Will my wish be granted?

[bleachcse]

I would like to know how many people have or have not had their room request actually fulfilled at check-in. I called waaay back in March and made the request and called back again today now that we are 10 days out and made sure it was still there.

It was explained to me today only that since we had booked a garden view room we may not get the building choices we requested. He said that if they were still available at check-in they may be able to upgrade me. Well now I'm freaking out because I really wanted to be in one of those buildings- close to buses, dining hall, pool, etc. Garden view was all that was left when I made my reservations, so I guess it's my fault. Anyway, I know we'll have a great vacation no matter what building we are in, I was just looking forward to having a convenient location. Refillable mugs aren't as fun when you have to walk 20 minutes each way to get your drink

Thanks for any input.

 

[Mousemommy1]

I would like to know how many people have or have not had their room request actually fulfilled at check-in. I called waaay back in March and made the request and called back again today now that we are 10 days out and made sure it was still there.

It was explained to me today only that since we had booked a garden view room we may not get the building choices we requested. He said that if they were still available at check-in they may be able to upgrade me. Well now I'm freaking out because I really wanted to be in one of those buildings- close to buses, dining hall, pool, etc. Garden view was all that was left when I made my reservations, so I guess it's my fault. Anyway, I know we'll have a great vacation no matter what building we are in, I was just looking forward to having a convenient location. Refillable mugs aren't as fun when you have to walk 20 minutes each way to get your drink

Thanks for any input.

What resort did you book?

 

[funantiques]

I think they try their best to fulfill your request.....but they have thousands of rooms to schedule....keep on it!

 

[bleachcse]

What resort did you book?

Port Orleans Riverside

 

[maxiesmom]

At POR if you want to be close to the food court, you have to pay for a preferred room. You can't just request that location and expect to get it, unless you pay the extra amount. And free upgrades are very rare.

In my many trips to WDW I have a less than 50% success rate when it comes to getting my request met. But then, I am the only poster I know who has been downgraded twice! The room location Fairy seems to have it out for me.

 

[skier_pete]

We have had decent luck.

Twice at POFQ we got our Building request. The first time we did put in a building request and had a terrible request.
Once at CBR we got our Building request, but we had also paid for a preferred room.
Twice at Pop Century we did NOT get our Building request, and once we did. However, the locations we got were still very good.
Staying on DVC points at DAK we did NOT get our room request.


My experience, your most likely to get your building request the broader the request is...if you ask for room 3233 you are unlikely to get a request. If you ask for Building 11 you maybe have a good chance. If you ask for buildings 11,12 and 13, you have a greater chance.

If I really want a room location (I had a foot injury a few years back and did this) I call directly to the resort itself a day or two before arrival. Rooms are scheduled often 5 days in advance, so they should be able to access your room location and change it, however, they may or may not be willing to do that for you. (Hint: Be super-nice!) I called back in 2009 like this, and they gave us a room that was pure awesome. It was about 20 feet from the food court and 45 feet from the pool, maybe 200 feet from the bus stop. It was quite honestly the best room location we will ever have.

Port Orleans direct phone I have is 407-934-6000, but I don't know if that is still the case as I haven't used it in a while.

Finally, if you get there and get a room you don't really care for, generally they will move you the next day or two if you want, but you have to be back at the resort in the middle of the day to do it.

 

[SharonZ]

I think the problem is that the OP booked a garden view room, but requested a room in a preferred location. Have a great time and don't worry about your room location, there's not much you can do about it now.

 

[dansdad]

I think the problem is that the OP booked a garden view room, but requested a room in a preferred location. Have a great time and don't worry about your room location, there's not much you can do about it now.

I have a feeling that is what happened too.

 

[DebbieB]

It's really luck of the draw. If the building you want is already full on your day of arrival, there's nothing they can do.

 

[minnie mum]

I think the problem is that the OP booked a garden view room, but requested a room in a preferred location. Have a great time and don't worry about your room location, there's not much you can do about it now.

If this is what the OP did, then her chances are probably somewhere between slim and none. She is essentially requesting a free upgrade. Except for POFQ, if you want to be close to busses AND dining, then you have to be willing to pay for a preferred room.

 

[VAfamily1998]

At POR if you want to be close to the food court, you have to pay for a preferred room. You can't just request that location and expect to get it, unless you pay the extra amount. And free upgrades are very rare.

In my many trips to WDW I have a less than 50% success rate when it comes to getting my request met. But then, I am the only poster I know who has been downgraded twice! The room location Fairy seems to have it out for me.

Downgraded? Oh my goodness, can you be more specific? Did they offer you some type of compensation? I can't imagine you'd be forced to pay for something (view, preferred location, etc.) that you didn't actually receive, with no other compensation!??!?!

Now you have me all worried...I check in in one week for my trip! My only "request" is 2 queen beds, instead of 1 King--as I'm traveling with my brother--not a boyfriend/husband....

 

[bleachcse]

If this is what the OP did, then her chances are probably somewhere between slim and none. She is essentially requesting a free upgrade. Except for POFQ, if you want to be close to busses AND dining, then you have to be willing to pay for a preferred room.

Yikes. I had no intention of requesting a free upgrade. I did not even know there was such a thing as a preferred room until recently. I actually made the request based on that being the building we stayed in the last time we were there. Now that this has been brought to my attention, yes I do remember paying for a water view last time, but like I said when I made my reservations this time garden view was all that was available. I hope it is not considered rude to have this request on my reservation, as I did not have all of this information beforehand. I just liked my building last time. No harm intended...

