Room request — worthwhile to try? WL in October

[Kcasey02]

Staying at the Wilderness Lodge with my husband and 2 year old for his birthday in mid Oct for 5 nights. We have a “standard view” room. Is it worthwhile to request a specific room?

I was on a website that has the views of different rooms, basically said that only the 4th and 5th floors had standard view. 5th floor does look better than the 4th!

How do you go about requesting a room? We booked through a travel agent. Do they do it? Should I call?

Does requesting a specific room take you out of the running to get a surprise of a better view, like nature or courtyard instead? Our TA said she made a note for my son’s birthday and that it was his first visit to Disney — I’ve had this trip booked since December 2020.

 

[SnowWhitee]

I have stayed at WL in a standard room a couple of times, as well as woods/fireworks view and courtyard view. I think you should try to request a room and see what happens. I don't know which site you were on, but try https://touringplans.com/hotel_maps/disneys-wilderness-lodge#. The rooms meeting your criteria will show up in a rose color. Click on them individually to see the view.

If you are using a TA, I would go through that person to make your request.

Once our standard view looked out onto a roof and AC unit. Another time we had some woods and a backlot area where trucks ran back and forth. The roof view was quiet but not pretty. The room over the work area was noisy early in the am or late at night. While we never had one, there used to be standard rooms that opened to the lobby below. That is really pretty coming out of the room, but you might get noise from the lobby when it's busy.

I don't think a request precludes you from getting a magical upgrade, I just wouldn't count on it. I have been to WDW over a dozen times and never been upgraded. Others have though, so it's just luck. I imagine they will have a birthday button for your son and maybe another surprise.

You will love WL. Have a great time on your trip!

 

[Marthasor]

Staying at the Wilderness Lodge with my husband and 2 year old for his birthday in mid Oct for 5 nights. We have a “standard view” room. Is it worthwhile to request a specific room?

I was on a website that has the views of different rooms, basically said that only the 4th and 5th floors had standard view. 5th floor does look better than the 4th!

How do you go about requesting a room? We booked through a travel agent. Do they do it? Should I call?

Does requesting a specific room take you out of the running to get a surprise of a better view, like nature or courtyard instead? Our TA said she made a note for my son’s birthday and that it was his first visit to Disney — I’ve had this trip booked since December 2020.

If you prefer the 5th floor, I would ask your TA to note the request, "5th floor, nice view" on your reservation. Since your TA booked the reservation, they need to call in the request. Placing a request on a reservation would not exclude you from a possible view upgrade.

 

[EpcotPhoenician]

My two experiences with room requests at WL:

Trip #1: Nature View. Requested "Quiet room. High floor, away from main lobby and elevators".
- What I got... a room directly above Whispering Canyon Cafe, arguably the noisiest room in the resort.

Trip #2: Boulder Ridge Studio. Requested "Quiet room. High floor, far away from elevator".
- What I got... a room on the highest floor, the very last room at the end of the hallway. Exactly what I asked for.

Your mileage may vary with room requests.

 

[Kcasey02]

This is helpful, thanks everyone! I think the woods/truck area is on the 5th floor. With my 2 year old, maybe that isn’t a good idea! I will reach out to my travel agent to see if she can make a request though.

 

[Dave006]

The Standard rooms all overlook the delivery area below the balconies on floors (4-6). However you can still view the woods and the CR in the distance.

Note: Floors 1-3 are further down the wing so not as close to the area mentioned above but they are Nature / Fireworks views vs a Standard view.

ETA: correct post to add Floor 3...

Dave

 

[Sunshine11]

I would ask your ta to request high floor nice view. We had castle view in the distance with standard view and it was amazing to see the fireworks at night. The smokehouse was below and that wasn't a pretty view, but to see the castle in the distance and fireworks was amazing! We were on the 5th floor.

 

[Bama Mom]

In 2019 my hubby and I stayed at WL for our 25th anniversary trip. I booked through a TA but I sent in my own request. I don't remember the fax number I used though. I'd have to look back through some notes to see if I could find it. I requested a specific room and then asked if it was unavailable I would be grateful for something similar. I actually got the exact room I wanted. Make sure when you request that you do so in a gracious manner and let them know you understand if the request can't be met.

