Direct-to-room

florep1 · May 21, 2015

n2mm said:
My daughter and grandson both did online checkin without cc and both got their room numbers texted to them.

We've been doing online checki in since they initially offered it without a credit card on file and we would get a text of when the room is available. The difference is, you have to stop at the front desk without a CC on file, thus negating direct to room.

KAT4DISNEY · May 21, 2015

florep1 said:
To me, it would make sense to just issue a paper parking pass the first time you drive through the guardhouse. I liked direct to room but scanning the MB took longer than a quick glance at the windshield. They're already saving paper by not printing all that other welcome packet info. One piece of paper isn't going to hurt that much.

They do. That's how we always get them - at the gate when we arrive.

florep1 · May 21, 2015

I'm thinking this is probably resort specific. We were never offered one. I'm sure they would have printed one had we asked. This was at OKW

deedisneydream97 · May 21, 2015

KAT4DISNEY said:
They do. That's how we always get them - at the gate when we arrive.

That is when we received ours too (at BWV)...but also received another one from the front desk. We stayed at the Poly for one night...was a little dicey when checking in at the guard shack there....he had NO information about us (luckily I always print out my confirmations when I receive them). And now I can't recall if we got one for the Poly from the front desk. I wasn't really worried, though, as we were not going to use the car again until check out the next morning. Parking was wonderful for the DVC villas at Poly.

I'm not sure if I would like direct to room. I kind of like the person-to-person thing in the lobby. Kind of makes me feel I am really on vacation....and can get some questions answered too. I know the CM's are "trained" to ask the vacationer about themselves and where they are from...but I like that interaction, because I am always curious about the person behind the desk!

n2mm · May 22, 2015

florep1 said:
We've been doing online checki in since they initially offered it without a credit card on file and we would get a text of when the room is available. The difference is, you have to stop at the front desk without a CC on file, thus negating direct to room.

Neither had to stop by the front desk. They both got their room assignment while in route and never went to the front desk. Neither had a cc on file.

DenLo · May 22, 2015

We drove to WDW on May 12, 2015, arrived 15 minutes before our set arrival time and never received a text in advance. The CM in the waiting line confirmed we had done online check in. The CM at the check desk said we didn't get a text because we arrived before our arrival time. Makes no sense to me when others who fly get the message before they board their plane to Orlando. Our CC was on file from the online check in.

We received a paper parking pass from the guard house and the CM at check in offered us a second one. It does make it quicker at the parks.

BTW, regarding keying your MBs to your room door, DH intentionally did not swipe a MB to the door and it would not open the laundry room door, the gate to the pool, nor the doors leading from CR to the skyway to BLT.

Judique · May 24, 2015

nalajms said:
That's great to hear. Maybe some day I'll get there.

We just got back from OKW. Got a text around 2pm saying "room's not ready but here's some additional info about the resort". Then at 4pm another text/email "Please see front desk about your room assignment". Of course the excuse they gave us is "you have too many MB". They had to figure out which MB we had, then "re-program" them to open the room. Only the reprogrammed MB could open the room door. Including old KTTW cards, we have about 20 per person. I'm seriously considering just starting a new MDE account.

Before your next visit, you may want to go into MDE and 'inactivate' all but the current magic bands you are going to use.

Like you I have about 20 cards and magic bands just for me. So when my MB wouldn't open the door, it was because the card I was using was deactivated. It happened especially with split stays. The CM is looking through all these cards trying to figure out which one goes with your room. Anyone of them should work, but the CM's (I think) try to deactivate all but one when they check you in. At least that's when they access your MDE.

You can than activate whichever color you want to use - old ones, new ones whatever, if you have your laptop (or maybe tablet or smartphone) with you.

I've found when I have more than one MB activated, sometimes one will get deactivated. I then just pop into MDE and reactivate it. It would be nice if they would give us a delete button, then we could toss older MB's and clear the stash.

ThistleMae · Jun 15, 2015

florep1 said:
We've been doing online checki in since they initially offered it without a credit card on file and we would get a text of when the room is available. The difference is, you have to stop at the front desk without a CC on file, thus negating direct to room.

LOL...yeah that makes sense.

ILoveMyDVC · Jun 16, 2015

jo-jo said:
But what about the info packet they give you at checkin? About 1/2 the stuff I don't care about, but there are a few things like movie lists that's nice to know.

I miss the old check-in cardboard envelope of fun.

DenLo · Jun 19, 2015

We are driving back from WDW from an extra trip that we added for June to be with family. We stayed at SSR this time and the guard at the main gate did not give us a parking pass for our windshield. He did scan a Magic band and check one ID. Although we did online checkin, we decided to go in and check with the front desk since were were using points from our membership plus my DSIL's membership (with two reservations one for 2 nights and the other for 6 nights). We had MS link the reservations (received an email confirmation) so we could stay in the same room the entire trip. The CM at the front desk gave us the printed parking pass. We had to check out and in after the first two nights when we switched to the other reservation.

