Really late arrival, would you wait and check in the next morning?

[TinkTatoo]

I'm going to be booking our first 9 nights DVC in a few weeks time and hope to try the Poly. My dilemma is that we have a late flight in from Ireland and without any delays I wouldn't expect to get to the resort until around 9-10PM. I'm worried that checking in at that time of night would mean that we get a rubbish room, it's happened to us a few times with late check in and we end up not getting any requests and more often than not an accessible room.

Not knowing much about the resort, would you risk the late check in or just book 1 night at another resort and check into the Poly the next morning?

Thanks

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

We come from the west coast and never arrive until after 5PM and if on a later flight it's more like 10-11pm. Otherwise our check in experience is during a split stay and changing resorts. I honestly haven't seen much of a difference between check in time and what room we get. The "rubbish" rooms have happened with early check in too and we've also had our request met both with late arrival and early. I'd probably just book at Poly and settle in.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

9-10pm isn't really what I'd consider all that late.
Too late to do a lot sure but by your title it would seem as thouhg you'd be getting herre at 1am. or something.
I've arrived in the evening before and I've never had a bad experience .
People arrive 24/7. In that respect Disney never sleeps.
I assume you'd find somewhere else to stay for the night so why not just stay there?

 

[Julylady]

We are also scheduled to land in Orlando at 10:30pm on our next visit. I have decided to book us at the Hyatt Regency in the airport overnight. I was able to save 53 points (!) plus as a bonus, I had enough Hyatt points to cover the 1-night stay.

 

[Cyberc1978]

Last time we arrived at MCO at 09pm and after clearing customs etc we arrive at poly between 11-12. The next time we will arrive around the same time so we might book a night at the airport or do the first 2-3nights with hgvc before moving to DVC.

We haven’t (yet) received a rubbish room, and never expect to

 

[TinkTatoo]

We come from the west coast and never arrive until after 5PM and if on a later flight it's more like 10-11pm. Otherwise our check in experience is during a split stay and changing resorts. I honestly haven't seen much of a difference between check in time and what room we get. The "rubbish" rooms have happened with early check in too and we've also had our request met both with late arrival and early. I'd probably just book at Poly and settle in.

Thanks, I’m tempted to do that so that we don’t loose a day but we’re staying until 26th July so one night won’t make much difference. I do find though that we have a better chance of getting our requests met when we check in early in the day.

9-10pm isn't really what I'd consider all that late.
Too late to do a lot sure but by your title it would seem as thouhg you'd be getting herre at 1am. or something.
I've arrived in the evening before and I've never had a bad experience .
People arrive 24/7. In that respect Disney never sleeps.
I assume you'd find somewhere else to stay for the night so why not just stay there?

We’re coming from Ireland so it would be 2-3am on our body clocks and about a 20+ hour travel day so 9-10pm feels very late and we’re just fit to crash when we arrive.

We are also scheduled to land in Orlando at 10:30pm on our next visit. I have decided to book us at the Hyatt Regency in the airport overnight. I was able to save 53 points (!) plus as a bonus, I had enough Hyatt points to cover the 1-night stay.

Last time we arrived at MCO at 09pm and after clearing customs etc we arrive at poly between 11-12. The next time we will arrive around the same time so we might book a night at the airport or do the first 2-3nights with hgvc before moving to DVC.

We haven’t (yet) received a rubbish room, and never expect to

Thanks guys, that’s an idea to stay at the airport, and it probably got lost in translation but by “rubbish room” I don’t mean bad quality but just one with the worst view or location. Having said that, staying at the Poly I’m sure there aren’t any really bad rooms.

 

[bumbershoot]

We arrived after midnight and got to the resort just before 2am and got a terrific room at POR.

We’ve checked in earlier than expected at OKW and got a decent bit accessible room. We’ve checked in at 5pm and got a cruddy Dvc room at Jambo.

It can go any way.

I would just stay at the poly. Put in your requests, tell them what time you’re arriving. I think nowadays they are better about not giving away “your” room just bc you haven’t shown up.