 

[Spazz2k]

We have always been put on the 1st floor when we travel with a toddler…not sure if this is just what they do or it just happened that way, but every time we go with a little it seems we are on the 1st floor. I would ask for what you want…it can’t hurt to ask. Heck you can even ask for a different room when you get your room assignment via text or app as long as you don’t go in the room….we find that works really well too unless the hotel is packed. Good luck and enjoy your vacation

 

[DJFan88]

Don’t forget if you check in at the counter, if you don’t care for the assigned room, you can ask if there is anything else available. We’ve done this before at a different Disney resort where they put us in the farthest building from the one I wanted. Turns out she had 3 different rooms available in the building I wanted, and easily changed it. I think I had been too specific using specific room numbers and when those weren’t available… next time I would just put the main thing I want( in this case the building)

 

[PrincesCJM]

I've never done specific room requests. Sometimes when doing the online check in, I've indicated one of those requests but even then, it wasn't always met. We are also staying in a standard room at WL in October. I am not doing any requests. We'll take the luck of the draw. I did the same thing in April when we went, and got a nice upgrade at GF (theme park view when we were booked for outer building garden view, after being moved for POFQ)

 

[Marionnette]

Staying at the Wilderness Lodge with my husband and 2 year old for his birthday in mid Oct for 5 nights. We have a “standard view” room. Is it worthwhile to request a specific room?

It actually works against you if you request a specific room. The room assigner has no idea why you made the request and if the room is already assigned to another guest, they have nothing to base their choice off of.

I was on a website that has the views of different rooms, basically said that only the 4th and 5th floors had standard view. 5th floor does look better than the 4th!

Often upper floors have better views of fireworks if they are at all viewable from that part of the hotel. Otherwise, they really aren't much different.

How do you go about requesting a room? We booked through a travel agent. Do they do it? Should I call?

Touring Plans will fax room requests for you if you are a paid member. Your TA can make the request for you but since you are using a TA, you will not be able to call Disney to make any requests yourself.

Does requesting a specific room take you out of the running to get a surprise of a better view, like nature or courtyard instead? Our TA said she made a note for my son’s birthday and that it was his first visit to Disney — I’ve had this trip booked since December 2020.

"Surprise" room upgrades are never done because Disney wants to pixie dust certain guests. They happen because Disney needs to move those guests (overselling of specific view categories, maintenance issues in a building or wing, etc). Making a request won't change those factors. If they need to upgrade you, they're going to do it. Plenty of people have had important occasions noted on their reservations and got nothing more than a "I'm Celebrating..." button and a hearty "Congratulations!" from CMs.

Expect nothing and enjoy any pixie dust that blows your way.

 

[Kcasey02]

To close the loop on this — our travel agent added “high floor” request to our reservation and we went from the standard room that I booked to a courtyard room on the 6th floor that has a view of the lake as well! The staff here has been wonderful and so kind. Can’t say enough good things so far and we’ve only been here for one night!

 

[Dug720]

I think I had been too specific using specific room numbers and when those weren’t available… next time I would just put the main thing I want( in this case the building)

This is key. If you're only putting in room numbers, the assigner has NO idea why. It's best to a - limit the requests to no more than 3 and b - put them in priority order.

For example, when I was staying at Sports, my requests were as follows:
1st priority: Surfs Up section
2nd priority: 3rd floor
3rd priority: Corner room

That way the assigner knew to first check for availability in the Surfs Up section, then look at those to see if there were any on the third floor, and then if any of those were corner rooms. I ended up Surfs Up, third floor, next to a corner room. (And theoretically, if Surfs Up had had no rooms available, the assigner would have looked for third floor, then corner in the other Preferred section since I'd booked preferred.)

 

[PrincesCJM]

I just got back yesterday from a stay at WL. I had a standard room booked, made no requests and ended up with a nature view. Unfortunately, the view was blocked some by the rock balcony (room 3001). It was also the furthest room from the elevator and having a stroller, it was sometimes frustrating when trying to get to the boat. We ended up closing the stroller and carrying it down the stairs.