Napping and room checks

[HopperFan]

So, if I'm understanding this, even if we have some long RD to close park days, followed by a rest day where we sleep in late, lounge or nap in the afternoon, security or HK just barges in? If we do not decline HK, can we not just put out the DND sign for as long as we want before we head out for a meal or something? If it makes a difference, we are staying at an AoA suite.

There is no longer a DND sign ... just some sign that lets them know people are in the room ... before they ask or attempt to enter.

 

[dansdad]

Who is checking the rooms?

Usually housekeeping but sometimes security.

 

[dansdad]

So, if I'm understanding this, even if we have some long RD to close park days, followed by a rest day where we sleep in late, lounge or nap in the afternoon, security or HK just barges in?

Well they'll knock first.

If we do not decline HK, can we not just put out the DND sign for as long as we want before we head out for a meal or something?

As @HopperFan said, they got rid of the DND signs and just have a sign stating you're in the room. That will not keep them from doing the room check though.

If it makes a difference, we are staying at an AoA suite.

It does not.

 

[kpd6901]

Do we know when the earliest and latest times they would be coming by? Also, if someone is in the room, wouldn't HK simply bypass, since you can't really clean with people in there (although security might still come by if HK doesn't come in)? Can I provide them with my daily itinerary at the beginning of our stay? There will ALWAYS be a time that we will not be in our room on every day, but this way, they can put the room in different HK rounds if needed. Saves them time/effort and saves us the inconvenience and hassle of waking up sleepers or forcing family members to quickly get decent if they are lounging in less-than-public clothing arrangements.

 

[dansdad]

Do we know when the earliest and latest times they would be coming by?

I've read reports of as early as 8:00AM and as late as 9:00PM.

Also, if someone is in the room, wouldn't HK simply bypass, since you can't really clean with people in there (although security might still come by if HK doesn't come in)?

Not necessarily. We've been in the room many times and housekeeping has asked if they can clean the room and we said sure.

Can I provide them with my daily itinerary at the beginning of our stay? There will ALWAYS be a time that we will not be in our room on every day, but this way, they can put the room in different HK rounds if needed. Saves them time/effort and saves us the inconvenience and hassle of waking up sleepers or forcing family members to quickly get decent if they are lounging in less-than-public clothing arrangements.

You can try. But there's plenty of reports of them disregarding people's notes on the door and/or provided itineraries.

 

[snappy]

I do think hk will bypass if they are there to do a cleaning and return later if you ask them. And if it’s just a security check due to no housekeeping requested or at a DVC unit, they will return later if you ask. Neither of those scenarios though prevent being disturbed from being awakened or when in the shower. I have seen reports that they start at 8 am and it goes through 5 pm. I also have seen reports of HK removing the room occupied sign. I guess there are a few bad eggs in every group.

 

[Cornucopiaoflove]

We stayed at Kidani in May and never had an issue with housekeeping. We took mid-day naps every day, and they always came and made up the room after we had left. Our sign was out, but I'm not sure whether that made a difference, or we were in the right part of the hotel to avoid mid-day housekeeping.

 

[suncountry]

Wow! Just wow! Haven't been to Disney in just over 10 years and this is making me not want to go back. VERY CREEPY!

 

[MinnieMSue]

Spent 15 nights at Pop this summer and we’re in the room most afternoons to rest. We declined housekeeping. We were only in our room twice for room checks. Once my teen was asleep in the bed by the door. I opened the door and she saw my sleeping daughter and apologized and left without entering. I have no idea if she came back later. The other time she was in the shower. I made sure she locked the door and opened the barn door to the sink area about half way before answering the knock. It was a man from housekeeping who said he was doing a room check. He walked into the room as far as the barn door turning his head side to side scanning the room. He looked beside the bed furthest from the door and then promptly left without entering the sink or bathroom area. I did tell him someone was in the shower. He probably could see much of the sink area by looking in the mirror but he didn’t really seem to look in there. We were not present for Amy more checks. Not too bad for 15 nights.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Do we know when the earliest and latest times they would be coming by? Also, if someone is in the room, wouldn't HK simply bypass, since you can't really clean with people in there (although security might still come by if HK doesn't come in)?

I will admit that I take all things on the DIS with a grain of salt and generally think people here (myself included) can initially overreact to a lot of situations at Disney. Thinking that people here were probably overreacting to this whole security check thing, I laughed it off and didn’t think twice about it. We are not a family who used the DND sign and never cared about having housekeeping enter our room. I do have kids who nap, but we were staying in a one bedroom villa on this trip so I wasn’t worried about a knock waking a kid in the bedroom.

