BWV room request

[clydenora]

I am concerned about our room for our upcoming trip in early June. My husband will have had ankle surgery about six weeks before we go. (We are attending a wedding, otherwise we wouldn't be taking this trip right after surgery.) I have read that some of the rooms at BWV can be quite a hike...to elevators, etc....

I have made reservations thru a DVC member. He made a few requests...non-smoking, top floor, near elevator. The vacation home type says studio garden/pool view.

Does anyone have any suggestions to increase our chances we can get a room that will not require long hikes to the elevator/bus stops/boardwalk? Or is that an impossible request? I really wouldn't normally care...we are usually active people who do not mind walking to places.

Should I call BWV a week or two before our arrival?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can provide some help.

 

[mikesmom]

It may be impossible to do any more than you have already done. Those requests should fill the bill, but they are only requests, not guarantees. The problem with DVC rooms is that they are almost always at capacity or near capacity, so getting your requests often is dependent on who leaves the day you check in. For example, if all the rooms near the elevator are filled with families who checked in 4 days before you did and are checking out 4 days later, there is just no way for DVC to get you one of those rooms. It's not as simple as blocking them off. Regular hotels outside of WDW don't have quite that situation - they are not usually anywhere near capacity, so there is a lot more leeway for moving folks and rooms around- more empthy rooms to work with.

That being said, the desk usually will do everything the can to honor requests and you may get just what you need.

You might look into renting an ECV for your visit. I did that after my husband had knee surgery and it made getting around a lot easier. There are companies you can rent them from that will have them waiting for you when you check in at your hotel. Check the Disabilities board for names.

 

[jekjones1558]

Does the request read: "For medical reasons"? That may help a little. Really there is no way to guarantee. Worst case scenario you can ask to use one of the BWV wheelchairs (no charge). We have done this when DH had some health issues and we were far from the elevators.

 

[MissMet]

Does the request read: "For medical reasons"? That may help a little. Really there is no way to guarantee. Worst case scenario you can ask to use one of the BWV wheelchairs (no charge). We have done this when DH had some health issues and we were far from the elevators.

We are also staying here in Nov. Do you know if you can take the (no charge) wheelchairs into the parks? I know some resorts allow this but others don't. I'm not sure where the BWVs stand on this rule.

Thanks!

 

[jekjones1558]

We are also staying here in Nov. Do you know if you can take the (no charge) wheelchairs into the parks? I know some resorts allow this but others don't. I'm not sure where the BWVs stand on this rule.

We took ours into the parks. I was wondering if it would be okay, so I asked the BWV front desk manager and he said "Yes." I was worried that we might be questioned at the parks, but no problem whatsoever.

 

[MissMet]

We took ours into the parks. I was wondering if it would be okay, so I asked the BWV front desk manager and he said "Yes." I was worried that we might be questioned at the parks, but no problem whatsoever.

Great news! Thanks.

PS- Looks like we are gonna be at WDW the same week. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Deb & Bill]

...Should I call BWV a week or two before our arrival? ...

Since you are not the member who owns the points, you cannot call Member Services and your reservation will not be at the resort until maybe a few days before the first day of your reservation. It won't do any good to call BWV. Plus DVC resorts don't accept calls or faxes about room preferences. Only MS.

 

[crisi]

Arrive early - that is your best bet for getting room requests met - though we've NEVER had a room location request met and we always arrive early.

Note that although the BWV hallways are long, they are nothing compared to the amount of walking at WDW in general.

 

[clydenora]

I appreciate the responses. I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to make the call to BWV since I was not the member.

One thing that is good about this particular trip is that we will not have the kids, so we don't really plan to be at the parks as much as we normally would. We can do as much or as little as he feels he can.

I just really wanted to do as much as possible to get a room location that will be easier for him.

 

[LSchrow]

I am concerned about our room for our upcoming trip in early June. My husband will have had ankle surgery about six weeks before we go. (We are attending a wedding, otherwise we wouldn't be taking this trip right after surgery.) I have read that some of the rooms at BWV can be quite a hike...to elevators, etc....

I have made reservations thru a DVC member. He made a few requests...non-smoking, top floor, near elevator. The vacation home type says studio garden/pool view.

Does anyone have any suggestions to increase our chances we can get a room that will not require long hikes to the elevator/bus stops/boardwalk? Or is that an impossible request? .

nothing you can really do about the walks to the busstop/ferry/epcot (except the wheelchair, as some have suggested, or renting a "scooter", check the disabilities board for rental co's).

since requests are listed in order of preference, you might want to put "close to elevator ~medical reasons" first (realize you may get a HA room), then the 2nd most important request.
also, the more requests, the less likely of getting the "most important" one granted, so consider dropping least important request. (from personal experience: with 3 requests we would get 0-1, norm 0 ; with 2 requests we would norm get 1 granted ; just having one request has always been granted . we used to request essentially the same 3 as you but now only list "top floor" unless my (handicapped) parents are with us, the close to elevator is the single most important.
hth

 

[beachblanket]

Arrive early - that is your best bet for getting room requests met.

Agree 100% - forget about the "room ready" nonsense, the bottom line is on any given day there is a given inventory of villas opening up, and arriving early allows you to get towards the front of the queue for them.

Depending upon the nature of any requests you made, your likelihood of getting a villa that meets or comes as close as possible to meeting them is highest if you are visible to the front desk at the beginning of the process. Ergo, the front desk knows you've arrived, so your villa assignment gets an assessment while the inventory is at its fullest. Note: my use of the term "inventory" does not refer to whatever villas are immediately ready to occupy, but instead every one that is opening up for turnover on a given day. That is an important distinction, because in most cases the villa you really want isn't going to be immediately ready for occupancy -- and your goal is to have DVC "hold" it for you, rather than shoving you into whatever becomes available earlier.

That stated, the best way to manage this when checking in early (we like 7am) is to (a) politely remind the front desk CM of your requests and (b) to gently emphasize that you are not in any particular need of getting into get into a villa early (e.g., before the official 4pm check in time), ergo, are willing to wait for whatever one is opening up that day that comes closest to meeting your requests. I usually do this by pointing out we are heading off to a park for opening and will be there for the better part of the day, and hence don't mind "waiting"...for the best possible assignment.

In addition, if you want to further raise the likelihood of getting a villa that meets your requests, it never hurts to check in on days when open inventory tends to be highest, which is usually (but not always, holidays periods can throw this off) Friday and Saturday. Yes, there are higher point costs for those nights, but the tradeoff benefit is the premium pricing scares away a lot of your "competition."

On that tangent, for the same reasons avoid checking in on Sundays, irrespective of how early you can arrive. The usual mass influx that day simply makes villa assignments overall much more competitive, consequently lowering the overall likelihood of anyone getting all their requests. As example, at BWV almost everyone requests "close to elevator." On a Sunday, the majority of those checking in with that desire won't get it.

When we have followed these rules, we have always gotten all our requests (the one time we didn't was when we ignored them, back in 2004 at HH, making the mistake of checking in mid day on a Thursday)