Online Check-In Perks?

[TheInvernessie]

Alright. I've been reading a lot of threads most of the day, and I cannot for the life of me find a definitive answer. My Online Check-In window opened (48 days out! ) and I'm pretty positive that we've never done it before. Are there any actual perks? This trip we're scheduled to land around 8:40 in the morning, which would probably get us to the POP by around 10 ish? I'm honestly just curious if anyone else has used it, and would recommend it, or should we skip it. Oh. We also have two separate reservations (two adjoining rooms). I'm just not sure.
Thanks for any advice/suggestions!!

 

[Hopefully]

Did you request " adjoining" or " connecting" rooms. Adjoining are near each other. Connecting have an interior door joining them.
When you do online checkin & leave a credit card on file, you can indicate your expected arrival time. You can also check first available room which may give you a room early in the day. But that request will override all previous requests. If you do on line check in you may get a text as soon as your room is ready with your room number. You can go directly to your room & bypass standing in line completely.
There are no other " perks".

 

[Dave006]

If you have your Magic Bands already, provide a credit card and then utilize online check-in you might get to skip a stop at the Online Check-in counter at the resort and go directly to your room.

Note: You also need to have provided a phone number to receive your room assignment text.

Dave

 

[TheInvernessie]

Did you request " adjoining" or " connecting" rooms. Adjoining are near each other. Connecting have an interior door joining them.
When you do online checkin & leave a credit card on file, you can indicate your expected arrival time. You can also check first available room which may give you a room early in the day. But that request will override all previous requests. If you do on line check in you may get a text as soon as your room is ready with your room number. You can go directly to your room & bypass standing in line completely.
There are no other " perks".

Thank you for the quick reply! We got connecting rooms, which we did the last time we were there in 2015, but I'm not sure how it all works. Parents are a little skeptical about doing anything online .

 

[TheInvernessie]

If you have your Magic Bands already, provide a credit card and then utilize online check-in you might get to skip a stop at the Online Check-in counter at the resort and go directly to your room.

Note: You also need to have provided a phone number to receive your room assignment text.

Dave

We actually don't have our bands yet! Not sure when those are shipping out, its only the second time we've gone to WDW with magic bands.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Alright. I've been reading a lot of threads most of the day, and I cannot for the life of me find a definitive answer. My Online Check-In window opened (48 days out! ) and I'm pretty positive that we've never done it before. Are there any actual perks? This trip we're scheduled to land around 8:40 in the morning, which would probably get us to the POP by around 10 ish? I'm honestly just curious if anyone else has used it, and would recommend it, or should we skip it. Oh. We also have two separate reservations (two adjoining rooms). I'm just not sure.
Thanks for any advice/suggestions!!

The perk of doing online check in is that the resort knows what time you are arriving and you might be more likely to have a room ready when you arrive. There is also a text to room feature that is available for certain people who do online check in. But since you requested connecting or adjoining rooms, you most likely have to go to the check in desk. They want to make sure that you are okay with the room assignment when there is a request like yours. Once you check in at the desk they will send you a text when your room is ready if it isn't ready when you arrive.

We actually don't have our bands yet! Not sure when those are shipping out, its only the second time we've gone to WDW with magic bands.

Your bands should arrive about two or three weeks before your trip.

 

[Hopefully]

Thank you for the quick reply! We got connecting rooms, which we did the last time we were there in 2015, but I'm not sure how it all works. Parents are a little skeptical about doing anything online .

It sounds like you had " connecting" rooms in 2015. Good for you. But that is just a request and it is very possible they will not be able to grant that request

 

[TheInvernessie]

It sounds like you had " connecting" rooms in 2015. Good for you. But that is just a request and it is very possible they will not be able to grant that request

I think we're just going to do the check in the regular old fashioned way. We're getting there early enough that I don't think it'll be too terrible.

 

[verleniahall]

we did online check in last year and it was great - we got in about 3 to MCO and by 3:15 had our room text (pretty much the time that my phone took to cycle from being on airplane mode)

We were able to go from bus to room, room to food court for refillable mug, food court to bus to Studios and we were there by 4:30

 

[JasonMouse]

The perk is you don't need to even go to the resort. Go park, drop off the bags, pee, and go play. We tend to go up in person when we stay at deluxes, as my way of asking the CM's to pinch me, am I actually staying here?!?

 

[bumbershoot]

We got connecting rooms, which we did the last time we were there in 2015, but I'm not sure how it all works.

That's not guaranteed, FYI. The people on the phone will tell you it is, but they aren't the people working at the resorts. Many people have been "guaranteed" connecting rooms and not gotten them.

The perk of doing online check in is that the resort knows what time you are arriving and you might be more likely to have a room ready when you arrive.

Yes.

Your bands should arrive about two or three weeks before your trip.

Yep.

OP have you personalized them yet?

I think we're just going to do the check in the regular old fashioned way. We're getting there early enough that I don't think it'll be too terrible.

Too terrible...what do you think might not be too terrible?

I just see no point to NOT do online checkin. The main point is FUN, and to let them know when you'll be there.

You will NOT want to put in any requests, not even one, in the online checkin process, because it will erase your other request (connecting rooms). But you can let them know when you'll be there, and you can give them a CC if you'll want to do room-charging.

