Reserving Specific Rooms

[MinnesotaChill]

I recently became a DVC member and was able to get Boardwalk view for January. I thought in the past I had seen room recommendations, but when I went to reserve, they said that I would have to wait until I arrived to get my room assignment. Is this because of the late reservation? I am confused as to what the room ratings are for if we cannot chose the room we'd like. Incidentally, I will be traveling with three kids, 4, 5 & 5, if you have recommendations. If this should be posted somewhere else, or if you can redirect me, I'd appreciate it!

 

[Granny]

First of all, Welcome to the DIS Boards, Welcome to DVC, and

WELCOME HOME!!


You can request a specific room, but the odds of you getting it are slim and you would just be setting yourself up for disappointment. I know that some have done so successfully, but it seems like taking room requests to a real extreme, IMHO.

Room reports are probably good in determining which rooms you do not want to stay in. So things like dumpster views, no balcony, handicap accessible, or other room features that some find undesirable can be helpful to know.

InstImpres on these boards has done a great job compiling a spread sheet with a lot of the features of the rooms at the various resorts.

The benefit would be that at check-in, if you are assigned a room you deem to be less than desirable, then you can ask to wait for a different room. If, on the other hand, you check in and then want to switch after viewing the room you have to pay the $25 switching fee.

Enjoy your DVC membership!

 

[DeeP]

The only DVC resort at WDW where you can actually reserve a room category/view and be guaranteed on getting it is BWV and that is only for the boardwalk views.

 

[zulaya]

MinnesotaChill -

Welcome to DVC! There are several other MN people.

In regard to room requests, they are just that - requests.

I wouldn't get worried about specific rooms in terms of amenities. They all come with the same stuff in each of the villa categories (studio, 1 BR, 2 BR, GV).

Yes, there are differing views. You can't pick a specific room number. Indeed, that would be impossible to do at the time of reservation considering the number of people that DVC accomodates at their resorts.

You are at BWV so you can reserve at standard view, a preferred view of the Boardwalk or a preferred view of the pool/gardens. Those are your room categories.

From recent reports, at check-in, you will be shown what locations (ie room numbers) are available for your category at check in. That's the best anyone can do.

I think a lot of people get very obsessive about room numbers, etc. At some points I am when I am in that dream-planning stage. But you would be hard pressed to find a BAD room. You are at Disney!

 

[InstImpres]

As the others have said you can give request, i.e. near elevator, non-smoking, non-handicapped, etc.

I do have the roomr eport spread sheet and it is mainly used at check-in or to get an idea of what type of request to make.

With the new room ready system, you will be told what is available when you get there. You can than look up those rooms and ask for something else if they are unacceptable (ie far away, handicapped, etc.) I did once ask if room x or y would be available if I wanted. They did check and told me neither was checking out that day.

Hope this helps
Sandy

http://members.aol.com/InstImpres/boardwalk.pdf

The files are in adobe acrobat and which can be downloaded from this site for free:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

 

[timC]

I am confused as to what the room ratings are for if we cannot chose the room we'd like.

I'm with you... I never use it.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

I am confused as to what the room ratings are for if we cannot chose the room we'd like.

Upon checking in if you are given a room that you know had a poor rating, you could ask if something else was available. It would save getting to your room, not liking it and being charged a moving fee.

HBC

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by MinnesotaChill
I recently became a DVC member and was able to get Boardwalk view for January. I thought in the past I had seen room recommendations, but when I went to reserve, they said that I would have to wait until I arrived to get my room assignment. Is this because of the late reservation? I am confused as to what the room ratings are for if we cannot chose the room we'd like. Incidentally, I will be traveling with three kids, 4, 5 & 5, if you have recommendations. If this should be posted somewhere else, or if you can redirect me, I'd appreciate it!

There are no bad Boardwalk view rooms - you've already secured the most coveted view that the BWV has to offer. Congratulations!

IMHO, you have nothing to worry about. You might consider requesting a room close to the elevators since you have young children traveling with you. Other than that, there's really nothing else to get!

 

[DeeP]

Originally posted by CarolMN
There are no bad Boardwalk view rooms - you've already secured the most coveted view that the BWV has to offer. Congratulations!

After the room view and the unbelievable noise level we had from our villa on our last trip to WDW 3 weeks ago, I firmly believe there are no BWV rooms period that have views that can even begin to compare to the bad view that you can possibly get at some of the other DVC resorts.

 

[MinnesotaChill]

I am confused. Do you mean that the BWV is noisy or do you mean that somewhere else is noisy? And the views...?

