Sue, and FYI... #4 is the correct extension. It will say camping, but it is special needs - I know because I've spoken with them many times and this is the number they always tell me to call. They will say, "although it says camping, it is their direct extension".
I actually had called and spoke to a CM at 'option 1' earlier today about an upcoming trip, so I know that option 1 is a direct line and we have used it many times for getting what we needed.
It didn't make sense to me that WDW would be telling people to call option 4, when their phone 'tree' and their literature says option 1. It was confusing and I wondered why they would do that, so I called both options to ask what the difference is. Putting together what the recorded messages say and what both CMs said:
The phone number: (407)939-7807 is called
Specialized Functions and that department has a number of different areas. (It used to be called "Special Reservations," which is why you will sometimes see it referred to that way).
Option 1, Special Room Requests, Guests with Disabilities is the direct entry point for
most people with special needs/special room needs. They can handle most room requests for accessible rooms/people with disabilities.
Option 2 is not being used at this point (I think it used to be something about dining reservations).
Option 3 is Tours
Option 4 is Group Camping.
Option 5 is DL Paris.
The CMs at option 4 do group camping, but they
also do follow up if a guest with special needs contacts WDW by letter, email or leaving a message on a phone. They also do follow up on requests where WDW needs more information from the guest in order to fill the needs.
Because they handle the correspondence and keep records about correspondence, they give out 'option 4' to guests they speak directly to and leave it as a "call back number" when leaving a phone, email or mail message asking for a guest to call back. That will get those guests directly to the CMs at option 4 who have their record. (If those guests chose option 1, they will be transferred to the phone number at option 4 since the CMs at the option 4 phone number have their information).
The gist of what they said was that either option 1 or 4 will get the guest to a CM who does special needs reservations and can help with the guest's needs. Most people use option 1, which meets the needs of most people.
If you contacted WDW thru mail, email or on their website, the CMs contacting you will be those from option 4 and will instruct the guest to call back on at option 4. That sounds like it explains why they told you to call that option - because you had more complicated needs that required more information to fill. And since they knew that about you, that's why they told you to call them directly in the future.
The CMs at that phone number on option 1 or 4
can look at
CRO (non-DVC points) reservations, but
can't look at
DVC reservations made using points; DVC reservations are on a different computer than CRO reservations.
Also, the initial CM does not have to make arrangements with special needs while on the phone - I prefer to make the reservation then call special needs. I have found a couple of CM's in SN that are exceptional and prefer to speak with them directly.
That is true, and if that's how you prefer to do it, it's your decision.
If you are making a DVC points reservation, the reservation CM does need to call Special Needs for you (at least from what I have always been told). The 2 different CMs have to communicate so that the Special Needs CM can look at the Special Needs log to see which accessible rooms are already listed on the log as blocked. The CM at DVC is the only one who can see the DVC reservation and put notes into the DVC computer system. So, for DVC
points reservations, the only way to do it to have the DVC CM contact Special Needs (at least from what we have been told - and we've been DVC members since 1994, so we've had a lot of experience with this part).
We have never done this, but some people have posted in the past that they requested to be put on a conference call with reservations and Special Needs both on the line with them at the same time and it worked well for them.
The problem I can see with making the reservation first and then calling Special Needs, it's possible that you will have a reservation for a room in a resort at a time when there are no rooms available there that meet your needs. There have been several times when this would have happened to us if we had made the reservation and then called Special Needs.
One was 2 yrs ago, when a roll in shower room at SSR was available for every day
except the day smack in the middle of our trip. If we would already have had the reservation and
then called Special Reservations, they would not have been able to block the room for us because it was not available for the entire stay. We would have had the cancel our reservation and re-book. As it was, the CMs worked together and made 3 reservations for us - one for the accessible room for the first part of our trip, one for the accessible room for the end of our trip and a reservation for one day at another resort (with a waiting list for the accessible room at SSR). Since we had not booked yet, we also had the option of checking availability at other resorts.
A similar thing happened for an upcoming trip. This time, there was not an accessible room for the first night of our trip. Since we didn't actually have a reservation, we had a number of options, including cutting a day off our trip, choosing a different resort entirely or making a separate reservation for a a different resort and then making a reservation for our first choice for the rest of the trip. The Special Needs CM stayed on hold, with the accessible room blocked for the days it was available while the reservation CM discussed our options with us and got our decision.
Those situations are why I would not make a reservation first and then call Special Needs. If you're not sure your needs would be met after the reservation CM called Special Needs, you can always call Special Needs back and make sure your needs were made clear. But, at least you do have an accessible room blocked for you.
So anyway, if option 4 is what works for you and is what you prefer to use, no one here will argue with you. But, most people's needs can be met by calling (407) 939-7807, option 1 and they will never know that option 4 is used for anything other than Group Camping.