Is this timing too tight for comfort?

[acarsme123]

Hi,
I’m not sure if this is the most appropriate forum for this topic. It may be better suited to the Universal threads, but here it goes.
i just wanted to get opinions on our arrival day plans because I am extremely worried our timing is going to be too tight for this to work smoothly. We are arriving by car to Royal Pacific Resort on a Monday during spring break. We then have dinner reservations at The Wave at 5pm, followed by tickets to the Dessert Party then the After Hours event at MK. It seems like you can’t officially check into your room at Royal Pacific until 4. Is this going to be too tight to get checked in, then book it over to The Wave, considering we will park at the TTC and have to take the monorail around to the Contemporary? A friend of mine suggested just parking at The Contemporary and leaving our car there for the After Hours event, but that seems really frowned upon and seems hit or miss whether or not you’d get in trouble for doing that. I’m not sure I want to risk it.
I’ve never driven from Universal over to Disney before so I don’t know what the traffic will be like around that 4pm time frame. It seems extremely tight to be able to get there in time.
What is the likelihood you can get into your room at Royal Pacific earlier than 4? I’ve also heard they will let you check your bags with them, but I imagine we won’t be getting back to the hotel until around 2am. So I’m not sure if leaving bags with them that late would cause problems.
My thoughts were that it might be better to eat dinner close to Magic Kingdom as opposed to trying to go to Citywalk, but now I’m not so sure. Having my doubts and concerns.

 

[holden]

If you can’t get into the room I’d leave the bags with bell service. They are used to guests arriving at all times of the night (flight delays, etc). I guess leaving the bags in the car is an option too? Not sure how comfortable you are with that. We’ve done that before.
I think eating close to MK is a good idea.

 

[yulilin3]

Hi,
I’m not sure if this is the most appropriate forum for this topic. It may be better suited to the Universal threads, but here it goes.
i just wanted to get opinions on our arrival day plans because I am extremely worried our timing is going to be too tight for this to work smoothly. We are arriving by car to Royal Pacific Resort on a Monday during spring break. We then have dinner reservations at The Wave at 5pm, followed by tickets to the Dessert Party then the After Hours event at MK. It seems like you can’t officially check into your room at Royal Pacific until 4. Is this going to be too tight to get checked in, then book it over to The Wave, considering we will park at the TTC and have to take the monorail around to the Contemporary? A friend of mine suggested just parking at The Contemporary and leaving our car there for the After Hours event, but that seems really frowned upon and seems hit or miss whether or not you’d get in trouble for doing that. I’m not sure I want to risk it.
I’ve never driven from Universal over to Disney before so I don’t know what the traffic will be like around that 4pm time frame. It seems extremely tight to be able to get there in time.
What is the likelihood you can get into your room at Royal Pacific earlier than 4? I’ve also heard they will let you check your bags with them, but I imagine we won’t be getting back to the hotel until around 2am. So I’m not sure if leaving bags with them that late would cause problems.
My thoughts were that it might be better to eat dinner close to Magic Kingdom as opposed to trying to go to Citywalk, but now I’m not so sure. Having my doubts and concerns.

The rush hour traffic on I4 is terrible after 5 so the earlier you head to Disney the better. Usually the drive is about 30 minutes.
A couple of things you can do:
Valet park at the contemporary and that way you can leave your car there until after fireworks
Uber/Lyft and the driver can drop you off at the contemporary and then you can call an uber from the contemporary at the end of the night

 

[Disnsyncey]

I would get to the hotel whenever you want, and leave bags with the bellmen. That way you can start your vacation on YOUR time, not the hotel's.

 

[kwdw]

I would head to Royal Pacific earlier - and hope you can check in earlier. If you can't - either leave your bags in your car - or check them with Bell Services. I'd probably leave them in my car, to be honest.

I'd just pay to valet park at the Contemporary since you would pay to park at the TTC anyway. The good news is this - the Contemporary has two nice gift shops, some nice chill out and sit locations, and its fun to see their pool/marina area and the views. So - it's easy and comfortable to waste some time there before a dining reservation if you happen to be early. And then you can walk there after your time at MK - which is fast and simple.

If leaving from Royal Pacific - I'd head over about 1:15-1:30 before your reservation.

Now - if you all need to waste time earlier - head to Disney Spring earlier and spend some time there. Be sure to give yourself 35-45 minutes to get from Disney Springs to the Contemporary. It's about a 25 drive - and you still need to park and sign in at The Wave.

 

[acarsme123]

Wow those are great tips. I didn’t realize you could valet park at Contemporary. So they have no time limits if you do that? Is it like a 24 hour time frame you’re paying for? I ask because After Hours doesn’t end until 1am that night. I would think being able to just walk to Contempo would get us back to our hotel at Universal much faster than having to wait for the water ferry to the TTC. How much does valet cost if anyone knows?

also, do you have to reserve valet parking in advance or do you just show up? Where do you go for valet?

uber/Lyft might be a good second choice.Are they pretty readily available on-site at the TTC, or do you have to order them from the apps? What about MiniVan service?

 

[rwdavis2]

No time limits for valet parking. Just driver up to do it and it should be available. If not just park in the MK lot at the TTC. Lyft/Uber from Universal may be pricey. I would assume Minnie Vans don't travel to Universal.

