Walt Disney World has begun testing a potential return of the Resort Airline Check-In service for guests at Disney’s Pop Century Resort.
Walt Disney World Testing Resort Airline Check-In at Pop Century
In 2022, Disney stopped offering the complimentary Magical Express Service, which provided guests staying at any Walt Disney World resort free transportation to and from Orlando International Airport. Around the same time, Disney also discontinued complimentary airline check-in and luggage delivery for those arriving at and departing from Orlando International Airport. Before this cut, resort guests could simply register their bags with the Resort Airline Check-In Service, and Disney would be responsible for transporting them to the guest’s hotel room upon their arrival or to the airport for departure.
While no official announcements have been made yet, Disney is now conducting a temporary test of a program similar to the original Resort Airline Check-In. This test is currently taking place at Disney’s Pop Century Resort, although there is no information on whether the test will later expand to other resorts or how long the test will last.
The new Resort Airline Check-In is being operated by a third-party company called Bag Check. The service is not openly advertised, and guests can only find out about the test using word-of-mouth. The bag service is only complimentary for guests using Southwest Airlines at the time of writing. The test is also only available for guests leaving from their Disney resort to the airport, not arriving from the airport to the resort.
To begin the process, guests staying at Disney’s Pop Century Resort must check in with a Cast Member at the Luggage Assistance desk. These Cast Members will be wearing both a Disney name tag and a Bag Check name tag. The guest must already be checked in with Southwest Airlines and have paid for the bags on the flight, since Southwest Airlines started charging for checked bags this year. The guest should also have the same last name that was used to book the flight and come prepared with the flight confirmation number
Once the check-in process is complete, the guest will leave their bags with the Cast Member for the luggage to be loaded on the flight. For flights scheduled to take place before 1 p.m., the guest must bring all of their bags to the desk the night prior to the flight. For flights scheduled after 1 p.m., the guest must have their bags at the desk at least four hours before the flight time.
One useful note is that once a guest has checked their bags at the desk, they will not have access to the bags again until after their flight. It is important not to accidentally pack anything that will be needed before arriving at the flight’s destination.
One other important note is that a guest must only be staying at Disney’s Pop Century for the final night of their reservation to use the service. This means a guest swapping hotels from another resort to Disney’s Pop Century can still take advantage of the test.
Should the test prove successful, it is possible Disney will roll out the service to other Value resorts in the coming weeks. However, nothing has been officially confirmed so far.
Will you be taking advantage of Resort Airline Check-In during your next Walt Disney World trip? Let us know in the comments.
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Nope. I hated the prior version of this service. I never voluntarily used it, but I was caught up in it anyway. Even though I didn’t register for it, when I used Magical Express and gave my actual airline and flight numbers(not my confirmation number), I was automatically checked into my flights exactly two minutes after check in opened. The airline I use doesn’t have an automatic check in service. I never forwarded my bags or even went to the airline check in desk at my resort. I brought them with me on and under the bus. The automatic check in pissed me off because there are extra services that are only available during check in. The automated system ignored all of that and did just a straight check in. I was forced to give a dummy airline and flight numbers to keep my ability to select a different seat or pay for priority boarding. If this is expanded to other airlines, I hope it doesn’t get connected to Mears Connect. It was a pain having to find a dummy flight on a different airline that would allow for the 3 hours or more prior pick up time to my actual flight, especially when they don’t tell you ahead of time what the scheduled pick up times are.