But...we had an experience with the security checks on our June trip. It in no way ruined our trip, but it scared the crap out of my family and made me realize that maybe people weren’t overreacting to these checks.

We were at Old Key West. On our arrival night my mom and sister were asleep on the pullout sofa in the living room by 9 as they had been up since 3:30 that morning to catch their flight. My husband and I were having drinks at Disney springs, and our 4 year old and 1 year old were asleep in the bedroom. We didn’t have the bar across the door because my husband and I were out. At 10:00, my mom and sister were awaken by a man knocking on the door and then opening it! My mom and sister yelled because they were totally freaked out and the person said sorry he would come back in the morning. When my husband and I got back from Disney Springs around 10:30, my mom and sister were still awake, pretty shaken up by what had occurred. They’re not up on Disney policy/news, and had no idea about these room checks. I explained to them what I thought had happened, and the next morning I stopped by the front desk, let them know we had small children, and generally went to bed early anyway, so please do not come to our room after 9 PM!

The CM I talked to said they weren’t supposed to be coming by that late, and would make a note to please not come that late again. It didn’t happen again, but I was kind of annoyed that it happened in the first place.

So to answer your question...I have no idea on the rules about the timing, but they are definitely not following them in all cases.

 

[snappy]

I will admit that I take all things on the DIS with a grain of salt and generally think people here (myself included) can initially overreact to a lot of situations at Disney. Thinking that people here were probably overreacting to this whole security check thing, I laughed it off and didn’t think twice about it. We are not a family who used the DND sign and never thought twice about having housekeeping enter our room. I do have kids who nap, but we were staying in a one bedroom villa on this trip so I wasn’t worried about a knock waking a kid in the bedroom.

But...we had an experience with the security checks on our June trip. It in no way ruined our trip, but it scared the crap out of my family and made me realize that maybe people weren’t overreacting to these checks.

We were at Old Key West. On our arrival night my mom and sister were asleep on the pullout sofa in the living room by 9 as they had been up since 3:30 that morning to catch their flight. My husband and I were having drinks at Disney springs, and our 4 year old and 1 year old were asleep in the bedroom. We didn’t have the bar across the door because my husband and I were out. At 10:00, my mom and sister were awaken by a man knocking on the door and then opening it! My mom and sister yelled because they were totally freaked out and the person said sorry he would come back in the morning. When my husband and I got back from Disney Springs around 10:30, my mom and sister were still awake, pretty shaken up by what had occurred. They’re not up on Disney policy/news, and had no idea about these room checks. I explained to them what I thought had happened, and the next morning I stopped by the front desk, let them know we had small children, and generally went to bed early anyway, so please do not come to our room after 9 PM!

The CM I talked to said they weren’t supposed to be coming by that late, and would make a note to please not come that late again. It didn’t happen again, but I was kind of annoyed that it happened in the first place.

So to answer your question...I have no idea on the rules about the timing, but they are definitely not following them in all cases.

Thanks for posting. Maybe reading about your experience will help other guests. There is absolutely no excuse, none, for Disney to be doing security checks at 10pm, on arrival day or any other day. None. I am sorry your family members were shaken up by this. Even if your mom and sister knew about the security checks, who in the world would expect them to happen at 10 pm? Is Disney a police state? Shame on Disney management for the loose monitoring of how these security checks are being performed that allowed this to happen.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

There is absolutely no excuse, none, for Disney to be doing security checks at 10pm, on arrival day or any other day. None. I am sorry your family members were shaken up by this. Even if your mom and sister knew about the security checks, who in the world would expect them to happen at 10 pm?

I agree! I know 10 PM isn’t super late, and a lot of people aren’t asleep at that point, but at a resort where there are lots of small children and international visitors from all different time zones, I would think that 10 PM would be long past an acceptable time to knock on (and attempt to key into) someone’s door. At home I silence my phone by 9:00 bc I’m often asleep well before 10 and don’t want even a text message to wake me. Ha.

Again, the front desk CM was very apologetic and said the room checks “should not be happening that late” but he didn’t say it was impossible. I guess when we go next summer, when we’ll also in a one bedroom villa where some family members will be on the pull out, I will stop by the front desk at arrival, explain what happened last year, and see if they can ensure it doesn’t happen again. I don’t know if it’ll make a difference, but I’ll feel better if I at least try. Who knows? Maybe the system will improve by next summer. Over the course of our 6 night stay, this was our only issue with it. My 18 month old daughter napped every day, my 4 year old son napped most days, and their naps were always interruption free.

 

[snappy]

I agree! I know 10 PM isn’t super late, and a lot of people aren’t asleep at that point, but at a resort where there are lots of small children and international visitors from all different time zones, I would think that 10 PM would be long past an acceptable time to knock on (and attempt to key into) someone’s door. At home I silence my phone by 9:00 bc I’m often asleep well before 10 and don’t want even a text message to wake me. Ha.