I do it all the time. It comes available 60 days out (and as far as I know has been that far out at least since December 2010 when we had our first stay). the only time I didn't do it, and therefore they didn't know when we might be arriving, we got our absolute worst room. And we generally do "split stays" (we stay at multiple resorts per trip), so we've had a lot of rooms in the last 6 years.

The perk is you don't need to even go to the resort.

Not everyone gets the room ready text. I never have. I think that one big component is that you have to give them a CC during online checkin, and I rarely do. They want to give me every chance to give them that CC, because they think it'll make me spend more, so they don't send the room ready text if I don't give them a CC. And half the time I have given a CC online they lose the info and I still have to give it to them.

 

[TheInvernessie]

Many people have been "guaranteed" connecting rooms and not gotten them.

See that makes me nervous! Its not a total letdown if we don't have the connecting rooms, but it would make things easier.

OP have you personalized them yet?

Personalized them soon after we made the reservation, I'm in countdown mode on those!

Too terrible...what do you think might not be too terrible?

The too terrible part is my prior experience. I frequent the parks in August, especially during the week I'm going this time.

 

[Linleedo]

We had done two adjoining rooms and did online check-in a couple of years ago. We ran into trouble. When we arrived, we were told that the people in one room decided to stay two extra days and there weren't any other options to have adjoining rooms. We were told that doing the online check-in causes less flexibility. I'm not sure if I believe it. We were given rooms that were far away from each other and moved after 2 days. It wasn't the typical "Welcome to Disney" impression. It caused the check-in process at the resort to be long and drawn out. I guess Disney didn't want to inconvenience the people who were already in the room and ask them to move. We were told to avoid on-line check in the future when booking "special" requests like adjoining and connecting rooms.

 

[AngiTN]

The bigger thing to point out is there is no reason NOT to do online check in and lots of reasons to do online check in.
You loose nothing by doing it.
You gain a fair chance of having a room ready when you arrive. Among other things.

 

[AngiTN]

We had done two adjoining rooms and did online check-in a couple of years ago. We ran into trouble. When we arrived, we were told that the people in one room decided to stay two extra days and there weren't any other options to have adjoining rooms. We were told that doing the online check-in causes less flexibility. I'm not sure if I believe it. We were given rooms that were far away from each other and moved after 2 days. It wasn't the typical "Welcome to Disney" impression. It caused the check-in process at the resort to be long and drawn out. I guess Disney didn't want to inconvenience the people who were already in the room and ask them to move. We were told to avoid on-line check in the future when booking "special" requests like adjoining and connecting rooms.

They were 100% wrong that doing online check in caused less flexibility. Unless you indicated on that you wanted only certain types of rooms but even then, seeing how those are just requests even that makes no sense. Your room assignment is made from the entire category booked at that resort and doing online check in doesn't change that.
What you should have been told was to avoid entering room requests during online check in. That is only a part of the process and not a required part.

 

[TheInvernessie]

We just chose standard rooms, we're not picky people as long as the rooms are adjoining. I think I'll talk it over with everyone we're traveling with, and see what we decide.

 

[DJFan88]

I like checking in in person. Yes, that's right, call me crazy, but I ENJOY it ! Also, you can have them look into the rooms for better connecting if the ones assigned are not, they can see if they do have any later. If you both put first available, that may just be what you get. 2 first available rooms, separately. In which case, youll want to go down to the check in area and ask them to see if there are any connecting if you wait. Sounds like that is your top priority, not early entry.
A lot of people don't see a reason why not to do online check in. That's just their opinion. Do what you are most confortable with.

 

[AngiTN]

I like checking in in person. Yes, that's right, call me crazy, but I ENJOY it ! Also, you can have them look into the rooms for better connecting if the ones assigned are not, they can see if they do have any later. If you both put first available, that may just be what you get. 2 first available rooms, separately. In which case, youll want to go down to the check in area and ask them to see if there are any connecting if you wait. Sounds like that is your top priority, not early entry.
A lot of people don't see a reason why not to do online check in. That's just their opinion. Do what you are most confortable with.

Just to be clear, you can do online check AND go to the front desk. Not a thing stopping you from doing both.
Matter of fact, I do every trip.
I like using online check in to give them the time we plan to arrive but I also like greeting the staff too.
If I don't use online check in then they'd have no way to realize I want a room ready prior to 3:00 (when I do)
Plus, skipping online check in doesn't mean they don't assign your room till you arrive. Your room is assigned 2-3 days prior to arrival no matter if you do online check in or not

 

[AngiTN]

We just chose standard rooms, we're not picky people as long as the rooms are adjoining. I think I'll talk it over with everyone we're traveling with, and see what we decide.

Something else, did you have them note the 2 reservations are related? That will aid in their trying to fill your request for either connecting or adjoining rooms

 

[fla4fun]

I do online check in because the fewer people who handle my cc the better. Just because you do online check in doesn't mean you can't go to the front desk when you get there. I did a short four night trip last week, and I booked it about three weeks out (just enough time to get MB sent out). I got the email with my room number and decided I didn't like the location, so I just went to the front desk when I got there and requested a change to a quieter area. I agree that you should have the connecting rooms request (and make sure it's worded as "connecting rooms") as your only request before doing online check in, and not add any requests when doing online check in. If you get the email with the room numbers, you should be able to Google a resort map to see if you got the connecting rooms you wanted - if so, you can bypass the front desk. If you didn't, you can go to the front desk and see if they can accommodate your request.