Late arrival, What would you do?

[Sue M]

Update - We book a room at CBR (different category) for our arrival night. I know we will probably have to change room the next day but we'll be at our resort. Hopefully a room in our category opens and they can add it for the entire stay. We are still holding our reservation at the MCO Hyatt for now. BTW we are going mid December.

Is the first night room a lower category room? When you check in let them know you have a continuing stay, maybe to avoid having extra room cleaning and they have a room in your category (which I’m assuming is higher category) they’ll just put you in it.

 

[maxmouse]

Is the first night room a lower category room? When you check in let them know you have a continuing stay, maybe to avoid having extra room cleaning and they have a room in your category (which I’m assuming is higher category) they’ll just put you in it.

It is a slightly higher category. I'm having my TA request a change to our existing category if it becomes available.

 

[TiffFromTX]

Glad I read this. Thanks for all your insight. I was booked to arrive at midnight on 7/31 and stay at Hyatt but I'm having my DU TA book us that night at Yacht Club instead (since Beach Club didn't have anymore discount pricing like we did for the rest of our stay). I had thought staying at the Hyatt would be more relaxing but y'all changed my mind!

 

[wannabee]

I'm trying the Hyatt this October. My cousin doesn't get in until 11:45 pm after a full work day. She will be ready for bed and seems like an easy solution. We are paying a crazy amount to stay at Poly so would've booked a value for the night if stayed on property.

 

[Sue M]

It is a slightly higher category. I'm having my TA request a change to our existing category if it becomes available.

Maybe they’ll just leave you in the higher category room. We had a POR stay, first half of stay was in the Royal Rooms, then we were moving to a regular room. But they ended up leaving us in the Royal Room!

 

[StaceyHSD]

I will add this though. If available, couldn't you just get a cheaper Disney room at say key west, pop century etc, and already be on property, and have them just bring your bags to the next hotel and not deal with anything the next day?

This is exactly what I’m doing for my trip in August. Originally I was going to fly to Orlando on Aug 21 and would have gotten to Orlando around 3:30pm. But SW cancelled the first leg of my flight!

So I ended up taking Friday off from work. My flight schedule now gets me into MCO at 10:30pm on Friday (ugh). So what I did was make a reservation for AsMo for Friday and Saturday, then modified my original POP reservation to start on Sunday instead of Saturday (that was to take advantage of the lower priced AsMo room since the weekend is the most exoensive).

 

[nelsonkg]

I did the MCO Hyatt in Feb and will do it again in July. I just get up early (but not as stupid early as first flight of the morning) and am down at DME by 7:30 or so. Works like a dream.

Edit to add: I did Epcot my first day in Feb, so the 7:30 DME worked well. I'm doing MK in July, so my start time may be a little earlier. Or maybe not - I'll see.

I like Dug720, really prefer Hyatt the night before. I felt like it was relaxing to just go up to my room and sleep and especially get the kids to bed two hours earlier than if we had travel to and tried to check in and get settled at Disney.
I do rent a car and would just drive straight to the park in the morning then check in at the end of the day . If we were staying at BCV or Poly then we would drop the car at the resort and leave the luggage in the car and go straight to the park and deal with it later.
The one time we did stay at Pop and then transfer the next day to Poly ate up way more time for us in total than MCO Hyatt
I know everyone has their preference. We are early risers so MCO worked great for us.

 

[martikus]

The difference would have to be a lot more than $150 to not head to Disney. The convince of unpacking once, not waiting for room etc far outweighs the cost for me. Head straight to Disney.

 

[Eastern]

The difference would have to be a lot more than $150 to not head to Disney. The convince of unpacking once, not waiting for room etc far outweighs the cost for me. Head straight to Disney.

My money saving tendencies run deep

 

[Eastern]

If we were staying at BCV or Poly then we would drop the car at the resort and leave the luggage in the car and go straight to the park and deal with it later.

Be careful if you have anything meltable in your luggage, it gets hot!

 

[DizneyFamof4]

We have done both and GREATLY prefer adding an extra night at the resort. It was just soooo much nicer waking up at the resort and starting our day. BUT, we will only do this now if staying at a value or Mod resort, the Deluxe prices have just become to insane and it would not be worth paying another night at the deluxe rate. I think the time you save at night by not going to the resort is mostly offset by the time you save the next morning by not having to take your luggage to transportation, travel to WDW and check-in to the resort. I will add that I think $150 would be the max that I would do this at.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I have seen plenty of trip reports of people who stay at the Hyatt and love it. For myself I would head straight to Disney. If I was staying deluxe I would most likely book a value for that night and then move over in the morning. If I was staying moderate I would book an extra night at my resort.

