room assignment versus time of arrival

[JoEllen]

We always arrive at WDW between 6 and 7 pm since we fly out from Seattle. The past few trips to OKW and BWV we have either, not rec'd any of the three bldg requests made for OKW, or requested rooms for BWV. At the BWV we had been told the only available was a smoking when we had requested non-smoking and another time were told only handicap rooms were available.

We always call between 10 and 11 months out for BWV and 7 months out for OKW. All we ever specify is non-smoking. With OKW we choose 3 bldgs we would be happy to stay in.
Oh, we also have learned to request non-handicap rooms.

My DH is convinced that the time of arrival makes more of a difference to what you get than how early you make your reservations. What do you think? Has your experience been the same for late arrivals? Would faxing requests just prior to leaving help?
Thanks for your input!

 

[Eeyore2U]

There have been a number of threads and one recently from a room assigner that states it's based on when the ressie is made.

 

[Terry S]

JoEllen, I am not even a member yet (I plan to purchase points with BCV as my home) so I can't give you my experiences, but the thread Eeyore2U is referring to is this one http://www.disboards.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=138588&pagenumber=2 there is a post from a DVC room assigner named DVC-VWL who explains the process. I know by the sounds of what you explained it doesn't sound like it works this way.

 

[Dean]

Time of arrival is very important. The rooms get shuffled all day long and by the time you get in late, many of the rooms are already taken and there are few options. Also make sure your requests are as general as possible.

 

[JoEllen]

Thank you for the link to that interesting thread. I missed it over the Holidays!

 

[eva]

Dean is right. I think that the early bird does often get the worm with check-in. People who arrive early in the day often have concerns about the room assigned and the desk will usually give them another. Or they give your room to someone who arrives earlier just because the room is ready. We usually check-in very early in the morning. On our last trip to OKW the CM told us our assigned room wasn't ready but there were others available. They asked if we would like one that was ready. Then he showed us a map and pointed out the ones that were ready to give us a choice. Whenever we check in early we always get all of our requests met. On our last trip to BWV we checked-in around 8am and they even offered us a Boardwalk view. We had made the reservation only the month before and didn't even request a BW view. We took a view of the quiet pool because we weren't all that thrilled with our last BW view. But they gave us a choice of about 10 different rooms.

 

[HollyH]

Terry,

Thanks for posting the link to DVC-VWL's post. It explained a lot.

Holly

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Hhmmm...we checked in at 11 AM and didn't get our request.

We stay at the Portofino at Universal before switching over to BWV...I think I'll send DH down early early to the BWV to check in, and then come back to get us!

 

[KayleeUK]

Hi

A question for you all, If you check-in and don't get the room you want are you able to change the next day if a room is available? If so does it cost anything for a room change?

Thanks

Kaylee

 

[eva]

By Disney standards 11am really is not too early. If possible we try to check in by 8am. In answer to the previous question, they do charge you if you change rooms after you have entered the room. I believe the cost is whatever you would pay if you paid for a full cleaning during your stay.