How is DVC About Check In Times?

[famsen]

We will be "home" on May 4th for our first trip as DVC members. We are staying the Saturday night before at Pop Century so that we can get the most from our points and still be at WDW. In the past, when we have stayed on property, we had been able to check-in as soon as we made it down to WDW(we drive from Chicago). I know the official check-in time is around 3:00pm but I was hoping to check out of Pop by 11:00am and head over to AKL and get settled in. I know this all depends if our room is ready but I was wondering if DVC is as flexible with check in times or more or less so than if you are staying at a non DVC property at WDW?
Thanks!

 

[bszoo]

Sometimes we've been able to get in our rooms at 11am and other times it's been 4pm. It just depends on availability. You can check in and leave your bags with bell services and retrieve them when you get back from the park.

 

[jns]

we were able to get our room straight off the cruise bus about 10am , but it ended up been miles from the pool area

 

[beccasmom]

We've been in our room (Grand Villa) at 9:00 a.m., but have had to wait until after 4:00 on more than a few occasions. You are not traveling at a particularly busy time, so you may luck out. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. It never hurts to try to get there early and see what happens!

 

[tjkraz]

If anything, DVC is less flexible than cash resorts. I could point to two main reasons:

1. Reduced housekeeping schedule means there is more to do between guests.
2. DVC resorts are designed to operate near 100% occupancy year-round. Non DVCs are often under 90%, meaning the resorts have dozens of rooms available first thing in the morning for arriving guests. DVCs often have to wait for folks to leave and then service the rooms before they can start admitting incoming guests.

That said, I've gotten into a room as early as 8:30am. Still the most sensible approach is to assume that you won't get into your room until after 4pm. Come up with two separate plans for your day--what you'll do if you get into the room right away and what you'll do if the room isn't ready.

 

[ZekeKelso]

While it is possible to check in early, it seems to be much less likely than at a "normal" CRO room. Many folks have posted here about not being able to check into their DVC room until 4:00 (or later!) I've never read a report from somebody in a CRO room having to wait that long.

 

[n2mm]

We have only gotten our room before noon 2 times. The other 10 times we were lucky to get our room by 4:00. Last August we stayed at OKW and BCV during a split stay both times we didn't get our room until after 5:00PM (both times they were 2 bedrooms). To the OP, good luck. We never expect to get into our room early now, so when it does happen, it's a nice surprise.

 

[Caskbill]

You can "Check-In" anytime after the day's computer download takes place. I think that's around 5:30 in the morning.

At check-in you will get your keys and all the normal literature.

Note that checking in does not actually mean you get into your room. When the rooms are ready has nothing to do with when you can check-in.

If your room is not ready, they will give you a card with their phone number on it. You can leave your luggage with bell services, and go out and enjoy the parks if you want. You can call DVC back anytime during the day and see if the room is ready or not. If it is ready, they will tell you the room number and you can go and get 'settled in'. Be advised that your room might not be ready until 4:00 pm or so.

 

[PBB]

I feel like we have the early check in record for DVC. 10 years ago we purchased our DVC membership at OKW. On our first trip "Home" we drove down from Atlanta in the evening. We did not have reservations until the next day and we had planned to find a hotel for the evening somewhere on the road around Gainesville or Ocala.

The kids and wife fell asleep and I had a second wind behind me driving and I decided to go all the way to Orlando. It was around 2 a.m. and I decided to wake up the family when I drove by MGM and Epcot. Everyone was so excited to be there! As we drove by Epcot I thought I would stop by OKW and see wht they would charge me for a night on cash.

I got to the front desk and spoke with the front desk person and told him we were their early but wanted to see what he would charge us for the night on cash. He was cool and said technically we were here on our day of reservation and we could do an early check in. He said that they would charge us a $ 35 cleaning fee. The computers were in turning over from last night and the desk clerk couldn't even take my name or check us in. He gave me 2 keys and told me to come back in the morning and officially check in.

The next morning you should have seen all the looks I got from the clerks about what he had done. LOL. For me.....It was a cool unexpected surprise and a good memory was made on our first trip "Home". The young man made us feel so welcome and I remember he was more worried about us getting to bed than the paperwork and credit card imprint. I wanted to write a letter so bad but I was afraid he was going to get in trouble for his decision. He certainly made us feel Welcome!

Patrick

 

[eporter66]

For us, we have stayed at 3 different DVC Resorts (SSR, OKW, BWV) in the last few years. We usually get to WDW around 12:00 - 1:00 on the day we arrive. We do not travel at the busiest times, but our rooms have always been ready at check-in. This year we requested a golf course view at OKW, and we were told we would have to wait (our original room assignment would have been ready at check in). So, we just went and had lunch, and when we came back it was all set (1:30)

 

[lizanne]

We've been members since '92 and timely check in (even early AM) never used to be a problem. In the last 5 years or so I see a great change.

