Why Check-In Online?

Online check in is currently not working for me… however I had planned to call up a few days prior to arrival to request a building.. does anyone know if I’ll still be able to do that even if I haven’t checked in online first?
Yup, not a problem. Rooms are assigned 2-3 days out, so make sure you call prior to then.
 
Should I do the online check in even though we are still two weeks out?
 

On the other hand, doing online checkin doesn't mean you can't go to the front desk on arrival and ask about your room location, whether you've gotten the text/push notification or not. Online checkin just gets the process of linking a credit card to your account done. So the CM can talk to you without being distracted by that procedure.

Absolutely! I don't understand where people have gotten the idea that if you check in online you can't go to the front desk. You totally can. It's not like they have a CM standing at the line entrance saying "Did you do online check-in? Sorry, we can't talk to you."
 
do I let them know we are coming late?

How late are you talking? There is a place to put your arrival time during online check-in. If later than those options, I'd call to have it noted.
 
I generally prefer to check-in online since I don't know in advance whether or not the lobby will be busy. Having said that, it did backfire once in that I scurried through the lobby at GF and went out to the building where my room was only to find out that the Unlock Door feature was not working on neither the app nor my Magic Bands. Therefore, I then had to walk back to the lobby to wait and get keys provided to me (which did work). They acknowledged there was a recurring tech problem and I was not the only one with this problem. This happened about a year ago. I subsequently went another time, took my chances, and it worked successfully so hopefully it was a one-timer. But I would just mention it as an unanticipated downside I had by going straight to my room.
I, too, have had issues with the MB/phone working to unlock the room. I check in online as it seems to cut down on the time spent actually checking in (sometimes) but I always stop at the desk for physical keys. Maybe I’m just a Luddite at heart.
 














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