Tweaking a Touring Plans Room Request

iujen94

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
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I'm getting ready to do a Touring Plans room requests for the first time for our stay at Poly in February. I've figured out what I want (Rarotonga, 3rd floor, north facing, two queen beds). When I pick a sample room and choose "request this room," I get the pop up which lists what I'm looking for except that it doesn't list two queen beds, and includes example room numbers that are king bed rooms. Is there a way to add the two queen bed request to the language that pops up? Do I need to use some "magic" language? And then I assume I should delete the example room numbers that have king beds.

Also, is there a way to tweak the default Touring Plans' language to make the request LESS restrictive? For example, we'd be fine with a 2nd or 3rd floor room. Do I just insert that into the default language? Or would I just note that in the comments section?

On a related note, how restrictive do you usually make your requests? Our request (with 3rd floor only) leaves us with only 7 rooms that fit our criteria. Is there a way to indicate "back up" choices in case one of those 7 rooms isn't available?

Thanks for any tips!
 
I have been "playing" with the TP room request function in anticipation of using it for the first time in April....I can't answer all of your questions. I will suggest, though, that you select the two queen bed option (with your corresponding room type like standard/preferred) the drop down options to the left of the resort map. If you do that, I believe it will only let you select rooms that meet that criteria as you explore the various buildings. That seems to be the case as I go through CSR rooms....once I specify the room type, there are rooms in each building that I can't select. Hope that helps.
 
I have been "playing" with the TP room request function in anticipation of using it for the first time in April....I can't answer all of your questions. I will suggest, though, that you select the two queen bed option (with your corresponding room type like standard/preferred) the drop down options to the left of the resort map. If you do that, I believe it will only let you select rooms that meet that criteria as you explore the various buildings. That seems to be the case as I go through CSR rooms....once I specify the room type, there are rooms in each building that I can't select. Hope that helps.

I did that, and selected one of the two queen rooms, but when I clicked "select this room" (or whatever the website says), the two queen bed didn't carryover to the request page, which surprised me.
 
Interesting...are you asking them to pick a room? Try just putting in your specs and, instead of asking it to pick a room....select the building from the map and see if it gives you a layout with only some rooms clickable...I have been going building by building to scope things out instead of asking for TP to offer recommended rooms.
 

Also, I love the touring plans room request feature and use it every trip
However, a lot of the room parameters they show are incorrect
Lots show as queen but are King or show as standard but are garden or show as regular but are handicapped, that type of thing. I only use it for room location never for what the details of the rooms are

I'll include in the box what's important to me like floor or direction
 
Also, I love the touring plans room request feature and use it every trip
However, a lot of the room parameters they show are incorrect
Lots show as queen but are King or show as standard but are garden or show as regular but are handicapped, that type of thing. I only use it for room location never for what the details of the rooms are

I'll include in the box what's important to me like floor or direction

Good point! Never occurred to me that the info could be out of date or wrong.
 
Also, I love the touring plans room request feature and use it every trip
However, a lot of the room parameters they show are incorrect
Lots show as queen but are King or show as standard but are garden or show as regular but are handicapped, that type of thing. I only use it for room location never for what the details of the rooms are

I'll include in the box what's important to me like floor or direction

This is very good advice.
 
The text they use in the primary line that is pre-populated is written in "Disney Room Assigner Speak" - it is abbreviations, etc. that they understand. Then you use the "Additional Special Requests" for your specifics.

For example, this is my "Additional Special Requests" section I've set up for my Feb stay (at Sports as I can't afford the Poly - or rather I *could* but I'm not going to be in the room enough to justify it).

"Hi!
I am so excited to be coming to All Star Sports for my February break!!

I would love to have a room:
1) in Building 1 or 6 (Surf's Up)
2) a room on the top floor
3) a room with a King bed (lowest priority request)

Thank you so much for making Magic happen!!"

So in your case you could say something for your requests like

"1st - 2 Queen Beds
2nd - a room in that block, even if on 2nd floor"

(It's unclear how many people are on your reservation - if more than 2, I am pretty sure you don't have to include the 2 queen beds as I would be shocked if they assigned more than 2 people to a room with a King.)

I hope this helps @iujen94 - just remember as others have pointed out, it is only a REQUEST and will not guarantee that you get it.
 
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I'm getting ready to do a Touring Plans room requests for the first time for our stay at Poly in February. I've figured out what I want (Rarotonga, 3rd floor, north facing, two queen beds). When I pick a sample room and choose "request this room," I get the pop up which lists what I'm looking for except that it doesn't list two queen beds, and includes example room numbers that are king bed rooms. Is there a way to add the two queen bed request to the language that pops up? Do I need to use some "magic" language? And then I assume I should delete the example room numbers that have king beds.

Also, is there a way to tweak the default Touring Plans' language to make the request LESS restrictive? For example, we'd be fine with a 2nd or 3rd floor room. Do I just insert that into the default language? Or would I just note that in the comments section?

On a related note, how restrictive do you usually make your requests? Our request (with 3rd floor only) leaves us with only 7 rooms that fit our criteria. Is there a way to indicate "back up" choices in case one of those 7 rooms isn't available?

Thanks for any tips!

