Kidani recent check in

[tink_lover]

We checked in last week for our stay at Kidani. We transferred from AoA where we spent one night. I made a lot of mistakes that you would think after all our trips, I should have known better. First, we did luggage transfer. We left our AoA room early so DH could do his Richard Petty driving experience. Once that was done, we went over to Kidani.

It was about 11 or so when we got there. Unfortunately, I didn't have kids grab swimsuits because I thought we would get them from our bags once delivered there. Room not ready - I didn't expect it to be, so we hung out in Community Room. We don't have Wii or any of those fun things at home, so kids love spending time there.

Long story short, room not ready until 4:45, luggage delivered at 4:30 and was missing one bag. Had to cancel our dining reservation at Plaza because kids needed time to change into costumes for MNSSHP. It didn't ruin our time there - room was fantastic - but as I said, I should have planned better. More and more, I am becoming a non-fan of hotel transferring while onsite.

I forgot to add that my brother and family arrived around 3:30 and their room was ready! Reservations were linked, both SV 1 BR units. I had done online check in, he did not.

 

[disneynutz]

After 40 plus stays I can't find a pattern on when rooms will be ready and what can be done to get a room early other than not making requests and that doesn't seem to alway make a difference.

We have also found that the resorts don't all follow the same room assignment procedures and it seems to change from time to time.

Bill

 

[rentayenta]

We checked into Kidani just over a week ago and the villa was ready by 2:00, luggage coming from the THV arrived shortly after. I think it's dumb luck.

 

[tink_lover]

You know, the room request might be the key. I put in "high floor" when doing the online checkin. We ended up on third floor, so not super high. I know my brother did not do online check in. They were near us on third floor.

When my son and I were at Jambo in June, we got in our room at about 11:30 and I did not make a room request then.

 

[rentayenta]

You know, the room request might be the key. I put in "high floor" when doing the online checkin. We ended up on third floor, so not super high. I know my brother did not do online check in. They were near us on third floor.

When my son and I were at Jambo in June, we got in our room at about 11:30 and I did not make a room request then.

I had specific room requests; 2nd floor, near the lobby. We got them both.

 

[tink_lover]

Renta - did you do online check in?

 

[rentayenta]

Renta - did you do online check in?

I did.

 

[My 2 princesses]

I don't know if they do it all the time or not, but we had the same issue in August, but this was on our check in from DME. The room they gave us was not to our liking so we asked for another room and was told we had to wait, which was fine. They offered to keep our carry on's and we gave it to them thinking we would get our room before our dinner at Epcot. Finding we were not going to get it they let us go into the luggage area and pick out what we want. Again, not sure if they do this all the time or not, but this certainly helped us or we would have had to drag our cute little Disney themed luggage around Epcot.

 

[jpeka65844]

10+ stays at DVC properties here and I have to agree with PP, I've given up on figuring out the rhyme or reason of how/when rooms are assigned.

For our recent stay at BLT, we checked in at 11:30 AM and it was 6 PM before we got a room. Our experience at AKV was similar and we'd checked in online for that stay.

There have been other times where we've checked in at other resorts at 1-2 PM and our room has been ready.

So, we prepare for the worst and hope for the best when it comes to room ready time. It can be hard with kids. Trust me, I know.

As for luggage transfer, we've always had great experiences but a friend of ours did not. He transferred on the day of the Marathon with the intention that his bags would be available when he was done. Nope. So after his shower, he had to hang out....(literally! ) for awhile before his bags arrived late.

 

[DizDays]

So, we prepare for the worst and hope for the best when it comes to room ready time.

We have concluded this is the only way to keep from being frustrated. We have encountered just about every scenario possible over the years with no rhyme or reason as to early checkin, late room availability, requests honored or ignored. I have not discovered any patterns with regard to time of year, specific resorts, or time of day. It's anyone's guess.

 

[double r]

We went once the week between Christmas and Ney Years, we drove down and arrived at SSR around 9:30 am and just figured we check in and go find something to keep us busy till the room was ready much to our surprise they had a 2 bedroom unit available right away, we did not really care where in SSR we were so I guess that hepled also. Made it real nice as we were able to rest up for our dinner at Whispering Canyon that night.

 

[CRobin]

We have concluded this is the only way to keep from being frustrated. We have encountered just about every scenario possible over the years with no rhyme or reason as to early checkin, late room availability, requests honored or ignored. I have not discovered any patterns with regard to time of year, specific resorts, or time of day. It's anyone's guess.

I fully agree. I also suspect that part of the hassle occurs when someone shows up, has a room ready, and then nixes it because of the view, location, etc. I think this throws the whole system off. People just don't realize that, at 96% occupancy, SOMEONE is going to get the tree view, room at the end of the hallway, etc. We take what we get, and only complain when it is past 4:00 PM for the room to be ready.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[tink_lover]

We didn't reject a room - just waited that long for ours to be ready. It seemed as if there were housekeeping issues at Kidani. We were not the only party waiting until after the 4:00 official check in time. After checking with the front desk staff a few times, one of the concierge finally got a hold of housekeeping and sent a supervisor to check on the status of our room. Once that was done, our room was ready quickly. It made me wonder if they are short-staffed there. Again, our room was perfect once we got in it.

 

[scauzilloc1121]

WOW!! I have been there twice, and in about 20 days will be the 3rd time and have never had any trouble at Kidani. It is now my favorite of all dvc hotels. I always do the online check-in and get my room and even after transferring from a non dvc hotel my bags have been there ready for me. Sorry for the issues.

 

[Pakey]

After two botched luggage transfers that sucked a lot of time to find the missing bag, I now take a cab to transfer myself and then meet my group in the park of choice.

I've owned DVC for 15 years and I think it's just luck on room readiness.

 

[dvcterry]

Lost luggage can occur at any resort. We had lost luggage occur between between BLT and WVL transfer. Needless to say one piece of luggage never made its way. The manager over at WVL was very sincere but the luggage was never found at any point during the remainder of our stay or thereafter.

 

[rznhal]

Lost luggage can occur at any resort. We had lost luggage occur between between BLT and WVL transfer. Needless to say one piece of luggage never made its way. The manager over at WVL was very sincere but the luggage was never found at any point during the remainder of our stay or thereafter.

They NEVER found your bag??!?!? That is awful! What happened?

 

[tripletsmama]

We had a bag lost on magical express that was never found. Disney handled it very well. I honestly felt like it could have been just as much the airport's fault as it was disney's which made me even more impressed with their efforts to compensate us.

 

[rznhal]

Wow that had to be tough! ME lost one of our bags but we got it around 1am....(dh went in the luggage area with cm and looked for it himself lol)