Best method to make room requests?

[Dave006]

I then also made a request using MDE when I checked in a few days before my trip. The TP request was very specific and the MDE was more broad--they only allow give you a few drop down options.

Yes you Generic MDE Online check-in selection over-wrote your TP "requests".

I think what made me nervous though was the disclaimer from TP after submitting a room request: "We cannot control whether Disney reads, acknowledges, or honors these requests, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed!

That is their very polite disclaimer that "Requests" are only requests, they are not guaranteed. TP does have a great track record, and their requests go via email directly to the team the makes the room assignments about a week before your arrival date.

I am glad that the CM team worked to get you a room location that you enjoyed, and you are now an experienced user of TouringPlans.com for your next visit.

Dave

 

[kylenne]

I used the "room request" feature of TP a month or so before my trip based on the "room finder" feature where they have pictures of the view from each room . I then also made a request using MDE when I checked in a few days before my trip. The TP request was very specific and the MDE was more broad--they only allow give you a few drop down options. I didn't realize that one might cancel out the other. I figured "the more the merrier!" I guess what you are saying is that I should have just left the TP request and not made any further requests in the MDE app? I'll have to try that next time I go. I think what made me nervous though was the disclaimer from TP after submitting a room request: "We cannot control whether Disney reads, acknowledges, or honors these requests, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed! Please let us know whether you get the room you requested."

However, at the end of the day, I got a really great room and everything worked out even if it was not the ideal room I looked at on TP.

I’ve been doing room requests via TP for years now, and while what Dave said is absolutely true that room requests are always just that (a request) no matter how you make it, my best piece of advice for using the TP room finder is not to just click on the room you want like set it and forget it, but to then go back in to the additional details free type field on it and briefly and succinctly explain WHY you want that room. Almost no one ever does that, probably because it’s not immediately obvious that you can do it (you have to go out and come back into the page), but it helps you exponentially. ime Disney room assigners really do try their best to accommodate requests, but if you just click a room on the finder and leave it, they don’t know why you want that room, so if it’s not available they will just put you wherever as opposed to trying to meet the request with a “close enough” room.

Also it’s best to keep it simple and prioritize 1, maybe 2 things at most. For our May Poly stay for example, I requested 3rd fl Rarotonga and in the additional details I put “highest priority is Rarotonga building to be close to lobby” because while I’m a balcony gal the location was more important. We got 2nd floor Rarotonga. For stays at the Crescent Lake resorts I always request to be closer to the elevators to avoid the long hallways. “Prefer to be close to elevator or lobby”. For CR next week I put “higher floor on North side, for quiet”. It doesn’t have to be complicated and it really shouldn’t be, just keep it simple. Again nothing is ever guaranteed but more often than not this helps a lot. I have a pretty high success rate with this method, only twice I’ve not gotten roughly what I asked for. Also as PP said avoid putting any type of requests in the online check in form as it will override any previous ones you made. You can still use online check in just skip that screen.

 

[tinkerbella16]

I’ve been doing room requests via TP for years now, and while what Dave said is absolutely true that room requests are always just that (a request) no matter how you make it, my best piece of advice for using the TP room finder is not to just click on the room you want like set it and forget it, but to then go back in to the additional details free type field on it and briefly and succinctly explain WHY you want that room. Almost no one ever does that, probably because it’s not immediately obvious that you can do it (you have to go out and come back into the page), but it helps you exponentially. ime Disney room assigners really do try their best to accommodate requests, but if you just click a room on the finder and leave it, they don’t know why you want that room, so if it’s not available they will just put you wherever as opposed to trying to meet the request with a “close enough” room.

Also it’s best to keep it simple and prioritize 1, maybe 2 things at most. For our May Poly stay for example, I requested 3rd fl Rarotonga and in the additional details I put “highest priority is Rarotonga building to be close to lobby” because while I’m a balcony gal the location was more important. We got 2nd floor Rarotonga. For stays at the Crescent Lake resorts I always request to be closer to the elevators to avoid the long hallways. “Prefer to be close to elevator or lobby”. For CR next week I put “higher floor on North side, for quiet”. It doesn’t have to be complicated and it really shouldn’t be, just keep it simple. Again nothing is ever guaranteed but more often than not this helps a lot. I have a pretty high success rate with this method, only twice I’ve not gotten roughly what I asked for. Also as PP said avoid putting any type of requests in the online check in form as it will override any previous ones you made. You can still use online check in just skip that screen.

Exactly this!

 

[beccasmom]

We have also had good luck with them. I have used them the last 5 times.. And always have gotten our request!! One time we got the exact room I requested at the Yacht Club..I was extremely excited!!!! Marla

We have also had good luck with TP. Not on every trip, but more than half the time it works out well.

 

[JayMass]

I’ve been doing room requests via TP for years now, and while what Dave said is absolutely true that room requests are always just that (a request) no matter how you make it, my best piece of advice for using the TP room finder is not to just click on the room you want like set it and forget it, but to then go back in to the additional details free type field on it and briefly and succinctly explain WHY you want that room. Almost no one ever does that, probably because it’s not immediately obvious that you can do it (you have to go out and come back into the page), but it helps you exponentially. ime Disney room assigners really do try their best to accommodate requests, but if you just click a room on the finder and leave it, they don’t know why you want that room, so if it’s not available they will just put you wherever as opposed to trying to meet the request with a “close enough” room.

