Waitlist Vanished - a bit frustrated

[Golden Rose]

We're owners at AKV, and I made a reservation at about 9 months out for a two bedroom savanna view at Kidani in June. Jambo was not available at the time, which surprised me a little, but I'd said I would take the available Kidani reservation, and be put in a waitlist at Jambo for the same view, same dates.

The member website isn't working today, and I needed to call for another reservation anyway, so I asked the member services rep to check on the June AKV reservation to see if the waitlist had come through. She went to check, and told me she could see the Kidani reservation, but there was no waitlist request.

<sigh> I made the waitlist request about 6 months ago. I thought the odds of it coming through were pretty good, since I got on the waitlist early and there are a fair number of savanna view rooms. I'm not someone who calls all the time to check. I do check on the website from time to time to see if anything has come through, but it doesn't show requested waitlists anyway. I know there is nothing I can do about it, and honestly, staying at Kidani isn't a real problem, but we're taking friends whose daughter has never been to WDW and I thought walking into Jambo as her first impression would be a bit more of a "wow" moment than walking into the lobby at Kidani. It's sort of a silly reason to pick your resort for a week, but I'm doing everything I can to make the trip special for this little girl.

What mostly frustrates me is that now I'm feeling like I'm going to have to call and check on my reservations and waitlists regularly in the future. I much prefer to assume the people I deal with are competent and will take care of what they say they will, rather than constantly micromanaging the situation.

Sorry to feel the need to rant, I'm just frustrated. Thanks for "listening."

Let me say that on the bright side, the member services rep I talked to today was absolutely great and very helpful. And, I got a one bedroom at the Wilderness Lodge for a couple of nights for our October trip, which was great. But I'm a little frustrated and down about the waitlist situation.

 

[hollis]

Wait list disappearing happened to me once before too. Well, honestly, I wasn't sure whether it disappeared or was never set up. You can't see wait lists in the member website. I found it out just a few days after adding the wait list. Since that time, I have the habit of calling back within a day or two of adding the wait list to make sure the wait list is there. I haven't had disappearing wait list any more.

Hmm, I wonder whether Golden Rose's situation could be due to the computer upgrade at the end of last year. Anyway, hope your Jambo House wait list will come through. Have a great time with the little girl.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I do wish that waitlists showed up on the website. I've had one set up for the wrong month. Thankfully happened to check on waitlists when I called about something else and got that changed before it filled. Then I had a waitlist left in place after I had booked a different room. Thankfully checked when I called about something else.

Regarding your trip I think you'll be fine impressing the little girl at Kidani. The lobby may not be as impressive but it probably will be for her and I think it's a much more impressive animal viewing at the lobby than Jambo is. Seeing a Giraffe or Zebra right away will probably get her pretty excited.

 

[LisaS]

Jambo House has a more impressive lobby but the animal viewing will be better from Kidani if you get a room on a lower floor. A room on the second floor puts you at eye level with the giraffes. If you stay in Jambo House you will be on the 5th floor where you will see further out into the savanna but be further away from the animals. The Kidani 2BRs are larger than the Jambo House 2BRs as well. If I wanted to impress a guest, I would stay in Kidani but make a few visits to Jambo during our stay. I would put in a request with MS for a lower floor.

 

[paults]

after I make a WL I always call back to see if anything has opened up and ask if WL is still there

 

[LisaS]

after I make a WL I always call back to see if anything has opened up and ask if WL is still there

I do this too after discovering that a couple of times my waitlist was set up incorrectly. It would be helpful to everyone if they would add this feature to the members' website.

 

[bgraham34]

We can all email MS and state that is a feature that we want. Not sure it would do something.