Hiya Susan! Welcome to planDisney!
I'm sure you're counting down the days until you visit The Most Magical Place on Earth! I'm happy you found us here at
planDisney! We love to help other Guests get the most out of their Disney Vacations. I find that the planning process can be lots of fun, but it also helps make your trip as smooth as possible. Let's get to it!
To answer your question, Susan, yes! You can go to a theme park before checking into your
Disney Resort Hotel. There are a few things I'd like to mention just to make sure you've checked some items off your list. First of all, to visit any of the theme parks, you are required to make a theme park reservation using the
Disney Park Pass Reservation System. As long as you have that, you'll be good to scan into the park you reserved and enjoy your day!
Next, let's talk about luggage. If you're traveling by car or chose to rent a car, you have a place to keep your luggage, so that makes it easy! If you're traveling by plane and taking another form of transportation over to the parks, you may want to plan to drop your luggage off at Bell Services at your Disney Resort Hotel before visiting the parks. It can be a pain to carry a bunch of bags around. You'll want to check out the
Park Rules, as there are size requirements for your bags and items that cannot be brought into the parks.
Susan, I recommend using your
My Disney Experience Mobile App to check in to your Disney Resort Hotel ahead of time. I do this a few days ahead of time, just so it's out of the way and off my to-do list. Simply open the app and press the menu button in the bottom right corner. Select "Disney Resort Hotel" and you'll see your upcoming reservation here. Click "Start Check-In" and follow the prompts. During this process, you'll be asked what time you plan to arrive at your Disney Resort Hotel. If you will arrive early, before the posted check-in time, you can make a note of it here. There is a chance that your room may be ready ahead of schedule and you could stop and drop off your bags before heading out for your next adventure!
I hope this helps answer your question today, Susan! Feel free to stop back by planDisney with any additional questions before your stay!
Happy planning,
Ashley