Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I have to say, this is confusing. I called the Special Reservations line and asked about a microwave. They said I should call the resort directly about that. I explained that I had done that already, they had said it was no problem, etc., and so he checked our actual reservation and said all our special needs were already on our reservation. He specifically said the special needs were noted by the "front desk." So, maybe we're safe on that one? I'm going to call the resort a few days ahead to reconfirm availability of the microwave, as they originally told me to do.
Our medical needs are too complicated to go into, but I'll just say that needing a hot plate/microwave in the room is definitely not for convenience! Believe me, I wish it was!
Special Needs doesn't usually get into things other than accessible rooms, but I knew that they would be able to check the comments for you and make sure there WERE comments about your needs.
I also knew that if there wer no comments, they would know the up to date place to contact to get those things.
Since you now know for sure that it is on your reservation , you should be fine. As Bete mentioned, you CAN get to the front desk directly, but will not be able to call there directly - as she said, it may take some transfers and explaining of why you actually need to speak directly to the front desk.
Yours is a situation where a fax a few days before makes sense; just make it short and to the point with something about special needs in the first line so they don't ignore it ( room assigners at some resorts say they get up to sevral hundred faxes a day - mostly repeatng room location requests).
At check in mention that you had some special needs note on your reservation. Based on other poster's experience, those are on a separate area in the reservatin and don't always get seen. I didn't see what resort you are staying at, but if it is a moderate or deluxe, those rooms all have refrigerators, so you at least won't have to worry about that.
They are small dorm type which may have no freezer compartment or have a small freezer compartment which doesn't keep ice cream solid. Check the temperature - sometimes they are turned way down or are turned so cold that people have posted food froze. This is especially important if you are in a value resort where the refrigerator was just brought it. It even happens in the DVC one and 2 bedroom villas with full kitchens if no one had used the refrigerator for a while.
While these things might not serve all of someone’s special needs, they may be helpful.
Additional suggestions:
Heating Food
- The Baby Care Center in each park has microwaves that can be used to warm food.
- Restaurants are not generally allowed to take items brought in by guests into the kitchen for heating. This is according to food safety laws.
- Some people in the past have asked restaurants for a small pan of hot water and used that to heat their food. This works best with foods that are less solid (like ground or pureed foods).
- Food courts at the resorts do have microwaves that can be used for heating foods.
Moderate and Deluxe rooms should have a coffeemaker that can be used to heat/boil water. If your room doesn’t have one, you can call Housekeeping to request one after you are in your room.
- Bring crock pot liners to decrease your need to clean the crock pot. They are like plastic cooking bags that you put in the crockpot when making the food. When you are done, just remove the bag, close it up and toss in the trash to minimize your cleaning time. We’ve used them for parties and picnics and they work well. You can find them in most grocery stores.
Keeping Food Cool
- You can get ice on request at any Fast Food restaurants. If you have some zip lock bags for ice, this may help you to keep your food colder.
- At your resort, you can get ice for free at various locations at each resort. Some people have used that ice in a cooler to cool ice packs/cold packs to a colder temperature than they can get in one of the small resort refrigerators.
- You can pack a collapsable cooler in your luggage and then fill it with ice in zip lock bags at your resort. Replenish the ice morning and night to keep food or ice packs cold. We have an inexpensive bag we bought at Sam’s Club that will keep things frozen for up to 5 hours (that’s what it says, we’ve actually had things frozen solid in it for a longer time).
If you don’t want to make special arrangements, there are
Resorts with cooking facilities
- Disney Vacation Club Studios have a kitchenette with a microwave, coffeepot and undercounter refrigerator. They also have a countertop where a hot plate or crock pot could be placed outside of the bathroom and a sink for cleaning things up.
- Disney Vacation Club 1,2 bedroom and grand villas have a full size kitchen with a stove, microwave, refrigerator with freezer, sink, dishwasher, coffeepot.
- Fort Wilderness Cabins have a full kitchen with stove, microwave, etc.
- Family Suites at All Star Music have a kitchenette similar to the DVC Studios.
I am going to close this thread now because the questions have been asked and answered.
To the OP, I hope everyhing works out well for you. If you send me a PM with information on what happened, I will add it to this thread.