We have always taken a very early flight but next trip we are looking at flying in a day earlier. If we decide to stay at BC we will book a moderate for the first few nights. If we do a moderate all trip we will just add the extra night there.

I'm not the biggest fan of split stays but sometimes they make sense for us.

 

[robinb]

First of all, is s anyone else shocked that CBR is $350?!?!?

Secondly, would you really be able to get to rope drop in the morning? You're getting in at 10:00 pm, and won't get to your WDW resort until 11:00 pm at least and won't be to sleep until midnight. You need to be awake at 6:00-7:00 am to get to the bus stop before 7:00 am to get to rope drop for AK and MK and on the skyliner by 8:00 am to get to DHS. All after a long day.

If you're not going to make rope drop, I would suggest you just bunk down at the airport and get on the first ME shuttle in the morning. Go to CBR, drop off your bags and go on your way to your reserved park. If you have Epcot booked, you can even sleep in a bit at the Hyatt.

 

[Eastern]

First of all, is s anyone else shocked that CBR is $350?!?!?

Secondly, would you really be able to get to rope drop in the morning? You're getting in at 10:00 pm, and won't get to your WDW resort until 11:00 pm at least and won't be to sleep until midnight. You need to be awake at 6:00-7:00 am to get to the bus stop before 7:00 am to get to rope drop for AK and MK and on the skyliner by 8:00 am to get to DHS. All after a long day.

If you're not going to make rope drop, I would suggest you just bunk down at the airport and get on the first ME shuttle in the morning. Go to CBR, drop off your bags and go on your way to your reserved park. If you have Epcot booked, you can even sleep in a bit at the Hyatt.

No, I can't believe it. I remember paying $300/night rack at CR in the early/mid 90s and I thought I got ripped off lol.

I would purposely schedule Epcot or a half day park for a day I expect to be tired. So you can either sleep in or leave early.

 

[Cheburashka]

First of all, is anyone else shocked that CBR is $350?!?!?

Not when a standard room at Animal Kingdom Lodge costs almost $700. I've seen too many of these prices in recent years to be shocked. Lucky for me, I found a surprisingly reasonable price for Four Seasons Orlando for our dates, so cancelled AKL to book there, instead. The price for Four Seasons was only $100 more per night than a standard view at AKL, the insanity of which will be understood by those who have stayed at FSO & know how much more luxurious it is than staying at a Disney resort, and with a phenomenal pool complex better than even Stormalong Bay. It's within the Disney gates, too, right next to Fort Wilderness. When I pay that much for a resort, I like to feel that I'm getting my money's worth. Disney deluxe prices are passing their tipping point, imo.

 

[robinb]

Not when a standard room at Animal Kingdom Lodge costs almost $700.

Prices like that make me exceptionally happy that I bought DVC 20+ years ago. I just booked a value studio at AKV for 6 nights for 56 points, which comes out to $452 in dues, or $75 per night. We bought the points 14 years ago when AKV opened and can sell them today for more than 50% more than we paid for them.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Been there - went straight to my resort. I much preferred that. I went to the resort (made sure my pj's and bathroom stuff were on top of my suitcase and went to bed.
Then got up the next morning, unpacked, showered and headed out knowing I wouldn't have to deal with unpacking later.

Now my husband doesn't unpack so he never worries about that. It used to take him longer to find clean clothes but now he puts the dirties in a garbage bag in the suitcase which helps him immensely.

 

[Cheburashka]

Prices like that make me exceptionally happy that I bought DVC 20+ years ago. I just booked a value studio at AKV for 6 nights for 56 points, which comes out to $452 in dues, or $75 per night. We bought the points 14 years ago when AKV opened and can sell them today for more than 50% more than we paid for them.

That wouldn't work for us, as I'm not a fan of the DVC studio set-up. Only one real bed isn't ideal when a mother & teenage son are traveling together (he doesn't complain about the pull-out because he's a sweet kid, but I'd like him to have something more comfortable, and I know he prefers that, too). A one-bedroom is too big for us. The standard two queen bed resort rooms are ideal for us. I also want daily housekeeping.

The skyrocketing ticket prices, resort parking fees, and the cuts in park hours and services like DME & RAC are additional issues. Owning DVC would probably make me feel resentful about those issues, because it wouldn't be as easy to just take my business elsewhere.

 

[helenm29]

When we get in late in the evening we pretty much just check in then go get something to eat. After we've eaten, we go back to the room and plan what time we need to get moving in the morning. It was a lot more difficult when my 3 kids were little! but now that they've grown up and we can do things on our own we can take our time with everything. NOT to say we aren't excited about getting to the parks but it's good to get a good nights sleep before hitting them.

 

[tgropp]

Stay at Disney the first night. You get an early start and don’t have to have your luggage stored.