Red Eye Flight and Check In

cmwade77

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 1, 2005
We will most likely be coming in on a Red Eye flight that will put us at our resort at around 7:00 AM on Jan 18th. I know that if we book for check in on the 18th the room most likely won't be ready until around 4 PM. (about $200 round trip from LAX per person and a nonstop flight vs. flights with stops running around $400 per person that are not redeyes)

So I am wondering if we book for check in on the 17th and call to let them know we will be arriving early on the 18th, is this allowed? And secondly would it be worth spending the extra points?
 
Worth it, that's up to you. You will have a room when you get there but it may not be the one you want.

:earsboy: Bill

 
Worth it, that's up to you. You will have a room when you get there but it may not be the one you want.

:earsboy: Bill
Here is my big list of what I want in a room:
  • Comfortable Bed
  • Working Toilet
  • Working Sink
  • On Property
  • The category of room I booked or higher (In other words, if I booked a preferred view, I expect a preferred view and not a standard view and if I book a 1 bedroom, I expect a 1 bedroom and not a studio)
I think most rooms will meet those criteria.

And I keep going back and forth on the worth it, which is why I wanted other people's opinions on if it would be worth it or not. Just in case it matter, we plan on checking out on Jan 31st, so we will be there for a while.
 
If your are 100% sure the flight will not be delayed and you have an extra days worth of point to toss, go for it. They're your points.
Where do you plan to stay?
 


We are going between Beach Club and Boardwalk, the flight we plan on taking has a 100% on time track record according to various sites that report such statistics. Oddly enough, the one flying back to LAX only has a 90% on time track record and since it is that same plane they use to fly back to Orlando it amazes me that the flight to Orlando is always on time, even if the incoming flight isn't. So, I think the chances of the flight getting delayed are very low.
 
Here is my big list of what I want in a room:
  • Comfortable Bed
  • Working Toilet
  • Working Sink
  • On Property
  • The category of room I booked or higher (In other words, if I booked a preferred view, I expect a preferred view and not a standard view and if I book a 1 bedroom, I expect a 1 bedroom and not a studio)
I think most rooms will meet those criteria.

And I keep going back and forth on the worth it, which is why I wanted other people's opinions on if it would be worth it or not. Just in case it matter, we plan on checking out on Jan 31st, so we will be there for a while.

We expect your list, sometimes the rooms have issues but we usually want a certain view. Once checked in it's harder to change rooms.

:earsboy: Bill

 
We expect your list, sometimes the rooms have issues but we usually want a certain view. Once checked in it's harder to change rooms.

:earsboy: Bill
Unless I am at Animal Kingdom lodge (then I want a Savannah View), I am really not that fussy.
 


If you have the points and you definitely want your room ready when you get there then do it. All the times I've checked into a DVC room only once was it ready before 3 or 4pm. I always say we will be arriving at 7 a.m. because we stay at an off property Hotel the Night Before Our DVC trip starts and it has never gotten Us in a room earlier. Not sure if I've just been unlucky or not but I've gotten the impression that early check ins are not a common occurrence.
 
I haven’t done it with a villa but we booked POR for the day before and it was terrific. The room was waiting for us when we got in.
 
We will most likely be coming in on a Red Eye flight that will put us at our resort at around 7:00 AM on Jan 18th. I know that if we book for check in on the 18th the room most likely won't be ready until around 4 PM. (about $200 round trip from LAX per person and a nonstop flight vs. flights with stops running around $400 per person that are not redeyes)

So I am wondering if we book for check in on the 17th and call to let them know we will be arriving early on the 18th, is this allowed? And secondly would it be worth spending the extra points?
I've done this in the past just to make sure that we have a room to go to as soon as we arrive. My BIL has Parkinson's and having a place to quietly and comfortably rest after travel is important. So for me, it's well worth the extra points spent. Last year, I got the "room ready" text while I was at home packing for the early-morning flight we were taking. We went straight to our room on arrival at the resort in the morning.
 
My mom lives in LA and we pondered this option for her - add a night so she can chill in the room until we all arrive much later. In the end she wasn't interested in the late night travel. IF I still lived in LA I would totally be down with this.
 
I am so glad to see this has worked for others! I always thought they cancelled the room if you didn't show up by a certain time (like 6 am or something). So, if you do online check-in, it doesn't matter?

The cheapest flights out are always first of the day or last of the day and that's usually what we book....basically we either pay for a room that we're not getting into until after midnight or one that we didn't sleep in but have early in the morning. There is no way if we have to leave for the airport at 2 am that I want to wait until 4pm or later for a room! We always had good luck getting into values / mods as early as 11 am, but I know that's never gonna happen DVC.
 
I always book the red eye flight from San Francisco so we always get in early in the morning. For us, it is not worth the extra points spent. We can usually sleep on the plane, so when we get to WDW we check our carry on bags at bell services and hit the parks until the afternoon. If we don't sleep on the plane I have on at least on occasion taken a nap in a pool lounger. We aren't picky about room views so I always select first available on online check in and most of the time I have a room before noon, I always go to the front desk when we arrive at the resort and let them know that we are there and will take the first available room in our category. I never assume this will get us an early room and if I really needed a room upon landing I would consider booking an extra night, but we haven't been in the position where we really need a room right away.
 
We have done this a few times with our DVC room. For us,arriving very early after an overnight flight and being able to go straight to our room has been worth the extra points. Occasionally your room might be ready, but that's unlikely. During a split-stay earlier this month we got a text at around 7am saying the room were were switching to (Kidani - 1br savannah) was ready! I felt like we had won the lottery. That almost made up for us missing our first night at Poly when we got stuck overnight in Chicago after missing our connecting flight :sad:. We just had to call and let them know we'd be late. We had already done on-line check-in, had our room assignment, and groceries had already been delivered to the room.
 
I am so glad to see this has worked for others! I always thought they cancelled the room if you didn't show up by a certain time (like 6 am or something). So, if you do online check-in, it doesn't matter?

The cheapest flights out are always first of the day or last of the day and that's usually what we book....basically we either pay for a room that we're not getting into until after midnight or one that we didn't sleep in but have early in the morning. There is no way if we have to leave for the airport at 2 am that I want to wait until 4pm or later for a room! We always had good luck getting into values / mods as early as 11 am, but I know that's never gonna happen DVC.
You still need to notify them that you are arriving later than you planned.
 

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