OKW GV requests

[OneMoreTry]

I started my day-by-day GV reservations for next March.

I requested nonsmoking, and HA for medical reasons(due to MIL's Parkinson's).

I'm trying to impress MIL and FIL (pardon me, DMIL and DFIL ) and don't want a noisy, road view. FIL travels a lot and stays at nice golf resorts . Obviously, they get the master BR.

Should I add a request for view/location such as water view or whatever? Would having three requests tick the room assigners off? If I do make a request, what should I request? Or what should I request to avoid?

 

[dianeschlicht]

There is only one handicapped accessible GV available, and that is in building 48. The GVs in building 63 will have elevator access, but are not HA GVs. The view from building 48 is golfcourse, and the HA GV will be ground floor. Only the master bedroom, living room, and kitchen will be HA, however. The second floor bedrooms will not be, since they can only be reached via stairs.

 

[OneMoreTry]

She's not in a wheelchair, but it would be hard for her to climb stairs. I think we should get the villas that are not fully HA and leave those for someone who needs that for a wheelchair if possible. Besides I would like to be closer to HH. I will specifiy we don't need full HA when I call tomorrow.

MIL will not need access to upstairs. She can climb stairs slowly, but doing it every time she entered and left the villa would be hard and possibly prohibitive on bad days

I guess this answers questions about other requests, which are not nearly as important. I get the impression that all the GVs are nice anyway.

 

[Nanajo1]

I would encourage you to get Special needs involved. I had a bad experience with a Medically Necessary request for a first floor/wc accessible GV. My request through MS was over ridden by a requet made through Special Needs.

 

[SueM in MN]

She's not in a wheelchair, but it would be hard for her to climb stairs. I think we should get the villas that are not fully HA and leave those for someone who needs that for a wheelchair if possible. Besides I would like to be closer to HH. I will specifiy we don't need full HA when I call tomorrow.

MIL will not need access to upstairs. She can climb stairs slowly, but doing it every time she entered and left the villa would be hard and possibly prohibitive on bad days

I guess this answers questions about other requests, which are not nearly as important. I get the impression that all the GVs are nice anyway.

If she HAS to avoid climbing the stairs to get into the villa, the only way to guarantee that is to reserve one of the wheelchair accessible ones. They are the only ones that have access into the unit without climbing stairs to get into the door.
Also, unless she is staying in the Master bedroom or the sofa bed in the living room, she will need to climb stairs to get to the bedroom. As was already mentioned, only the master bedroom, master bath and kitchen are fully wheelchair accessible in the accessible units.

Asking for first floor or in an elevator building works fine for studios, one and 2 bedrooms, but it doesn't work for Grand Villas, even if it is made as a medical request. There are many studio, 1 or 2 bedrooms that are on the first floor, so a request for one of those is pretty easy to meet.

There are limited numbers of Grand Villas and all but 2 have entries on the second floor of the building (the GV begins on the 2nd floor and goes up to the third floor). The GVs that are accessible without climbing steps to get into the villa are wheelchair accessible. (At least that is what we were told).

So, if you are requesting a GV with first floor entry (or in a building with elevators), but 2 other groups have guaranteed wheelchair accessible villa, your request can't be met because all the villas that meet that request are already assigned. Even if no one else reserved the accessible GV, if someone else with a request for that area or for first floor access arrived before you, they would get it.

NOTE: We were told a little different information than dianeschlicht when we made our reservation and were told it again when we checked in.
We were told that there are 2 wheelchair accessible GV - one is unit 4815, which was the unit we stayed in.
We were also told there is a wheelchair accessible GV in one of the 60s buildings.
When we made our reservation for a wheelchair accessible unit, we were told that the one in the 60s was blocked for us (working with the Special Needs department - they DO block wheelchair accessible units for people who need them and can't stay without one).
When we arrived, they said that unit was already occupied and the only wheelchair accessible GV left was 4815.
We asked if there were any non-wheelchair accessible GV in the buildings with elevators - my FIL was with us and loves to walk to HH if it's a short distance.
We needed first floor or elevator access because DD has a wheelchair and can't walk (and is WAY too heavey to carry up stairs). Although wheelchair accessible with a roll in shower is easier, we could manage without it as long as there were no steps to get into the unit.
We were told that the only GV in the 60s buildings was the accessible one that was already occupied.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I didn't realize that building 63 was HA. I thought it was only accessible because of being in an elevator building. It is not listed on the map as being HA.

 

[RobDoc]

OKW has two HCA GV's. One is in building 48 and the other in building 63.

Here is a map with HCA and smoking villas.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks for the updated map, Doc! The one I had archived didn't have building 63 with a red line around it.

 

[OneMoreTry]

I have to say I wish I were a kid again when I enjoyed just standing in line at Space Mountain with my friends from school. But now I feel sorry for people who go to WDW without plans and information.