 

[gharter]

I would agree with get to your hotel as early as possible.
We have stayed there several times. Sometimes the room is ready early, sometimes its not.
I would leave the bags with the bellman if you can't get into your room.
Everything will be very busy during Spring Break at the parks.
I would leave at least an hour before your reservation. Traffic in town can be bad in the afternoon.
Agree with Valet parking. It won't be much more than TTC and much closer. If you Valet park, you can leave the car there up to 24 hours. If you self park, they say 3 hours, but probably would never check. You don't reserve valet. You pay when you pick up your car.

 

[yulilin3]

Wow those are great tips. I didn’t realize you could valet park at Contemporary. So they have no time limits if you do that? Is it like a 24 hour time frame you’re paying for? I ask because After Hours doesn’t end until 1am that night. I would think being able to just walk to Contempo would get us back to our hotel at Universal much faster than having to wait for the water ferry to the TTC. How much does valet cost if anyone knows?

also, do you have to reserve valet parking in advance or do you just show up? Where do you go for valet?

uber/Lyft might be a good second choice.Are they pretty readily available on-site at the TTC, or do you have to order them from the apps? What about MiniVan service?

Valet is $33

 

[acarsme123]

Valet is $33

Doesn’t seem too bad. Isn’t ttc parking $25? If so, the extra $8 would be reasonable to just be able to walk from Contemporary to MK and back. I want to get back to our hotel at Universal as quick as possible since we’re going to be cutting into our first day at Universal due to getting back from AH so late. I’m not sure how late we will sleep in.

 

[yulilin3]

Doesn’t seem too bad. Isn’t ttc parking $25? If so, the extra $8 would be reasonable to just be able to walk from Contemporary to MK and back. I want to get back to our hotel at Universal as quick as possible since we’re going to be cutting into our first day at Universal due to getting back from AH so late. I’m not sure how late we will sleep in.

Yes

 

[acarsme123]

Just to be clear though, would valet parking allow me to retrieve my car as late as 1am or later since the After Hours event doesn’t end until 1am? I just want to make sure valet isn’t good only to a certain time, like midnight.

 

[sponica]

Just to be clear though, would valet parking allow me to retrieve my car as late as 1am or later since the After Hours event doesn’t end until 1am? I just want to make sure valet isn’t good only to a certain time, like midnight.

From what I've read it might be a longer wait for a valet overnight, but there should be a valet.

 

[kniquy]

We then have dinner reservations at The Wave at 5pm, followed by tickets to the Dessert Party then the After Hours event at MK. It seems like you can’t officially check into your room at Royal Pacific until 4.

It does seem like you are trying to pack it in a little tight. The only issue is dependent on what time you are arriving to RPR. I would consider scrapping the dinner at the wave, just check in at RPR, maybe your room will be ready but if not leave bags at bell services. Maybe grab something quick at RPR or just head over to MK to grab a light meal and then do your dessert party. I would imagine that traffic on a monday at 4pm is going to be horrendous. I always hear how bad traffic is on I4 and I am guessing that is the route you need to travel. Really no need to start your vacation being stressed.

One other thought is - if you are going to be at WDW why not just book a value resort room there for the night then head over to RPR the next morning. Might make more sense to actually pay to spend your night at WDW vs pay a premium for RPR and not actually be staying there very long. Really the benefit of staying at RPR resort is the express pass but for that one night you are not even going to be taking advantage of that benefit. I'd imagine one night at a value resort will be cheaper than one night at RPR.

Just a thought.

 

[kniquy]

Just to be clear though, would valet parking allow me to retrieve my car as late as 1am or later since the After Hours event doesn’t end until 1am? I just want to make sure valet isn’t good only to a certain time, like midnight.

From my understanding Valet for dinner reservations is limited to 3 hours. So you would be well over that allotted time.

 

[acarsme123]

hmmm, ok, it seems like I've read multiple places Valet is good for 24 hours. If I'm paying for the service, I'm not sure why there wouldn't be a decent time limit on it.

From my understanding Valet for dinner reservations is limited to 3 hours. So you would be well over that allotted time.

 

[acarsme123]

I am going to make sure we get to Royal Pacific early afternoon.

That's a really good idea about the Disney hotel. I wish i would have thought of that earlier. My wife generally hates the idea of changing hotels, but it would have made financial sense. Our vacation is only a couple months out now, so I'm not sure how easy it would be to change at this point

It does seem like you are trying to pack it in a little tight. The only issue is dependent on what time you are arriving to RPR. I would consider scrapping the dinner at the wave, just check in at RPR, maybe your room will be ready but if not leave bags at bell services. Maybe grab something quick at RPR or just head over to MK to grab a light meal and then do your dessert party. I would imagine that traffic on a monday at 4pm is going to be horrendous. I always hear how bad traffic is on I4 and I am guessing that is the route you need to travel. Really no need to start your vacation being stressed.

One other thought is - if you are going to be at WDW why not just book a value resort room there for the night then head over to RPR the next morning. Might make more sense to actually pay to spend your night at WDW vs pay a premium for RPR and not actually be staying there very long. Really the benefit of staying at RPR resort is the express pass but for that one night you are not even going to be taking advantage of that benefit. I'd imagine one night at a value resort will be cheaper than one night at RPR.

Just a thought.

 

[sharona]

I’ve stayed at Royal Pacific multiple times and have gotten into our room early only once so I wouldn’t count on that.

After our MKAH we took the ferry to TC and waited just a minute for an Uber to arrive. This was a 10p-1am event. We left at 12:45 and ferry was quick.