Also it’s best to keep it simple and prioritize 1, maybe 2 things at most. For our May Poly stay for example, I requested 3rd fl Rarotonga and in the additional details I put “highest priority is Rarotonga building to be close to lobby” because while I’m a balcony gal the location was more important. We got 2nd floor Rarotonga. For stays at the Crescent Lake resorts I always request to be closer to the elevators to avoid the long hallways. “Prefer to be close to elevator or lobby”. For CR next week I put “higher floor on North side, for quiet”. It doesn’t have to be complicated and it really shouldn’t be, just keep it simple. Again nothing is ever guaranteed but more often than not this helps a lot. I have a pretty high success rate with this method, only twice I’ve not gotten roughly what I asked for. Also as PP said avoid putting any type of requests in the online check in form as it will override any previous ones you made. You can still use online check in just skip that screen.

Thanks for this! I did go back into the room request and type out more explicitly what I wanted however I did not say why. More good info for the future!!!

 

[bluezy]

I’ve been doing room requests via TP for years now, and while what Dave said is absolutely true that room requests are always just that (a request) no matter how you make it, my best piece of advice for using the TP room finder is not to just click on the room you want like set it and forget it, but to then go back in to the additional details free type field on it and briefly and succinctly explain WHY you want that room. Almost no one ever does that, probably because it’s not immediately obvious that you can do it (you have to go out and come back into the page), but it helps you exponentially. ime Disney room assigners really do try their best to accommodate requests, but if you just click a room on the finder and leave it, they don’t know why you want that room, so if it’s not available they will just put you wherever as opposed to trying to meet the request with a “close enough” room.

Also it’s best to keep it simple and prioritize 1, maybe 2 things at most. For our May Poly stay for example, I requested 3rd fl Rarotonga and in the additional details I put “highest priority is Rarotonga building to be close to lobby” because while I’m a balcony gal the location was more important. We got 2nd floor Rarotonga. For stays at the Crescent Lake resorts I always request to be closer to the elevators to avoid the long hallways. “Prefer to be close to elevator or lobby”. For CR next week I put “higher floor on North side, for quiet”. It doesn’t have to be complicated and it really shouldn’t be, just keep it simple. Again nothing is ever guaranteed but more often than not this helps a lot. I have a pretty high success rate with this method, only twice I’ve not gotten roughly what I asked for. Also as PP said avoid putting any type of requests in the online check in form as it will override any previous ones you made. You can still use online check in just skip that screen.

This!!!! I always keep our request simple. While I choose a specific room on TP, I always add a note indicating why I'm requesting that room (first floor, close to main building). That method has worked very well for us. I think some people make their request too complicated or make inconsistent requests in different places (TP, note on reservation, options on MDE, etc.). I don't put anything on our MDE check-in request anymore. There has been too many times that the options offered there don't even apply to the resort your staying at. One time I had "theme park view" as an option....at AoA.

 

[kylenne]

This!!!! I always keep our request simple. While I choose a specific room on TP, I always add a note indicating why I'm requesting that room (first floor, close to main building). That method has worked very well for us. I think some people make their request too complicated or make inconsistent requests in different places (TP, note on reservation, options on MDE, etc.). I don't put anything on our MDE check-in request anymore. There has been too many times that the options offered there don't even apply to the resort your staying at. One time I had "theme park view" as an option....at AoA.

Yep, it's really best to keep it as simple as possible. And focus on what you want, as opposed to what you don't. I've seen people say they put "want to avoid ___" and then ended up exactly where they didn't want to be out of misunderstandings.

 

[HarryLeg]

Staying at AKL starting August 30th for 8 nights and did room request through call to Disney. The CM I spoke with told me to do early check in on MDE, but leave the room request blank so that the request over the phone would not be overwritten.

 

[WEDWDW]

Where does one send the letter? Is it to the resort itself or is there a central location? And I would assume you would put in ATTN: Room Assigner as the addressee

Yes,send it to your Resort's address and put the Attention "under" the address.

We have been doing Snail Mail exclusively for a few years and have a MUCH higher success rate than any other method we've tried.

I think the fact someone goes to the trouble to Snail Mail really stands out and the Room Assignors really try to "reward" the effort.

We even had a situation last year where we procrastinated and were late sending our card but sent it anyway knowing it may get there late.

Sure enough when we arrived our assigned room was not our request,but it was good enough so we didn't ask for a change.

Then 2 days into our trip we came back to our room and found a bunch of Resort branded items they had left for us along with a nice card saying they were so sorry but our request had just now arrived.

They apologized for our mistake-who but Disney does that!

We like to have a little fun with the cards we send and I think the RAs enjoy them as well.

For example if were going to take a trip to All Star Movies we might write:

"We can't wait to walk the Red Carpet at your Academy Award winning Resort!

You always make us feel like Stars!

We greatly appreciate any consideration you can award our Room Request.

We are so excited for our arrival and "Lights,Camera,Action!""

Good luck with whichever method you select!

 

[ktink]

We have used TP in the past. We've had mostly great luck. This year I asked the CM to add in the request. So we'll see how that pans out. ☺

 

[Snowysmom]

For my Sept trip I called and put in my request for 2 rooms connecting or near each other. I did not choose anything on online checkin. I see my request on MDE so at least it is there. Now I wait to see if we get rooms at least near each other. I do realize it is only a request.