What's the point of checking in online so early?

[Missytara]

We always stay at a home away from home resort(BWV) and I love check-in. The welcome home speech always kicks our trip off perfectly. Do you miss getting that when you check in online? I like the idea of potientially having a room waiting for me when I get there but don't want to miss it.

DVC's are a little different; whether you check in-line or not, they still don't start doling out rooms until later in the day.

The potential for available rooms at the regular resorts is a different story though.

 

[Missytara]

is it better to do regular check in if you are hoping for an upgrade? i said hoping, not expecting or anything, so please don't get mad. i'm just wondering if they would still offer it if you checked in online ahead of time.

One doesn't have anything to do with the other.

Online check-in just means your package will be ready when you arrive and quite possibly your room.

Upgrades, though few and far between occur when a resort is overbooked in a certain category; someone deciding at the last minute to get a late check-out or a maintenance problem with the actual room you have been assigned to already.

The computer and/or room assigner has absolutely no control over those issues, five days before you check-in when rooms are assigned, so it makes no difference what so ever.

 

[Missytara]

What if you are traveling with another party? We want nearby rooms. They don't have to be adjoining. Would we be better off waiting and checking in at the resort, or should we do online check in??

Requests should be noted on your reservation at the time of booking until about five days before you check-in.

You can wait and ask at check-in, but your chances get slimmer especially at a very busy time, because the rooms are already assigned at about five to three days out.

 

[Vowelmommy]

I was told by the CM that booked us that we have "guaranteed" connecting rooms, but of course I know that is not ever true. We are not arriving until 7 PM on arrival day. We are going at the end of August, the week BEFORE free dining so it should not be super duper busy. Are we better off to wait and check in at arrival, or do online check in?

 

[Missytara]

I was told by the CM that booked us that we have "guaranteed" connecting rooms, but of course I know that is not ever true. We are not arriving until 7 PM on arrival day. We are going at the end of August, the week BEFORE free dining so it should not be super duper busy. Are we better off to wait and check in at arrival, or do online check in?

Guaranteed connecting rooms are only if the no. of children under the age of 18, outnumbered the number of adults.

It doesn't matter how early or late you check in, you can still do requests. You can still ask if there are any available rooms for your request as well. So again, whether you do online check-in or regular check-in should not matter.

 

[Vowelmommy]

Guaranteed connecting rooms are only if the no. of children under the age of 18, outnumbered the number of adults.

It doesn't matter how early or late you check in, you can still do requests. You can still ask if there are any available rooms for your request as well. So again, whether you do online check-in or regular check-in should not matter.

4 kids and 2 adults, so that is why she said guaranteed, I guess.

 

[lflax]

When I booked our trip online there was a part where you could indicate if your were traveling with another party. We both indicated that we were traveling with each other. Is this sufficient or do I need to call and get this information added to our reservation.

We do not necessarily need adjoining rooms. We would just like to be nearby. We both did preferred room locations.

This is not our first trip, yet I feel very overwhelmed this time???

Thanks for all your help!!

 

[shine87]

Online check-in doesn't really save time.

I think the REAL reason for it is to push you to put your credit card on file for room charging. If for some reason you opt out of it at online check-in time - they can push it on you one MORE time when you arrive. If you know you do NOT want to put a cc on file, then my take is you should NOT use online check-in. Pretty sure they know that people who put a cc on auto-charge spend more.

While I'm sure this is normally true I find it to be the oposite in my case. My cc texts messages me withdrawl amounts and I use the texts to keep track of my spending, since I get no messages on kttw I spend less since I'm not keeping track of my spending as well as I should. Does this make sense to anyone but me?

 

[homedad]

probably arlready said but checked in online and had room ready day of arrivival at 8am, awesome!

 

[MusiqChic99]

We did online check-in during our November stay. I think we were at the resort by 9 and our room was ready.

I'm going to do it again at the end of the month with an early check in so I'm hoping for the same results.

 

[collegejunkie]

One doesn't have anything to do with the other.

Online check-in just means your package will be ready when you arrive and quite possibly your room.

Upgrades, though few and far between occur when a resort is overbooked in a certain category; someone deciding at the last minute to get a late check-out or a maintenance problem with the actual room you have been assigned to already.

The computer and/or room assigner has absolutely no control over those issues, five days before you check-in when rooms are assigned, so it makes no difference what so ever.

hmm, okay, thank you. then it would probably be better to do online check-in since we are arriving in orlando at 9 am. thank you for the information.

 

[dledger]

I can do online check-in today but am having a hard time deciding if I should or not. I have been to disney three times before, but it has been 5 years since my last trip. Also, this is my first trip without my parents- and my friend who is coming with me has never been before. We land at MCO at about 10am and we are taking ME- my only request would be a mansion room, which I do not have noted on my reservation right now but will be calling this week to have added, any opinions or advice about if I should hold off on online check-in or not? TIA!

 

[Missytara]

I can do online check-in today but am having a hard time deciding if I should or not. I have been to disney three times before, but it has been 5 years since my last trip. Also, this is my first trip without my parents- and my friend who is coming with me has never been before. We land at MCO at about 10am and we are taking ME- my only request would be a mansion room, which I do not have noted on my reservation right now but will be calling this week to have added, any opinions or advice about if I should hold off on online check-in or not? TIA!

It sounds like you are staying at POR; since there are so many rooms in the mansions and all you have asked for is to be in a mansion room - it really doesn't matter whether you check in online or not - you will most likely get your request.

 

[ratlenhum]

Can you call ahead of time and have requests put on your reservation, then do online check in 10 days out?

 

[mickeyluv'r]

You can call ahead, but it doesn't mean your requests will be honored.

Most recently, I did use online check-in. None of the three rooms we had reserved were ready at 11am. One room becamse ready at around 2:30 or maybe 3pm. One was ready, I think around 4:30. We were not texted about the third room being ready until almost 6pm. Luckily we were not waiting around for THAT notice!

Honestly, if we had not been able to get into the other rooms, I'd have been a little unhappy that the room was not ready until after 5pm! That's kind of crazy.

 

[wezee]

Maybe it was just our bad luck, but the last 2 times at POFQ, we did online check-in, and both times we did not get any of our requests met. Prior to those visits, at POFQ, we always had our room request met.
This past Feb., I requested a room next to my 80yr old mother ( even made 3 calls to WDW Res. to make sure the request was on both of our reservations) and they put my mother on the other side of the building from us. Thank goodness the manager at POFQ worked for hours to get us a room side by side.

DH and I were just talking about online check-in and decided to test the waters on our next trip in late Sept. and just check in upon arrival. We should get to the resort around noon on a Thursday and usually the lobby is pretty empty at that time.