late checkin or wait until morning?

[carolrie]

This is just a general question. We will be arriving late on Saturday night at about midnight. I am not sure if I should just get a hotel by the airport for that night and then check in the next day (maybe will be staying at WL or Pop) or just go to the resort. What would be better for room availability? I would like to get a room with a possible firework view (or close to it). What do you think?

 

[safetymom]

I would get a room by the airport if you are arriving that late.

 

[DizzyBell]

We are arriving around that time this evening. Once before we checked into another hotel and then onto Disney property in the AM. It delayed us quite a few hours... your rooms won't be ready to occupy in the AM .... and the magic does not begin till the next day. We did not like staying at an offsite hotel when we could have been staying onsite for our first night. For the extra cash it is definitely worth it. If there are any problems with accomodation at this time frame I will share on this board. I will be staying at CSR and in my mind no airport hotel can give me what I get there. IMHO

 

[safetymom]

Your room may be ready if you check in early in the morning. You can always check in early and head off to the parks.

When I arrive after midnight I stay off property. Not much magic going on when I am sleeping. I wake up early and go to my WDW resort. I can have breakfast, check out the resort and I saved myself some money that I can use at WDW.

If money is no object then stay on property.

 

[DizzyBell]

Your right safetymom. You can ask if you may have an early check in but they may not be able to accomodate you. That has happened to us and we have still enjoyed the resorts or even gone to DTD or the parks till our rooms are ready. We have done this both ways... never arrived so late before but willing to give it a try

Once before we arrived at 10 PM in Orlando and stayed at some motel (just awful... be we had soooo many laughs about it). Room was not that clean.. but we did not care we just wanted a bed for the night and in the morning we would be checking into OKW. Well.... when we got up in the morning... the water pressure in the shower was so bad I was laughing so loud I woke my DH up. Since it was sooo dark when we checked in we did not see where we were. As the boys were getting ready to leave my DH decided to take our overnight bag out to the car. When he came back he could not stop laughing. He said "well.... the inside to this place is a lot better than the outside". It backed up to a very run down trailer park which we could not see so late in the evening when we checked in. LOL

We have in the past stayed the night before in some lovely hotels in Orlando prior to checking in at WDW. BUT our experience a few years back made us make this decision. We just want the magic to start ASAP.

Looking forward to magic everywhere we go!

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

Arriving that late, I would stay near the Airport.

The next morning you can get to the resort early. We have had good luck getting our requests met this way. Also, you may get lucky and get your room immediately.

Good Luck!

 

[madalex]

For our trip in Feb 04, we were landing at the airport around 10:30 or so and had made plans to check in at YC that night. It was one of the easiest check-ins we have ever had because no one else was checking in at that time. Also, it was a great feeling to go to bed and wake up in Disney World.

However, we did this because our check in date was the last day of Value season and we had to check in that day to get Value season rates (and save a lot of money). Also, we were staying concierge and our room had already been assigned to us, so I had no worries in that regard.

If I had to do it over again (and did not have the same issues about room pricing), I probably would stay offsite for that first night and get up early the enxt day to check in at the hotel (even if you room is not available, you are still there and can head off to the parks to have fun).

 

[Trekker]

My vote is to check in to your WDW resort that night when you arrive. This is exactly what we did on our April trip - and I wondered about it before hand - but I gotta tell you waking up that first morning already immersed in Disney cannot be beat.

I figured it cost me about $40.00 more to do this - what the heck - $40 is nothing in the big picture of the $1000's a vacation can cost.

JMHO

 

[Barb D]

I vote for late check in. That way in the morning you can just get up and go to the parks. Otherwise you have to check out of the first hotel, drive to WDW, check in, move in, etc. Even if you don't do it all first thing in the AM, you still have to take time out of your first WDW day to do it.

 

[Sammy]

We arrived very late at OKW this past February....like 11:30 PM! Very quick check-in as there was absolutely NO ONE else in the lobby area, and it was awesome to wake up "in Disney" the next morning! We felt it was worth the extra points (DVC) paid to just BE there when we woke up the next day.

That being said....our vacation was only for a "quick" 5-days and I wanted to maximize our time. I might have decided differently if we were staying several days longer and the few extra hours onsite were not an issue.

Sammy

 

[TN Traveler]

Our family arrived in Orlando 5/29 after driving 14 hrs from Nashville. We stayed at an off site hotel the first night and then moved over to POR the next morning. We made this decision b/c we weren't sure we were going to be able to leave Saturday and thought it would save us alot of money. However we ended up paying $60 for a semi-ok room w/an A/C that didn't work and 5 people sharing 2 double beds. For another $40 or so we could have been onsite, ran over to MK for the fireworks, played in the pool or whatever. Then next morning been up and ready to go in the Park early. I think if we were to go back again anytime soon, we would probably stay onsite. Another problem we had by staying offsite....since our room wasn't ready when we checked in on Sunday, we went on to MK. When we got back it was way after 10 and had to find our room, get the luggage in, unpack and go to bed. For those that know POR, you know that it's a very beautiful and lush property w/alot of little trails and sidewalks. Took me a LONG time to find our building in the Alligator Bayou. Arriving during the day I think it would have been easier to find it. Hope these personal insights help some.

 

[babybunrab]

We're getting into MCO at almost midnight and will stay at the Hyatt in the airport. This is only because I can't face driving after traveling all day! Otherwise, I would check in late. I checked in late in January this year (around 10:00 PM) and still got a very nice room. Of course, it wasn't a busy time of year, so if you're going in the summer or another busy time, you may wish to wait until folks check out the next morning.

 

[auntpolly]

If you can afford it -- do late check in. Who wants to go through all that twice if you don't have to (check in, lug your stuff to the room, dig things out of your bags, lug it back down, into the car, blah, blah, blah.)

