Hitting a park before going to hotel?

[Jupiter&Wolfe]

We're hoping to drive down to Disney in October, and this will be our first time driving. We'll be staying onsite, but we won't get into Orlando until later in the evening, so I was thinking of staying in a cheap motel that first night to cut costs. The thing is, we really want to hit RD at HS the next morning.

I know I'll be getting our Magic Bands in the mail before the trip. But do they need to get activated before I can get into a park? Do I HAVE to go check into the hotel before I can do anything else, or would my plan work? Check in isn't until 3 anyway, so I was thinking we could head straight to HS from whatever motel we stay at, spend the morning there, then drive over to the hotel in the afternoon and check in. Any flaws in this logic? Thanks in advance!

 

[Kate and Family]

We're hoping to drive down to Disney in October, and this will be our first time driving. We'll be staying onsite, but we won't get into Orlando until later in the evening, so I was thinking of staying in a cheap motel that first night to cut costs. The thing is, we really want to hit RD at HS the next morning.

I know I'll be getting our Magic Bands in the mail before the trip. But do they need to get activated before I can get into a park? Do I HAVE to go check into the hotel before I can do anything else, or would my plan work? Check in isn't until 3 anyway, so I was thinking we could head straight to HS from whatever motel we stay at, spend the morning there, then drive over to the hotel in the afternoon and check in. Any flaws in this logic? Thanks in advance!

I do not know how it works with MB/MDE/Online Registration, however.... ON our last (2012) visit, we arrived in Orlando in the evening, stayed in a hotel. This is what we did. We called our Disney Resort the night before (when at Orlando hotel) to let them know we would be checking in early (7:00 am, I think) but that we did not have to have a room assigned right away. We wanted to get to MK for rope drop. When we checked in they had our room ready! (no promises of course)

It may be that now you only have to do on-line check in to activate your MB's - I am sure someone will be able to answer that.

 

[Itinkso]

As long as you have your tickets linked to MDE, you can enter the park without having to stop by your resort.

The only thing you won't be able to do is to charge for purchases using the MagicBand and/or use Dining credits.

 

[disneybliss2]

To my knowledge, you'll have to check into your resort to get the magic bands activated to enter the park. A recent thread was up about this same question. I read it closely as we're planning on doing the same thing this summer when we arrive. It looks like we'll have to check in first. Other posters said you could check in as early as 6 a.m. That's not to say your room would be ready (most likely not), but you could get your mb activated.