If you’re anything like me, you like to be somewhere early instead of late. That continues right onto vacation for me, too. I’d rather my flight come in early, so I don’t have to worry about missing check-in for my Disney World hotel or, worse, stressing about everything I might miss.
Sometimes, I arrive too early and I’m just ready to run into the theme parks, wearing Mickey ears, ready to pin trade and hop on my favorite ride. If you don’t have an Annual Pass, you might not have purchased a ticket for the day of arrival, leaving you wondering how to spend your time. Let me show you the ultimate tips and tricks for when you arrive too early at your Disney World hotel.
If you do your check-in through the My Disney Experience app, you can select what time you plan to arrive at your hotel/when you want your room to be ready. If you choose an early time, you’re not guaranteed that your room will be ready, but it’s a possibility.
You can also try checking in early at the front desk of your resort. These desks are manned by Cast Members, so you can stop by and ask them any questions you have — including seeing if there’s a chance your room could be ready early for you.
Now, the early check-in is a great hack that can work well for you sometimes. If your room is ready earlier, you could arrive from a morning flight or drive, change clothes, and unpack early in the day. That way, you have time for adventures in the afternoon and evening! However, it’s also kind of risky.
You can’t really count on your hotel room to be ready early, and the odds may not be in your favor. Personally, I’ve been denied early check-in for my last three resort reservations. So our best advice is not to bank all of your plans on getting into your room early…it may not happen.
I know, I know, that’s super disappointing! You want to see the perfect room you picked out with that spectacular view, and start unpacking your bags. It can feel like your vacation doesn’t start until you see the room. Don’t worry, even without heading to your room, you can enjoy the Disney magic — without lugging your bags around.
There’s some good news here — you CAN drop your luggage off with bell services at any time of the day. This complimentary service is available at all of the Disney World hotels, so you don’t have to hold on to your bags for hours before your room is ready. Simply drop them off with bell services and then go enjoy the resort, the parks, or Disney Springs!
Bell Services is used to holding luggage while guests are out and about. When your room is ready, you can call and ask them to deliver your luggage right to your room. Some hotel rooms can feel super far from the lobby, but calling for delivery saves so much time and stress of dragging things through the hotel carpet (trust me, it’s a pain!).
My top favorite thing to do after dropping off my luggage is to head straight to the water parks. Everyone in your hotel room will receive a free ticket to either Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach, depending on which water park is open (or you can choose when they’re open at the same time!). The only catch is that it’s only for the day of your check-in.
After hanging around the water parks and completing a few laps around the lazy river, you can change and head to Disney Springs for dinner. If your room is ready, you can head back to change and set up before grabbing dinner. If not, I recommend bringing a change of clothes with you so you have options and aren’t waiting around for your room to be ready.
So basically, you should totally attempt to get into your hotel room early if you can, but don’t feel disappointed if it doesn’t happen. Make contingency plans for either scenario.
If you’re looking for a travel agent to help with your vacation, we recommend our friends at Mouse Fan Travel. They’re experts in the field with over 20 years of vacation planning experience, and they can help take a bunch of the stress out of the entire booking process for you.
We’ll keep you in the loop with more tips for your Disney World vacation. Stay tuned to AllEars!
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What’s your favorite hotel at Disney World? Tell us why in the comments.
The less picky you are will help a room being ready when you arrive. If no rooms are clean , go to pool, disney springs, have a meal, visit another resort.