Disney, this is a major problem and it needs to be fixed ASAP!!!
Grand Floridian Resort
We’re used to small inconveniences at Disney World, but sometimes a problem is so severe that we have to say something. Such is the case with a Disney World hotel problem — which can really put you into an uncomfortable situation if you don’t know to look out for it.
Disney World has largely gone digital in recent years. This really isn’t news to anyone, but it’s noteworthy thanks to a new issue popping up at Disney World hotels. With most things done via the My Disney Experience app — such as hotel check-in and check-out — life at Disney World has gotten easier…except when technology lets you down.
Port Orleans — French Quarter
Apparently, the My Disney Experience app has had issues with check-out specifically. We’ve seen guests complain that the app said they checked out — even when they hadn’t.
One guest said they returned to their room before checkout to see the hotel staff had already done up the room and their luggage was GONE. When they checked the app, they saw they had already been checked out thanks to their location services. The experience was so jarring that they’re now considering staying off property in future visits.
Pop Century
This kind of incident isn’t isolated, either. Other accounts include some from our own reporters! One noted that she’s “definitely been marked as checked out in the app before doing anything to mark check out before.” She said she was unable to pull up the mobile key before the checkout time, and that’s how she noticed. Another said the same thing happened to her, although she was automatically checked out after the check-out time had passed.
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
One of our reporters had a recent Disney World hotel horror story, saying, “It was 10 AM and I didn’t hear them knock on my door, and so the staff member just SCANNED IN and my sister had literally just walked out of the shower and I was in my pajamas. She didn’t make it far because it was obvious there were people in the room, but then she did it AGAIN at 10:30!!! That time, I heard the knock but couldn’t even make it to the door before she opened it. I was like, ‘We’re still here!!!'”
Coronado Springs
Really uncomfortable stuff.
Until Disney gets this issue sorted out, our best advice is just to be mindful of what’s going on with your digital check-out on the day you’re leaving your hotel. Be aware of what the app is saying just in case, and be communicative with hotel staff. If you’re not ready to check out but the app has done so, speak to a hotel Cast Member ASAP. If you plan to leave the room early and then return before check-out, maybe it’s best to store your luggage with guest services just to be safe. Unfortunately, this issue is unpredictable, so all you can do is take some preventative measures.
Art of Animation Hotel
We’ll continue to keep you updated with all the latest Disney World tips and warnings, so stay tuned right here at DFB to stay in the know!
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Has this issue happened to you? Share your experience in the comments below!
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My family got checked out twice in the middle of our trip! This was back in May/June of 2024 and we were at Boulder Ridge at Wilderness and on our second day we noticed a small leak from the ceiling right outside our room door (this becomes relevant) and didn’t think much of it assuming surely housekeeping or maintenance would probably see it while we were at the parks. When we got back the leak had grown and the carpet was soaked so we let the front desk know. Eventually maintenance came out and checked on it, but the next day in the middle of the day I got an email and text saying we were checked out and I panicked! Our trip was booked for 8 days and this was day 3. I thought maybe it had something to do with the leak and we were having to move but no. I went to the front desk and they said they didn’t see anything on their side and I showed them the messages. Meanwhile my husband went to take the kids back to the room and our magic bands didn’t work. So he called to let me know while I was at the front desk and we had to get everything reactivated. Spent the rest of the trip slightly paranoid we’d get locked out or our room get double booked and someone else just come walking in! I got the check out messages once more on our second to last day but our magic bands didn’t deactivate, we still let the front desk know and they just blamed the technology. Not a stress we wanted to have on vacation!
