Full online check-in comes to Walt Disney World Resort hotels

zakattack99

zakattack99

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Is there any upside to early check in? I have never done it going in September staying at CBR with gift card so I have to stop at the front desk anyway. So not sure if it is worth ir.

Mainly does it expidite how quickly our room will be ready? We have a 6am flight from philly. If i can check in early and possibly (I know there are no guarantees) have a room ready when we get there I would do it so my wife and 1 year old can grab a nap before my in-laws arrive around 1pm. What are your experiences with this?
 
allgiggles

allgiggles

Well-Known Member
zakattack99 said:
Is there any upside to early check in? I have never done it going in September staying at CBR with gift card so I have to stop at the front desk anyway. So not sure if it is worth ir.

Mainly does it expidite how quickly our room will be ready? We have a 6am flight from philly. If i can check in early and possibly (I know there are no guarantees) have a room ready when we get there I would do it so my wife and 1 year old can grab a nap before my in-laws arrive around 1pm. What are your experiences with this?
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Since you have the option to indicate your arrival time during online check-in, in my experience it does increase the chances of your room being ready when you arrive. I've used online check-in 3 times so far (and will definitely use it for future trips) and 2 of those times our room was ready when we arrived at ~11:30 a.m. We actually got the text that our room was ready at 10:30 a.m. The third time we used it we got a text around 10:30 telling us our room wasn't ready yet. We still needed to stop at Walmart for snacks and water so we just took our time there. We got the text that our room was ready just as we pulled in the parking lot around noon. In order to get direct-to-room check-in, you have to have already entered your credit card information into your account. I know some people aren't comfortable doing that or simply don't want to attach a credit card to their account period.
 
zakattack99

zakattack99

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
allgiggles said:
Since you have the option to indicate your arrival time during online check-in, in my experience it does increase the chances of your room being ready when you arrive. I've used online check-in 3 times so far (and will definitely use it for future trips) and 2 of those times our room was ready when we arrived at ~11:30 a.m. We actually got the text that our room was ready at 10:30 a.m. The third time we used it we got a text around 10:30 telling us our room wasn't ready yet. We still needed to stop at Walmart for snacks and water so we just took our time there. We got the text that our room was ready just as we pulled in the parking lot around noon. In order to get direct-to-room check-in, you have to have already entered your credit card information into your account. I know some people aren't comfortable doing that or simply don't want to attach a credit card to their account period.
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Thanks! I think i may do it for this trip to try and get an early room, even though I have to stop at front desk and get our gift card.

I don't have a problem with the card linked to the account, it still was from our last trip. (I did change the card to my chase for this one though). The only other question I had was about the PIN. It's telling me mine is set but I did not set it? Is it the one from 2015? I am not exactly sure what that is, can I change it?

EDIT: NVM I figured it out, however it won't let me pick arrival time just says Magical Express. Lol this is why I do things the old fashion way!
 
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awhit066

awhit066

Well-Known Member
Anyone have any experience with online check-in for international guests? If I check-in online will it be easier to stop by the front desk and just pick up my magic band rather than going thought the whole check-in process? Do they have a special online check-in section at the front desk?

Also, if I add my credit card to MDE will it link it to our magic bands for charging? Do they give an option to put the card on one band and not another within the party? Can we link 2 cards, one to one band one to another via MDE?
 
Riddick

Riddick

Member
awhit066 said:
Anyone have any experience with online check-in for international guests? If I check-in online will it be easier to stop by the front desk and just pick up my magic band rather than going thought the whole check-in process? Do they have a special online check-in section at the front desk?

Also, if I add my credit card to MDE will it link it to our magic bands for charging? Do they give an option to put the card on one band and not another within the party? Can we link 2 cards, one to one band one to another via MDE?
Click to expand...

When we stayed at Pop in 2015 we just turned up and collected our magic bands having done the online check-in.
They had some staff that we're just roaming to sort that for you rather than needing to go to the desk.

Via the online check-in you can only link one card to the room and the band's charge back to the room rather than directly to your card. Every so often (or rather when you hit the credit limit on the room) it dumps the charges to your card, or when you check out if you don't hit the limit.

I believe you can get a statement per band so you can see who paid for what.
I don't think (but hopefully someone can confirm) that you can have a card for each band in a single room. Though you can restrict charging so that only permitted bands can make purchases.
 
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nickys

nickys

Premium Member
Riddick said:
When we stayed at Pop in 2015 we just turned up and collected our magic bands having done the online check-in.
They had some staff that we're just roaming to sort that for you rather than needing to go to the desk.

