Linking Disney springs hotel (Hilton LBV) to Disney app for early entry confusion

[Beer Me]

I have a reservation at Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista that won’t link to my Disney account. After calling Disney and being bounced around to 3 people I was finally told that it is not possible to link that hotel and my reservation does not include early entry benefits.

Did I miss the news that this hotel no longer gets early entry?

edit: called Disney again and still no luck. They can’t link the reservation and told me it’s a “good neighbor” hotel that can’t be linked and doesn’t have early entry benefits (I mentioned that Hilton’s website mentions the early entry perk and was told it must be outdated info). I’m 99% sure this is wrong but four different Disney customer service folk have now said otherwise. I’ll try to sort it out when we arrive.

Edit 2: one more and I’ll leave this up for posterity. Called Hilton and ended up speaking with concierge. Confirmed that early entry is a perk and they explained that Hilton and Disney systems often don't work well together. Instead of trying to fix the IT issue they can give me a physical card at check in that will allow us to enter the park 30 minutes early. Fingers crossed.

Must say the Hilton staff were more helpful, knowledgeable and professional than the Disney CMs I spoke with.

 

[BostonEd]

The Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista is not a Good Neighbor hotel. It is a Disney Springs hotel and does have the early entry benefit. Good Neighbor hotels do not get early entry. If you call back and tell them it is a Disney Springs hotel, the Disney phone people *might* be able to correct the situation so you don't have to get a card from the front desk.

 

[eandt]

I have a reservation at Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista that won’t link to my Disney account. After calling Disney and being bounced around to 3 people I was finally told that it is not possible to link that hotel and my reservation does not include early entry benefits.

Did I miss the news that this hotel no longer gets early entry?

edit: called Disney again and still no luck. They can’t link the reservation and told me it’s a “good neighbor” hotel that can’t be linked and doesn’t have early entry benefits (I mentioned that Hilton’s website mentions the early entry perk and was told it must be outdated info). I’m 99% sure this is wrong but four different Disney customer service folk have now said otherwise. I’ll try to sort it out when we arrive.

Edit 2: one more and I’ll leave this up for posterity. Called Hilton and ended up speaking with concierge. Confirmed that early entry is a perk and they explained that Hilton and Disney systems often don't work well together. Instead of trying to fix the IT issue they can give me a physical card at check in that will allow us to enter the park 30 minutes early. Fingers crossed.

Must say the Hilton staff were more helpful, knowledgeable and professional than the Disney CMs I spoke with.

We stayed at the Hilton LBV in Nov and although we did not use the early entry it was included.

 

[Beer Me]

Just returned. I was never able to link the hotel reservation with the Disney app.

At check-in I asked about early entry and they filled out a card with the dates I was staying. Seemed entirely routine. Showing up for early entry I simply showed the card to the cm and was waved through with no confusion or delay.

So bottom line no need to worry about linking your Disney springs hotel stay to the Disney app. Just let them know you want to use early entry at check in. It was totally painless.

On another note it was shocking how much misinformation I received from Disney phone customer service. They seem to have no clue about Disney springs hotels.

But all’s well that ends well.

 

[Brian Noble]

They seem to have no clue about Disney springs hotels.

I mean, the lack of consistent information is not limited to this particular topic.

 

[BostonEd]

I was never able to link the hotel reservation with the Disney app.

You keep mentioning the app. Did you try linking on an actual computer?

 

[Beer Me]

You keep mentioning the app. Did you try linking on an actual computer?

Yes, I tried on the website and the app, as well as calling Disney and Hilton multiple times and no one could get it to work.

But what the experience taught me was that it doesn’t matter very much. While it would have been nice to just use my magic band, having to show them a separate physical card for early entry was not a significant inconvenience. The cast member looked at it for two seconds and waved us through.