Magical Express/Room Ready

[Simba's Mom]

it was the famed service road/dumpster view at bcv with moldy/mildewy windows and balcony.

Woah! This is the first I've heard of a dumpster view room at BCV. And all this time, when I've heard of that famous "dumpster view" at VWL, I've breathed a sigh of relief because I stay at BCV. Where is this dumpster view? I have a feeling I've walked by the area and never noticed there were rooms right above. Is it technically an Epcot view(or whatever that area is called now)?

 

[CRobin]

I am sorry, but I see nothing wrong with this. I figure the MOST those ME guests have on you is a few minutes.... It's not like they get thier room automatically at 8 am an you have to wait until 4.

In theory, that would be true, but in my experience, that has not been the case at all. We used to have around a 50/50 chance of getting into our room at check-in. That ratio has shifted significantly to the 4:00 PM slot; and our check in times have not varied by more than an hour on numerous trips.

And, once told the room is not ready, I have never had the room "available" (according to my calls to the front desk) within an hour or two; once we are told it is not ready, regardless of when we checked in, the earliest we have gotten the room is 2:30 PM.

So, if they are getting advance notice on ME guests, and setting up rooms for them, they are certainly getting more than a 15 minute jump on the rest of us, IMHO.

 

[Zurg]

..If they don't do this it is going to take longer at check while they LOOK for open rooms for the 20 families that just got off the bus and are in line and front of you and then you will complain. "ME makes the lines too long!"..

I agree with Carol.

Seriously how much "advantage" are they getting 35, 50 minutes? The time from the airprot to the resort? One bus load waiting in line could make the same wait when they get there.

It as small world and anything that make the line smaller too is great.

 

[Lesley]

Honestly, it looks to me like these room assignment issues started with the "room available" policy that they implemented some time ago. And to be honest, I haven't had a great room since they started that policy. I haven't had a room above the first floor at BWV since then in any case....and I haven't had my room immediately available any more frequently either.

I agree with the others about going back to the old room assignments done in regards to the date of your reservation. I don't mind getting just any room when I book on short notice, but when I book far in advance I think it would be nice to get some sort of benefit from that....like having my requests taken seriously (though I understand that a request is only a request....it seems as if since the first available policy went into effect my requests have been almost completely ignored....before that I would at least hear "we have this but not this" at check in and I was fine with that.)

 

[pat-rick]

In all the times we have visited WDW since owning DVC we have only been assigned a READY ROOM the very first time and that was at BWV and not our home BCV. We arrive at the airport within a 1/2 hour everytime depending on what airport we are using ACY or PHI and are at the resort by 10:30AM. We have not gotten our room before 2:30 and closer to 4:30PM every time. We have even been at the resort several days and needed to change rooms because of availability of size, checked in at 7:30AM that morning was told there were no rooms available had to check bags and still did not get a room until close to 4:00 PM.

I would think they could do a much better job assigning rooms and why not give out the room number if the room is empty. They did give me the room number on one instance and with a few $$$ to the Mousekeeper my 2bd.room was ready in less than 1/2 hour.

 

[Danthesand]

I agree with the others about going back to the old room assignments done in regards to the date of your reservation. I don't mind getting just any room when I book on short notice, but when I book far in advance I think it would be nice to get some sort of benefit from that.

Bingo - and Disney already does this in the case of dining:

- In the popular restaurants at both WDW and Disneyland, seating is done by how early the guest made their AR (a.k.a. PS). I always make my dining reservations exactly 90 days out, and have found that always results in my party being seated before others who check in at the restaurant for the same time. Examples:

In 2001, we arrived at Chef Mickey's at 6:30pm on a very busy night (the place was crammed) holding a PS I had made exactly 90 days earlier. At least 8 others parties checked in at the same time. We were seated immediately and before any of those other families.

A few days later, the same thing happened at dinner at Mama Melrose. Checked in at 5pm, along with about 5 other parties. We were seated about 3 minutes later before any of the other groups.

For the Hoop De Doo, we reserved a little over a year out. Were seated right up front, directly in front of the stage.

At Disneyland in 2003, I made a ressie exactly 90 days out for dinner at the Blue Bayou, and requested waterfront seating (for those not familiar, the Blue Bayou is the most famous dining spot at Disneyland, and the limited waterfront seating there literally puts you inside the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction).

On arrival, the place was busy, and I when I checked in, we were told there would be a short wait. A lot of the other people waiting looked annoyed when about 2 minutes later we were told "your table is ready. " The CM then handed me a seating ticket, which my wife immediately noticed had "h2o" penciled in on the bottom.

The subsequent wonderful dinner was front and center on the bayou.

So, if Disney lets the early birds benefit here, why not also with room ressies?

 

[CRobin]

I agree with Carol.

Seriously how much "advantage" are they getting 35, 50 minutes? The time from the airprot to the resort? One bus load waiting in line could make the same wait when they get there.

It as small world and anything that make the line smaller too is great.

Unfortunately, the delusion here is that there a comparison between someone walking in versus someone arriving on ME and having a CM call to the resort to ensure that a room is getting prepared for them.

The 15 minute time frame has nothing to do with it. Disney is going to make ME a success, and if by ensuring that ME occupants can get their rooms when they arrive, then they will have succeeded.

Don't kid yourselves about this advantage. When we checked in to BCV last week, the CM didn't even look at the room availability. She informed me that check in was after 4 PM, highlighted that fact on the card she gave to me, and told me that I could call to see if the room was available earlier. This was after spending 2 nights at SSR, so Disney knew well that I was already at the resort.

Busted play.

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

The 15 minute time frame has nothing to do with it. Disney is going to make ME a success, and if by ensuring that ME occupants can get their rooms when they arrive, then they will have succeeded.

Don't kid yourselves about this advantage. When we checked in to BCV last week, the CM didn't even look at the room availability. She informed me that check in was after 4 PM, highlighted that fact on the card she gave to me, and told me that I could call to see if the room was available earlier. This was after spending 2 nights at SSR, so Disney knew well that I was already at the resort.

Busted play.

It seems to me like maybe the way they are doing it is if you walk up you get put on a list, and anyone with ME instantly gets put to the front of the list. This would mean that if two people arrive at the airport at the same time, the one with the ME gets at least an hour advantage instantly. Now when the walkup person gets to the DVC and registers, if nobody else shows up they'll get a room, but if any other planes land, they'll be put in front of that person even if they've been waiting an hour for their room. Is this how other people feel this is working out? Someone waiting in the lobby for their room is getting bumped by someone just getting off of a flight that won't be on the property for maybe a half hour or longer?

As far as the CM not checking room availability that doesn't really prove anything to me, because they're constantly checking people in, so she could know from the past 10 people she checked in that the rooms aren't close to ready and there is a backlog.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We checked into BCV May 25th at 2PM, with our own car from the airport. The CM acted the same way regarding telling us that check-in was at 4, the room wasn't ready, but we could call. We went swimming in the villas pool, saw ME buses and luggage coming and going, called the number at 3 and our room was ready. We got a studio facing Epcot, and we could see and hear Illuminations from our balcony. We hadn't asked for this type of room. We were very pleased with our experience. Now the topic began about BWV, and I'm interested because of my fall trip to BWV, but I have friends in both rooms who are using ME.

I honestly didn't see anything different from our other check-ins in the past. Once at BWV our 2 bedroom wasn't ready until after 4:30.

Bobbi