"Skip the Desk". What has been your experience?

[denise5374]

Stayed at POP Dec 2016 and got the text that the room was ready before I even got on the plane to FL.

 

[LowesChevy]

Beach Club & the Polynesian have been our go tos for resorts and we normally receive the texts before 3 PM. We were just down last week and our room was ready after 1 at the Polynesian. Just need a garden view ground floor room, which are in supply. The bigger problem has been Bay Lake Tower, the last stay wasn't bad in September, but years prior availability has been poor. A few years ago we waited till after 5! The DVC resorts do not have the room inventory that the regular resorts have. SSR is a larger property, so your odds are better to have your assignment earlier in the afternoon.

As op said too many MB can cause havoc. Boardwalk 2015-we arrived at the room, even after physical check in and the room wouldn't open. They removed some of the older bands and it worked from there on out during the trip.

I have the grey Haunted Mansion band I loved ,but the thing caused more problems than successes. You will definitely want the new hockey puck style bands, but deactivate some of those old ones to help clear confusion

 

[PolyRob]

Where can I get the number for IT? I'm going to have this done.

The number I called was (407) 939-4357. I believe I used option 4 for "other technical inquiries."

 

[MKMK]

Love it (when it works). Every time we have stayed at RPC (4 or 5 times the last couple years) we received the text once we landed in Orlando. Only trick is... you can't go straight to your room because someone needs to escort you up to the floor in the elevator. Wish they could fix that...but understand why they do it that way.

Worst experience - we snagged a last minute reservation at a Bungalow ("huts" as my kids call them) last October. No text when we landed in Orlando. . Showed up at the Poly front desk around 2 and they said they would text us when it was ready in maybe 30 minutes. Text never arrived. Went back to the front desk at 4 p.m. and they said it was ready over an hour ago and didn't know why we didn't receive a text. Dragged our suitcases to the "hut" as no one at the front desk offered to escort us. Arrive at the gate to the walkway to the "huts" and the MagicBands don't open the gate. Use the security phone to call the front desk. Wait 10 minutes for someone to walk down and let us in as we didn't want to drag our suitcases back to the front desk. It was annoying as the huts aren't cheap and if the text service would have worked we could have been inside with the groceries we had ordered 2 hours earlier...

 

[eeyoresmom]

Love it (when it works). Every time we have stayed at RPC (4 or 5 times the last couple years) we received the text once we landed in Orlando. Only trick is... you can't go straight to your room because someone needs to escort you up to the floor in the elevator. Wish they could fix that...but understand why they do it that way.

Worst experience - we snagged a last minute reservation at a Bungalow ("huts" as my kids call them) last October. No text when we landed in Orlando. . Showed up at the Poly front desk around 2 and they said they would text us when it was ready in maybe 30 minutes. Text never arrived. Went back to the front desk at 4 p.m. and they said it was ready over an hour ago and didn't know why we didn't receive a text. Dragged our suitcases to the "hut" as no one at the front desk offered to escort us. Arrive at the gate to the walkway to the "huts" and the MagicBands don't open the gate. Use the security phone to call the front desk. Wait 10 minutes for someone to walk down and let us in as we didn't want to drag our suitcases back to the front desk. It was annoying as the huts aren't cheap and if the text service would have worked we could have been inside with the groceries we had ordered 2 hours earlier...

Unfortunately we've had several trips start like that. I have had bad experiences at BWV and OKW a lot

 

[karly05]

I've done online checkin /,direct to room 3 times.

2015 POFQ, had the room text on my phone when I turned it on after getting off the plane (early afternoon).

2016 POFQ, never got the room text. Got to resort a little before 3 and went to front desk to check in. Room was ready but they said I had to check in at desk because my cc had expired and been reissued with new expiration.

2017 POP, got the room text while riding on DME, about 2:30 pm.

I always fly and take DME, so I figure they know about what time I'll be there.

 

[Matoskah Poodle]

I'm a 50/50 guy. April at POP we got the text about 8:30 am but in Sept at CSR ended up going to desk at 5 because we never got a text.

 

[Anthony Suter]

It has worked out very nicely for us the last few trips! I would recommend it and couple that with traveling with a carry on you can bring in the park. Typically, we do magical express and I carry a backpack that has our camera, miscellaneous wellness items, sunscreen, and we wear our "park shoes" that way we can get straight to the park and some Disney fun!

 

[KathyTbell]

I'm not sure I'm understanding the talk about old magic bands. We have 4 magic bands from our last trip, about 3 years ago. Are you saying that they are still activated and may cause problems with our new magic bands? TIA!

 

[WEDWDW]

I'm not sure I'm understanding the talk about old magic bands. We have 4 magic bands from our last trip, about 3 years ago. Are you saying that they are still activated and may cause problems with our new magic bands? TIA!

Yes-"possible",go to My Disney Experience under "MagicBands and Cards" and deactivate them-very easy.

 

[KathyTbell]

Thank you!

 

[Chrelaine]

2 trips in the last 2 years and no room ready texts. I always complete online check in. The 2nd time, they said cc# wasn't there, even though I had double checked to make sure everything was. I figure we're just not lucky with this.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I'm not sure I'm understanding the talk about old magic bands. We have 4 magic bands from our last trip, about 3 years ago. Are you saying that they are still activated and may cause problems with our new magic bands? TIA!

Yes they are still active.
If you only have one for each person for one trip 3 years ago its highly unlikely to cause an issue but if it does you can go to your magic band section in MDE and deactivate them.
I have 6 assigned to just myself and have had no problems.
Its generally thiose that have 8-10 or more assigned to each person that starts to have issues.

 

[KathyTbell]

Thanks! I had no idea they would still be activated. Is there any advantage to that? Thank you for the directions to deactivate. I'll check!

 

[nkereina]

Last trip, I did not receive a text but instead an email saying my room is ready. I have no idea why - my phone number is correct in MDE and it's enabled to receive these kind of alerts via text. But for some reason, they sent me an email to say my room was ready with my room number. I just happened to check my email out of boredom while waiting for DME to leave the airport, and saw the email. So check your email if you don't get a text!

 

[disneyvoice]

Not sure what happens with us - it never fails that I get a text telling me our room is ready AFTER we have already checked in, dropped our luggage off in the room, and have been in a park for an hour or so.

 

[WEDWDW]

Thanks! I had no idea they would still be activated. Is there any advantage to that?

No,unless it is a "designer" MB or something like that that you want to reuse.

 

[tinkerbella16]

It can vary from trip to trip. We like online check-in. In Nov 2015, I got the text that my room was ready before I got on Magical Express, so that was nice and convenient to go straight to the room. This past trip in September, we had 3 rooms booked and we arrived at 8:30am, so we weren't really expecting our rooms to be ready upon arrival at Beach Club at 9:30am. None of us got the text that our room was ready, so when we got to the resort, we had let them know we were there and we went to the pool. By 11am, my room was ready and soon after my sisters was ready and a little while later my parents room was ready. We had planned to relax and go to the pool either way, so it wasn't a big deal that the room wasn't ready when we arrived that morning. We arrived early, at 9:30am so the room being ready by 11am was great!

 

[Jennasis]

It has never worked for us. Four trips last years, 2before that, 2 before that. We always have to go to the desk to inquire about our room.

 

[WEDWDW]

So you're saying there's a chance!lol