Online check in benefits?

[Nikkimouse44]

First time staying at SSR AS A DVC OWNER in Less than two weeks (it’s our home resort!). We’re booked at a treehouse.

I honestly have no desire to do online check in because I’m so excited that I just want to get there and go into the lobby (first time ever staying there) and just explore and experience everything.

Do I have to do online check in? Is there a reason I should? A reason I shouldn’t? Can I just check in when I get there all giddy and excited like “hi I’m here ready to check in for the first time as a DVC owner! I never thought this day would come”

Our first day is just exploring the resort, walking to Disney springs and seeing the DVC center there and doing shopping, and then doing a monorail bar crawl and watching the fireworks from either the poly or contemporary so if yall have any favorite spots, let me know!

First KID FREE trip

 

[Sandisw]

It doesn’t really matter but once checked in online, it may mean you’d get the room ready text if it’s ready early.

I don’t think that happens if you don’t do it.

 

[hcortesis]

Checked in online for the first time ever last month. Told them I would be there by 11:00pm and I wanted to go directly to my room. Was fortunate to catch an earlier flight so I called to adjust my checkin time. Was told that since it was past 4:00pm now, I could still not access my room with my phone before 11:00pm and nothing could be changed so I would have to go to front desk (and at VGF, it means going to the hotel desk if it is after 9:00pm, or maybe 10:00pm).

So in my case, online checkin offered me no benefit and actually made my checkin more difficult.

 

[reddog21]

Checked in online for the first time ever last month. Told them I would be there by 11:00pm and I wanted to go directly to my room. Was fortunate to catch an earlier flight so I called to adjust my checkin time. Was told that since it was past 4:00pm now, I could still not access my room with my phone before 11:00pm and nothing could be changed so I would have to go to front desk (and at VGF, it means going to the hotel desk if it is after 9:00pm, or maybe 10:00pm).

So in my case, online checkin offered me no benefit and actually made my checkin more difficult.

I think you actually made the online checkin more difficult. If I was arriving anytime after 4pm(which I do often) then I never inidicate what time I'm actually checking in. I have arrived at a Disney hotel at 1am and my room had been ready since 4(technically the prev day) and I just go straight to my room. Indicating a late arriveal is just giving Disney extra time to get a room ready which I personaly wouldn't do.

 

[hcortesis]

I think you actually made the online checkin more difficult. If I was arriving anytime after 4pm(which I do often) then I never inidicate what time I'm actually checking in. I have arrived at a Disney hotel at 1am and my room had been ready since 4(technically the prev day) and I just go straight to my room. Indicating a late arriveal is just giving Disney extra time to get a room ready which I personaly wouldn't do.

Yes, exactly true. I told them at the desk there was absolutely no benefit in doing what I did and that was the first and last time I would ever do online checkin.

 

[BrianLa]

Funny thing. I have been using online check-in for a few years now (since it became available) however for whatever reason I was unable to complete my online check-in on the app for my last trip in December. When we arrived at the Beach Club around 11am my wife went to the front desk to check us in while I unloaded the luggage with the bell service and we were pleasantly surprised that our room was ready. This never happened with the online check-in. The earliest I ever got a room using online check-in was ~3pm and on one occasion never received text that my room was ready because of a "glitch" in online check-in.

 

[CarolynFH]

First time staying at SSR AS A DVC OWNER in Less than two weeks (it’s our home resort!). We’re booked at a treehouse.

I honestly have no desire to do online check in because I’m so excited that I just want to get there and go into the lobby (first time ever staying there) and just explore and experience everything.

Do I have to do online check in? Is there a reason I should? A reason I shouldn’t? Can I just check in when I get there all giddy and excited like “hi I’m here ready to check in for the first time as a DVC owner! I never thought this day would come”

Our first day is just exploring the resort, walking to Disney springs and seeing the DVC center there and doing shopping, and then doing a monorail bar crawl and watching the fireworks from either the poly or contemporary so if yall have any favorite spots, let me know!

First KID FREE trip

No, you don’t have to do online checkin. But OTOH doing online checkin doesn’t mean you can’t go to the front desk when you arrive. Many guests do!

 

[GSDGlitter]

I hope you enjoy your treehouse, our family loves them and I could live in the primary suite shower + tub situation! Especially for the treehouses and even more so because it's your "welcome home" trip, I vote for in-person check-in at the SSR lobby. It's a beautiful space and there will be cast members there to welcome you - corny or not, that first welcome home as a new DVC owner is fun. At check-in they can also help you get your bearings if you plan to walk between your treehouse and SSR and from SSR over to Disney Springs.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

First time staying at SSR AS A DVC OWNER in Less than two weeks (it’s our home resort!). We’re booked at a treehouse.

