How early is too early to check in?

[ksoehrlein]

DD and I are staying at POP. We have ressies for the My Disney Girl tea at the Grand Floridian on the day we check in at 10:30 am. Can we check in to POP at say, 7 or 8 am, go to MK for a bit, and then head over to our tea while we wait for our room to be ready? Or is that too early to check in?

Should we call the front desk and/or CRO to have them note our early check-in time on our ressie?

 

[KayakDaddy]

Last year we went to Blizzard Beach on our check in day with no problem.

I wanted to check in as early as possible to help to ensure my room preference request. I called the WL a few days ahead of time and they talked me through what to do.

We showed up around 8 AM and left our baggage with the Bell Service. I then went through the normal check in process. The did not have a room available at that time, but they gave me a number to call when we got back later. We spent the morning at BB and came back around 1 PM. I called the number from a lobby phone and they gave me my room assignment (it was my exact request - right down to the room #). The keys they had already given us worked and we called the Bell service and they brought our lugagge right up.

This worked out really well because we didn't have to fool with lugging all of our stuff in during the heat of the day. We were able to get cleaned up in time for our 2 PM PS's at Whispering Canyons. Then we went back and spent the rest of the day at BB!

 

[newholidayx2]

im confused (again) - why would you call the # from the lobby phone instead of asking at the check-in desk?

 

[mmiller711]

This happened to us once before and they gave us the number so we didn't have to stand in the check-in line again. Also we could have called from our cell or any phone, anywhere. This way we could check and see if our room was ready without returning to the hotel.

 

[madalex]

It's never too early to check in. You might get lucky and have your room available (I've gotten into rooms as early as 7 am) and, even if not, you can get the check in process out of the way.

 

[javaj]

We've checked in to CR as early as 7 am so we could get to MK by 8 am. This May I'm hoping to check-in to the Poly at 630 am because we have an 805 CRT PS!

 

[Tara]

im confused (again) - why would you call the # from the lobby phone instead of asking at the check-in desk?

In my experience, to avoid waiting in line just to check to see if your room is ready...

 

[Bracho]

I checked-in at the Beach Club at 7:30am once, we went to the concierge floor and they said it was ready so we got the room.

 

[WillCAD]

You can drop your bags at Bell Services any time. But you can often get right into your room if you're not waiting for a specific room or location.

I've gotten to my resort as early as 10am and gotten a ready room; sometimes you can even get specific requests like a particular building or wing or floor. The more specific your request, the less likely you are to get a room early in the morning, but it never hurts to ask. Worst-case would be leaving your luggage with BellServices till your room is ready.

Either way, you will be able to make your Tea time with time to spare.

 

[pepe of ohio]

A check in of 5 minutes before midnite before arrival day is bad. They'll charge you for that day. We try to get there as early as possible, always someone at the check in counter and you go do what you want!

 

[jel0511]

The earliest you can technically check-in at a WDW resort is 7AM, that's when the days check-ins are downloaded to the front desks computers. Anything before that and the front desk will be unable to help you, though you can still leave your bags at Bell Services. Of course, at 7AM, your room probably won't be ready, and you'll have to wait. Check-in at Pop is 4PM, so your room might not be ready until after 4PM, so keep that in mind.

 

[tjmw2727]

im confused (again) - why would you call the # from the lobby phone instead of asking at the check-in desk?

To avoid waiting in line! You will get the room keys when you check in in the early am. Then when you return later on that day you will already have your room keys. You can just call and find out the room number and have your bags sent to the room. No need to wait in the, often very long, check in line a second time.

TJ

 

[newholidayx2]

guess we've always been lucky at checkin! we havent seen a line (maybe 1 or 2 ppl but thats been it)