Via the online check-in you can only link one card to the room and the band's charge back to the room rather than directly to your card. Every so often (or rather when you hit the credit limit on the room) it dumps the charges to your card, or when you check out of you don't hit the limit.

I believe you can get a statement per band so you can see who paid for what.
I don't think (but hopefully someone can confirm) that you can have a card for each band in a single room. Though you can restrict charging so that only permitted bands can make purchases.
Click to expand...

Yes, you can link each band to a different credit card if you like. At least this is what you're effectively doing, technically you are linking a card to each person in the reservation. You can also set bands to be "non-charging" or set individual limits on each band. However you can't do any of this online unless things have changed recently.
 
allgiggles

allgiggles

Well-Known Member
zakattack99 said:
Thanks! I think i may do it for this trip to try and get an early room, even though I have to stop at front desk and get our gift card.

I don't have a problem with the card linked to the account, it still was from our last trip. (I did change the card to my chase for this one though). The only other question I had was about the PIN. It's telling me mine is set but I did not set it? Is it the one from 2015? I am not exactly sure what that is, can I change it?

EDIT: NVM I figured it out, however it won't let me pick arrival time just says Magical Express. Lol this is why I do things the old fashion way!
Click to expand...

I believe it stores your PIN from the last visit...which means I need to remember what mine was from the last trip....

I think if you're using ME, they already know your arrival time. We always drive, so I don't have any direct experience with that but I tink that's what I remember other people saying.


awhit066 said:
Anyone have any experience with online check-in for international guests? If I check-in online will it be easier to stop by the front desk and just pick up my magic band rather than going thought the whole check-in process? Do they have a special online check-in section at the front desk?

Also, if I add my credit card to MDE will it link it to our magic bands for charging? Do they give an option to put the card on one band and not another within the party? Can we link 2 cards, one to one band one to another via MDE?
Click to expand...

Yes, there is usually a separate online check in counter in the lobby as well as CM's wandering with iPads in the area of the ME drop off.


Riddick said:
When we stayed at Pop in 2015 we just turned up and collected our magic bands having done the online check-in. They had some staff that we're just roaming to sort that for you rather than needing to go to the desk.

Via the online check-in you can only link one card to the room and the band's charge back to the room rather than directly to your card. Every so often (or rather when you hit the credit limit on the room) it dumps the charges to your card, or when you check out of you don't hit the limit.

I believe you can get a statement per band so you can see who paid for what.
I don't think (but hopefully someone can confirm) that you can have a card for each band in a single room. Though you can restrict charging so that only permitted bands can make purchases.
Click to expand...

I never asked for the statement to be printed out for a specific person in the room, but I do know the regular statement prints out and indicates whose magic band was used for each line item charge. You can have more than credit card per room but you have to go to the front desk to set that up.
 
Huey Louie and the News

Huey Louie and the News

New Member
Any idea if this will change anything with Magical Express? Probably not, but it would be nice to go straight to a Magic Kingdom resort or other resort with a dining option....I assume we still have to "check in" at the resort.
 
JaxFLBear

JaxFLBear

Well-Known Member
TJ Vazquez said:
This option is still not applicable to the Swan and Dolphin correct?
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Online check in via MDE (web or app) is for Disney owned & operated resorts only. The Swan/Dolphin could offer online check in if the 3rd party operator was to build a website or app that includes that feature.
 
Unplugged

Unplugged

Well-Known Member
nicb88 said:
Physical parking passes generally no longer exist - they use the MagicBand as proof if necessary!
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Yeah, we saw some signage regarding MagicBand usage at the entrance to our resort earlier this week. If the parking access is now going to work like pool access, then both should be less cluttered with cars/swimmers that don't belong there, with an added measure of security.
 
disfan411

disfan411

Active Member
I did the online check in from my laptop and not the app but I never received a text so I had to go to the front desk anyways. This was last monto that I went in june
 
Riddick

Riddick

Member
nickys said:
Yes, you can link each band to a different credit card if you like. At least this is what you're effectively doing, technically you are linking a card to each person in the reservation. You can also set bands to be "non-charging" or set individual limits on each band. However you can't do any of this online unless things have changed recently.
Click to expand...

Ah well there we go, I've learnt something new! Handy to know.

allgiggles said:
I never asked for the statement to be printed out for a specific person in the room, but I do know the regular statement prints out and indicates whose magic band was used for each line item charge. You can have more than credit card per room but you have to go to the front desk to set that up.
Click to expand...

I feel like I've seen someone post that they could get separate statements, that said I've never tried it.
Handy that it shows the magic bands though, feel like it didn't when I was there before? (Who knows?)
 

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