Having the room from the day before means you don’t have to wake up early and pack back up and be “homeless” for hours. You get the luxury of all that time. (I’m currently in Ireland; hubby got in the day before me and DS, and it was such luxury to have a room and bed easy and available for us when we got in! Having that is wonderful instead of being exhausted and sort of wandering
the first day)

 

[TinkTatoo]

We arrived after midnight and got to the resort just before 2am and got a terrific room at POR.

We’ve checked in earlier than expected at OKW and got a decent bit accessible room. We’ve checked in at 5pm and got a cruddy Dvc room at Jambo.

It can go any way.

I would just stay at the poly. Put in your requests, tell them what time you’re arriving. I think nowadays they are better about not giving away “your” room just bc you haven’t shown up.

Having the room from the day before means you don’t have to wake up early and pack back up and be “homeless” for hours. You get the luxury of all that time. (I’m currently in Ireland; hubby got in the day before me and DS, and it was such luxury to have a room and bed easy and available for us when we got in! Having that is wonderful instead of being exhausted and sort of wandering
the first day)

That's true, thanks and enjoy your time here

 

[Wakey]

At least you'll get a room when you arrive. Check in the next day and you could be waiting around until 4, having to come back to room etc rather than just getting on with your holiday.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

We just had a 3-hour flight delay a couple of weeks ago. We were supposed to land at 9 p.m. Instead we landed at midnight. It was 2 a.m. by the time we got to AKV. I was a little bummed that we used our points for that night; it felt like a waste. But really I'm glad we had a place to crash and settle in. We were able to sleep in the next day and enjoyed having our room the whole day. I would not have wanted to wait until 4 p.m. to get our room.

 

[DenLo]

If you think your arrival time is affecting your room selection, book a hotel at the airport for your first night and check in at your DVC resort the next day. Then you will have experienced whether or not it makes any difference.

 

[js]

With online check in, how would they even know if you arrived at 10 am or 10 pm? I was at Poly in September and my room was ready before I got to hotel and just went right to room. I never once went to the front desk.

 

[CraigInPA]

On our last stay, we got a cash room at one of the value resorts. Staying there only one night (arrived at hotel at 10pm and left at 8am) was enough to remind us of the difference between value resorts and deluxe resorts. The cost to stay there was about $100, but it allowed us DME to the hotel, and the value resort transferred our luggage to BLT while we went to MK to await our room assignment text message.

The previous stay, we arrived at MCO at 10pm, we stayed at the Airport hotel and took DME over to BCV when DME opened in the morning. It was also convenient, but was about $50 more than a Disney value resort.

After a long day of travel, it doesn't really matter to my wife and I where we sleep, as long as the bed is comfortable. We just can't justify using points for that first night when there are cheaper ways to stay.

 

[Yojenitan]

If you can stay elsewhere, I totally would. You can swing by the resort first thing, drop your bags off and hit the parks or go to breakfast or Disney Springs... I believe they even let you use the resort pool, but I don't know about changing/showering. I'm queen of split stays so I am always moving around anyway. If you can save the money and get a place that you only care about sleeping in, do it. You'll be happier in the long run.

 

[Splashboat]

It doesn't really make a difference now that people get room number texts. We asked about changing rooms around noon and were told it was too late because the rooms were all assigned.

 

[HookdonWDW]

Although we have done the first night and then move, I much prefer spending the points and settling in the first day. To be fair though, I also have the luxury of having enough points that I don't have to really worry about the extra night. If it was going to be the difference between getting an extra vacation or not, I'd probably look at it. Otherwise, I'd go for the less hassle approach and check right into my DVC resort.

 

[TinkTatoo]

I'm actually thinking about booking SSR for the first night so that we can get the DDP and head to Disney Springs

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

Forgot to add that even though we arrived at 2 a.m., we got a beautiful partial savannah view room at Jambo House. We did do online check-in, but I never received a text with our room number. I had to wait until the early morning hours to find out that I had gotten my request.