How late is "late"?

[CK1]

More and more I see reports of folks saying they checked in "late"...but late is defined by them as 3 pm or 2 pm...basically anything after dawn! Whatever happened to 4 pm check-in? I can remember waiting at OKW for 4pm before they would LET you check-in...

WHich leads to my next ?? -- does your room assignment really hinge on when you check-in (even tho' technically you aren't supposed to be checking in until 4 pm)? I can understand that some folks want to maximize their park time so they leave their stuff with the desk and say, "See ya later", and check-in in the afternoon/evening. But mostly, it seems folks check in early to secure that all-important room and whatever their requests were.

I always thought that checking in early was, in some cases, darned if you do or don't, since not all rooms are cleaned out by that time. I know we didn't vacate our last room until exactly 11 am, and it was a 2Br with plenty to clean... and it was a really nice room, too (pool view, bay view, 4th floor VWL), so someone checking in at 8 would miss it, but someone checking in at 3 might get lucky...

How about it -- why so early, when did the practice of 4 pm change, and does it really help in the long run? Is there an "ideal" time?

Cindy

 

[living la vida mickey]

We've checked in as late as midnite at OKW and have had our requests fulfilled. Granted I didn't ask for a specific room or building, but I did need a first floor, non- smoking room both for medical reasons. We had a great room and wonderful location. We've checked in many times late in the evening from 7:00 on and never had a problem getting our general requests. I think the big problem occurs with people who have to have specific room numbers or buildings.

 

[colleen costello]

We recently checked into the VWL and when I asked to be reassigned (we had been given a Handicapped room) the folks at the front desk said that the place was almost full. I thought this meant that it was ALREADY full, but in hindsight, I suppose they may have meant that all rooms had been assigned and they didn't want to mess around. It was about 5pm. They DID move me, but it seemed to me that the earlier you can get there, the better. I then kind of figured that some poor person whose flight was delayed was going to get stuck with my original room...

 

[Dean]

Check in early will give you advantages but not guarantees. I personally would consider late as anything after 6 pm, 9 pm or after would be very late.

 

[CK1]

Would one also assume that Sunday would be the "worst" day to be late, as it's the first "cheaper points" day in the week? (i.e., folks travel down on Sat and stay elsewhere via $ or come in early Sunday and scarf up the prime real estate...)
I suppose Sat might be bad too, if folks just bit the bullet and decided to pay the high points just to get there on the wkend...

Cindy

 

[timC]

CK1. Interesting you should mention Sunday check-in. I never though about sunday being a big check-in day, but I it sounds reasonable.

We usually arrive on Sunday afternoons... between 3-5pm. We drive from Houston, leave on Saturday, arriving Sunday afternoon. Our reservations are never complicated: Non-smoking. Never hard any issues; always satisfied.

I think the industry norm is after 6pm is considered late check-in, and you'd need to indicate late arrival or all bets were off. You could be sleeping in the broom closet.

 

[geffric]

We have never had a problem with getting a room,and we drive in from Chicago and arrive Sunday after 4 PM. But all we request is non-smoking and in a room that has parking.

 

[Richyams]

But all we request is non-smoking and in a room that has parking.

Wow, you do well then, I think most of the rooms require you to park outside.

 

[JoeH]

ROTFLMAO Rich, thanks for the laugh!

 

[beccasmom]

We've checked in as late as 9:00 pm on a Saturday (for a studio we were using for one night) and as early as 9:00 am for a Grand Villa. Our requests have almost always been met, although I usually only ask for non-smoking (and maybe a first floor if traveling with older relatives). I rarely request a certain room, although sometimes a certain building.

It is also rare that we are not able to get right into our room, although we never expect that. When we were there last month, we had a choice of three rooms when we arrived at 3:00 p.m. We loved the one we chose!

 

[married@wdw]

We've checked in as late as 1 a.m. (flight delays), but we usually stay with family the night before and check-in by 8 or 9 a.m. the morning we're arriving at Disney. We don't do it for special room selections or anything like that -- it's simply to get that part of the trip out of the way so we can go have fun. We store our luggage and head for a park. We usually call once around 1-2 p.m. to see if our room is ready -- if it is, we head over to get our luggage unpacked and get read for dinner and nighttime fun. If not, we usually wait until after dinner to find out our room number.

But I must say that we always have a few special requests on our reservations and I don't think we've ever been denied those special requests no matter what time we've checked-in. As long as you make the requests ahead of time, instead of at the check-in desk, I think they can take care of almost anything.

 

[Terry S]

Cindy, just because you check in doesn't mean your room is ready. We normally check-in whenever we arrive at the resort from the airport. Sometimes the room is ready, sometimes it is not, that is fine with us. We just check-in, they give us our room keys, store our luggage and then head to a park. Later on we come back, check at the front desk to see what our room number is and then go to our room. They will also give you a card with a phone number on it to call so you can just pick up a house phone and call the number on the card and they will tell you your room number, this way you don't have to go back to the front desk.