag and let your little one play in the pool or nap in the shade out by the pool. Cozy in with a book and a stroller in one of the viewing areas a little off the beaten path. Or even pop the easily portable 5 month old in a stroller and head out for the afternoon (the nice thing about that age is that they are portable).

 

[CarolA]

The other unknown is how many other requests do you have on file. Lots of us put bunches of "requests" regarding location etc.

I tend to be flexible. I rarely have any requests (Having done surveys, I have ensured all rooms are at Disney) So for AKV all that matters is view which was "paid" for with points. So I take whatever is open and while I do still have to wait, it might not be as long. If your requests have limited you to very few options then....

Now the problem with AKV is that right now there just aren't many rooms so.... I think when the new section opens it will be less "full" if that makes sense.

 

[Deb & Bill]

That's true, Carol. On our trip to BCV two years ago, we had no requests at all (we had no-smoking, but all rooms were no smoking by the time our reservation rolled around) and our room was ready when we arrived about 1PM. That was a Saturday, too.

For our trip to OKW about four years ago, we arrived on New Year's Day and needed a two bedroom lockoff. Our room wasn't ready until about 6PM.

 

[poohbear158]

I never have any requests, but I have always had to wait until after 4pm for my room.

 

[maraki527]

We only had to wait one time past 4 pm, but all times we were at a different resort.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I've stayed at AKV 3 times, never had to wait beyond 2-2:30 to get into my villa (studio).

 

[dvcdisney]

I can only remember a few times that our room was ready before 4pm. Maybe it does depend on what day we checked in. We usually check in on Fridays and Saturdays.

 

[ton80]

WE HAVE GOTTEN LUCKY THE PAST 2 TIMES
MARCH 2008 WLV CHECKED IN ON A SUNDAY AT 10:30 AM
NOVEMBER 2007 BCV 9:00 AM SUNDAY MORNING CHECK IN !!
HOPING FOR SOME MORE MAGIC IN MARCH 2009 AT THE BWV !!

 

[DebbieB]

You can request it, but I doubt they will guarantee it.

I stayed at AKV in June, our room was ready when we arrived around 2:00 (Thursday).

My room at BWV last month was not ready when we arrived at 3:00. Still not ready at 3:45. Finally ready when I called after 4:00.

 

[CraftyMouse]

I honestly doubt that an "early arrival" request will do anything for you. In December the resorts are at capacity almost every night so there will probably be someone in your room the night before you arrive. That means that you'll have to wait until that room is cleaned. You may get in early, you may not. They won't pull housekeeping from their schedule to clean a room early for a request so you'll just have to wait until they get to it. It could be any time after noon-ish.

There are plenty of DVCers who arrive early and would like to get into their room right away. It's really just the luck of the draw. We've gotten our room as early as 8am and as late as 5pm.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

If it is really important to have a room ready when you arrive, book it for the night before and let the front desk know you will be arriving late. -- Suzanne

 

[n2mm]

I agree, arrive a day early and stay at a cheaper resort. We are still standing at 95% of never getting into our room before 4:00. Last August we waited until 5:30PM to get into our room at OKW and that is with a 3 month old baby and 18 month old baby -- both sleeping in the lobby. Moved to BCV 4 days later (whatever were we thinking?) and waited to 5:00PM to get into our room and the babies slept in the atrium. (never again). This year we arrived a day early and booked an extra night with points just to have a room before moving into the bigger unit when the family arrived. While it was a waste of points by not sleeping in the unit that night, it sure did help to have a place for the babies to sleep esp. since we didn't get our room until 4:30PM at BWV. OP -- good luck! but you better get a backup plan.

 

[jekjones1558]

Many folks have legitimate reasons for needing to be in their rooms ASAP. It would be very difficult for the front desk to prioritize them. I hope that you luck out but I think that your plans should assume that you won't get in early.

 

[Deb & Bill]

And, then, it's always nice to the next guest to make the cleaning up of the room easier for the housekeeper. If you don't get out on time (11AM) or leave a major mess behind, it just takes longer for the housekeeper to get that room cleaned up for the next guest. We always call housekeeping when we leave to let them know the room is vacant and they can clean it for the next guest.

 

[cokenut33]

Our rooms are generally ready before 4pm, but we tend to get in early. We will sometimes make a request, but if we do we specifically tell the CM that we don't care when the room is ready. They give us a card with the # to call to see if the room is done, we drop all of our stuff with bell services and head out. About every hour or two we will call to see if the room is ready.

 

[debbiepump]

One of my gripes about WDW/DVC is when I go to check in at about 6:30pm or so after flying all day from Seattle (having to be at the airport by 6:30AM) and am exhausted, to have the smiling CM say, "Let's see if your room is ready." Well, I want to reach over and smack 'em!!! Why wouldn't it be ready at 6:30pm???? Perhaps when check out time rolls around, I'll tell 'em, well, let's see if I'm ready to LEAVE!!!

..............ok, feel better, just venting.............

 

[hematite153]

One of my gripes about WDW/DVC is when I go to check in at about 6:30pm or so after flying all day from Seattle (having to be at the airport by 6:30AM) and am exhausted, to have the smiling CM say, "Let's see if your room is ready." Well, I want to reach over and smack 'em!!! Why wouldn't it be ready at 6:30pm???? Perhaps when check out time rolls around, I'll tell 'em, well, let's see if I'm ready to LEAVE!!!

..............ok, feel better, just venting.............

Yeah, we once checked in at 7am--yes, way early and we had NO expectations of a ready room, but, we wanted access to our DDP credits and the parks were opening at 7:30. They were shocked to see us and reiterated numerous times that there was no room ready. We just kept saying that we didn't expect a room, we were headed to the parks and just wanted a card for DDP credits. They gave us the number to call and warned up repeatedly that check-in time to expect a room to be ready by was 4pm. We kept saying that was fine because we wouldn't be back until after that.

Well, we got back to the resort around 1am and they told us our room wasn't ready and we had to wait about an hour for it. Ummmn...what???? I mean, not only was it WAY past 4pm, but, you also knew that we were here--it's not like we should have surprised you by walking in 18 hours AFTER we checked in.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...Well, we got back to the resort around 1am and they told us our room wasn't ready and we had to wait about an hour for it. Ummmn...what???? I mean, not only was it WAY past 4pm, but, you also knew that we were here--it's not like we should have surprised you by walking in 18 hours AFTER we checked in.

Yikes!!! Did they compensate you in any way? That's just wrong.