Which is best ?? Early check in or late check in?

[tink2007]

My husband and I are driving from Georgia after work on July 2. It will be close to midnight before we arrive on Disney property.
Right now I have a reservation at *** for July 2nd and a reservation at WL for July 3-7.
Is it better to check in late in the evening and hope we don’t get stuck with a “ whatever is
left over room “ or keep our *** room for July 2 and check in to WL first thing in the morning on the 3rd??
Or just add July 2 to our WL reservation and hope for the best?

 

[TexasJedi]

It's highly unlikely you'll get access to your room at WL before the afternoon, no matter how early you check in that morning. I don't know what got deleted from your original message, but if you've got a reservation somewhere, they'll have room for you, and if it's only one night after a long drive, a good night's rest would take priority for me over any kind of view/room location/upgrades.

 

[Dave006]

Is it better to check in late in the evening and hope we don’t get stuck with a “ whatever is left over room “ or keep our *** room for July 2 and check in to WL first thing in the morning on the 3rd??

Why not use Online check-in and you will receive a room assignment while you are on the road? It also depends on room availability at the WL for July 2nd is there availability and at what price vs your ** room for July 2nd?

Do you want get up early on July 3rd after driving until close to midnight on July 2nd vs sleeping in and again having used Online check-in for your WL stay. Just swinging by WL a little later in the day and checking at the Front desk to see if your room requests were met or if there is an available room that might meet your requests.

A few more details would help concerning a recommendation course of action.

Dave

 

[Marthasor]

If it's in the budget, I personally would much prefer just checking into WL and settling in for my stay. I wouldn't want to arrive at midnight, sleep, then have to pack up and not have a room between the hours of 11 am - 3 pm (or later). No matter how you slice, you can never guarantee you will have a perfect room no matter when you check in - especially over a busy holiday when the hotel may be quite booked up. As others have mentioned, you can always check in online prior to arriving and even have your room number earlier in the day on July 2. If you don't like your room assignment, you can always see if they have something else available.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

We arrive after midnight on most of our trips and we have actually had very good luck with our room requests, plus with online check-in you will know in advance what room you were assigned and can call and try to change it or wait until you get in, if you do not like it. We much rather get into our resort room and not have to worry about checking in and out of another hotel. We tried it once and really hated it. Just being able to sleep in a bit and knowing you're already at your resort is so much less stressful for us.

 

[Dug720]

The one time I got exactly the opposite of my request (short of top floor) was when I was staying at POFQ and arrived after midnight. Because I was arriving late and was traveling solo, I asked for a room close to the main building, preferably top floor and explained WHY I was requesting that. Yes, I did online check-in, and yes, I left the requests off because I'd done them via Touring Plans (through whom I have always had good luck). They didn't text the room number first thing in the morning. This was in the days of Magical Express, so they knew when you were arriving and usually texted you at some point once you'd checked into DME so there was no trying to call during the day to change anything. I got the text and looked it up - literally the furthest section of Building 7, back side, top floor corner. Literally the furthest room from the main building. I'm still 99% sure that someone who arrived earlier than me, saw that they were assigned that room, and whined to the Front Desk - and since they weren't sending the room numbers super early it was easy for whoever was at the desk to change them to the room I'd been assigned to.

Ever since then I've made it a practice to arrive early in the morning - even if that means staying somewhere close to MCO the night before. And ever since then I've gotten very close to my requests without even having to go to the front desk. (I also don't know if they're really sending out texts of room numbers super early because of that.)

My stay in February, I'll be arriving late just because I don't want to deal with an early morning flight so I'll be leaving right after school lets out, so we'll see what happens. On the plus side, I'm staying at Music in a Preferred room, so I won't be super far either way. Well, unless they stick me at the back of Jazz, but even then not as far as Country.

 

[Mazz519]

We never even attempt to get the room early anymore, when we first get there we will go have a nice lunch in Disney Springs and spend most of the day there, or we will leave the luggage in our car and go to a park and spend the day there. I hate going to the resort and they tell you room isnt ready yet !!!...lol

 

[kiford]

A few years ago, we took a late-night flight that was supposed to arrive at MCO around 11:30 pm with the expectation that we'd be at the resort and in our rooms by about 12:45 am. Of course, the flight was horribly late, and we arrived at WL around 3 am. I knew that it was a possibility that we'd be late - Air Canada is always late - but I also knew that they assign your room a few days in advance, so it wasn't like we'd get the dregs of whatever was left. We had booked a woods view room at WL and ended up in a water view room which was considered an upgrade (it was a few days before I even realized this). We had briefly toyed with booking a room at the MCO Hyatt, so we could crash right away and then take the shuttle to the WDW resort the next morning. There were pros and cons to both, but we ended up deciding that it was more of a pain to get up early after a late flight (although we didn't realize just how late they would end up being!), pack up and then head out. So we just decided that we'd just deal with a late arrival and sleep in the next morning at our main resort. Very glad we did that. While we ended up getting to our resort much later in the evening (morning) than if we'd stayed at the MCO Hyatt, I unpacked when we arrived so that when we did get up in the morning, it was just a matter of getting ready to head out. When we went a few months later, we took that same evening flight and ended up at CR at 2 am (thanks, Air Canada!) but got what we requested - a room on the 11th floor in the main building. So we've now decided that if we take a later flight, we just book the WDW resort we want, and we'll get there when we get there, only unpack once and then sleep in. I'm not worried about the room they assign.

 

[tinkerjo]

I am not paying all that money for a room I get in after midnight. I would stay someplace cheap the night before and get to the resort about noon the next day after sleeping in. Enjoy the resort, eat lunch at Geyser point and take a leisurely swim before getting In The room

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

If you can afford it just stay at the wilderness and if the room is bad, just ask them that night to change it, and they most likely will set you up the next day for a new room.

Or take off work the 2nd lol and drive earlier

 

[gottalovepluto]

You’re overthinking this. Stay at the hotel you want to for the first night. Your room is assigned days before you arrive. Can the front desk change it at your request on your arrival if you don’t like it? Yes, if they feel like it and something is available. Will they have extra rooms available over 4th of July week + a few days after TBA opens for trivial changes like I didn’t get my room request? Highly unlikely.

If you want to save the money stay at all stars (I’m assuming since the censor kicked in lol). If you want to wake up at WL, stay at WL. Leave room request hopes out of it.