Room Request- How did you do it and did you get it?

[imktdqt810]

We are 6 weeks out staying at BWV. DH has no clue I am surprising him with a 1 brdm villa and I have mentioned we "might" have a balcony since he LOVES balconies. So not matter what I know we have that. I have a Stand View book directly through Disney. I'm on the fence in trying to request one of the X123 rooms (wrap around balcony but only 3 available in the whole resort). I know a "Room Request" is just that...you are requesting and hoping for the best. But I wondered how others did it, phone call directly to resort? I don't have TP and I'm not a DVC owner to put requests in that way nor a fax machine. Do they take email request? Also did you end up getting your request when you made it and how far out did you do it. My only "on the fence" part it knowing it's a walk from the lobby/boardwalk (where all the food is) and we plan on walking to EPCOT every night and it's one of the furthest room locations from EPCOT...but man, I really like that wrap around Balcony! LOL Thanks for filling in on what you know!

 

[maryj11]

I call Disney and have them make a note on our reservation. I also send an email from Touring Plans. It has been hit or miss on getting our request. If I’m totally unsatisfied with our room location I ask at the check in desk if they have anything in the location we want. Usually they can switch it to close to what you requested unless the resort is totally full.

 

[jimmymc]

Last time I went, I called through the group reservation line and requested to be close to the Skyliner at Caribbean Beach. I got room 4105, which is the 5th closest room to the Skyliner station in the entire resort, and I think that's one of the best places to stay on property.

I would call the resort phone number and have your confirmation number ready. They can enter it and the wait shouldn't be long.

 

[_19disnA]

We input our request on the Disney reservation website and got what we requested. You are simply stating a preference and there is no guarantee you get what you wanted. If you are very specific in your request (i.e. Room ###) it obviously limits your chance for success since that room may already be occupied by others. I doubt the method you use to submit your request makes any difference in how successful you might be.

 

[StageTek]

I've had excellent results using Touring Plans.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

First, do not use the online check-in for a room request because they are to generic. It's best to add it to your reservation by calling in and we always follow it up with a fax 7-10 days before check-in, you can use Touring Plans for this also. We have had great success with doing this. It would probably be worth the $18 for touring plans.
BTW; we have found that the online check-in overrides any other room requests.

 

[jlstwinmommy]

I also use Touring Plans. Got the room we wanted in January in BLT. Hoping to have the same luck with our upcoming June trip at Poly.

 

[Best Aunt]

OP, it's tricky in your particular case because you booked BWV through Disney. My understanding is that pre-COVID, people who booked BWV standard view through Disney were actually given garden or pool view. That may have changed.

At any rate, if you really want one of those rooms, call 407-W-DISNEY and ask to have your request put on your reservation; do not make any requests at on-line check-in because supposedly that would override whatever you had previously requested. I am not aware of an email address which you can use to make that type of request. If that "chat" function is working on the disneyworld website, you can try that; I don't know if it will be successful or not.

As others have mentioned, you can pay for a Touring Plans subscription and have a request put in that way.

Supposedly DVC ignores faxes, but on the other hand I think Touring Plans sends faxes. Do the room assigners look at Touring Plans faxes and ignore faxes from anyone else? Who knows.

Some people have reported that when they needed to call Disney about their reservation for some other reason after making a request, they were told that their request was not on file. So if you're serious about it, you should call back and ask them to read your request back to you, so you know it made it into the system.

When I had a cash resie at BCV, I put in a similar type of request - a room ending in X or Y. I believe there would have been 10 of them total. I got the exact opposite of what I wanted. So you might want to specify that you want that room for the large balcony. Otherwise you could get a nearby room which has the long walk but not the big balcony.

 

[ALDSMD]

First, do not use the online check-in for a room request because they are to generic. It's best to add it to your reservation by calling in and we always follow it up with a fax 7-10 days before check-in, you can use Touring Plans for this also. We have had great success with doing this. It would probably be worth the $18 for touring plans.
BTW; we have found that the online check-in overrides any other room requests.

Does that mean you don't do online check in at all or you just don't put in requests? I used the Touring Plans room request and was going to still do online check-in. Should I not??

 

[Best Aunt]

Does that mean you don't do online check in at all or you just don't put in requests? I used the Touring Plans room request and was going to still do online check-in. Should I not??

My understanding is that you do online check-in, but skip the room request part of online check-in.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Does that mean you don't do online check in at all or you just don't put in requests? I used the Touring Plans room request and was going to still do online check-in. Should I not??

Im curious about this too. We use TP room requester and always get the room, or at least close, that we chose. I thought they used faxes too but now Im reading those aren't really read anymore.

 

[g3pak]

We input our request on the Disney reservation website and got what we requested. You are simply stating a preference and there is no guarantee you get what you wanted. If you are very specific in your request (i.e. Room ###) it obviously limits your chance for success since that room may already be occupied by others. I doubt the method you use to submit your request makes any difference in how successful you might be.

I do not see how to do it on the website. Can you help? Maybe I am not able since a TA made our reservation.

 

[Fangorn]

To try and summarize:

1) call the Disney reservation line and have them add your request(s) to your reservation.
a) keep the requests as clear as possible
b) make as few requests as possible
c) make the requests as generic as you can. Stay away from requesting specific rooms
d) if you make multiple requests, list them in priority order.

2) do not make any requests at all through online checkin. If you do, it WILL override all other requests.

3) for DVC rooms, Member Services has repeatedly told members that faxes are tossed and will be ignored for requests. Even though the room is booked via Disney Reservations, the room assignment is still done by DVC Member Services. Obviously, people have gotten their requests when they sent faxes, either directly or via TP. But again, DVC has told the members that faxes will most likely NOT be read, and we shouldn't do it. YMMV.

Steve

 

[Dug720]

Touring Plans are emailing them to email(s) that Len was given.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

Does that mean you don't do online check in at all or you just don't put in requests? I used the Touring Plans room request and was going to still do online check-in. Should I not??

I skip the room request part of the online check-in.

Here is an example of one of our requests from POR
We had a RGR room and my request was in this order
1) Room close to foot bridge (you can substitute lobby)
2) Floor (Top or ground)
3) Bldg # or maybe corner room

I can honestly say that I have gotten at least 2 of my requests most of the time and I have had only a few trips out of 30+ trips where I did not get any of my requests and ended up changing my room when we checked in.

 

[emcarle27]

If we want to put requests in, can we do that online other than online check in?

 

[A-Rose788]

.

 

[ArielDreams]

I did the TP room request feature for the first time for our recent split stay. Our rooms were nowhere near what I had asked for. However, we weren’t too disappointed either.

 

[Once.Upon.A.Time]

We did a room request for CSR and when we got there, they actually upgraded us to a suite! It was magical. This July, we are staying in the GDT and I’m not sure what to even request. We have a standard view king room.

 

[kylenne]

Supposedly DVC ignores faxes, but on the other hand I think Touring Plans sends faxes. Do the room assigners look at Touring Plans faxes and ignore faxes from anyone else? Who knows.

I have a Touring Plans sub and they haven’t done faxes for a couple of years. They send an email 30 days out now. Doesn’t seem to have changed my luck either, still just as successful. I’m actually getting one sent today for GF.