Online check in questions

[WDW&MK]

We leave shortly :mickey: for the World
I am wondering about on line check in. What is the process once you get to the resort and how do you know when your room is ready? We are arriving at the airport about noon. We'll catch a quick bite at Nathan's hotdogs (gotta do it - there's none in our neck of the woods :blush:). Then we'll take ME to POR arriving about maybe 1:30 or 2:00pm. We hope to have room ready at checkin as we have some medications that need to be out of the heat. What's best for having a room ready when we get there - online or checkin on arrival :confused:
Thank you!!
Kari

[TammiMcMan]

What is the process once you get to the resort and how do you know when your room is ready?You still go to registration, but look for the area marked for online check-in's. You'll be met by an actual person and they'll either tell you the room is ready, or they can send a message or give you a card with a number to call.


We hope to have room ready at checkin as we have some medications that need to be out of the heat.By chance, if your room is not ready, your meds can be kept cold for you.


What's best for having a room ready when we get there - online or checkin on arrival.Doesn't really matter, but doing online check-in in advance, will greatly speed up the process.

[WDW&MK]

Thanks for the info!
I guess we'll try on line checkin. Can't hurt and I'm all for getting through the process faster

[pixiesmimi]

The only thing we couldn't do with online check in was request our building. I forgot to double check on this before going down and they had given us a different building but I was able to get it changed. It was very quick and painless checking in. At first they didn't have a room ready but said they could keep our luggage until we came back but then, all of a sudden, a room appeared.

[LudwigVonDrake]

I did the online check-in and my time spent with the CM was about two minutes tops.

[pixiesmimi]

Mine would have been also except I couldn't understand the CM and had to keep asking what she said. A problem at the parks too. <snip> But what took us longer is that they didn't honor our longhouse request (which they don't have to do) and I couldn't reiterate it online so they had put us in another one that we didn't want. So we asked her to change it. That took some extra time. I forgot to call in right before going down to check on this. So if you do online check in and want a certain building, be sure and call ahead of time. It was just that this was our anniversary and I wanted it as perfect as possible. But we ended up loving Tokelau at the Poly and want to go there again next year.

[TammiMcMan]

But what took us longer is that they didn't honor our longhouse request (which they don't have to do) and I couldn't reiterate it online so they had put us in another one that we didn't want. So we asked her to change it. That took some extra time. I forgot to call in right before going down to check on this. So if you do online check in and want a certain building, be sure and call ahead of time.Just to clarify though, if you called in ahead of time, chances are your phone call would have been answered by someone in Utah, who would have verified the request was on your reservation. Ultimately, there's really no benefit to calling.

[pixiesmimi]

Oh. I thought you could call the resort itself a few days ahead of time and actually talk to someone there. That is what I had been told and my MJ agent told me to be sure and reiterate my request ahead of time to them. Oh, well. It worked out anyway. Why bother to request anything if they aren't even going to look at the requests ahead of time?

[TammiMcMan]

Oh. I thought you could call the resort itself a few days ahead of time and actually talk to someone there.With thousands of calls coming into Disney each day, they have to utilize a call answering service. They'll answer the phone as the number you are calling (i.e. Polynesian Resort), but you don't know if they are really there or in Utah. It doesn't hurt and you're verifying that your request made it onto the reservation, which may be what MJ implied.

In regards to filling a request, they do try to accommodate at least one request, but that doesn't always happen for many reasons. In your situation, they either bumped someone else with the same request who hadn't checked in yet, or possibly upgraded someone to free up your requested room.

[pixiesmimi]

Well, I figured they probably bumped someone else because they said there was a room but it wasn't clean yet (this was after 4:00) and all of a sudden they had a clean room. That seemed strange to me. I had hoped with me telling them ahead of time that it was our 40th Anniversary that maybe we would get an upgrade and would have gladly have taken it. But we were satisfied with that room.

What do you think about the Tahiti longhouse? Pros and Cons? Not sure where it is located. That was where they were going to put us to begin with.

[TammiMcMan]

What do you think about the Tahiti longhouse? Pros and Cons? Not sure where it is located. That was where they were going to put us to begin with.Tahiti seems to be another favorite amongst many Poly fans. It's one of the newest longhouses, so there are double sinks in all the rooms and balconies on the 2nd & 3rd floors. I understand that the lagoon and MK views are wonderful from here and you pretty much have your own private beach. It's close to the TTC, but a longer walk to the GCH. I think for a quiet anniversay stay, you probably would have been very happy with this longhouse.

[pixiesmimi]

Probably, but we weren't that far from the TTC in Tokelau and we prefer to be closer to the GCH. Seemed like we were within good walking distance to everything. We weren't really in the room that much so the quiet part didn't bother us. There was only one night when the "neighbors" were loud to all hours of the night but for the most part, it was a very quiet building. Was just wondering where Tahiti was located. The view would have been nice since we vertually didn't have one. We actually didn't go to the beach at all because it rained every afternoon and evening. The two times we watched the fireworks from there, we sat on the docks and watched. We had every intention to spend some time at the pool and beach there but with all the rain, that didn't happen.

[Belster]

As far as calling the resorts...what I do is call to check that my package that I shipped arrived at the hotel and then while I have them on the phone I double check that they received my faxed room request. Then I am sure to ask them their name so that I may drop that name upon chekin if needed.;) Works like a charm.