Why online check in?

[pepe of ohio]

You can still ask for a room change, but for the people behind you in line you have made their wait that much longer. On line check in is for those who want to grab their packet and go.

Yeah, but you don't know what you've got until you check in.... It's my vacation and money and if its not to my liking... I'm going to repair it at check in.... Others can move to regular or wait... It isn't going to take that long to get reassigned..

We've used online for years, never took less time then regular and must say, sometimes longer... There's no hurry!

 

[Missoutandabout]

We've used OLCI three times. Our first time was for POR -- worst check-in experience we've had. It was late. It took forever despite there only being one person waiting in line in front of us. The CM was less-than-helpful. We got the room area we had requested on the reservation though. Our second time was just recently for our CBR stay, all requests (there were made online instead of over the phone) were met and the process was super-quick. And our final time was after our CBR stay, at AKL. Another flawless check-in and an absolutely fabulous room, with all our requests met.

With most of these things, it's just luck of the draw with how smoothly it goes... time of day, how busy they are, the CM you get, etc.

 

[dansdad]

You can still ask for a room change, but for the people behind you in line you have made their wait that much longer. On line check in is for those who want to grab their packet and go. I'm not sure why you would use it if you have a request or need that you must have met.

It wasn't that we needed a different room, just asked if there was something available in the area we wanted and there was. The whole transaction took less than 5 minutes.

 

[maddiebee]

We'll be checking in at about 11a. Does online vs. regular check in matter at this point of the day? Is there something we can do with our bags if our room isn't ready yet and we use online check in(we want to head to the parks asap!)?

 

[dancin Disney style]

We'll be checking in at about 11a. Does online vs. regular check in matter at this point of the day? Is there something we can do with our bags if our room isn't ready yet and we use online check in(we want to head to the parks asap!)?

Doesn't matter what time you check in. If you have a room request arriving early is helpful.

You can leave your bags in the luggage room.

 

[terri33inne]

I've done OLCI at POR last Sept & AofA in March... POR was a bit slow to me, but the line was shorter than the standard check-in. AofA was flawless... a CM approached me w/ a portable device, asked if I had done online check in, and took my info, went behind the desk & got my packet, and had met my 2 requests (early check-in & a close room).

My only hesitation w/ OLCI for our upcoming trip is I've heard you have a better chance of a free upgrade if you go to the desk... not sure how true this is?

 

[dancin Disney style]

My only hesitation w/ OLCI for our upcoming trip is I've heard you have a better chance of a free upgrade if you go to the desk... not sure how true this is?

Free upgrades are VERY few and far between at any WDW resort.

 

[dansdad]

My only hesitation w/ OLCI for our upcoming trip is I've heard you have a better chance of a free upgrade if you go to the desk... not sure how true this is?

Whether you do OLCI or not has zero affect on getting an upgrade.

 

[Liberator]

For us online check-in is a very convenient option.

We fly ~10 hours...

we stand in line at airport check- in, the next line will be the security line followed by waiting for take off.

After getting off the plane the next line is the immigration-line. Another line will be the one for baggage claim (you know Disney does not collect the luggage for us)....well and then the last line will be at Magical Express.

To sum it up: how great is it to get everything you need at the online-check-in-desk without standing in line after such a long day/flight

 

[maxiesmom]

Oh boy. I just booked Free Dining for December, and wouldn't you know it, we are arriving on Dec 12. Which is the first date of that part of Free Dining. So now I'm thinking I may want to give On line Check In another go, as we won't be arriving until around 7 pm.

Or am I being paranoid and regular check in will be ok by that time of night?

 

[aaarcher86]

Oh boy. I just booked Free Dining for December, and wouldn't you know it, we are arriving on Dec 12. Which is the first date of that part of Free Dining. So now I'm thinking I may want to give On line Check In another go, as we won't be arriving until around 7 pm.

Or am I being paranoid and regular check in will be ok by that time of night?

I feel like you'd be fine either way. I imagine more people trying to align their check in day with the last day eligible over the first.