We usually arrive around 5 or 6 AM on the day we're to check in. We wait in the car until about 7-7:30 AM (whatever the earliest time is you can check in). Then it's a waiting game. Official check in isn't until 4 or after and we haven't been able to get in our room before 6:30 PM for several years.
We go the first week in Dec, which is not an exceptionally busy time.
It doesn't seem to matter what size room we have.

All I can say is Good Luck and have a great trip.

 

[tjkraz]

Official check in isn't until 4 or after and we haven't been able to get in our room before 6:30 PM for several years.
We go the first week in Dec, which is not an exceptionally busy time.
It doesn't seem to matter what size room we have.

Actually that's an exceptionally busy time at the DVC resorts.

For whatever it's worth, we've had about 10 total stays as both members and renters before that, and the latest we have ever gotten into our room is 2pm.

We always check-in as early as possible (I only remember one time we got to the front desk after noon), and have limited requests. We also usually arrive on Sundays, which I think helps. I doubt the resorts are at full capacity every Saturday night due to the high points, so come 7-8am on Sunday they already have clean, vacant rooms to start assigning to guests.

 

[Brian Noble]

As an aside, CRO rooms have gone above 90% year-round for the most recent fiscal year, IIRC.

 

[Janet Hill]

I had my worst check in experience ever at BCV last August. We officially checked in ~10:30 am and our room wasn't yet ready. No probem. We we stored our bags and went to EPCOT. Came back at 4:30 - still not ready. Ok, not a probem. We went to Stormalong Bay. Came back at 7:00 room still not ready. A barely audible sorry was all we got. We just sat there and looked dissatified until 8:15 when we got our room.

I decided perhaps we were in the slug line, since we traded in, but we are also DVC members.

 

[disneymom8589]

We recently stayed on the concierge level of the AKV. We had a red eye flight, so arrived early. When we checked in we were pleasantly surprised that our room was ready...especially since it was a concierge room. We had the same good fortune in July 2007 at BCV. This is not to say it will happen every time, as we did have to wait until later in the afternoon to check into our room at SSR last summer, but the times it has happened have been a nice bonus.

 

[beccasmom]

I have to agree that the first week of December is very busy. We visited at that time last year for the first time since a trip in 1998 and YIKES! We were waitlisted for the room we wanted at OKW (our home resort), which eventually came through. I could not believe the difference in crowds, it was just amazing.

 

[lizanne]

Actually that's an exceptionally busy time at the DVC resorts.

For whatever it's worth, we've had about 10 total stays as both members and renters before that, and the latest we have ever gotten into our room is 2pm.

Well all I can say is we've never had a problem getting a room at that time, either at our home resort or at the 7 month window elsewhere. Just lucky I guess.

As far as requests, we do request non-smoking-which really isn't a problem. I guess we're just unlucky when it comes to getting a room. I know last year, after driving all night and arriving at 5AM. We went to OKW and as we expected we were told to come back after 7AM to check-in. We then drove over to the Hotels around Downtown Disney and were able to get a room there. I went to sleep, but my husband left to register at OKW at 7AM. We called many, many times and never got our room until 6:30PM, and that has been our experience for quite a few years.

I'm not saying that other people aren't getting in earlier, I'm just saying what my experience has been.

 

[famsen]

Just thought I would update you all on what our experience was in trying to get into our AKV room a little earlier than the guaranteed time of 4:00pm

We arrived at AKL around 11:00am. My husband checked us in a we were told the room was not ready but they gave us a card with a special number to call to find out if the room was available. We did our grocery shopping off site and returned around 1:00pm. We has perishables so we checked our groceries in with the bell services. The room was not yet ready. We walked around the grounds, had a drink and just hung out. We kept calling every 1/2 hour and finally at 3:15pm, we were able to check in. So I guess I have learned that DVC works much differently than if we were regular guests checking in. In every one of our 9 trips staying on property before becoming DVC members, we were able to check in with a room ready as early as
10:00am. I don't know if we were just lucky all of those times or if "paying" guests get faster service.

I know for our next trip not to make plans for our arrival day until after 4:00pm.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We will be "home" on May 4th for our first trip as DVC members. We are staying the Saturday night before at Pop Century so that we can get the most from our points and still be at WDW. In the past, when we have stayed on property, we had been able to check-in as soon as we made it down to WDW(we drive from Chicago). I know the official check-in time is around 3:00pm but I was hoping to check out of Pop by 11:00am and head over to AKL and get settled in. I know this all depends if our room is ready but I was wondering if DVC is as flexible with check in times or more or less so than if you are staying at a non DVC property at WDW?
Thanks!

Official check in time for DVC resorts is AFTER 4PM. And Sunday is usually the busiest day to check in because there are a lot like you saving the points on a Sat night by staying elsewhere. On our last two trips, we checked in on Sat and got into our villa when we checked in. Once was 1:30 the other time was about 10:15.