Pros/Cons of online check in???

[StarLime]

I’ve only stayed on property once and checked in at the front desk. They upgraded our room at the animal kingdom lodge without us asking. We paid for a standard view and they gave us a preferred room pool view. I can’t speak for mobile check-in, and I’m not sure how common room upgrades are, but I would imagine there’s a better chance for an upgrade at the front desk.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I’ve only stayed on property once and checked in at the front desk. They upgraded our room at the animal kingdom lodge without us asking. We paid for a standard view and they gave us a preferred room pool view. I can’t speak for mobile check-in, and I’m not sure how common room upgrades are, but I would imagine there’s a better chance for an upgrade at the front desk.

Nope, not at all.
Rooms are assigned days before you arrive. No matter if you do online check in or if you don't.
You just get the notice sent to you if you do online check in. If you don't, they give you the info when you arrive. But either way, you've paid for at least the first night before you arrive, so they have assigned the room.
Upgrades are done because they suit the resort. Odds of getting one are the same no matter how you check in.
I've gotten several, from online check in.

 

[StarLime]

Nope, not at all.
Rooms are assigned days before you arrive. No matter if you do online check in or if you don't.
You just get the notice sent to you if you do online check in. If you don't, they give you the info when you arrive. But either way, you've paid for at least the first night before you arrive, so they have assigned the room.
Upgrades are done because they suit the resort. Odds of getting one are the same no matter how you check in.
I've gotten several, from online check in.

Good to know, thanks!

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Good to know, thanks!

Oh and as mentioned, you can always pop by the desk if you aren't pleased with the room they give you, location or whatever. Or just because. If you don't do online check in you must go by the desk. If you do it, it's your choice to stop by. That's the big difference. Sometimes those lines are really long. And with their push to do online check in they expect fewer guests going by the desk so they have fewer staff now and when guest do go by they are usually for bigger problems it seems so the time spent with each guest seems to take longer.

 

[trishadono]

I love online checkin. We go directly to the room when we arrive. No wasting time at the front desk. Also, once we get our room assignment I usually look it up to see where it is, what the view might be, etc.

Me too !

 

[ellbell]

Anyone who lives outside the US and orders a magicband has to go to the front desk regardless of if they check in online or not. We don't get our magicbands in the mail so the pros are all zeroed out for us.

 

[Moliphino]

Oh and as mentioned, you can always pop by the desk if you aren't pleased with the room they give you, location or whatever. Or just because. If you don't do online check in you must go by the desk. If you do it, it's your choice to stop by. That's the big difference. Sometimes those lines are really long. And with their push to do online check in they expect fewer guests going by the desk so they have fewer staff now and when guest do go by they are usually for bigger problems it seems so the time spent with each guest seems to take longer.

If you get your room assignment before you arrive and you don't like it, you can call and see if it can be changed before you even get to the resort. I've done that multiple times with success.

 

[loves to dive]

^^ Even if you check-in at the front desk, you could still have an issue with the door not opening and would have to return to the front desk. The way you check-in won't prevent that from happening.

I always have them check my MB when I'm at the front desk to make sure it's paired. I usually travel with more than one MB so have them check them all. There have been times when they have checked and they weren't paired (even though I have them active on MDE) so they had to do whatever they do to make them work.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I always have them check my MB when I'm at the front desk to make sure it's paired. I usually travel with more than one MB so have them check them all. There have been times when they have checked and they weren't paired (even though I have them active on MDE) so they had to do whatever they do to make them work.

Our MagicBands didn't work to open the room when we stayed at POR in May. But the unlock door feature on MDE did work. It was a little annoying to use our cellphones every time we wanted to get into the room, but we also didn't want to stand in line at the check in desk to get the MBs paired.

 

[DaviVascaino]

I was told if you do early online check in they will not honor your requests placed in advance. is that true?

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I was told if you do early online check in they will not honor your requests placed in advance. is that true?

No, not at all.
What you may have mixed up is, if you request room ready early as a priority it will override all other requests but that is at your request. As in, it's a box you check to say you request room ready early to be your higher request. So as such, they are honoring your request. Your #1 request actually.
However, if you do not check that, if you don't care when you get your room but prefer your other location requests to be met if possible, then you leave that box unchecked and they will still meet your location requests if possible.
Online check in doesn't mean they won't honor requests period. Funny how mixed up info spreads.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Our MagicBands didn't work to open the room when we stayed at POR in May. But the unlock door feature on MDE did work. It was a little annoying to use our cellphones every time we wanted to get into the room, but we also didn't want to stand in line at the check in desk to get the MBs paired.

