For most people, walking into a Disney World hotel marks the start of a vacation — and we definitely agree with that!
Disney’s Riviera Resort
The vibes are high, and the magic is in the air before you ever set foot in the parks, so what could be better than that?! We love staying in Disney World hotels for the convenience, the theming, and the feeling of never having to leave the Disney bubble. If you’re heading to the Most Magical Place on Earth soon, make sure you do these three things as soon as you get to your Disney World hotel!
Check in at the front desk
When you get to your Disney World hotel, you may be tempted to use the Mobile Check-in feature in the My Disney Experience app. While that can be convenient in some cases, you’re almost always better off checking in at the Front Desk in person. When you check in on the app, the system will randomly assign you a room in the category you booked — but the Front Desk is different.
Front Desk at Art of Animation
Front Desk Cast Members will often find you the absolute BEST room in the category you booked, instead of assigning you a random one. This might be a room that’s closest to the elevators, transportation, dining, or the pool. You can also request specific rooms when checking in at the Front Desk, which is not something you can do online. If you have any special requests, like a crib, extra towels, or a roll-away bed, this is also when you can request those, too.
All-Star Movies Front Desk
Not only that, but if you’re celebrating something special, Front Desk Cast Members often have celebration buttons and will be more than happy to give you these FREE souvenirs for your trip, depending on what you’re celebrating! In most cases, speaking to an actual human instead of letting the system assign you a room will likely be your best bet.
A Definitive Ranking of Every Disney World Hotel
Clock the transportation
Some Disney World resorts are HUGE and spread out. If it’s your first time staying at a particular hotel, it’s probably a good idea to map out your route to park transportation once you get there — so you know how long it will take you when you’re heading to the parks. Whether you’re planning on taking a bus, a boat, the Skyliner, or the Monorail, figuring out where your room is located in relation to transportation can save you time — and a bit of sanity — when it comes down to rope drop time.
Skyliner at Disney’s Riviera Resort
Luckily, each Disney World hotel is mapped out in the My Disney Experience app, which means it should be relatively easy for you to find the best route. It will even tell you how far a walk it is from your location! This is also a great tip for finding dining at your hotel — you don’t want to be wandering around all hangry!
Ranking Disney World Hotels Based on Transportation
Grab a bite to eat
Speaking of hangry, if you’ve had a long travel day, we think grabbing a bite to eat — and maybe even a drink from the pool bar or hotel lounge is another great thing to do when you first arrive. Being hungry on your first day is NO fun, and with so many fantastic restaurants around the Disney World hotels, you might even find a new favorite place to eat — especially if it’s your first time staying there.
You had us at Nachos
This can help prevent meltdowns (for both kiddos AND adults) and is usually a relatively relaxing activity for your first day at Disney World before hitting the parks.
The Best (And Worst) Disney Hotel Restaurants
We’ll be on the lookout for more Disney World hotel updates you need to know about. In the meantime, make sure you stay tuned to the Disney Food Blog for the latest Disney news and more.
Check out more Disney World hotel news at the links below!
- Disney World Is Cracking Down on Resort Hopping Harder Than Ever Before
- Disney World Announces NEW Holiday Hotel Discount
- Disney Dropped 3 MAJOR Announcements Including A NEW Quick Service Restaurant
- Disney World Just Dropped 3 MASSIVE Announcements
- The SECRET Place To Get Our Favorite $15 Disney Souvenir
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I agree about personal check-in. You’re absolutely right! I don’t care how long any transportation takes. To me, it’s part of the daily adventure and I get to see things along the way I otherwise wouldn’t. But I think #3 should be to check out your room! More than once, we’ve been assigned a room that had things wrong with it. The worst was an older room at Coronado which had an overwhelming scent of bleach and spiders in the ceiling corners! We asked for a different room. They balked at first but then gave us a brand new room! It was wonderful! Once we were assigned a room that already had people in it! Disney doesn’t make mistakes often. People are only human so forgive them and be nice when you complain…. It gets you much more…..but don’t just take off for the parks and then come back tired to find the room isn’t up to snuff. I might also add that checking out the menus, hours and gift shop when you check in allows you options to consider when you’re in the parks so you go can get what you want or need at the resort without carrying things around all day you don’t need until later!
We haven’t found that advance room requests, at least those made by faxing the hotel, or even when the online check-in process allowed requests, are likely to be honored. We haven’t made super specific requests, just to be in a certain section of a resort (without requiring a room upgrade), on one of 2-3 cabin loops that we prefer (which actually aren’t very popular generally), or simply ‘near parking.’ But if you go to the front desk, the people there will usually work with you to get the closest option available to the room type that you want. It also helps if you can be flexible about when you actually get access to the room. If you’re willing to wait as long as it takes (we’ve been there), you can usually get ehat you’re looking for. You may not be able to get to your room until well after dinner time, but if you account for that possibility in planning your first day, it can work.
As a party of 6 at Bay Lake Tower, our two-bedroom apartment is NEVER ready by 4 pm, so we make arrangements to store luggage and find other things to do. When we finally get to the room, the first thing we do is unplug “Hey Disney.”
Often, the first thing I do after getting to my room is take a nap…or at least lie down for a half hour. I need the reset after a busy travel day, especially if I had an early mornimg flight.