When to book a resort room???

[eternaldisneyfan]

I was wondering how far in advance you need to reserve a room? It will take a lot of scrimping and saving to get to the magic. I would hate to reserve and then cancel. Is there a penalty for canceling? Also what if Amtrak is delayed or medical problems cause us to be a day late? Do we lose the reservation? Is it possible to just show up and get a room? Also I have heard that the disabled get the second room without charge (we have 3 in electric wheelchairs with lots of equipment as well as 2 others-all adults). Is the fridge free at value resorts for medicine and /or tube feeds (need medium or large fridge)? Whoo, lots of questions, I know. Thanks for your help! I love this site!

 

[dclfun]

First of all, with medical needs considered, I'd never take a chance and just show up to get a room at WDW, although there are many hotels in the area so I'd think you could find "something". As for getting the second room free, technically that's not true. If you have 5 adults you'd either need two rooms at a moderate or value resort or one room at a deluxe resort. Also, after the first two adults in each room, there is an add'l charge for the third adult. In a deluxe it's $25.00 per person extra- that could be a hefty amt. if you choose a deluxe resort ( = $75.00 extra over the room charge). So, it's not buy one, get one free, but if the room itself cannot accomodate your party size due to disability needs, then you will be acoomodated as a service. Example...value resort rooms for guests with disabilities have a king vs. two doubles. WDW is in the process of putting in a complimentary mini-fridge in ALL moderate and deluxe resorts, or you can request one for medical needs in a value resort, but it's the small dorm size one. You might be better off in an offsite villa which would be more spacious, have a full size refrigerator, washer/dryer or in one of the home away from home resorts at WDW which are of course, more expensive. The cancellation policy varies depending on how you booked and I'm not sure what it is since we use our DVC points, but I'm sure someone else will have that answer. You can also check out trip insurance plans, making sure that they cover pre-existing conditions so that if you had to cancel for a medical reason, you could apply for reimbursement through the insurance. Hope this helps! Kathy

 

[SueM in MN]

There is a special pnone number at WDW for making resort reservations for people with special needs. As Kathy mentioned, there are no "deals", but the Special Needs people could help make sure you get what you need. It sounds like with 3 people using wheelchairs, you would probably need to have wheelchair accessible rooms. I would not gamble just showing up if you need something specific.
Here is the phone number for Special Reservations:
407-939-7807 (TTY: 407-939-7670)
You can also discuss with them what happens if you don't show up on time. Usually, if you have the room guaranteed with a credit card, you won't lose the reservation by being late. BUT, make sure you have a number to call and update/confirm you are still coming in case you need to change your arrival time/date.

Another thing to think about; you say you are traveling by Amtrack. I'm assuming that means you won't have vehicles available (unless you are traveling on the car train that transports you and your vehicle). Anyway, without a way to get easily from place to place, you need to know exactly where you are going when you get there. You can't drive around from place to place looking for accomidations.
An off site villa would be nice, but only if you have a means to transport yourselves to the parks.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

If you make a reservation that is "room only" you are under the Central Reservations Office (CRO) rules, which allow cancellation and full refund up to five days out. If you make a "package" reservation which includes any tickets at all you come under WDTC which has fairly stiff cancellation penalties.

Looking at the Amtrak timetable, the Sunset Limited gets into Orlando at about 8:45pm. In any event, you would need to have a guaranteed (after 6:00) reservation. General hotel policy is if a person has a multi-night guaranteed reservation and they do not show up, the first night is charged and then the remaining part of the reservation is cancelled. If there is a delay on Amtrak which would cause a really late arrival, you could call the hotel directly to have them keep the room for you.

Normally I do not suggest working through a travel agent, but in your situation it might be a necessity. They can keep track of your train and deal with the hotel if there are any problems. Also, as a general rule to get trip cancellation insurance you have to deal with an agent.

 

[clkelley]

All of the All-Stars Accessible Rooms have king-sized beds in them. Some of them have walk-in/roll-in showers, some have standard tubs with hefty grab bars.

Most of the accessible rooms are connecting to two doubles.

The All-Stars accessible rooms have mini-fridges built into the dresser units. However, on our latest trip in September, our minifridge did not work, and our friends mini fridge did not work in their first room. I don't know if they are replacing these as they die.

If you book at All-Stars with 5 adults, and 3 of you with special needs, they MIGHT allow you to book 2 accessible rooms and comp the third one.

However, the closest the two accessible rooms could be to each other is right above/below, or if on the same floor, back to back of each other. The third standard room can be two doubles connecting to the accessible room.

As far as I can tell in All-Stars, there is one accessible room per wing/per side, per floor, meaning there are 18 accessible rooms per building.

(The rooms with two peepholes are usually accessible).

Hope this helps.

Carol