After my experience, would you request a tub?

[Sammie]

My suggestion would be not to check in late and I don't think you will have a problem. As you stated I really think that your midnight checkin contributed to getting the room you got.

In fact when staying DVC, if I can't get there before 5pm I stay at some inexpensive place off property and check early the next day.

As to getting a NS room, good luck. As more and more smoking room are taken out of inventory, I think smokers are smoking in the NS rooms.

We have gotten several NS rooms that had been heavily smoked in by the previous guest.

 

[lenshanem]

Sammie, one thing I have thought about too is in the past even when we checked in early we were not told what room we got. We had to call back to see when our room was ready and what the room number was.
In July at BCV we checked in around eleven and was told my only request to have our room near my parents was filled. The room numbers weren't ready until the stated time (It is four? I can't remember...) so we got back over to BCV about an hour later from MGM after we got the numbers. When we went to our rooms they turned out to be on opposite wings. I called down and was put on hold for at least thirty minutes! to be told they could not move us and probably wouldn't be able to for the rest of the week.
Sooo, now I'm wondering - when is the ideal time to check in with this room ready policy?
I know I'm sounding negative today. I'm sorry!
I even recall at VWL the CM at the desk wouldn't even tell us what floor we were on. She said we would have to wait until our room was ready and we got our room number.

 

[lenshanem]

As to getting a NS room, good luck. As more and more smoking room are taken out of inventory, I think smokers are smoking in the NS rooms.

I agree. I think our room had been smoked in. In my trip report I mentioned the bad smell. I think the scent they had used to cover it up was maybe worse? I'm sure it would have bothered my daughter. Actually, it was overwhelming when you first opened the door, but then I got used to it.

My hubby actually smokes, but our kids don't even know. He kept it from me even for years! He always walks out. He would never smoke in a nonsmoking room and it bothers me that people would.

 

[crisi]

Originally posted by dizfanz
I was wondering. Do you have to be concerned about getting an HA room if you are going to a 1 or 2 bedroom? Or is it that only HA studios are an inconvenience?

With the 1 and 2 bedrooms, you still have the jaccuzzi tub. So it isn't as huge an inconvience. A lot of people still don't like them - the counters are a little lower, knobs on the stove (we had no stove knobs for years, my kids could pull chairs over about the same time they could walk, so height was never the issue), lower light switches (very tempting to certain kids). The bottom of the sink doesn't have a cupboard, so the kitchen trash is accessible (but DVC sinks don't have all those cabinet locks we parents are used to anyway - I'm always shocked when a lower cabinet door simply opens!). And the shower is roll in, with a seat and a handle showerhead - and the tendancy to leave the bathroom floor wet! Can take a little getting used to (that was our biggest issue - learning to use the shower to not leave the bathroom a hazzard zone). We had a HA 2 bedroom and didn't think it was a big deal (kids were 4 and 5), but others do.

 

[slimplaw]

Did your HA room at OKW have 2 queen beds or was there a king bed? I know often in a HA room they use a king bed instead of 2 queens.

 

[lenshanem]

Our HA studio still had two queen beds.

 

[littlestar]

We got a 2 bedroom handicap lock-off unit at VWL a few weeks ago. We had our nephew's little boy with us (2 years old). The fire extinuisher was down low in the room to where he could get it. We had to put chairs around it. My nephew and his wife had the studio lockoff. They had to bring the baby into our one bedroom part to give him a bath because, of course, their studio didn't have a tub. We also had to try to find places to put toiletries, etc., up out of sight (which is pretty hard in a handicap unit as there is no storage). It was pretty stressful. Nobody was able to relax much for fear for his safety. I requested a non-handicapped, but of course, again, it didn't work.

I told my husband I'm ready to sell off part of our points because we never had to worry about this when we paid cash. I'm thinking about downsizing our points because we had better luck on requests when we paid cash.

 

[lenshanem]

UGH littlestar!

You sound like this has happened several times before? How many times has this happened? And each time did you request non handicapped?

Do you think they could be glancing at your request and seeing handicap and missing the non? This is one reason I haven't requested that cause I was afraid they might mistake what I wanted.

I'm calling tomorrow and asking them to please put wants studio with full bathtub for children on my requests. I'm also gonna have them add my daughter has asthma so we can hopefully get a nonsmoking, too.

Did they tell you when you checked in that it was a HA unit? Did you ask? When we were at OKW last weekend I asked and they told me it wasn't, but when we got to the room it was!

 

[littlestar]

Shan, I think this was the 3rd time for us. I did request a bath tub. We actually had our first night in a studio lockoff that was supposed to open up to the 1 bedroom the next day. That first room did meet our requests and had a bath tub for the baby/toddler. It didnt work out for us to get to keep that room and they moved us the next day - to a handicapped 2 bedroom. I didn't think to ask before I took it (that won't happen anymore). I'm just worn out from our last trip on DVC and maybe I need to "chill" for a little while before we sell off any of it. It didn't help that the floors were sticky and dirty and I had to hand mop them before I would walk on them. In comparison, my brother's Mariott Grande Vista one bedroom was spotless, floors and all. My parents have access to Interval Getaways through their timeshare they own and my brother got his one bedroom through Interval for $300 for the week. I just found myself making excuses for DVC a lot to my nephew and his family and I thought, you know, maybe it's time to back up and take a good look at how many points we have.

Sorry to sound so negative, maybe I need to take another trip before we decide to get rid of some points

 

[lenshanem]

Don't worry about sounding negative. I think we sometimes need to be honest. It seems sometimes that if you say anything that isn't 100% positive about DVC or Disney in general on the boards you gotta feel guilty about it or something. How odd. I appreciate your post and it confirms my concerns. We spent alot of money to join DVC and we shouldn't have to feel like we have to explain our purchase to relatives. I felt this way myself when I took my parents to BCV.

 

[doc428]

Are there HA Grand Villas at OKW. If there are, how are they different than non HA?

 

[jarestel]

Whenever a member receives an unacceptable room for whatever reason, it's extremely important to follow up your trip with an e-mail to the DVC Member Satisfaction manager expressing your views. When DVC gets enough complaints about their current room assignment policies, they might find the motivation to change the way they handle this. In a world where computers keep track of virtually everything, it would seem to be a relatively simple thing to be able to assign room types at reservation time ( non-smoking, HA, etc ). Of all the issues we discuss here, I suspect room assignment problems rank near or at the top of the priority list. Make sure MS knows how you feel about this. Good luck with your next trip!

 

[lenshanem]

I agree jarestel. I am sending MS an email today.
I think requests such as nonsmoking and non HA, especially with the studios should be guaranteed when booking. If they run out of these rooms when you book then at least you'll know what you are getting when you check in.
I understand views, etc. not being guaranteed, but these other requests are understandable and reasonable IMO.