The Problem With Arriving at Your Disney World Hotel at Midnight

Sometimes you have to arrive at your Disney World Hotel in the middle of the night, and that’s okay.

Polynesian Village Resort

When you go to do pre-check-in on the app, Disney will ask you around what time you think you’ll arrive so they can be prepared for you. It can be adjusted any time before you actually arrive, and you can count on someone always being at the front desk at all hours of the day and night. But there are a few problems with arriving late to your hotel room that you should know about.

Fewer Cast Members Available

While you will absolutely have someone at the front desk if you need help checking in or have issues with your room, there are fewer Cast Members around at night than during the day.

Disney’s Beach Club Resort

This means that it may take a little longer to get problems resolved, or you may need to wait longer at the front desk for someone to be available if multiple people are checking in ahead of you. We know you’re tired from traveling, but it’s important to stay patient!

You’ll Need To Be As Quiet As Possible

While you’re moving into your room in the middle of the night, everyone else around you is asleep, so you’ll want to be as quiet as possible when you’re getting yourself settled.

Finding Nemo Room

This can be hard not only when you’re carrying lots of luggage (hello squeaky wheels), but also if you have kids with you. Whether they’re wide awake and excited or are upset because they’re tired and aren’t in bed yet, it can be hard to keep everyone quiet.

Everyone’s Cranky

Let’s face it — it’s the middle of the night, everyone’s tired from not sleeping (or trying to sleep on a plane or car), and that means you’re much more prone to being cranky.

Fort Wilderness

As hard as you might try to avoid it, everyone’s fuse gets a little short when they’re tired. So if you know you’re going to be checking in late, make sure you’ve got everything in place and prepared ahead of time as much as you can so you don’t spend more time than necessary checking in and getting in your room.

The Morning Is Fast Approaching

If you don’t go to bed until 12:30AM or 1AM, your family may be getting up in 5 hours to hit the parks bright and early, and that may be a disaster.

Art of Animation

And if it’s not you, families around your hotel room will likely be doing the same thing, and those Disney walls are THIN. So we recommend bringing some earplugs or a sound machine with you to help you sleep past the ruckus going on around you.

Little To No Transportation

If by some miracle you arrive late and want to hit the BoardWalk or Disney Springs for some late-night excursions, know that transportation from your hotel will be slim to nil.

All-Star Movies Bus Stop

If you have your own car, this won’t be an issue (unless you don’t want to drive), but if you’re relying on Disney Transportation, you may be stuck at your resort for the night if it’s after 11PM or so.

Want Food? Good Luck.

And on a similar note, many of the restaurants inside Disney hotels, especially those at value hotels, close pretty early in the night, so if you arrive late and are starving…yeah, that’s not fun.

Intermission Food Court

Of course, you can always Uber Eats or Doordash something to your hotel, but you’ll need to meet them in the lobby, they won’t be able to bring it to your hotel room door (and for safety reasons, that’s not a great idea anyway). If you’ll be arriving after 10PM, we recommend checking the My Disney Experience App to check the operating hours of the restaurants at your hotel.