Would you use points to have a room ready after a red eye, or rough it until check in?

[tinkertoes]

I'm debating whether to put us on a waitlist to add a a day at the beginning of our trip Jan. 1 so that we have a room to rest after a red eye flight from lax. Nothing is available right now so its not even an option to book, just waitlist.

What would you veteran DVCers do? Part of me says we can rough it and wait but I have read some recent horror stories of not having a room until really late.

 

[Sandisw]

I would spend the points if I could find something. Another option is to check the MCO Hyatt and see how much they are charging for the day rooms. We have done that when we had a late flight out so we checked out, went there, and relaxed until the night flight back to NY.

 

[tinkertoes]

That is a great idea for the day rooms! Thank you for the recommendation. Will check into availability.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I've done one after midnight check in due to delayed flights and was miserable the next day. ME still took a while as there were 2 other families on the bus all at different resorts, so it was 1:30 before we got the room. 100% I would book a night at the Hyatt if I couldn't add on another night in my same DVC room.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Absolutely use the points or stay at the Hyatt! A hot shower, comfy bed and hot coffee...priceless!

 

[js]

If I had the extra points, I would def. do it! I have a friend that does it for check out day.
She gets a late flight but has the room for that night so she can just go parks, hang back at hotel and
get ready.
I actually have a few extra points and now that you say it, I may do this for my January 1 trip if I can find a room at my place.
There was plenty of movement the last two weeks close to 31 days but it slowed down a lot.

 

[tinkertoes]

Thanks everyone for their input! I just put us on a waitlist to add a day. Crossing my fingers it comes through.

 

[MICKIMINI]

I would try to isolate the clothing items needed for this stay in zip or compression bags so you don't have to unpack everything only to repack. If you use all zip bags or compression bags, label it! Dirty clothes can go back into that zip bag for future laundry.

We did this recently for a two night stay and then moved for 10 nights which made for much less unpacking/packing LOL!

 

[alldiz]

Hmmmmm points are very high on NYE….. I would go for the Hyatt.

 

[KPeterso]

I come from the west coast. I have taken the red eye twice and swore never ever again. If I ever lose my mind and decide to book a red eye again, I would definitely book the night before in the hotel so I could go straight to my room. A nice hot shower right away definitely helps. Plus being able to get a nap when I am ready for it is also better than trying to tough it out. Our party was all adults. If kids, it would be a total yikes. So think about who is in your party too.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I have kids. I'd do it in a heartbeat and not look back, even though they're not littles anymore.

 

[KPeterso]

I have kids. I'd do it in a heartbeat and not look back, even though they're not littles anymore.

Oops - I was not clear. I meant, it would be yikes to take a red eye with (young) kids and not have a room available. If I am having a melt down wanting a room by 1-2 PM, I can't imagine a kid (even the most mellow) being ok. Our flight from the west coast is maybe only about 4.5 hours actually in the air so not long enough to get a decent amount of sleep for a night.

 

[Wiltony]

If you're staying at OKW or SSR (it sounds like you're not since you mentioned needing to waitlist), you *might* get lucky by showing up and seeing if they have a room ready for you to check into. We took a red-eye once and arrived at OKW at like 430A on our check-in day. We asked if they might have a room we could check into early and they were very kindly able to accommodate us! We got to our room and crashed, and then woke up and headed out to the parks at 10A or so. It felt almost like we got an extra day for free.

 

[Dobermanns]

Yes. Standard practice here. I don’t prefer a redeye flight, but if it must be done, then I make sure the room is waiting

 

[tiana1989]

I don’t know if it matters that it was a moderate instead of DVC, but we got into Orlando around 5:30 am. We were staying at CSR that trip and went straight to the hotel to pick up our credentials (back when they had the ultimate Christmas package, sigh) and what we thought was just dropping off our bags with bell services. We were stoked to find our room was ready! So you never know, you might luck out but definitely can’t count on that.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I hope your waitlist comes through!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

It depends what you mean by “roughing it”.
I have see, more than once, families camped out for the night in the Carollwood Pacific Room (Iron Spike Room, or whatever the latest is).
I was PO’d. We use to unwind there before hitting the hay.

 

[bumbershoot]

What would you veteran DVCers do?

I wouldn't get a day room just to wait until your DVC room is available. And if your waitlist comes through, get changed and showered, but then go DO something.

Coming from the west coast I want my chance of sleep at night to be as strong as possible, so I do not rest after I land from an overnight flight. I'll hit a wall at about day 3.5 no matter what I do, so at the very least I'll have decent sleep starting from that first night.

 

[tinkertoes]

Thanks to everyone for all your input! We actually arrive at 6:00 a.m. and picking up a rental car. I checked and the rooms at MCO Hyatt are not available until 10:00 a.m. unfortunately So if my waitlist doesn't come through I probably will rough it. By roughing it I mean dropping off our bags and then hitting the park until our room is ready lol. We have Epcot Reservations that day but was really only planning to go later in the evening. I guess we will be nice and tired lol.

 

[tinkertoes]

Oh and I didn't mention we are coming from the west coast, staying in a standard view 1 bedroom at BWV. I'm continually stalking the site now for that 1 night! Lol.