Late, Late Arrival at WL!!!!!

[pennyplanner]

A call from our travel agent has informed me that our 6:00 p.m. flight from Bradley in CT, arriving at MCO at 9:30 p.m. has been cancelled.

New flight time is 9:00 p.m. arriving at MCO at 11:39!!!

Yikes! I am so disappointed. The plan was to fly in on Friday to be up and ready for the parks early Saturday morning.

I know the room selection can't be too bad since it is the Friday before Thanksgiving week but geesh! Not at all what I had in mind. I am hoping that since it is a very busy week that the room will already be assigned due to the crowds.

Any consoling words out there?

--penny

 

[AJKMOM]

That is becoming a busy time at WDW, too. The week of Thanksgiving, starting the Friday before until the Sunday after is crowded. If I were you, (and I have done this before), I would make a reservation at a cheapo hotel the first night, use Priceline or Travelocity to get one near the airport. Then, cancel the first night of your reservation. The next morning, check in, get the phone number and tell them your requests. Don't count on getting a good room at midnight!

 

[danders2]

We checked into the WL really late (actually very early) on the Friday before Spring Break.

We had a reservation for Friday night, as we were driving and I wanted to make sure we had a room.

We checked in at 5:15 am actually on Saturday morning. We thought there was no way our room would be a good one. We knew we had the dumpster view.

We ended up with the best room we have ever had anywhere. Close to the elevator and we could see the castle and the fireworks every night.

Pixie dust was in the air, so good luck to you!

 

[kellyf2626]

pennyplanner....I would not worry....

The last three trips we have taken to Disney, we have flown in late on a Friday (arriving at the hotel around midnight or after!). We have to leave late due to DH's job - but we like to at least get there Friday, so we can wake up in Disney on Saturday. We stayed at the Beach Club, and OKW each time, and always had wonderful rooms with all of our requests (we requested an Epcot view at Beach Club and got it!).

Maybe we were just lucky...but it was actually kind of nice to check in when it was so quiet and no one waiting in line behind you. Although we were tired ...we were excited to be a Disney, and with the ability to wake up ready to go!!

 

[pennyplanner]

Thanks ever so much for responding!

Okay, I'm lovin' the positive posts and trying not to worry about the negative one. I am just trying so hard not to pull my kids out for ONE more day. Okay, actually a half since I would have to pick them up at noon and buzz to the airport.

They are already missing Monday, Tuesday, and half a day Wednesday. This is junior year and 7th grade I'm talking about so some of you out there know what I mean. They are so conscientous about school that they were hesitant to take this trip. Yikes!

Still thinking about this one,
penny

 

[kellyf2626]

No worries! It will be fine!!

I understand about the middle school work-load. I teach middle school, and it is unbelievable the amount of work the kids miss after just 1 day!!

 

[allie&mattsmom]

Okay, I'm sorry to be a bummer here, but wanted to share my experience. We checked into the VWL at 12:00 am a couple of years ago and got a not so good studio. We were overlooking the service road and dumpsters. I've never had this happen to me before and I'm almost certain it's because of the late arrival. Try telling them you're going to be arriving late. I did not think to do that. Maybe that would have helped. Sorry, I'm not trying to be a downer, just wanted to try to help. Good luck!!

 

[cthetulips]

We checked into the WL close to midnight last April and it was very quiet. We had the entire check-in line to ourselves and the CMs were very friendly as they had the time to focus on just us. We got a lovely, convenient room close to the elevators.

I did call CRO a few days before we left and asked them to put a note on our reservation that we would be arriving very late and gave an approximate time.
The CRO said that the resorts appreciate knowing this information ahead of time. So, best of luck to you...don't worry

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

On our trip to the WL we checked in about 1:30 am and still got a very great room, it was in Septemeber however......
Good luck, and sorry about your late flight.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

We decided to change our plans and fly in late the night before our planned arrival next week. Rather than risk getting a not so hot room location for the remainder of our trip (afterall, it is summer and very, very busy), we made a reservation at Pop for our first night. We've never stayed at a value resort before, so I'm kind of excited about trying something new! We're going to take a taxi from Pop to WL the next morning, transferring our own luggage so we don't feel we're in limbo quite as much.

 

[BunnieGene]

We arrived at AKL at 2 AM in April. The room was awesome, and check-in was swift

We had called when our flight was delayed, and when we walked up, the CM asked," Are you the L...'s?" Kinda cool

 

[pennyplanner]

You guys are great to share all your experiences with me - good or bad!

Right now, I am thinking of changing our flight to leave at 2 in the afternoon and get to MCO at 4:30. That means my DSs will miss an additional 2 hours of school. Of course, being the weekend before Thanksgiving, there are no seats to be had the next morning on the 7 a.m. Saturday flight. Otherwise I would have dragged my sorry self out of bed at 4 a.m. to get to the airport by 5:30 a.m.!

Honestly, don't those airlines know they are wrecking all my carefully laid out plans!!!

To make it worse, I was a high school teacher in my life before kids and am feeling kind of guilty. I think I just have to get over the 2/3 hours they'll miss and book that earlier flight. They are good and conscientous students but I know their teachers will not be happy.

Still thinking!

Thanks again,
--penny

P.S. I will need a grocery store stop too. The water at WDW is not for me! Albertson's is open until 1 a.m. but that would push our arrival even later. Can you imagine just getting to WL and then going to sleep??? Not likely. The excitement factor is way too high!

 

[SB in KY]

I think you have made a good decision to leave earlier in the day....the couple of hours of school will not be missed in the long run (how focused do you think the child was going to be when she knew she was leaving for WDW in a few hours??)

I agree with the poster that stated the hotels fill up REALLY quickly that Friday night. We usually go the week before Thanksgiving week and I can tell you that the hotels go from very sparsely populated to bursting at the seams in 8 hours on that Friday afternoon/evening. The crowd grows steadily until Sunday afternoon or Monday when it looks like spring break crowds.

If you were checking in late for a 1 night stay I would say no big deal, but since you will be there for several nights I think the earlier arrival will benefit you. I can pretty well guarantee you that WL will be sold out on your arrival night and arriving at midnight if you don't like your room there isn't going to be anyplace to relocate you to....also they may have put someone else that arrived earlier in the room they had blocked for you because they were not happy with the room they were assigned to for whatever reason...and you will have been bumped to the room no one wanted.

Since the airline changed schedules on you they should pretty much let you have your pick of available flights or refund your $$ if you find a flight time that works better for you. All in all I think you will ultimately be happier with a 5P arrival than a 10P time anyways.

 

[Rootskate]

Last year we didn't arrive at CSR till after 10pm. (This was November,also.) We got exactly what we had requested as far as the section we wanted to be in. (Actually, we even ended up in a corner room with extra windows!) I wouldn't worry too much about it. (Besides, if worst came to worst and you hated the room location, you could always ask to be moved the next morning,right?)