I honestly have no desire to do online check in because I’m so excited that I just want to get there and go into the lobby (first time ever staying there) and just explore and experience everything.

Do I have to do online check in? Is there a reason I should? A reason I shouldn’t? Can I just check in when I get there all giddy and excited like “hi I’m here ready to check in for the first time as a DVC owner! I never thought this day would come”

Our first day is just exploring the resort, walking to Disney springs and seeing the DVC center there and doing shopping, and then doing a monorail bar crawl and watching the fireworks from either the poly or contemporary so if yall have any favorite spots, let me know!

First KID FREE trip

Welcome home! Agree with posters who say you don't have to check in online. But if you do check in online, you can still go to the front desk to check in officially. Getting a text notification when the room is ready is our most important part of the online check-in - and to be honest, it doesn't work 25% of the time anyway! So going to the front desk and making sure you'll get a notification (if your room isn't available at the time) is something you might want to verify. You can also verify you have the proper credit card on file, especially if you wish to do charging to your room.

Another reason to perhaps go to the front desk is if you might have made a request for a certain room location (high floor, low floor, near elevator, etc) - we like to verify with the front desk if that's happened. They won't tell you the room number until it's ready for you to use, but they can tell if the room meets anything near your request. If it doesn't, there's a small chance they could make a late change to another room to meet your needs better. Sometimes they can't. But it never hurts to ask.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

Welcome home!! SSR was our first official DVC stay too and it's one of my favorite resorts.

We do both. Online check in but like a PP said, don't put a later time in case your plans change. And then we go to the front desk to make sure our magic bands work and let them know that we are here when our room isn't ready yet.

 

[Pooh12863]

First time staying at SSR AS A DVC OWNER in Less than two weeks (it’s our home resort!). We’re booked at a treehouse.

I honestly have no desire to do online check in because I’m so excited that I just want to get there and go into the lobby (first time ever staying there) and just explore and experience everything.

Do I have to do online check in? Is there a reason I should? A reason I shouldn’t? Can I just check in when I get there all giddy and excited like “hi I’m here ready to check in for the first time as a DVC owner! I never thought this day would come”

Our first day is just exploring the resort, walking to Disney springs and seeing the DVC center there and doing shopping, and then doing a monorail bar crawl and watching the fireworks from either the poly or contemporary so if yall have any favorite spots, let me know!

First KID FREE trip

With the size of SSR I imagine at times you may be waiting awhile at the front desk to check in. I've never stayed there but I have waited a half hour at AKV Jambo to talk to someone at the front desk.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

I learned my lesson about online check-in when I landed at MCO at 10pm and didn’t have a room assignment yet. They actually told me without shame that my arrival time was 10:30PM and I didn’t have a room assigned yet. Of course, they didn’t want to give me even an extra 30 minutes at check out in the morning when I left.

We do advance check-in, and I will sometimes pick a later time (it can result in a view upgrade if an impatient person arrives earlier and is willing to trade down) but I will never pick a time that isn’t at least 2h before I plan to arrive.

 

[DanCali]

It doesn’t really matter but once checked in online, it may mean you’d get the room ready text if it’s ready early.

I don’t think that happens if you don’t do it.

We do the online checkin but were told that the online checkin doesn't do much and is more like a "placeholder" so they have all the info to save time. If you leave it at that, they will just prioritize you for 4pm checkin. Not sure how accurate that info was.

We get there by driving usually at 11am-ish and they did tell us that it's important to stop by the security guard (not drive through the "returning guest lane", even though it seems to take the magic band, at least after online checkin) because whatever they do on their wireless device activates the "actual checkin". When we do that, we immediately start getting the "room not ready" text messages and our room is often ready on the early side.

With Treehouse Villas, the one time we went we did the online checkin. The entry to the treehouses that we drove through had no security guard just a barrier and intercom. The magic band did not work but they buzzed us in after confirming our info. We did not get any subsequent texts about room status which seemed suspicious, so we got it resolved at guest services at Disney Springs - they called the SSR front desk and checked us in "officially". Then we started getting the texts.

We also had a similar instance one time at BLT - we skipped the guard (entered through "returning guest" lane after online checkin) and our magic bands did not work in the pool area. Had to fix it at the front desk. At that point we also started getting the "room not ready" texts. That's when we also got the info I put in the first paragraph above - if you do online checkin and drive to the resort, don't skip the guard in the parking lot - he/she finalizes the checkin process.

 

[LadybugsMum]

I like online check in as it usually means I can skip the front desk and go straight to my room. Occasionally there's a snafu or if we arrive early then we need to get our magic bands working for the pool. But overall, it works well and we can go about our day without stopping by the desk.