The unlock door feature in MDE is much more reliable than it used to be. I don't like relying on it all that much either.
I bring multiple bands with me and so far have never had no bands work. Always have some that don't work but always have some that do.
So far, one that has worked 100% of the time at 100% of the resorts (knock on wood) is a band a bought, not one assigned with a resort stay. So until it fails me, I'm going to make sure I have that one with me. First thing I do when I arrive in a room is check every band, or puck since I have a few puck holders too, that I brought and see which work and which don't. If there's one I really want to wear I'll get it added to the resort system but if I don't really care one way or the other, I'll just set it aside and not wear it that trip.

 

[DaviVascaino]

No, not at all.
What you may have mixed up is, if you request room ready early as a priority it will override all other requests but that is at your request. As in, it's a box you check to say you request room ready early to be your higher request. So as such, they are honoring your request. Your #1 request actually.
However, if you do not check that, if you don't care when you get your room but prefer your other location requests to be met if possible, then you leave that box unchecked and they will still meet your location requests if possible.
Online check in doesn't mean they won't honor requests period. Funny how mixed up info spreads.

thank you for the detailed answer!

 

[CarolynFH]

thank you for the detailed answer!

One more aspect to online checkin and room location requests - if you submit any location requests via calling Disney or a 3rd-party online service, when doing online checkin be sure to leave that request area blank. If you check off anything in the online checkin request area, it will overwrite any requests you submit via any other means.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

One more aspect to online checkin and room location requests - if you submit any location requests via calling Disney or a 3rd-party online service, when doing online checkin be sure to leave that request area blank. If you check off anything in the online checkin request area, it will overwrite any requests you submit via any other means.

Good reminder. I never think of that because I'd never put 2 different requests that counteracted each other. I'd always request the same things. So at least the online check in requests, if I make any, just duplicate what the other request makes.
For instance, my touring plans request is near elevator, my online request is near elevator.
Though most of the time if I do more than add my arrival time it's to include room ready early to supersede all other requests. So I guess that part ends up being moot anyway, LOL
At one time you had to enter a request to indicate you wanted your room ready early but I believe they changed that in the newest version and you can now check the box without having to pick a request. That is a nice change.
I like using the online system because it gives them the time I plan to arrive. Their newest system seems to track that because I always get my text notice at whatever time I give them now. And I've had great luck in having a room then, even without telling them I want that over room requests.

 

[IluvMGM]

One more aspect to online checkin and room location requests - if you submit any location requests via calling Disney or a 3rd-party online service, when doing online checkin be sure to leave that request area blank. If you check off anything in the online checkin request area, it will overwrite any requests you submit via any other means.

Thank you! That's the one reason I hesitate to do online check-in too soon because I feel like it will mess up my touring plans room request.

 

[CarolynFH]

Thank you! That's the one reason I hesitate to do online check-in too soon because I feel like it will mess up my touring plans room request.

As long as you leave the online checkin request section blank, it won't affect your TP request at all.

 

[Landry]

As long as you leave the online checkin request section blank, it won't affect your TP request at all.

Is there a way to remove it once you've accidentally chosen something on Disney's site? I always forget out the TP request before I look at the online check-in. It's not a big deal since I was able to call Disney last year to change rooms while we were driving through Jacksonville.

 

[CarolynFH]

Is there a way to remove it once you've accidentally chosen something on Disney's site? I always forget out the TP request before I look at the online check-in. It's not a big deal since I was able to call Disney last year to change rooms while we were driving through Jacksonville.

You can update online checkin, including unchecking any location request boxes, at any time before arrival, but since room assignments are reportedly made 5-7 days before arrival, I’d modify my requests sooner than that. Since requests aren’t guaranteed, there’s no way of knowing whether that works or not!

 

[tguz]

We drive so we didn't really care what time our room was assigned because we didn't need to leave our bags with the resort until we got our room. We get there early on check in day and head right to the parks and skip the front desk entirely. On two trips we got our room assignment by 1pm and the last trip in Dec 2021 we didn't get it until after 5 pm, which was ok.