Anyway, I will have to find out exactly how much problem DMIL has with stairs. If it's as much as I think I will call special needs and make arrangements.

This is why I always check with the DIS. It's "where the experts are."

 

[OneMoreTry]

I spoke with Myrtle at MS about this issue. She was extremely patient and helpful. She got on the phone with OKW and confirmed the information about having only 2 GVs with no-stair access. At first she said I couldn't get a special needs assignment for one of the units because DMIL is not in a wheelchair. But when I explained that if we get there and DON'T have no-stair access we will not be able to use the villa, she understood my situation and entered the request "through special needs."

She explained the undesirable aspects of a HA unit with the shower and floor and all. She also explained about the dining plan and encouraged me to check into it -- and that 18% gratuity and tax (I assume about 10%) is included.

Anyway, major kudos to Myrtle who was the best and exceeded my expectations for helpfulness. She was not arrogant, even though she obviously knew a lot about the workings of DVC, and she was not above learning something new -- which is probably why she knows so much in the first place.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks for reporting back about your experiences! Glad to hear Myrtle was so helpful too. I hope you have a magnificent trip!

 

[Nanajo1]

Would you please post when you get your confirmation letter. I would like to see how it is worded.
Thanks

 

[SueM in MN]

Would you please post when you get your confirmation letter. I would like to see how it is worded.
Thanks

Our first one was worded "Request first floor or elevator building" and it was listed as a medical request. My DH had told the CM that we had someone in a wheelchair who would need to be carried up steps if we did not get first floor or elevator building. He had told the CM that we did not necessarily require a fully wheelchair accessible (HA) unit, but did require that there be no stairs to get into the unit.

I knew there were only 2 GVs that met our requirements (since the only 2 that don't require going up stairs are wheelchair accessible). I was afraid we would get bumped (like you did) by someone who got a guarantee for the accessible unit.
When I called back the next day, the CM confirmed that the computer listed it as a medical request. She at first said she thought that should be OK, since they don't have lots of reservations specifically for the HA GV. I explained that if we got there and did not have a room that was accessible without climbing stairs, we could not stay, since DD uses a wheelchair and can't walk. The CM confirmed that there are only 2 units (both HA) that you could enter without climbing stairs. She then called Special Services to verify that a handicapped accessible unit was available for the time period and told me that we were now "blocked" into one of the 2 HA units.
When we got our new confirmation, it said "Guaranteed" and I can't remember if it said "Wheelchair accessible" or just "Accessible" GV was guaranteed.

During further phone calls to Special Services, DH was told we were actually blocked into the "building in the 60s", although the CM would give us the specific building or unit number. When we actually arrived at the resort, we were assigned to the accessible unit in building 48.
(When we checked in, we asked about the other unit; at first the CM said they had only one accessible GV and it was in building 48. She said that the GV in the 60s buidlings were not HA. After my DH said he knew that one was because of his conversations with Special Sevices, the CM went to talk to her manager, who confirmed that the HA unit in the 60s building was already occupied.)

I don't know what happened to the "blocking" for building 63, but the CM said they knew we had to be in a HA villa, so they assigned us to the only available one in the resort. My best guess is that the person who was going to be assinged to room 4815 arrived before us and did not like that location, so we were given it instead.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Sue, while there are supposedly only 2 HA GVs at OKW, BOTH of the GVs in building 63 would have elevator access, so it sounds like either one in 63 would have worked for you.

 

[OneMoreTry]

Sue, while there are supposedly only 2 HA GVs at OKW, BOTH of the GVs in building 63 would have elevator access, so it sounds like either one in 63 would have worked for you.

I didn't realize this based on what I've been told. By my calculations it would mean there is 1 GV that requires no stairs but is not fully HA -- ie. has a normal shower and tub downstairs. If we have a choice when we get there I will request this one.

It would be nice if this unit could be blocked off through special needs for a case like mine where full wheelchair access is not needed. That would leave fully HA units available for others. Hopefully I'll learn more next March when we check in.

 

[SueM in MN]

Sue, while there are supposedly only 2 HA GVs at OKW, BOTH of the GVs in building 63 would have elevator access, so it sounds like either one in 63 would have worked for you.

I wasn't very clear in my post - what we were told when we got there was that there were no unoccupied GV in the buildings with elevators.

When we made our reservation, we were told the only way to ensure that we had a GV that was accessible either from the first floor or by elevator was to reserve a HA GV.

 

[OneMoreTry]

Error, see next post.

 

[OneMoreTry]

Would you please post when you get your confirmation letter. I would like to see how it is worded.
Thanks

In the request section of my confirmation it states that the accessible request is "confirmed." (We ended up going through special needs.)

 

[Nanajo1]

In the request section of my confirmation it states that the accessible request is "confirmed." (We ended up going through special needs.)

Thanks for posting. I am glad you were able to get it confirmed.