On-Line Check In..YAY or NAY?

[anbouk]

Just wondering what everyone's opinion is on this one? I have never done an on-line check in before. Wondering if I should...I'm guessing all it does is speed up the check-in process, huh? Thanks in advance!

 

[DMKEDM]

Online check-in is "marginally good" (in my opinion) if you have nothing to do to your reservation at check-in...

It does save you a few minutes (does nothing with respect to whether your room is available) in that all your paperwork is ready to go...but you could be in an online check-in line as readily as in a "to check in" line...it hasn't changed the wait time to check in at all, for us, in the many times we've used it. It does shorten the time to check in once you're at the front of the line, though--although not by very much.

And it's really not good if you need to do something "special" to your reservation...for example, on those occasions that I use the dining plan (increasingly infrequent), I use Disney Visa reward dollars to pay for it...w/online check-in, the dining plan charges are already on my credit card...so this type of situation means I shouldn't do online check-in.

Or, if I want to move rooms around (e.g., if I really want a particular request (sometimes I care; sometimes I don't), it's better not to do online check-in--that way, if the request hasn't been granted, you have a chance to ask if something can be found, particularly if you're willing to wait for a room that isn't yet cleaned/available.

Another reason not to do online check-in is if you're buying park tickets and want them added to your room key...

But if you're just taking whatever room you're assigned, and putting your credit card on the account, and have no other "business" w/the check-in folks, then online check-in will save you maybe 5 minutes...

Personally, I don't find it a big deal. But I usually do it, if I have no reason not to, just because it feels so good 10 days before I leave to "check in"...kind of accelerates the magic just a bit!

 

[Sandisw]

We have used it for all of our DVC stays and I think that it is one of those "6 of one,..." situations.

It really only saves you time if, as PP mentioned, you are not making any changes to your account. We also have done the DDP and didn't enter the CC during online check in so we could pay with our rewards card.

Since they had to run the card for that, I don't think we really saved any time.

However, I still like it as we use it as one other piece to count down for our trip. So, once it is done, it just feels like we have one more piece of the puzzle of our trip out of the way.

When we checked in to BCV this summer, both the CM at the online check in desk had guests but there was a CM free in regular check in (that we couldn't go to) so in that respect, it took longer.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I do it. One time, it resulted in all of our DGC having charge privileges on their room keys. Don't know how that happened, the next time, everything worked fine.

I've been called to a regular CM when there was a line at "on line" checkin, so you can go to the other ones.

 

[anbouk]

Hmmm....thanks for your replies! I think I prefer to not do it for this trip. Doesn't sound like it would benefit our situation. I do like to speak to a check in person, because we usually have questions.

 

[gojoe]

We take an early flight and arrive at our resort by 10:30, if all goes well. We head right to the on-line check in. Sometimes there is someone in front of us but most times not. All our check in paperwork is already for us. If we have to make a change to room keys for charging privileges they take care of that. One of the questions you are asked on line is arrival time. I don't know maybe we were just lucky but our room has been ready on arrival every time. You get to talk to a real person when you check in if you have question or changes to cards. We spend enough time standing in lines at Disney so anything that can shorten my wait is just fine by me.

 

[Julylady]

I have also had very good luck with having our room ready when doing on-line checkin!

 

[adminjedi]

We usually arrive so late (west coast) it isn't very crowded and we get whatever rooms are left.

 

[Plucker001]

I say YAY. We just got back from a 1 week stay at Kidani Village and did online check in and when we got off the ME bus a CM was standing outside the lobby with our packets! We even got a great room-Sunset Savanna close to the lobby.

On the other hand, our room was not yet ready since we arrived around 10:30 AM so my husband still had to go to the front desk to give them our cell phone # to text us when our room was ready.

 

[skelooch]

Hmmm....thanks for your replies! I think I prefer to not do it for this trip. Doesn't sound like it would benefit our situation. I do like to speak to a check in person, because we usually have questions.

Just because you do on-line check in doesn't mean that you don't get to talk to a CM. They can still assist you with any questions you might have, you're not using a kiosk or anything if that's what you were thinking.
I haven't experienced it saving any appreciable time. As Sandisw said 6 of one.....

 

[NJParkhopper]

We utilize online check-in and it's worked fine... no probs.

 

[nucpharm29]

Had a good and not so good experience. The not so good experience had to deal with a waitlist that came through. I forgot I had a waitlist on my reservation up to 7 days prior to check in (my fault, BCV for F&W, never expected it to come through) Anyway, checked in 10 days prior to my SSR reservation. Went to SSR to check in on that date to be told I had no reservation there. Turns out my waitlist had come through in those 3 days between checking in and the cutoff date for my waitlist. Now I've learned that if I'm going to do online check in to wait until closer to my actual arrival date to avoid this scenario again, or maybe try to remember that I had waitlisted

Other than that, we've had no problems.

 

[ToddyLu]

yay

 

[OKW Lover]

I was initially skeptical about online checkin. I was thinking that my previous checkin experiences weren't really that bad as far as wait times go and also that I expected the actual checkin process (once you got to a CM) to take just as long. Well, as it turns out, it is faster. Not only that, but in a large majority of subsequent visits our room was ready when we got there! True, it wasn't always ready but many times it was.

 

[andreadoiron]

Just wondering what everyone's opinion is on this one? I have never done an on-line check in before. Wondering if I should...I'm guessing all it does is speed up the check-in process, huh? Thanks in advance!

we used on-line check in in early june at akl-kidani and it was a breeze! not sure how the other resorts do it but we didn't even walk into the lobby...they were waiting for us as we got out of our car (in front of the main lobby )w/our packet of info and key cards all ready. i will always check in online from now on.
that said there are some provisos:
you need to make any room/special requests when you make your resv (or amend that resv prior to checkin) as you cannot make room requests w/online checkin. i made 2 location requests at time of resv and they automatically factored them in when assigning my room via online checkin
if you want charging privleges attached to your room, it's best to add your credit card online when doing the checkin . we did and like i said i never had to wait in the lobby, just went right to our room!

 

[wildernessDad]

My specific problem with it is that one cannot specify who has charging privileges and who does not during the online check in process.

 

[andreadoiron]

My specific problem with it is that one cannot specify who has charging privileges and who does not during the online check in process.

you may want to check but i'm pretty sure that my 12 year old had charging privlges but the 5 year old did not...it may be triggered by age

 

[DMKEDM]

We--a traveling party of two studios, at the Boardwalk--checked in yesterday. I did online check-in for my studio; my DD and DGC did not.

The kids' studio was ready when they checked in at 1:15 yesterday. Mine--which I had done online check-in for--was not ready til 4:10. I checked in at 1:30.

I had only made one room request: ground floor. We got second floor. Our studios are next to each other (I did not request that), and 2 and 3 rooms (respectively) from the Villas elevator (I did not request that either).

Both the kids and I had a smooth check-in experience. Neither of us had any wait-in-line time at all. And both of us were through the check-in process within 2 minutes of the same amount of time...

So, there you go w/our most recent (yesterday) experience...