First floor was never actually a guarantee unless you also had an accessible room - either with a roll in shower or tub with grab bars and/or raised seat toilet. If it was stated for medical reasons, those rooms have in the past always been assigned first when rooms were assigned. So, it usually was close to a guarantee. I don’t know how they currently assign rooms - whether it is by person or by computer.
I do know that whatever is listed as your first request is considered your most important one. So, I would list first floor (and still say it is for medical reasons) as your first or only request.
Keep in mind that OKW buildings are mostly 2 floors, so even if nothing is done, you have close to a 50/50 chance of being assigned a first floor room even without a guarantee. And, many people request higher floors because of better views, so there are often not many requests for first floor rooms.
When you check in, verify that you got first floor assigned and if you did not, you should be able to change it.
You may have better luck saying that you need an accessible (or mobility) room with a tub. That will get you also a raised seat toilet probably, but at least it will be on a floor you can get to.
Hopefully, this will be a temporary problem as they deal with a new provision of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) that will be effective beginning March 15, 2012.
It will require hotels/resorts to:
- allow accessible rooms to be booked in the same ways for people with disabilities(phone, internet) as for people without disabilities
- have access to information available about those rooms that are descriptive enough for the person to decide whether the room will meet their needs (including photos or other images)
- include information about which features which rooms have, including which are accessible with roll in showers and which have tubs with grab bars
- reserve and hold a specific room for that specific guest with a disability. Those specific rooms must be actually removed from the reservation system (to avoid double booking and ensure that when the guest arrives the room they needed was available for them)
- hold accessible rooms back for reservation by people with disabilities until all non-accessible rooms of that type/class have been rented.
Here’s a link to a really good summary of the new changes:
http://www.adahospitality.org/content/Lodging-Reservations
I don’t think there is any requirement for reserving a certain location, such as first floor unless there are other disability needs. The reason for that (and why they never actually reserved/guaranteed those rooms) was that there are few rooms that have been adapted for different disabilities, but there are many room that could be used to fit the first floor request.
My guess is that to reserve and be guaranteed a first floor room, you will need to reserve a room with a tub with grab bars if you don’t need a roll in shower. This would be consistent with what the new rules say.
Disney had dealt with this before through their Special Reservations Department, but will be required to deal with it on internet and “Mainstream” telephone bookings. So, there are a lot of changes coming in a short time.
I do know they are making changes in their request system and First floor may be a request.
I know there was a lot of confusion among CMs before regarding what constituted an accessible room. When we have asked for an accessible room with a roll in shower, we have been told things like all the first floor rooms are accessible (which we know is not true).
Hopefully, the CMs will be educated so they actually know what they are talking about and guests with disabilities won’t be holding their breaths from the time they make their reservation until they get into their room.
