When you stay at a Disney World hotel, there are quite a few RULES in place that you might not realize!
Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
From “quiet hours” to safety procedures (like no running on the pool deck!) there are quite a few rules that guests have to follow. But on the other hand, there are also hotel rules that Disney has to follow. They have specific cancelation policies, safety regulations, and more. But there’s one hotel rule that we wish Disney would ACTUALLY enforce.
Planning a stay at a Disney World hotel can be incredibly exciting, and many people even count down the days until they check in for their vacation! When it comes time for check-in day, some people choose to go to the parks, some head to Disney Springs, and others just hang out at the resort until their room is ready. But what if that takes a while?
Port Orleans French Quarter
Officially, you can check in to your Disney World Resort starting at 3PM, unless you’re staying at a Deluxe Disney Villa (a Disney Vacation Club resort/room), then the check-in time is 4PM. If you do Direct-to-Room check-in through the My Disney Experience app or arrive at your hotel earlier than 3PM, you may be able to request to get into your Disney World hotel room before the afternoon.
Disney’s Contemporary Hotel
Check-out time is 11AM across the property, so it’s usually pretty difficult to get into a hotel room before that time. However, some members of our team have had luck in the past with getting into their rooms before 3PM. Despite this, MORE members of our team have experienced problems with hotel check-in — namely that they had to wait a long time for their room to be ready.
Wilderness Lodge
One person on our team even described a time where they arrived in Disney World at 11:30PM and their hotel room was STILL not ready. What gives? Well, even though check-in is officially at 3PM or 4PM, you’re not guaranteed to get into your room right away. And we definitely think that’s a rule Disney needs to establish!
Yacht Club
More often than not, we’re able to get into our hotel rooms sometime in the afternoon. However, if you’re doing a short stay (say, just one night), that may not feel like enough time to truly enjoy the resort that you booked. We want to get every hour of that vacation!
Disney’s Riviera Resort
So, here’s to hoping that Disney World hotel rooms are ready earlier in the future! We’re hoping to enjoy some rest and relaxation for every hour that we paid for!
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When it’s just the two of us, we book a studio at Bay Lake Tower and it’s usually ready when we arrive, as early as 1PM. When we bring the family, it’s a two-bedroom apartment and it’s usually not ready until after 4.
Now, if one housekeeper is assigned to a “room,” it makes sense that a studio is easier to clean than a two-bedroom.
I’m sorry your friend had a bad time once getting to his/her room. Things happen, we had a room in a building that closed down in the middle of the day and no one in construction told the housekeeper. Disney got us a room for night ASAP and the next day move us and our other family member to a Preferred 2 bedroom at SS. Plus they refunded all our points to us and our family. Things happen in a place as big as Disney,but Disney makes sure your stay is over the top to make up for it. We became member in 2005 and our family in 1998 and this was the first time we had any problem with a room. So new comer don’t worry this is not normal. 11AM check out is very much help to and check in 4pm no later than 5pm Starting in Jan we are hopping that our room is not read so we can to the water park.Just another example of Disney going over board to make Magic for all guest.
We have had to wait long after check in for our room (although never as long as 11:30!), and we have waited even longer to have a spot in a building or area that we had preferred and requested. We try to avoid timing where we’re counting on getting into our room(s) right away or by a certain time. It can be tough juggling check in and things like grocery pick up or delivery and still make the most of your WDW time. All the more reason to go to Guest Services and have a conversation with a Cast Member about what you’re hoping for. Hopefully there will actually be a “Guest Services” desk with people to help you!
Tell me you’ve never worked in hotels before without telling me you’ve never worked in hotels before. I don’t work at Disney but for another huge hotel/resort company. A huge problem is the previous guests will refuse to leave the room at check out time, when we’re 100% and tell them we can’t give anymore late checkouts they just refuse to leave anyway. The way people leave the rooms is disgusting and sometimes it takes way longer to clean a room than it should. There’s a lot going on in housekeeping and I honestly thing people need to work in service industries. We can tell when you e never actually worked in a service industry before.
If you’ve never worked in large hotels housekeeping then you would never understand. Specially for a place as big as Disneyland . People leave rooms not as clean as they came in from and it takes a lot longer to clean than usual 30-45 minutes. Housekeepers break a lot of tears and sweat to make sure your stay is magical not just the front desk . If your average check outs 200 rooms a day and some leave late really nothing they can do unless you having to checkout earlier than expected I’m sure a lot of people are not going to want to do that
I doubt Disney hotels are ever at 100% capacity. Problem is probably more due to staffing issues. When the bus picks you up to go to MCO, it can be very early in the morning. So those rooms are available to clean. Do they still clean every other day? Some of the issue is there are too many choices in rooms. Preferred, pool preferred, first floor requests, etc. Not like the old days where they put you where they wanted. Sure they get more for some rooms but lose flexibility.
It’s unfortunate that individuals make it so difficult for others. Can you imagine what their homes look like if they leave a hotel room in a mess. House workers aka Cast members are paid very little for the services they perform let alone the headaches they have to deal with.