No more check in by phone?

[carlbarry]

I just called DVC to make requests for my stay coming up in a few days. I made the requests, and then asked to check in.
The CM said they no longer do that by phone; it has to be done on line.
I said I thought that would cancel my requests. She said no, not at all.
Anybody else have this experience?

 

[Chuck S]

Checking in online should not cancel your requests, UNLESS you make a selection from the generic request list when it pops up during check-in. Your existing requests would then be replaced by the request you selected.

 

[drusba]

You do check-in on the MyDisneyExperience site, not through DVC. As noted above, if you have made room location requests through DVC, you should skip the page that comes up during check-in where you can make room location requests because using it would cancel the requests you made through DVC.

 

[Nappy1380]

Checking in online should not cancel your requests, UNLESS you make a selection from the generic request list when it pops up during check-in. Your existing requests would then be replaced by the request you selected.

Front desk as SSR had no knowledge of my emailed and acknowledged requests during my last trip, and I bypassed details in MDE check in.

 

[OnThisMagicNight]

I normally check in online first (you can do it up to 60 days in advance) and then I chat Member Services to add my room requests only after I've done that. Since my most recent trip was a split stay, I actually stopped at the VGF front desk the day before transferring to our next room type and confirmed they had my location requests on file. The CM pulled up our reservation and said he did see my requests, however they were "further down" on the page, so he re-added them again up at the top so they'd be more visible. No idea what the screen layout looks like for the CMs or whether or not this made a difference (I would assume rooms had been assigned already by 1 day before check-in) but our room requests were met the next day. One of the best room assignments ever for us; they even managed to place our friends in a room a few doors down which we were not expecting to happen since it's such a small resort. But bottom line is my requests were visible - he actually read them back to me.

 

[sndral]

I just called DVC to make requests for my stay coming up in a few days. I made the requests, and then asked to check in.
The CM said they no longer do that by phone; it has to be done on line.
I said I thought that would cancel my requests. She said no, not at all.
Anybody else have this experience?

For future reference, I’ve read that they make villa assignments several days in advance, so leaving it to a couple of days before arrival may mean you’re too late since they’ve already assigned a room/villa to you.
Location requests (like building XYZ or upper floor) can be made via MS phone call, email, or chat.
Check in to avoid having to stop by the front desk is online via MDE &, as noted, you just skip the part about location requests if you’ve already made them via phone/email/chat.

Front desk as SSR had no knowledge of my emailed and acknowledged requests during my last trip, and I bypassed details in MDE check in.

It seems to me that there’s a lot of variation between resorts w/ how in sync communications between MS & the front desk are. Some resorts seem to handle it well, others not so well. SSR is all DVC so you’d think communication would be great, but it’s a huge resort, thus there’s lots of villas to be sorted/assigned, so either your requests were ‘lost’ by MS, the room assignor, or SSR front desk, or the front desk person didn’t know how to look for your requests.
When my assigned villa at AKV a month ago was the opposite of my requests, out of curiosity I asked if my requests were noted & they were. We ended up being moved from that villa the next day because of a maintenance issue they couldn’t fix, so it sort of worked out other than the hassle of living w/ gunk in the shower/tub one night & having to pack up & move & being homeless an extra day.

 

[carlbarry]

No idea what the screen layout looks like for the CMs or whether or not this made a difference (I would assume rooms had been assigned already by 1 day before check-in) but our room requests were met the next day.

The CM I spoke to this morning told me that the requests are added to a screen that looks like a blackboard.

 

[LadybugsMum]

I normally check in online first (you can do it up to 60 days in advance)

You can check in way before 60 days in MDE. I checked in as soon as I made my reservation for VGF at 11 months since I knew I wasn't going to switch resorts at the 7 month mark.