Very Early Flight Arrival and Resort Check-In

We are looking to set our arrival at CB Resort on a Saturday. We cannot shift our vacation to arrive on Friday for various reasons.
Looking at flights, they are about $193 to arrive on Saturday. I noticed that the day before has considerably cheaper flights, including a $138 late night flight that arrives at the Orlando airport about 12:30 am (technically Saturday morning at that point).
I know check in is 3:00 pm and there are early check-ins, but I’m sure we can’t check in at 1:30 am on our arrival day…right? And assuming we can’t, what alternatives would we have? Hang out in the lobby until normal morning hours and then wait for rooms to be ready? That probably will not work since adding yet another layover after the last flight doesn’t sound appealing.
I am assuming my best bet will be to just get a morning flight on Saturday and pay the extra $55 per person. I just wanted to see if anyone had some amazing solution that I hadn’t thought of to save me a couple hundred bucks.

We have a family member that lives an 8 hr drive away from WDW and they like to drive to arrive at about 1-2am and will usually check in to a motel in the area to have a place to crash for a few hours and get a shower in before their hitting the parks their first day. I believe she said she gets a room for as low as $30 but the first week of April she paid almost double that. If you are already planning to rent car at the airport then depending on how many people are in your party this could help with saving some bucks.

Other than that, I got nothing. Our flight arrived at 4:55am and in between getting to the resort via the Magical Express, checking in (room wasn’t ready at 7am), freshening up, leaving bags with bell services & getting bfast that was just enough time to get to the parks for rope drop, but there wasn’t really any other option to do so I wouldn’t arrive too much earlier unless you have activities to keep you occupied in the lobby area for a few hrs.

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How many people are you traveling with? If it’s 4 or more, than $55/person would basically cover at least 1 extra night at CB. Could you just book an extra night at the hotel, do online checking, but not get to your room till middle of the night when you land? That’d give you time to chill in the room and rest before hitting the park full steam in the morning. Just a thought.

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We travel from the West Coast and often arrive after midnight. We either add another night at the resort (or a value for a cheap room), stay somewhere close to the airport, or stay in the Hyatt in the airport. You want to sleep in a bed, trust me. Arriving Friday gives you all of Saturday in the parks. But you will likely spend the savings on the flights by booking a hotel.

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It was brutal getting in and going, we’re used to it when we drive to Disneyland, but something about the flight really knocked it out of all of us and we were so ready to be in a bed when nap time came.

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We have arrive early before and were able to get early checkin (but about 4 hours early, not quite as early as you’re talking about, lol). I know that bell services at disney resorts will hold your stuff but as you said, what are your options to go do at that hour, not like you can hit the parks quite yet. Have you priced a “day use” (they call it something like that) room at the Hyatt hotel that is IN the Orlando airport terminal? I have heard of people doing this when they arrive at odd times. After landing, going up to check in right there at the airport, sleeping and then checking out around 8 am, going to their Disney resort and having them hold their stuff so they can hit the parks. Stuff is already there when they get back and of course room is ready. May want to compare the cost of one of those rooms to the increase in flight cost for the next day.

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We recently got in very late (around midnight) - our option was taking an early flight the next day. Although it cost up more for the hotel - it was worth it for us. If you are saving by taking a late night flight - I would put that towards a hotel. Even if it is the HYATT at MCO and then you go to WDW the next day.

I hate getting up early for a flight - never sleep well. If you get there late one night - you can then see how you feel the next day and act accordingly. My vote - fly in the night before

Dave

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Thanks. I looked at Hyatt’s website and “Day Use Rooms are available between the hours of 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM daily, depending on availability” so looks like we’d just have to try and get a normal room instead.

You can check in quite early and as long as they aren’t at capacity it isn’t usually a problem. However, you can’t check-in before they do the nightly audit and start the new day in their reservation system which happens anytime between 4 and 6am. If you’re taking the late flight you’ll want to book a night for Friday.

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There is also the option of having a value room-only reservation booked for the day you fly out, so you will have that room available to you as soon as you arrive, plus you’re already in the “Disney bubble”, lol. A friend of mine just did this, had a room only at AofA (Little Mermaid room, was less than airport Hyatt), arrived late, checked in there and slept. When you check out the next morning Disney will transport your stuff to your resort you were already booked to check in at, you can just hit the parks right away.

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We landed late, around midnight on our last trip. We ended up booking a room at the hotel that was inside the terminal of the airport at MCO. we were so tired, it was great to just grab our bags, hop in an elevator and crash right then and there. We got up the next morning and caught the Magical Express to our Disney Resort and left our luggage with bag services until our room was ready later in the day. Not sure if that would be a possibility? The price of the hotel room was around $200 so if CB is about the same it might be worth booking an extra night at CB and checking in late there.

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