Next time I book VWL, I'm requesting the Dumpster View......

[KNWVIKING]

..... probably the only way I won't get it.

I made a few simple requests: Top floor....got third. Near the elevator.... only one room is farther- 3562. Requested any ODD numbered room, (they face opposite the Dumpster) got 3560.

Why do I post this now ??? Well, it's 10:37 pm, Sunday nite... I'm chatting on-line with my DS's in Boston and Rochester. DW is reading a book. All is peacefull and quiet. UNTIL the back-up alarm signals the arrival of the laundry tractor & trailer. Oh well...it's still better then my OKW Laundry Train from my May trip.

Seriously...it's no big deal. Disney just reminds me of the Navy. After boot camp and school, you fill out your "Dream" sheet of your top three duty stations. Complete waste of time. Some sarcastic lifer reads them, shreds them, and then just plays "einie,meanie,minnie,moe" and you wind up in bum **** egypt.

 

[msdis]

You would think they would save those "Prime" locations for the cash guests. Sorry for your view. I always ask for top floors just because I don't want 1st floor and they give us anything including 1st floor. Other than non-smoking that is usually my only request. If I ever caught a snake on my patio they would hear me 1500 miles back home. Never seen one but just in case.
Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Just curious-- What time did you arrive for check-in? I am wondering how this 'first come, first serve - room ready' policy is working.

On our October trip there was no evidence of the new policy at VB or VWL.

MG

 

[dianeschlicht]

Explain the "laundry train" thing. I don't even know what that is, and I have stayed at OKW more times than I can count!

 

[jodyluvsdisney]

im so sorry this happened to you... good for you for being so well adjusted that you handle it with ease.... we were in 4556 a few years ago and just hated it... it took away the mystique and the magic every time i was out on the balcony or looked outside. i still cannot understand for the life of me why engineering and design couldnt have done something a little different to mask this unsightly area/view a bit (they do everything else so well)..it burned me to use the same points for this wonderful 10 day christmas trip that someone else was paying for a balcony not overlooking concrete, dumpsters, and laundry carts. i should have known when i asked the gentleman checking us in at the desk to tell me what this area of our room assignment was like.. he said..." oh, its VERY private, it'll be fine. " well..it wasnt fine.. it was ugly and even keeping in mind hey..we're at disney, didnt help because it was so "undisney".. if im going to look at that all the hours i spend on my balcony id rather not be spending more than 350 points for the pleasure. needless to say... the mgmt. was able to move us when another unit became available a few days later... we were so thankful and appreciative. then...we felt like we were HOME .

 

[DisneyBill]

I will have to agree with the normal disappointment with this type of view, at this level of resort. Disney touts these resorts as "home away from home". I dare say none of us have dumpster and service entrance views at our personal homes. It is pathetic and should be addressed by either design or point usage cost.

 

[spiceycat]

I agreed that DVC needs to change the points cost for this particular view - I got it once - since then VWL has tried to get me in it 2 more times - I refused and say what else have you got? they glared at me but showed me other DVC rooms.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by dianeschlicht
Explain the "laundry train" thing. I don't even know what that is, and I have stayed at OKW more times than I can count!

Oh, it is an experience not to be missed. They attach about 3-5 cars(full of laundry, they are green with a short wheel base and very loud) to those golf cart thingies (the long ones) and drive down the road with them. It is quite noisy and I am amazed that they don't tip over.

 

[Granny]

As for the "laundry train" exerience at OKW....I'm not sure but I think KNWVIKING was the one who was chasing that noisy train down the road at OKW at 3:00 in the morning one time. I remember the post and had this hilarious mental image of someone chasing the laundry train in the middle of the night!

 

[GoofyDisney]

KNWVIKING

3562 was lovely! That is where we just spent Thanksgiving week. The mile and a half walk was truly refreshing after spending all day in the parks. hehehe

It wasn't too bad, but considering the room I requested was far, far, far away, and I specifically said, "Please, anything but the dumpter view", and we could hear the dumpster loud and clear every single morning since it was directly below us...

Truthfully, except for the long walk and the dumpster in the morning, it really was a great room. Very quiet. Only one side neighbor and no one walking past our room and chatting loudly.

Can't wait to do it again!!!

P.S. We checked in at 8 am Sunday morning, so except for it being Sunday, I would have thought the early morning would have been some kind of advantage. Guess not.