 

[maxiesmom]

Yikes. I had no intention of requesting a free upgrade. I did not even know there was such a thing as a preferred room until recently. I actually made the request based on that being the building we stayed in the last time we were there. Now that this has been brought to my attention, yes I do remember paying for a water view last time, but like I said when I made my reservations this time garden view was all that was available. I hope it is not considered rude to have this request on my reservation, as I did not have all of this information beforehand. I just liked my building last time. No harm intended...

Maybe you should see if you can change your reservation to a preferred room, if you don't mind paying the difference. That way you can be reasonably sure of being close to the food court and main bus stop. Otherwise your odds are slim to none.

 

[Missytara]

Downgraded? Oh my goodness, can you be more specific? Did they offer you some type of compensation? I can't imagine you'd be forced to pay for something (view, preferred location, etc.) that you didn't actually receive, with no other compensation!??!?!

Now you have me all worried...I check in in one week for my trip! My only "request" is 2 queen beds, instead of 1 King--as I'm traveling with my brother--not a boyfriend/husband....

You will definitely be okay; there are far more rooms with two queens than one king. Enjoy your trip!

I travel with my mom all the time and from time to time on the cruise ship we have to request they separate the bed into two twins....

 

[bleachcse]

Maybe you should see if you can change your reservation to a preferred room, if you don't mind paying the difference. That way you can be reasonably sure of being close to the food court and main bus stop. Otherwise your odds are slim to none.

Thank you for your advice. I think after all the money we've already spent on this trip I will just count it as extra exercise having to walk a little further. With being on the dining plan I will need to burn the extra calories anyway.

But really, I do thank you for telling me my chances are slim to none, because I would have been pretty disappointed on arrival. Now I have 10 days to process it.

 

[cwt580]

Disney has added many room locations that are bookable. too many request/disappointments with everyone requesting the same locations. so disney decided that if you want a speciifc location...book it and be willing to pay for it....


The one resort that seems to get alot of free upgrades seems to be AKL(and WL). they have std view rooms but very few of them. So the odds of being upgraded to pool view or even savanah view are very good here IF you book a std view and they are overbooked on std views or not booked full in upgraded views(their way of pixie dust).Honestly we thought the pool views are great expsecially for the price point compared the savanah. after you see the animals(not alot of them) one morning/evening the "awesomeness" kinda wears unless the room was a free upgrade off......you can see animals at so many places at AKL anyways without having to pay for it.

 

[Micca]

Will my wish be granted?

I think it has a lot to do with how many wishes you've already been granted

 

[buzznina]

From the back of POR, will only take about 10 minutes to walk, 15 with l'il ones The first time we got a room at the back of the resort we were not thrilled and by the end of the trip we really enjoyed the walk, because POR is so scenic. Even after a full day at the park, we would get off at the main building and just take a relaxing stroll back to our room.

 

[aubriee]

At POR if you want to be close to the food court, you have to pay for a preferred room. You can't just request that location and expect to get it, unless you pay the extra amount. And free upgrades are very rare.

In my many trips to WDW I have a less than 50% success rate when it comes to getting my request met. But then, I am the only poster I know who has been downgraded twice! The room location Fairy seems to have it out for me.

I go to WDW 4-6 times a year and get at least close to my room requests probably 70% of the time. However, I book rooms that fall into the category I want and make requests based on that. I would never book a standard room and expect a room in the preferred buildings close to the food court. For example if I was at PORS and wanted to be close to the food court, I'd book a preferred room and request building 14. No way would I book a standard and just expect to be placed in one of those preferred buildings.

As far as being the only poster to ever be downgraded: afraid not. We once booked a preferred room at Pop, but was downgraded to as standard room at check in. If I hadn't known where those preferred rooms where, the CM wasn't even going to tell me we had been downgraded. When I mentioned it to him, he said, "oh yeah, I see where you paid for a preferred room. Sorry, but we overbooked and had to put you in a standard room. That happens frequently." We weren't offered anything in compensation and in fact the CM got a little irritated when we insisted he refund the difference between a standard and preferred room, saying he'd have to get a manger for that, there wasn't one currently available, so we'd have to wait, and did we really want to go to that much trouble.

Then again I have also received frequent upgrades too. In fact, we were at AKL just last week and booked a pool view. My request was 'Zebra trail with a nice view'. I would have been perfectly happy with a pool view, just didn't want a view of the roof, with the pool in the distance. When we checked in, we had been upgraded to a wonderful savanna room just a short distance from the lobby facing the Arusha Savanna. I've also booked standard rooms at CSR and been upgraded to a water view five times out of the nine times I've stayed there. I've also been upgarded from a standard to a water view at YC and BW. Most of the times I get exactly what I paid for though.

 

[skier_pete]

I think the problem is that the OP booked a garden view room, but requested a room in a preferred location. Have a great time and don't worry about your room location, there's not much you can do about it now.

Oh, I didn't get that they were hoping to be upgraded to a preferred room. That is extremely unlikely.

However, it did happen to us once, though not at our request. Last trip we had a package booked for 8 nights with free dining in a standard room at CBR. However, we were coming in two days before the package started, so I booked two nights of room only. However, the first night there were no standard rooms available, so I booked one night in a preferred. So, in other words my reservation was:

Night 1: Preferred room - room only
Night 2: Standard room - room only
Night 3-10: Standard room - package

I had only requested that the two standard room bookings if we were able to stay in the same room. I had also put in room location requests on all 3 sets, but I never asked to be upgrade to a preferred room.

However, when I got there, they upgraded the entire reservation to a preferred room and let us stay in the same room all 10 nights. NICE! I think what happened was the standards were booked almost full, while people aren't paying for the preferreds.

If you want a preferred room without paying for it, I would consider this as a more likely method to use than to just pay for a standard and requesting an upgrade.

SP