Again, the front desk CM was very apologetic and said the room checks “should not be happening that late” but he didn’t say it was impossible. I guess when we go next summer, when we’ll also in a one bedroom villa where some family members will be on the pull out, I will stop by the front desk at arrival, explain what happened last year, and see if they can ensure it doesn’t happen again. I don’t know if it’ll make a difference, but I’ll feel better if I at least try. Who knows? Maybe the system will improve by next summer. Over the course of our 6 night stay, this was our only issue with it. My 18 month old daughter napped every day, my 4 year old son napped most days, and their naps were always interruption free.

I am glad to hear that day time naps were undisturbed. Maybe they tried to be more considerate after that rough beginning? Did you notice that the trash was removed? When I went solo in early February it seemed comical that they diligently removed my non existent trash. Going through the motions I guess but what a waste of time. A female housekeeper walked in on me but it was mid day. I have no idea if she knocked or not as I was on the balcony at BWV and it was noisy. It startled me and her. Not very magical. But at least it wasn’t at 10 pm. People in the Dis here preach preach preach about putting on the safety latch but I get your situation when your family members were baby sitting while you and your husband were out. It’s not always feasible to have the latch on but at any rate no security checks should be happening at that hour of the night unless there are clear signs something is amiss. This is beyond creepy, it is an unacceptable way to run a hotel operation, imo.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

I am glad to hear that day time naps were undisturbed. Maybe they tried to be more considerate after that rough beginning? Did you notice that the trash was removed?

The trash was removed each day when we returned from the parks for nap/break time. With a kid in diapers, we definitely noticed (and appreciated) daily trash removal.

 

[Jen1995]

Spent 15 nights at Pop this summer and we’re in the room most afternoons to rest. We declined housekeeping. We were only in our room twice for room checks. Once my teen was asleep in the bed by the door. I opened the door and she saw my sleeping daughter and apologized and left without entering. I have no idea if she came back later. The other time she was in the shower. I made sure she locked the door and opened the barn door to the sink area about half way before answering the knock. It was a man from housekeeping who said he was doing a room check. He walked into the room as far as the barn door turning his head side to side scanning the room. He looked beside the bed furthest from the door and then promptly left without entering the sink or bathroom area. I did tell him someone was in the shower. He probably could see much of the sink area by looking in the mirror but he didn’t really seem to look in there. We were not present for Amy more checks. Not too bad for 15 nights.

I find it outrageous that when you told him someone was in the shower that he still entered your room.

 

[snappy]

I find it outrageous that when you told him someone was in the shower that he still entered your room.

I agree. It’s like they are in some kind of kind of mission. Must feel like they have too many assigned rooms to finish in X time frame. I am NOT condoning it. This policy was not well thought out, the staff executing the policy have not be prepped or trained properly and management is not monitoring how it’s been done or they just don’t care. I can tell you I wouldn’t let anyone come in while my husband was in the shower. I suspect they enter often when we are in the room and aren’t aware and exit quickly when the freaking security lock isn’t on .

 

[Jen1995]

I agree. It’s like they are in some kind of kind of mission. Must feel like they have too many assigned rooms to finish in X time frame. I am NOT condoning it. This policy was not well thought out, the staff executing the policy have not be prepped or trained properly and management is not monitoring how it’s been done or they just don’t care. I can tell you I wouldn’t let anyone come in while my husband was in the shower. I suspect they enter often when we are in the room and aren’t aware and exit quickly when the freaking security lock isn’t on .

From these stories, I also feel like guests are not feeling empowered to have boundaries, which in and of itself is a dangerous thing. I think part of it is that people know it isn't coming from the bottom up (so they feel bad for staff and don't want to make things worse for them, which is understandable), and part of it is because the policy is not defined in any real way and not written anywhere. So guests cannot point to Disney and say "hey- this violated our agreement" because no one really knows what the agreement even is. Is the agreement really that Disney employees can walk in the room when your teen daughter is showering? Maybe? Who knows? And as I said in the thread that was predictably closed, if Disney actually had a written policy spelling out what guests are and are not entitled to in exchange for their money, I think the fallout would be pretty swift and decisive.

 

[brockash]

Are the times for the hotel room checks completely random or can guests request to not be disturbed before a certain time in the morning or for a nap? The whole reason we’d go back to the hotel mid-day would be to rest so having a room check if were napping defeats the purpose. Or maybe the checks happen so infrequently it’s not an issue? Wondering if there’s any way to ask Disney to avoid certain times. Thanks!