 

[mb168]

I too requested top floor and got 3rd. We just got back from Thanksgiving there and had 3536, I guess it was the transformer view, or whatever those big green boxes were? It wasn't far fortunately to walk and also the reason I like top floor is the toilet flushing/shower running over my head but I never heard a toilet flush all week. We didn't spend much time in the room this trip anyway so the view didn't matter either.

 

[colleen costello]

Just back from OKW, and our requests were met. I asked for "non-smoking, ground floor for medical reasons" because my parents, who are more crochety by the minute, were with us. We were in 2 studios and asked to be in the same building, and additionally I had the nerve to say "Southpoint if possible..." I checked in at 8:30 and they said "Rooms are ready..." and I was doing the happy dance.

I think "medical reasons" sounds some alarm or something... I am guessing they assign these early, because when we travel without Mom and Dad, we also tend to be the folks in the dumpster-view room. My Mom has asthma and couldn't stay in a smoking room and my Dad is getting ready to have knee surgery, so the requests were really important to us. Disney tries very hard to accomodate and we really appreciate this. We were in building #49, which I never knew existed. Mom and Dad were at one far end, near the highway, and we were at the other, near the Southpoint bus turnaround. It was "highway noise room" or "bus noise room" but we couldn't have cared less... We all packed our white noise machines and were so thrilled to be in Florida that NOTHING could have ruined it. I am learning, slowly but surely, that it really doesn't matter WHERE your room is... That said, we are going to the Lodge in June (without grandparents) and I am betting I will be assigned to #62!

 

[jaysue]

Man that view is just plain awful - I hope we do not get stuck with it in Feb/04 - would really impress the MIL

The laundry train used to run in the early morning hours - I heard it around 4am in May myself - sometime between then and November they moved the trains to the daytime or did something else since the "turbine like" noise followed by "rumbling" no longer occured at night

thanks
jaysue

 

[spiceycat]

I got told

handicapped needed rooms are first
then all other health concerns
then adjoining rooms
then everyone else.

if you ever get a room that you don't like - you can only refuse it when you check in - otherwise you end up paying the fee.

 

[InstImpres]

Originally posted by GoofyDisney

P.S. We checked in at 8 am Sunday morning, so except for it being Sunday, I would have thought the early morning would have been some kind of advantage. Guess not.

I think early checkin is a catch 22 with room ready. I do see one advantage though. I checked in at VWL at 11am. Not surprisingly, the only thing "ready" was dumpster view(not told that way, given a room number). When I checked my chart and saw it was dumpster view, I asked for something else and was told nothing avail. unless I waited. I said that was fine, they than asked for requests (near elev and water) and I had a wonderful room at 4:30pm. It was well worth the wait in my mind.

Sandy

 

[jaysue]

Not to split a hair but does the room change fee apply after you have "verbally accepted" a specific room and they have done your keys up etc.

OR

Can it apply before you accepted your room and they give you room XXXX no choices....and you say no I do not want XXXX can they then give you room YYYY and charge you the room charge fee?

thanks
jaysue

 

[colleen costello]

Jaysue, I think they threaten that $25 fee more than they actually assign it... We got in a handicapped room at the Lodge in June and I called down and asked to be moved. I had hurt my back right before the trip and the HC room would have been a nightmare with the low beds. I was polite but pretty much "begged" and said I didn't care about the fee, just move me... and they did move us and apologized. I guess they are supposed to tell you up front that the room is HC and they certainly did not. So I think when you check in you can ask lots of questions and as long as you are not IN the room they won't apply the fee... They really try hard to accomodate!

 

[spiceycat]

one a recent trip they tried to give me 4562 again and I say I wanted another view - no problem - they just showed me which rooms they have availability. - all on the first floor - which worked out great....

I was not charged the $25 fee.

 

[GoofyDisney]

Just to clarify, when we checked in at 8 am, we did not expect a room to be ready. This just happened to be the time we were checking in, and I figured that this would be an advantage. However, we were not expecting a room to be ready, nor was it. We had to get one of those cards and come back later and they would tell us the room number. But when we were checking in at 8 am, there were no other options for the entire day, as we were told, and so we took what she gave us. It turned out to be 3562. And we really did like it, excpet for the long walk. But our neighbors were very quiet, so there were no real complaints.

 

[WolfpackFan]

What are the room numbers that are close to the dumpster? I've requested a non-1st floor room, but that's all I requested. I'd like to have the dumpster room numbers with me at check-in, that way if they give me one, I can immediately request a change. Other than non-1st floor and non-dumpster, I really don't care (the walk doesn't matter to me, in fact I need the exercise) and I don't care if I'm looking out back or towards the front.