So frustrated!!!

[maroo]

I am sitting here in tears because I have been thinking this whole time that Disney was so disability friendly... On Sunday I reserved a bunk bed room at the AKL...Savannah view...and we were SOOOOOOO excited about it! I had requested a hand held shower, a shower hand rail, a transfer chair and a bench for the tub. The CM on Sunday called SR and supposedly got all of this worked out. I paid a hefty deposit on the room.

My assumption was that the room would be "handicapped accessible" and actually have the things I requested.

But, as these boards recommend (THANK YOU, by the way!) I called today to make sure the requests were noted on the ressie by the SR department.

They weren't...The only thing on there was the hand held shower.

Evidently they don't have the bunk bed rooms for people that need a HA room?

I called the SR number and spoke to one of the rudest CM's I have ever encountered. She basically said that there was no other option besides the Queen bed room (2 queen beds). The problem with this room is that we have 4 adults staying in the room from 3 different families...so we needed the bunk beds so that I would not be sleeping with someone I have never even met. (I am going as an assistant.)

I can't afford to get a room by myself at the AKL Savannah view or a the AKL at all, really.

I am so frustrated. I think I am more upset that the CM was so rude about it. I really thought that Disney would "make it work" and make sure we had enough beds for our stay. I just believe that we should not be "punished" for needing the accessibility. We should be able to get a HA room that would have the 3 beds. The way they would if we didn't have a handicapped guest.

Am I blowing this out of proportion? Is there anything I can do? I even asked if we could get a roll away bed and she said they could not "guarantee it" but we could "request it"... For $2000, you would think they could guarantee it!

I feel stupid crying about it. But we were so looking forward to staying there. I think we might have to look offsite?

 

[pudge the fish]

I don't have an answer for you about the room but wanted to send a

I have not had experience as to a special needs room - I am sure soemone on here can give you better advice
I am sorry you are having troubles- I have found calling and speaking to another CM can help when things are "not right" from a first CM
Best wishes for it to work out

 

[KPeveler]

I am not sure what to do about your situation, but I know with WL, the bunkbeds are only made for someone 5 ft or under. I dunno about AKL, but the bunk bed may have been too small for you anyway!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I responded to you via PM concerning the situation.

 

[bookwormde]

It sounds like you got one of those rare “non helpful” CMs. Basically if there is a non disabled room which meets you groups needs then WDW is supposed to have rooms available in a disabled configuration which would meet the same needs . Whether that room is already booked is another issue.

Hopefully Cheshire Figment gave you some good ideas as to how to work within the WDW “system”.

I never stop with one call or below at least one level above the standard supervisor level so that would be my suggestion.

If no progress the only option is a formal governmental ADA complaint, which will not help you on this visit but may help others in the future.

WDW does do by far the best job with disabilities that I have seen but they still have some “holes” that need to be worked on.

bookwormde

 

[chaospearl]

I encountered a similar situation recently. Sort of. I'm disabled and require a HA room. Normally I travel alone but this summer I'm bringing my little sister along. We're staying at Pop, and it turns out that there are no rooms at Pop that are HA and have two beds. The only handicapped rooms in the resort have king-sized beds. It's because the handicapped bathroom is larger than a normal bathroom and there's no room to put the HA bathroom plus two queens in the Pop's smaller rooms. I don't blame Disney for this; it's simple physics, LOL. (Note, I'm not saying that you ARE blaming Disney, or that it's unfair to blame Disney, I'm just saying it so I don't get spammed by PMs from people informing me that the situation can't be helped.)

My situation differed from yours in that when I called SR about the issue, I spoke with an incredibly sweet and helpful lady -- with a daaahlin' Southern accent! -- who practically bent over backwards trying to help me. She told me that the All-Star resorts do have a couple of rooms with handicapped bathrooms AND queen beds, and offered to call over there and see if any of those rooms were available for me. I declined that offer because I'm already set up in a Pop Fridge Swap and did not want to mess up those plans. She then gave me the rollaway bed option, which I also declined because this is supposed to be a luxury vacation and I don't want to spend it arguing with my teenage sister about who gets the fluffy huge king-sized bed and who gets the little cot! Because we are sisters and know each other quite well I figure we'll be okay sharing the king bed. There's really not much help for it; Disney DID offer me two different ways to solve the issue and it's my fault that I didn't want either one.

All that being said, if I had spoken to the rude CM it sounds like you got, and she'd told me in a snippy tone that I couldn't have what I wanted because Pop doesn't have those rooms available, I would probably be upset about it. It's really all about the customer service. If I were you I'd call again and speak to somebody else. You may get the same answer; if there simply are no HA rooms with bunk beds, then there aren't. But having that news delivered by a friendly CM who offers every option possible in trying to help you... that makes all the difference.

Jenni

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I apologize that the CM was very rude to you. As a former CM I absolutely hate when I hear that.

I don't know much about the rooms, hopefully there is something that can be done. My only guess is that either all the rooms with bunk beds were already booked or there is something about that configuration that makes it inaccessible.

From the sounds of your first post the room itself did not need to be accessible, just the shower, right? I'm not familiar with those things, but would those be portable things that would be easy to move from room to room?

I would call back and ask to speak with a supervisor. Explain the situation and explain that if you can't get it resolved you will have to stay off site. Also explain about the rude CM. If you can remember the time you called and the date, and their name that would be good. She needs to be talked to about her attitude.

I hope it all works out for you.