Any disadvantages to checking in to your resort online?

[Judyat]

We are saying at OKW, Vero Beach and than AKL next week. Is there any downside to doing check in online? Just wondering if it's a good idea or not. What experiences have people had checking in ahead. I know in the past sometimes you had a choice of more than one room when you check in at the desk. Just wondering how checking in ahead affects selecting a room.

 

[bianca]

For us, it made no difference. They still mangled everything with our name attached to it and we had to go to the desk to straighten it out. I actually think it would have been easier if we would not have checked in online first.

 

[chalee94]

i thought they started doing it because several employees had stolen people's credit card numbers during the check-in process and they were trying to find a way to let you enter your number without their lower level employees having access...but with disney, IT issues can be common.

 

[Anal Annie]

We are saying at OKW, Vero Beach and than AKL next week. Is there any downside to doing check in online? Just wondering if it's a good idea or not. What experiences have people had checking in ahead. I know in the past sometimes you had a choice of more than one room when you check in at the desk. Just wondering how checking in ahead affects selecting a room.

We usually have a room request so I prefer to check in at the regular desk when we arrive to ask if the request is being met or not and if not, why not and where are we going to be put. We DID use it tho for our last trip in January because we just booked a std. view studio at Jambo House and it was just for a long weekend and we were arriving very late so I wasn't as concerned with the request. I did not find that it saved us any time tho because the CM that was dedicated to the online check-ins had taken a customer from the regular line in order to help out the regular check-in CM's. They had issues with their Magic Bands and we had to wait anyway. So I have yet to see the value in doing it.

 

[Judyat]

Thanks all. I think we'll just wait and check in when we get there since there doesn't seem to be any advantage to doing it ahead of time.

 

[marivigi]

its really hit or miss these days...

it could be that you arrived and everything is ready for you, and you are in and out in 5 minutes... or.. it could be that they cant find your magic bands, couldnt meet your requests, need you to confirm your address and cc, etc...

 

[turkey1031]

We did online check in for our trip to pofq last july. It was super quick. The woman even knew who we were before we even told her. She had our paperwork in hand ready to go. The best part was that our reservation was for a standard room. They gave us a magical upgrade to riverview. We will be doing online check in for our June trip.

 

[disneynutz]

i thought they started doing it because several employees had stolen people's credit card numbers during the check-in process and they were trying to find a way to let you enter your number without their lower level employees having access...but with disney, IT issues can be common.

They started doing it to save Disney money. Online check in was designed to reduce the number of employees needed at the front desk, especially at the larger convention hotels/resorts where guests show up by the bus loads. The room and package would be made up the night before check in and arriving guests would be handed their room info as soon as they got off the bus and they could go. It also reduced contact time with Disney CM's because many of the guests just took the info and left instead of trying to get a different room with a better view.

It was made for non DVC locations, that's why the online check in requests listed make little sense for DVC stays. Allowing DVC to use the software was cheap and made it seem like we were getting something special. In reality for DVC there is little benefit and depending on the resort, they might not even make your room info up in advance. DVC guests want certain rooms and Disney quickly found out that for DVC they were making changes to the reservations at check in anyway.

Bill