 

[DeeP]

Not to mention any names, but our last trip was NOT at BWV. During this last trip, we had the worst view and the most noise from both outside and inside than we have ever had at any WDW resort we have ever stayed at, including the value resorts.

 

[zulaya]

MNChill...sent you a PM

 

[flexsmom]

InstImpres - Would you mind sharing your spreadsheets for BCV and OKW or point me to where they might be posted? I've missed them in the past. Thank you for taking the time to put them together!

 

[MelissathePooh]

What are the "room ratings"? Is this something that DVC put out? I've never heard of it before. In that of course if its not from DVC themselves it makes them irrelevant to reservations policies. But then again they may be from Disney.

I agree that people can get too obsessed with room requests - there are a limited number of rooms and of course everyone wants the best ones! Disney can only do so much!

In regard to noise - we've always stayed in a studio lock off when we've been at BWV and its always been noisy from the room next door. The walls aren't exactly thick. We've had the same problem at WVL as well. The only time it wasn't loud was at BCV, but we had a dedicated studio. Mind you the noise wasn't enough to have a negative impact on our trip, but it was noticeable.

I do take a little issue though with the term "preferred view" at BWV - last January our preferred view was that of the maintenance building roof!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Hello, Fellow Minnesotan, and WELCOME HOME!

The reason it would be impossible to request a SPECIFIC room is the logistics of managing that with your travel dates. Say you reserve room 1212 for 10 days checking in Jan. 1 and out on Jan. 11 Someone else comes in on Jan. 5 ane had requested the same room from Jan.5 to Jan. 12. Would you expect them to kick you out of the room to meet the other request? AS you can see, it would be an impossible situation to manage. THat is why you just make general requests. At OKW we usually just request non-smoking and sometimes near a specific area or bus stop. I have to agree with others here, you already have been comifmed with the best view, so not to worry about the room other than possiblly if it is non-smoking or a long way from the elevator.

 

[InstImpres]

Originally posted by flexsmom
InstImpres - Would you mind sharing your spreadsheets for BCV and OKW or point me to where they might be posted? I've missed them in the past. Thank you for taking the time to put them together!

Here is the info for BCV, sorry I don't have anything on OKW, I think Webmaster Doc did something though

http://members.aol.com/InstImpres/beachclub.pdf


Happy travels,
Sandy

 

[JudyS]

InstImpres, thanks very much for the room reports! I have a question, though. Some of the rooms say "No" in the Smoking column, and some don't say anything. Are the rooms that say nothing Smoking rooms? Or are they just ones where you didn't make a note of the smoking status? It seems like not very many of the rooms in your report have "no" in the Smoking column -- I would have expected more nonsmoking rooms.

 

[InstImpres]

Originally posted by JudyS
I have a question, though. Some of the rooms say "No" in the Smoking column, and some don't say anything. Are the rooms that say nothing Smoking rooms? Or are they just ones where you didn't make a note of the smoking status?

Judy -

I wish I could say they were all first hand reports, than I would have many, many more happy Disney days. I compile the report based on things reported on these boards (or by accusting people in the hallway when I am there ). I enter whatever info I can from the report and than send an e-mail, as below, to try and get the rest of the info. Some people never respond (which is fine, I understand not everyone wants to participate) and some people respond and only answer some questions.

sample e-mail
Hi! I saw your post on WDWinfo. I am compiling room lists. If you have a minute, I would love if you could help with the following questionsabout your room.

Thanks in advance
Sandy

Room #
Size
Room was Dedicated or Lockoff
Room was: standard view, preferred view, prefferd BW view
Smoking or non
handicapped?
dist. from elev.
patio (size, enclosed, etc.)
comments


I am hoping with over 900 readers on the board that the reports will fill up more quickly as more people talk about them. I just started tracking this back in approx. April.

Hope this makes sense.
Sandy

 

[JudyS]

That makes perfect sense, Sandy. And if you had personally stayed in all those DVC rooms, I would have been *very* jealous!

Thanks for compiling this information!

JudyS

 

[Boardwalk III]

InstImpress/Sandy -

Thank you so much for the grid on the BWV rooms. As a BWV member this is the most helpful aid I've seen yet! I'm going down 1st week of Dec and don't have BWV even though I called at 11 mos out, day by day, w/in 1st half hour! In any case, I am first on waitlist but not looking probable - at least now I can determine what type of preferred non-BWV room I might be getting when I check in .

Thanks again!