 

[Nettlelondon]

I am travelling with my husbands family and we want to be, if not adjoining, near each other. Is it worth doing online check in and putting that as a request on both or will we have more chance if we wait until we get there? We won't be arriving until 8pm or so, staying at WL arriving October 19.

Thanks

 

[maxiesmom]

I am travelling with my husbands family and we want to be, if not adjoining, near each other. Is it worth doing online check in and putting that as a request on both or will we have more chance if we wait until we get there? We won't be arriving until 8pm or so, staying at WL arriving October 19.

Thanks

First off, in Disney speak adjoining rooms are rooms that are near each other. Connecting rooms have the inside door between them. Make sure you are asking for what you want.

Second, I would probably do on line check in as you are arriving so late. However, you need to realize that the pool of rooms open to assign you that late at night will be small. But if you end up in rooms on opposite ends of the resort you can ask them if something is going to open up the next day, and then move if you wish.

 

[mndisneylovinmom]

I'm just wondering : we're staying at GF CL TPV room -- we've been told that when we arrive at the GF from the magical express, there will be someone from the concierge waiting, will check us in, or already done so, and bring us up to our room.
Anyone else stay stayed like us that can fill me in?

 

[Patience]

We did standard check in on our last trip in 2011 to Pop. We arrived early in the morning and check in took about 15 minutes or so. The online checkin CM was standing around with no line. I couldn't decide if I wanted to do online check in for our upcoming trip because we have never stayed at POR before and thought I might want to ask some questions about the resort. However, I have been reading Andre's portorleans website and feel pretty comfortable that I won't have many, if any, questions at check in so I went ahead and checked in a few days ago. Plus, we are arriving at a busy time of day on the DME so I hope the online check in line will be faster. We shall see.

 

[Mousemommy1]

I've done OLCI at POR last Sept & AofA in March... POR was a bit slow to me, but the line was shorter than the standard check-in. AofA was flawless... a CM approached me w/ a portable device, asked if I had done online check in, and took my info, went behind the desk & got my packet, and had met my 2 requests (early check-in & a close room).

My only hesitation w/ OLCI for our upcoming trip is I've heard you have a better chance of a free upgrade if you go to the desk... not sure how true this is?

No affect whatsoever. Upgrades are extremely rare so I wouldn't go in expecting one. You'd be setting yourself up for disappointment.

I will say though, that in April we stayed YC CL and had booked a standard view room. We did OLCI (we always do) and upon arriving, we found that we had been upgraded to lagoon view!!!!!

 

[thelawlessfamily2013]

How do you go about doing online check in if you've booked with a travel agent? Can you or can you not, we're staying at OKW

Thanks

 

[Linleedo]

It doesn't always help. It actually created more issues for us last year. We wanted three rooms ,one adjoining & the other connecting. We checked in online. Guess what happened? The people that were in one of the rooms decided to to stay two extra days. They kept the room & we got split up! It wasn't the way to start off a vacation.Only after two days, we all moved to other rooms.It wasn't because of online check- in . It was because they didn't move the prior occupants to a different room, when they decided to stay.It wasn't fun!

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

We currently have the request "3rd floor with balcony" on our Poly reservation. I sometimes add a specific longhouse but with the rehabs going on at the Poly right now I don't know if the one we like (Tokelau) will be available.

If I do online check-in what can I put for requests? Just specific longhouse(s)? Or can I add "3rd floor with balcony"? I don't want that request to be removed from my reservation.

TIA!

 

[dansdad]

We currently have the request "3rd floor with balcony" on our Poly reservation. I sometimes add a specific longhouse but with the rehabs going on at the Poly right now I don't know if the one we like (Tokelau) will be available.

If I do online check-in what can I put for requests? Just specific longhouse(s)? Or can I add "3rd floor with balcony"? I don't want that request to be removed from my reservation.

TIA!

Since your request is already noted, skip the request section during online check in. Otherwise your "3rd floor with balcony" will be overwritten.