Housekeeping days worked perfectly.

com_op_2000 · Jun 22, 2015

This past week I used the Direct-to-Room at SSR it worked but it failed to work at AKL.
We had a triple split stay last week at SSR, VB, and then AKL.
While still at home @08:30 got a text saying the room was not ready, got another text while on the road to SSR @09:10 that the room was ready and the room number. This still did not help me as I had to go to the front desk to get my parking pass and one for my DD's car, who was staying with us.
We left and went to VB which does not use the Direct-to-Room system.
I was expecting texts about my AKL room but never got one. When I checked in at AKL they stated that everything was correctly done with online check-in, I should of been set-up for Direct-to-Room, and our room was ready for check-in when we arived at the resort. AKL does not hand out parking passes any more.
The Front Desk Manager at AKL could not explain why I was not set-up for Direct-to-Room and tried to pass it off as if I had done something wrong with online check-in even though the lady checking us in, found no issues. I will be sending this issue to Member Satisfaction for follow-up.

Theaberdeenkid · Jun 22, 2015

We stayed at AKL last week, the direct-to-room worked like a charm. I thought the process was fantastic. We were in our room and bags/groceries brought up in five minutes of pulling up to the front door of Jambo.

DisneyHeather · Jun 22, 2015

I stayed at AKL and BLT in May and didn't get a text from either although at the front desk I was told they'd sent one from each resort. It was no big deal at AKL because we got in so late and I wouldn't have know where the room was without help.

But at BLT we'd been in the park all day and when the room wasn't ready at 230pm when we tried (which was fine as I know it doesn't have to be ready that early) we were told we'd get a text when it was so I took my 4 year old and we hung out in the community room and we waited and waited and waited. Finally a little after 4pm I went back to the front desk and was told yeah your room's been ready for awhile and we sent you a text....never got the text.

Pirate Granny · Jun 23, 2015

Our direct to room was a fail both at AKL Jambo and WVL, got the text; too bad our MB would not open the doors...blamed us, as we had multiple MB, we said, HEY there is one assigned for this trip, why wouldn't you activate that. AKL a the maid let us into the room and on our way to the pools hubby had them activate the correct bands (one night stay). Same ole same oLe at VWL a we had to stand in line at the spdesk in order for them to activate the MB.

maburke · Jun 24, 2015

Judique said:
Before your next visit, you may want to go into MDE and 'inactivate' all but the current magic bands you are going to use.

Like you I have about 20 cards and magic bands just for me. So when my MB wouldn't open the door, it was because the card I was using was deactivated. It happened especially with split stays. The CM is looking through all these cards trying to figure out which one goes with your room. Anyone of them should work, but the CM's (I think) try to deactivate all but one when they check you in. At least that's when they access your MDE.

You can than activate whichever color you want to use - old ones, new ones whatever, if you have your laptop (or maybe tablet or smartphone) with you.

I've found when I have more than one MB activated, sometimes one will get deactivated. I then just pop into MDE and reactivate it. It would be nice if they would give us a delete button, then we could toss older MB's and clear the stash.

Thanks for the advice about de-activating all but the current magic bands. We travel with a variety of family members, so we get a new set with every trip to make sure that everybody has a new one. We used direct-to-room on our trip to BCV last week, and it worked great! All 6 magic bands opened the door, and no waiting in line at the desk. I even looked up the location of our room when we got the text (still on the road). So cool!

jo-jo · Jun 25, 2015

What if you don't like the room location? Once we had pool view at AKL Jumbo and during the afternoon parties, you would have thought the sound system was IN our room. We couldn't believe how loud it was. We had tried to move the next day and nothing was available but it did seem like the sound was a bit softer after that, not quiet but better.

If you get to room and find out it's a pool view, can we go to front desk and ask for a change or are we stuck with it?

ThistleMae · Jun 26, 2015

jo-jo said:
What if you don't like the room location? Once we had pool view at AKL Jumbo and during the afternoon parties, you would have thought the sound system was IN our room. We couldn't believe how loud it was. We had tried to move the next day and nothing was available but it did seem like the sound was a bit softer after that, not quiet but better.

If you get to room and find out it's a pool view, can we go to front desk and ask for a change or are we stuck with it?

You can always ask for a room change, for any reason. But....you don't know what may or may not be available.

WDWGeek1971 · Jul 2, 2015

We used direct check-in at the Poly in April. They send you your room number via SMS, and they only send it when the room is ready for you to actually "take residence." It was perfect for us as our flight landed around 4pm. While we were picking up our rental car, we got the message with our room number. Drove up and told valet parking our room number, and walked straight there. I highly recommend it if you are arriving AFTER check-in time. If you are arriving earlier and have luggage or need to stop by the resort for some other reason, you will still have to go through the antics of stopping by the desk and making arrangements. One big advantage would be for people who have packages with ticket media associated with the room check-in.

If you were arriving early, though, had your magic band(s), and wanted to go straight to a park, you could do so without stopping by the resort. That's a big win if you feel the need to maximize your park time.

maburke · Jul 2, 2015

ThistleMae said:
You can always ask for a room change, for any reason. But....you don't know what may or may not be available.

I thought that they used to charge a fee if you asked for a room change after you went to the room. I think it was to discourage that, since they'd have to go and check to make sure the room did not need any additional cleaning from your visit. Anybody know if they still do this?

ThistleMae · Jul 2, 2015

maburke said:
I thought that they used to charge a fee if you asked for a room change after you went to the room. I think it was to discourage that, since they'd have to go and check to make sure the room did not need any additional cleaning from your visit. Anybody know if they still do this?

On my last visit they just asked whether we did anything in the room other than look at it, which we did not. I changed twice after checking them out, without issue.

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