The article says that the issue was related to location services, at least for some guests. But it sounds like others were in their rooms all morning and still faced issues. The morning of checkout, all we’re normally doing is loading the car up, but I’m wondering if leaving our phones in the room (we have magicbands) *might* help to mitigate this issue. It sounds like it probably wouldn’t, but maybe we’ll plan to tape a “we’re still here” sign on the door too lol. We take longer trips less often now, we like to stay in the Fort Wilderness cabins (complete with groceries etc.) and we’re pretty indulgent with the souvenir shopping, so packing up the car to leave takes a while. We’re usually dashing out with the last of our items right at 11. It’s very disconcerting that pre-checkout time, people’s belongings were removed from their room just because the app said they had checked out (when obviously just about everything that they came with was still there). That would create serious misgivings for me about staying on property too. But I do wonder how much of an ‘error’ this is. Yes, by that I mean I wonder if Disney is doing it deliberately. There’s always clearly been pressure to turn the rooms over as fast as possible. I have found it’s not unusual to find housekeeping waiting for you to leave your room almost regardless of how early you may leave on check out day. Disney has created more pressure on themselves by having guests making a point to arrive early on their first day with the water park promo, and guests are going to be hoping that their rooms are available so that they can change in comfort and privacy. Disney may well be thinking that by your checkout day, they’ve gotten your money and they’re not worried about continuing to make you happy. No, it’s not smart to distress your guests this way, but many people would say that being smart about not upsetting their guests has not been Disney’s strong suit lately.
My app also showed checked out by 10 am when I’d arranged late check-out. Also your card/app won’t work to get through security gate after 10am and guard wasn’t very happy/accommodating about their screw-up. And had worker show up and knock 15 minutes before check-out.
Several times over the last few years, I’ve gone to check out and we had already been checked out. They really need to fix this. Though even if we haven’t been checked out, we still get the knocks on the door starting around 8 or 8:30 which is very annoying. Thankfully, we’ve never had anyone walk in on us or had our luggage moved out, but I’ve heard of that happening. It does not make for a pleasant last day and I’ve mentioned it on post trip surveys in the past.
I can’t say for sure that I was checked out by the app but I left my room on checkout day to refill my mug and when I returned to the room my Magic Band wouldn’t open the door and I had to go to Guest Services who gave me a key card. Just out of curiosity I tried the Magic Band again and it worked. Guessing I had been checked out and they reversed that.
Yikes. If it’s happened to some people for *years*, again, I wonder how much of a ‘tech issue’ this is, versus something that is deliberately in place. Being checked out before your last day sounds like a definite mistake of some kind, but repeatedly going to check out at the end of trips over the course of YEARS and finding you’d already been checked out doesn’t. I’m sure that housekeeping has a way of letting the front desk know which rooms have been ‘checked out’ while they are cleaning the rooms, maybe that’s part of it. I know that for a while, Disney had stopped providing ‘do not distrub’ door hangers, and there were some reasons behind that, and I know people take them as ‘souvenirs’ also. I think we’ve pretty consistently had them available on our last few trips, but I’m thinking about bringing our own just in case. On our last trip, someone had a zoom call on our last day at 10:00, and it would have been bad if we were facing issues with being in or getting back into our room.
I had the problem with the cleaning staff just last week.
We still had an hour until checkout and I hear a fighting with the door handle. I assumed it was my little nieces and and nephew who were staying in the room next to me. Nope…the cleaning staff was here.
It was awkward. I said “um, checkout isn’t until 11”. She looked at me dumbfounded and said “oh, ok, sorry”. Then proceeded to go do the same to my brother’s room and the next room which was my mother.
We were happy we were feeling rushed out.
I used to think the room cleaning cast members were preemptively checking us out so that they could get on with their day.
I do wonder if from a tech perspective, Disney has instituted some kind of check on how long room doors have gone without being opened, and if it’s above x length of time, is checking people out. A failure to account for check out date in that code could be what checks people out before their last day. From a housekeeping perspective, I wonder if they have been told or have been ‘incentivized’ in some way to clean and check out ’empty rooms’ even if the guests haven’t checked out, and even if the guests’ items are still there. More than ever, guests are going to want in to their rooms early if they have deliberately arranged their trips to take advantage of the water park on check in day promo. The cast members at the hotels are undoubtedly under more pressure to make it happen, and the tech cast members are undoubtedly under more pressure to find ways to check out guests who are relying on the app to check them out automatically to make that happen as soon as possible.