So that you are not totally disappointed, I hope you realize how unlikely it is that you will get one of those 7 (or 14 if you count the second floor) rooms.
TP is a Reservation request tool.
I have used it several times and have Never gotten my request.
This trip my room was the exact opposite of my requests.
I don't think you can do what you are trying to do, but if you are determined I suggest that you go to the Touring Plan Forums and ask how to tweak the requests there.
Good Luck
 
The text they use in the primary line that is pre-populated is written in "Disney Room Assigner Speak" - it is abbreviations, etc. that they understand. Then you use the "Additional Special Requests" for your specifics.

For example, this is my "Additional Special Requests" section I've set up for my Feb stay (at Sports as I can't afford the Poly - or rather I *could* but I'm not going to be in the room enough to justify it).

"Hi!
I am so excited to be coming to All Star Sports for my February break!!

I would love to have a room:
1) in Building 1 or 6 (Surf's Up)
2) a room on the top floor
3) a room with a King bed (lowest priority request)

Thank you so much for making Magic happen!!"

So in your case you could say something for your requests like

"1st - 2 Queen Beds
2nd - a room in that block, even if on 2nd floor"

(It's unclear how many people are on your reservation - if more than 2, I am pretty sure you don't have to include the 2 queen beds as I would be shocked if they assigned more than 2 people to a room with a King.)

I hope this helps @iujen94 - just remember as others have pointed out, it is only a REQUEST and will not guarantee that you get it.

This is SO helpful! So in your case, what (if anything), was in the box that Touring Plans autopopulates when you requested the room? When I click on a room that meets what I'm looking for, the box autopopulates with: "Bldg Rarotonga,Flr 3,N-facing room.Exmple:3813,3812,3814,3811,3810,3809,3808." My #1 request is to be in Rarotonga - everything else would be nice but isn't a huge deal. So I'm thinking it would be best to delete everything after "Bldg Rarotonga" and mention the other things in the "Additional Special Requests" box as things that would be nice to have if possible? Thanks!!
 
Mine was similar but for Sports. That is the language the assigners understand for room location.

Better to leave it alone and put your priority order in the Additional Requests box. Like in my example, the prepopulated text as I said is similar but for Sports, then in the other box I had Surf’s Up as number 1.
 
This is SO helpful! So in your case, what (if anything), was in the box that Touring Plans autopopulates when you requested the room? When I click on a room that meets what I'm looking for, the box autopopulates with: "Bldg Rarotonga,Flr 3,N-facing room.Exmple:3813,3812,3814,3811,3810,3809,3808." My #1 request is to be in Rarotonga - everything else would be nice but isn't a huge deal. So I'm thinking it would be best to delete everything after "Bldg Rarotonga" and mention the other things in the "Additional Special Requests" box as things that would be nice to have if possible? Thanks!!
I advise to leave everything it auto populates alone. It's there for a reason. It's based on the parameters for the room you picked. If you like the features of that room (building, floor, direction, etc). that language tells the room assigner the details

Use the box below to expand upon the features you are after the most. Keep that to 1 or 2, no more.

The above will be the best way to have your requests understood. They fill them if they can. It's always possible they can't.
 
I advise to leave everything it auto populates alone. It's there for a reason. It's based on the parameters for the room you picked. If you like the features of that room (building, floor, direction, etc). that language tells the room assigner the details

Use the box below to expand upon the features you are after the most. Keep that to 1 or 2, no more.

The above will be the best way to have your requests understood. They fill them if they can. It's always possible they can't.

My concern is that the prepopulated text is what narrows things down to only 7 rooms, and is actually more picky than I really am. I'm trying to figure out how to make that more expansive so as to increase the chances we will get a room in Rarotonga.
 
My concern is that the prepopulated text is what narrows things down to only 7 rooms, and is actually more picky than I really am. I'm trying to figure out how to make that more expansive so as to increase the chances we will get a room in Rarotonga.
They don't restrict it to just those 7 rooms. As it says, those are example rooms. Nothing more.
If you just want any room in Rarotonga, just call it in. Don't bother with the room request from TP at all
 
My concern is that the prepopulated text is what narrows things down to only 7 rooms, and is actually more picky than I really am. I'm trying to figure out how to make that more expansive so as to increase the chances we will get a room in Rarotonga.

They don't restrict it to just those 7 rooms. As it says, those are example rooms. Nothing more.
If you just want any room in Rarotonga, just call it in. Don't bother with the room request from TP at all

And you can put Raratonga in the Additional Special Requests box. If it is your top priority, state that. See my previous post for how I stated mine. You can even state that it is the building that is the most important.

If it really is the only thing important, I would make it my ONLY request and not worry about bed type. If you have more than 2 you will automatically have 2 beds.

But again, as we have all pointed out, no matter how you request it, it is ONLY a REQUEST. The room assigners will do whatever they can to meet the request as closely as they can, but they cannot move someone already inhabiting a room just to fulfill yours, and they cannot just build another one. (Not being sarcastic there - I used to work in reservations in a hotel in Nashville, and we actually had people tell us we needed to build another room or move someone already in a room.) So if the building is filled there is no way for them to put you there.
 
Folks are all giving you similar advice.
If Rarotonga is what you want simply call it in. Do not use Touring Plans at all.
That is the best way to get your request.
But no Matter what method you use you may not get your request.
 





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