Does early arrival = better chance of requested room

[mirlow]

to be told we were in the Love Bug section instead of the Toy Story section as we had requested

The same thing happened to us The only reason why we were staying there was because my ds is a Buzz fanatic and if we couldn't stay in Toy Story we weren't going to stay at all. She said the only connecting rooms available were in the Love Bug? I told her we didn't need connecting room, but rooms that were by each other if that would help. I politely told the CM that if we couldn't get the Toy Story bldg that we would just transfer over to the Polynesian early. Now this was in January. I don't know how well room requests come through when it's busy? She went in the back room for about 10 minutes and gave us our 2 rooms next to each other in the Toy Story bldg.
We did have another request that didn't come through. We arrived around 4pm and we wanted the first floor LV Concierge at the Polynesian. They put us in the 2nd floor. There was nothing on the first floor. We were there a wk earlier in a GV room and we thought the view was very good. I told them that we would rather have a GV room than a second floor LV room. They moved us and we saved $330.

 

[mirlow]

to be told we were in the Love Bug section instead of the Toy Story section as we had requested

The same thing happened to us The only reason why we were staying there was because my ds is a Buzz fanatic and if we couldn't stay in Toy Story we weren't going to stay at all. She said the only connecting rooms available were in the Love Bug? I told her we didn't need connecting room, but rooms that were by each other if that would help. I politely told the CM that if we couldn't get the Toy Story bldg that we would just transfer over to the Polynesian early. Now this was in January. I don't know how well room requests come through when it's busy? She went in the back room for about 10 minutes and gave us our 2 rooms next to each other in the Toy Story bldg.
We did have another request that didn't come through. We arrived around 4pm and we wanted the first floor LV Concierge at the Polynesian. They put us in the 2nd floor. There was nothing on the first floor. We were there a wk earlier in a GV room and we thought the view was very good. I told them that we would rather have a GV room than a second floor LV room. They moved us and we saved $330.

 

[mirlow]

to be told we were in the Love Bug section instead of the Toy Story section as we had requested

The same thing happened to us The only reason why we were staying there was because my ds is a Buzz fanatic and if we couldn't stay in Toy Story we weren't going to stay at all. She said the only connecting rooms available were in the Love Bug? I told her we didn't need connecting room, but rooms that were by each other if that would help. I politely told the CM that if we couldn't get the Toy Story bldg that we would just transfer over to the Polynesian early. Now this was in January. I don't know how well room requests come through when it's busy? She went in the back room for about 10 minutes and gave us our 2 rooms next to each other in the Toy Story bldg.
We did have another request that didn't come through. We arrived around 4pm and we wanted the first floor LV Concierge at the Polynesian. They put us in the 2nd floor. There was nothing on the first floor. We were there a wk earlier in a GV room and we thought the view was very good. I told them that we would rather have a GV room than a second floor LV room. They moved us and we saved $330.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

Originally posted by AF Brenda
Plus, unless you pay for a request (waterview, etc), there are no guarantees on room requests are there?

No, there are no guarantees. I think that point tends to get lost sometimes

 

[gepetto]

Originally posted by Dallas_Lady


No, there are no guarantees. I think that point tends to get lost sometimes

Got that right.

We usually arrive pretty early too. I may request a particular floor and always non-smoking.

 

[mousehut101]

Your room is pre selected 2-3 days before you arrive. It does nothing to get there early...

 

[AF Brenda]

On our last trip, we requested Cabanas, and got Casitas, and we were there at noon. However, our primary request was for connecting rooms, so I was much more concerned with that than I was with the section of the resort. I can't imagine putting in a non-guaranteed request, and then getting upset if it wasn't met.

 

[Neeter]

Originally posted by mirlow
The same thing happened to us ... She went in the back room for about 10 minutes and gave us our 2 rooms next to each other in the Toy Story bldg.

Geez, I'd like to see that back room! It must be full of magic! LOL! My 7 year old niece is also a Toy Story freak and we just couldn't imagine telling her that we were going to be in the Love Bug section and not Toy Story.

 

[elmo23]

I think it might have more to do with the day you arrive than the time. We arrived on Monday and had requested 5th floor facing magic kingdom for our stay at WL. We arrived at noon. They said there was nothing available on the 5th floor and gave us 6th floor. We had the enclosed balcony which you cant see anything from unless you stand up and look over. I went down to the front desk and asked for anything within my category (woodsview) with an open balcony, and was only given the choice of 2 different rooms (neither were ready yet). I was polite and so was the CM, she just said they were booked solid and that was all that she could come up with. I don't think there are a lot of checkins/outs on Monday, so I believe it was a disadvantage.

 

[wdwnutze]

CORVAIR
I would say check into your hotel before going to AK for the day. We checked in late in the afternoon at the BC and had a lot of trouble with our room assignment.(long story, but we didn't even end up with a room for 5 people which we needed.)We left the BC the next day and went to Poly before we went to our character breakfast or the park.(we were there by aobut 9:30) We knew our room wouldn't be ready but wanted to check in and let them know of our requests(3 rooms near each other, no smoking, garden view). We were assigned 3 rooms on the first floor in the Tahiti bldg with a lagoon view of the castle. I couldn't have requested anything better! The upgrade was amazing. Since you are already in WDW I think it is worth checking in early.

 

[corvair]

Thank you, I think we will head on over to WL about 8:30 and then go on over to AK. This way if we stay at AK longer than excepted, I won't have to worry about the room because will would of already checked in. Thanks,,,,Corvair

 

[raidermatt]

I can't imagine putting in a non-guaranteed request, and then getting upset if it wasn't met.

Good point. Its pretty much industry standard to consider things like a King vs 2 Queens, and Non-smoking rooms to be requests, and not guaranteed.


I didn't realize that at least some hotels do overbook until this past weekend. We drove up to Reno and were staying at the El Dorado. We were part of a group reservation of about 25 rooms. We checked in around 7:00pm on Friday night, and once we got to the counter, we had to wait about 20 minutes while the clerk tracked down a manager. Turns out they overbooked, and unless we were part of one large group in particular, assinging a room required manager approval.

I asked what happens later when the rooms are gone but guests are still trying to check in. I was told that they would walk the guest to another hotel.

Now, in this case, this might not be too bad, since the El Dorado is affilliated with and physically connected to the Silver Legacy and Circus,Circus, however, I still didn't realize that hotels intentionally over-booked like this.

 

[dcedwards]

Overbooking is common in the travel industry. Not only in the hotel/motel section but also in the airline industry. That is why often they are so generous, on airlines, in offering complimentary first class on the next available flight and/or travel vouchers.

One thing about Disney is that if you have a "guaranteed" request that your room is assigned 3 days out. Because of medical conditions we get non-smoking rooms. I always call the day before we leave to make sure the guaranteed request has been met. At that time, they will not tell you the room number, but do let me know that the rooms have been blocked and will not be given to anyone else. I can usually find out what building we are in, also, and if our connecting room request was met (it is always NOT guaranteed).

I have read some place in this forum that Disney was trying something new and not actually assigning all rooms to specific reservations until check in. Perhaps this has been abandoned but there was a lot of discussion about this issue this winter on the boards. Perhaps someone knows for sure.