We were there in May, and I have to say it was pretty annoying and we were interrupted many times. I knew about them ahead of time and asked the front desk if I could at least schedule a block of time (like 1-5) every day where we wouldn't be interrupted due to these new checks...they looked at me like I had 2 heads and explained that it rarely ever happens anyways, but they can't schedule that type of thing.

I was there with my 3 kids, that's was all. We went back for naps 4 days and 3 of them we were interrupted by and my youngest woken up by them knocking on our door for a security check. It also happened the morning of our checkout day when I left to grab breakfast around 930 leaving my oldest (16) in the room by himself.

This as at Movies and I know others have said this new procedure has not been a big deal to them but it was definitely a hassle for us.

 

[Macprincess]

Put me in the camp of those who are not happy about the new security checks. I understand Disney's reasoning for them but we found them to be very intrusive to our schedule. My daughter is a travelball softball player and living in Florida her team often plays at ESPN'S Wide World of Sports complex or the surrounding area. Often we play in what are called stay and play events where we have a limited choice as to which hotels teams can stay in and the team has to stay all together in the same hotel. For whatever reason her team manager often picks the Disney All Star resorts. Tournament scheduled are often sporadic with games thought the day. Then add in Orlando weather and things can change on a dime. It is not unheard of for us to be up at 5a.m. to play her first game of the day at 7 am and then with a weather delay her proceeding games can get pushed back. It's the norm in the summer in Orlando to start the day early and still be playing at 11pm at night because of lightning/rain delays. It is critical that she is able to nap/rest when this happens and it happen a lot. Also, in the off chance that she has a late start to her day she needs to sleep in because guaranteed it will be a late night.

Since the removal of the do not disturb signs and new security checks at Disney she is often woken up by either house keeping or security. We have even gone as far as to put out own note on the door saying when we will be out of the room and calling housekeeping to let them know we will be napping until a certain time frame. Somehow they either do not care or don't communicate the message to the staff.

As a side note we have also begun requesting rooms far away from the elevators at the All Star Resort because we have noticed the housekeeping staff tends to congregate here to communicate or pick up supplies. Having a room in this area often means noise especially in the morning when trying to sleep.

As a Florida resident who always has a car at Disney I would much prefer to stay off site for her tournaments because there are plenty of quieter, nicer hotels close by that do not have this system in place. They are usually less expensive, don't charge me to park my car and either have breakfast included or even better are condos/suites with in room laundry, full kitchens, and two or more separate sleeping areas.

 

[snappy]

Put me in the camp of those who are not happy about the new security checks. I understand Disney's reasoning for them but we found them to be very intrusive to our schedule. My daughter is a travelball softball player and living in Florida her team often plays at ESPN'S Wide World of Sports complex or the surrounding area. Often we play in what are called stay and play events where we have a limited choice as to which hotels teams can stay in and the team has to stay all together in the same hotel. For whatever reason her team manager often picks the Disney All Star resorts. Tournament scheduled are often sporadic with games thought the day. Then add in Orlando weather and things can change on a dime. It is not unheard of for us to be up at 5a.m. to play her first game of the day at 7 am and then with a weather delay her proceeding games can get pushed back. It's the norm in the summer in Orlando to start the day early and still be playing at 11pm at night because of lightning/rain delays. It is critical that she is able to nap/rest when this happens and it happen a lot. Also, in the off chance that she has a late start to her day she needs to sleep in because guaranteed it will be a late night.

Since the removal of the do not disturb signs and new security checks at Disney she is often woken up by either house keeping or security. We have even gone as far as to put out own note on the door saying when we will be out of the room and calling housekeeping to let them know we will be napping until a certain time frame. Somehow they either do not care or don't communicate the message to the staff.

As a side note we have also begun requesting rooms far away from the elevators at the All Star Resort because we have noticed the housekeeping staff tends to congregate here to communicate or pick up supplies. Having a room in this area often means noise especially in the morning when trying to sleep.

As a Florida resident who always has a car at Disney I would much prefer to stay off site for her tournaments because there are plenty of quieter, nicer hotels close by that do not have this system in place. They are usually less expensive, don't charge me to park my car and either have breakfast included or even better are condos/suites with in room laundry, full kitchens, and two or more separate sleeping areas.

Considering Disney’s new security check policy, I would absolutely be in your camp and opt for offsite. With a car you have flexibility. And you can avoid the new resort parking fees too!
It is unfathomable to me why they would disregard your daughter’s napping pattern day after day, once it’s been established. What sense does it make to disturb a sleeping person day after day. What menace are they after here??? It’s not the policy it’s the implementation where they are clueless. Customer service???? I don’t think so.