If we land in MCO at 1:50pm and take the Magical Express what time do you think we would get to the Pop and what would the check in line be like at that time? I do have some room request like connecting rooms and building location, is it the sooner your there to check in the better the chance of getting your request? Thanks:)

Normal checkin time is 3pm, although you can check in early. Usually you can get in your room from around noon on. I'd call the hotel directly a day or 2 before your arrival to restate your room request. Tell them when you're arriving, and they can give you an idea if they can meet your request or not.

POP is almost always pre-assigned, that takes place 4 or 5 days out (basically when the cancellation policies kick in). a lot of people opt to fax in their request just to confirm.

but the bottom line is the CM at check-in can re-assign your room to any other room that hasn't been checked in to, unless it's blocked (which is a relative rarity). that means even if you have the best room pre-assigned to you, it's subject to be re-assigned to someone who checks in before you. but they'd have to be requesting to be moved from where they were assigned too which won't happen in the vast majority of cases.

so yes, there are sometimes advantages to checking in early, but it's also a wash on the whole.

official check-in time is 3 pm as mentioned, but you can check in as early as 6-7 am, so 1 or 1:30 is a non-issue. there is no guarantee your room will be ready however (nor is there technically a guarantee that it will be ready by 3 pm either but those are rare cases). basically each room that has had someone check out that morning has to be cleaned and cleared for inventory by housekeeping before it can actually be given to someone else in the event the guest trashed the room to the point where it can't be used by someone else that day. given that check-out time for most folks is a 11am with free extensions up to 1 pm, you can see the logic for 3 pm, especially as POP runs consistently at 95-100% occupancy.

if i haven't bored you enough, here's some actual advice though. POP is going to be one of the most popular resorts for DME (fortunately it should be the first one to be dropped off) and that check-in line can get long during at that time. make sure you sit as *close to the front* of the bus as possible. first one off means first in line. if you're having luggage stored under the bus, if you can, have one adult go in and check-in by themselves anyway.

i also meant to add, just as a little secret, when you call the hotel 'directly,' you aren't calling the hotel at all. you're getting a centralized location (same as if you dial 0 from your room phone, you get a central operator). the reason being that most calls that come in are generic ones so they use it as a cost cutting measure. officially, the hotel isn't supposed to deal with the guest directly until day of check-in, but i have heard of guests being able to get transferred to the room assignor (who may or may not be at POP) too.

I made my reservations through an AAA agent and did give her my location preference. However, she has been rather scatterbrained with other things regarding my trip, so I'm not confident that she put in my room preference request.

Since I made the reservation through an agent, can I call Disney directly to make sure they have my request?

POP is going to be one of the most popular resorts for DME (fortunately it should be the first one to be dropped off) and that check-in line can get long during at that time. make sure you sit as *close to the front* of the bus as possible. first one off means first in line. if you're having luggage stored under the bus, if you can, have one adult go in and check-in by themselves anyway.

Thanks for the advise! :)

I moved this to the "Where to Stay" forum since it appears to deal more with questions about the resort than DME or transportation. Thanks.

Since I made the reservation through an agent, can I call Disney directly to make sure they have my request?

no. you can try faxing the resort about 5-6 days out before check-in to restate your request though