I'd rather, as someone else said, Wake up in the magic!

I always seem to arrive to WDW in the AM and only got my room early once. And check in with no lines -- priceless!

 

[missydisney]

We arrived at Pop at 12:45 AM on our Visit last December. We weren't the only ones checking in late. there were about 10 families in line. We got to go right to our room unpack, make it our home, shower and got to bed about 2.

Upside was when we woke up we were there. All the magic, No waiting to check in. Just go to the parks.

I vote that it is better to go ahead and arrive at WDW. What better way to start the day.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

You would THINK that perhaps it's not worth the extra to stay onsite- and perhaps it's not if you are spending a LOT on your room on Disney property.... but honestly regardless of the cost it wouldn't be worth it to me to stay somewhere else and then go to disney the next day... to me that's ruining the next day also. I mean when you consider getting up somewhere else (not onsite) and having to go to Disney (which even in a limo takes awhile), get checked in then IF you can... if you can't then I guess leave your luggage with them and then go to the parks and then check in later? At some point- either early on, later when checking in the room or BOTH you are using part of your first day at Disney for the checkin process. And if I wanted to do that I'd have flown in the next day... yanno?

So personally I'd check in at Disney regardless of the hour. Then I'd be checked in, already there- and not a second of our first day there would be wasted with the checkin, getting in room, etc. process. Just what I'd prefer...

 

[coachYO & my 3 girls]

Just returned from 1st trip ever and it was fantastic, and alot of it was because of this site. We stayed off site the 1st and last night and we wish we could have stayed on the 1st night because to really save much money you have to stay in a not very nice or not a very good location. We really lost most of the next day because we were moving from one to another. We stayed at the Quality Suites Maingate and it is not very nice, dirty really, and the rooms were dirty and not very well maintained. I had only one bag packed with everything we would need the 1st night and then clothes for the next day, so we would not have to mess with any other bags, well after seeing neighborhood I had to bring all the bags in anyways. We got up early 7:00 am and left asap and went to AKL to check in, we ate on the way. We got in and our room was ready, but by the time you do all the check in and settling in to your room and get a quick lay of the land of your resort, your day is shot up pretty good. I firmly believe get to WDW ASAP just so the magic can begin. You loose time and memories trying to save a couple bucks. YO

 

[Jen D]

I can see there is a powerful argument to be made for waking up in your Disney bed-- but I would stay at the airport-- Priceline a 3*MCO hotel for around $33 and you'll get a lovely room, probably at the Marriott, with free shuttle service. I guess I'm just a cheapskate that way. You can Tiffany Towncar yourself right over at the crack of dawn, store your bags and head to the parks. You may not make early entry, but you do have the full day ahead of you.

Maybe it depends on where you're staying. At a less expensive resort I might suck up the extra night but if I'm paying monorail resort prices, I probably would not do it.

 

[mirlow]

Originally posted by Jen D

Maybe it depends on where you're staying. At a less expensive resort I might suck up the extra night but if I'm paying monorail resort prices, I probably would not do it.

We arrive around 10:00pm. I'm not spending close to $400 to stay in our AKL concierge room that night. I would rather stay out at the airport and have the limo ready for us early in the morning.
This past January we did check into the WL around 10:00 pm. I was paying for a standard room (around $124) and I didn't mind at all. In fact we got a nice upgrade to a courtyard room.

 

[vhoffman]

I don't care how late it is when you get there, check in to your WDW hotel. Trust me, you'll be glad you did. Otherwise, you'll burn at least half of the next day just getting from offsite hotel to Disney. That way, too, you can sleep in a little later at your Disney hotel rather than jumping up at the crack of dawn to rush over to your Disney hotel. You'll need the extra sleep after such a late flight. And what makes you think those airport hotels are cheap? That Hyatt at the MCO airport can cost as much as your Disney hotel. It looks like it could be noisy, too. The windows face right into the airport consourse. I'd love to have all that airport noise right outside my window. Also, its been my experience that one night's stay in a hotel results in the bags "exploding" all over the room. That is, after everyone digs all through every suitcase for their one-night things, you have a major repacking job. Unless you pack just one small tote with everything you need for that one night. But it just doesn't work out like that. We stayed at a hotel near the airport before a recent trip to Hawaii. I made sure everything we needed for the night was in one speperate bag and that was all we took into the room. We left that bag in the van parked at the airport. Otherwise, all the suitcases I'd worked so hard to pack would have been unraveled in the room, leaving me to repack. But if you're staying at a hotel after your flight, you have no choice but to take all your luggage in the room with you. No matter how hard you try, everything will be all over the room and you'll be stuck with a major repacking job. It just isn't worth it.

 

[jwwi]

I think it all depends on your plan, room rate, budget, and not the least important-amount of people in your group. Having to move a group quickly, early in the am, after late arrival can be a challenge.
The last two visits I arrived at WDW after 12am. Ironically, I stayed onsite both times for my first night. CBR, CSR and it was so magical to just be there. The check in process went quicker, I was happy with my room assignment, and the staff can be relaxed and quite friendly at that time of night. We did have great rates at the hotels, so to stay off site may not have saved us much.
The few times I started our stay offsite we stayed at Homewood Suites, my husband wanted to know why we need to stay onsite after all the room we had, and the free very large breakfast buffet. LOL, He just doesn't feel the same about the resorts that I do. He did love the AKL when we went to check it out our last trip, I hope the next time we go together they have a great code there. I stayed at WL, after our first night at CRS(could not pass up the rate) and we loved it.
I think at the very least you should try a value or mod the first night if you don't want to spend so much for the deluxe. We had a car, but I understand that disney will transport your luggage if you are switching resorts.