Booking pref. HA room, odds of not getting said category?

[goofieslonglostsis]

Wondering what experiences are with booking a prefered location room in combination with needing a roll in shower room blocked. I know every once in a while somehow things don't go as they should and a few people don't get a pref. category when booking after having lingered on this board for way too long and reading around. I'm wondering if needing a HA room -and thus having a smaller pool of rooms they can assign- can increase that risk?

So far I only have experience with booking standard type rooms at CBR but always getting a pref. cat. room assigned. Three stays, three times the same thing. I know from other reports, there apparently are roll in shower rooms at the non-pref. buildings at CBR but never had one assigned so far. I know I might just be very lucky in the room assigning department but it has resulted in me wondering if needing such rooms does influence which location rooms are blocked and thus later assigned.



For those.... well kinda desperate enough to read a way too long explaination of why? After needing to cancel my planned WBTA cruise + 2 weeks at OKW (should've been on the Magic as I type ) due to medical problems, I rescheduled my trip to December with the help of a great DVC-owner from which I'm renting points (after all, owner didn't have to offer rescheduling ). I'm using said points for a stay at SSR from dec. 6th-17th. At the moment I've got a studio booked with a PINcode for dec 1-6th also at SSR. I know it's not a guarantee I won't have to move but it would be at the same resort.

SSR has a soft spot with me, I just love the closeness to DTD for a quick dash by but also being able to "walk" from my room to the Lynx busstop or dashing over to WPE for a piece of their pizza. On the other hand, I miss my first love CBR after some stays elsewhere. On the other hand; no availability and it's apparently time for the cheerleaders and this year apparently CBR is the mod resort some groups are staying at. Might not be the smartest place to stay? Had a look at POFQ. Sorta like the boat option to DTD but the resort simply doesn't do much for me. Looks too much like home. CSR does look attractive, but knowing december possible weather and my limitations I would prefer a close location to the mainbuilding for the resting days. Which now is an option at CSR and with a very small amount of buildings being used for that it would actually be close. It would safe a little over $350,- for a pref. room or $450,- for non pref. Renting more points to book a studio for those days isn't a real option, no availability apparently at any of the resorts I'm comfy with for those days.

I'm starting to lean towards switching the ressie over to CSR after seeing pics and checking out loads of info, if I can indeed not only just book a pref. category but know that would actually be a realistic option with needing the roll in shower room. The first few days could be spent in such a way I wouldn't totally struggle without the closeness to DTD, which at SSR is a variable anyway with not knowing the location your staying in until you check in anyway. Needing to move would be inconvenient. On the other hand, if not unpacking more than needed on those first few days and investing a few $$ in using a cab (not going to let Disney move my stuff for me, want to keep my own eye on my medical stuff) for the actual move it might be very doable. Trying out a new resort can be exciting and the saved money could be very well spent elsewhere.


Oh and one more spoiled brat question: one of the things I like about CBR is the lack of love it gets from those with mobility needs and relatively small amount of HA rooms, because of it's influence on the amount of other guests also needing a wheelchair spot on the bus. Always had great transportation experiences on that department at CBR. With no less than 99 accessible rooms at CSR and it getting more love; should I expect more "demand" for those few wheelchair spots on the bus and plan accordingly?

 

[dclfun]

I'll give you my opinion....I LOVE CSR for the decor and the theming, and have never had a problem with NOT getting a preferred room or with getting on a bus. I do always book preferred there after once being assigned to a roll-in shower room in the Ranchos area in which I felt like I was hiking to another state! Food court is nice, as is Maya Grill. I do like CBR but that bumpy surface in front of the food court almost kills me every time and after the snake incident there, I worry about Skye getting bitten as there is more foliage and the resort is older. Of course this is silly as she could find a snake anywhere, even at my home which isn't far from the parks, lol. I also like POFQ for location and size but it's not my favorite decor and for those of us who DO rest alot at the resorts, this is far more important than for those commando Guests who only sleep there. So....my vote is for CSR unless you just can't give up CBR. Also, feel free to get in touch with me for transportation and hauling stuff, and of course to visit! I'll be at the GF from the 1st-10th with my family and will probably need a break from them! I am splurging this year as I got a good discount and wanted/needed to be on the monorail, otherwise I'd probably also be at CSR where my relatives are staying. I hope you enjoy this well-deserved vacation after all you went through in August!!---Kathy

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Hi Kathy,

welcome back, how was the B2B? OK, so that shouldn't be a problem if switching to a pref. room at CSR. Already checked out the food options, one of the first things I always do before considering a resort. Might no longer eat more than a minimal amount but with that it's only more important to have enough appealing options around.

I'm making myself go nuts here, guess I still haven't learned that "stop looking around"-lesson. Played with some numbers and found out that;
- I can stay those 5 nights at a SSR studio for $1188,30
- can switch to CSR pref. for about $350,- less and use that towards spending money or -dare I say it- a possible future trip
- I could switch to the Beach Club or Boardwalk Inn for a little less than $180 more than I've paid for the SSR studio. More money but it would give me the option to try out how I like the location and since I'll do SSR for 11 nigths after that I wouldn't need to go through the hoopla of sharing busses to AK, MK and DTD, which apparently are a nightmarish thing for anybody staying at that area. Decisions, decisions. If the YC was available, I'ld have booked it on the spot but nothing avail. Maybe a sign or something?


Staying at the GF; good for you! Would love to do that one day, allthough I figure it would have to be in the mainbuilding to really feel like it's the GF or something. We definately need to meet up in december, both our trips are long enough to have the time for that.

 

[I Love Pluto]

CBR - always got the HA room that we asked for. Never had a problem with the bus.

But - I never got a preferred room when I only booked a standard one. You must know Mickey & Friends personally. Come on, tell us how you did it!!

 

[dclfun]

I'd stick with CSR esp. for a variety of food options since you might only want some nibbles. BW doesn't have much, but BC does have the little quick service area in the gift shop and Beaches and Cream, although the portion sizes are so darned big! I wish I could afford the GF main bldg but we are in club level in SugarLoaf and it's close enough. The concierge there put us in a nice ground floor corner room to be close to the lounge and asked me if this was okay. I guess they can assign rooms? I've only stayed at that resort once and that was back when DVC points could be used at a really low rate and it was run of the house. We got a corner room on the ground floor that had two balconies with one facing the castle and the other, the monorail. Gosh, it was so beautiful I could hardly stand to leave the room! I figure we'll go to MVMCP one night and I might give out before everyone else. Having the monorail available vs. the busses is a huge deal for me this year. My relatives that are coming usually pick CBR but they're excited about CSR this year- it really is a nice resort and the view from the lake at sunset is just gorgeous! Besides, sometimes it's nice to try something new.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

But - I never got a preferred room when I only booked a standard one. You must know Mickey & Friends personally. Come on, tell us how you did it!!

Haven't got a clue what triggered that one. First time figured it was just a lucky case of pixiedust but somehow it just kept on happening. Either closest building in TN or the closest one in Martinique. Never failed. Having met many guests over the time at other HA rooms close by, I reckoned it was a resort where rooms aren't that spread out. Until running into a trip report that mentioned a roll in shower room at the other side of the lake. But why me always prefered when booking standard? Who knows!?



Kathy; ahh Sugar Loaf, nice option for the holiday season! From my stay at AKL CL, I do believe the concierge team can actively "influence" room assignment. Obviously when booking the special needs dep. blocks something but beyond that? Concierge is in the business of making their guests happy and it's a well reported thing on the resort board that folks sent their requests to concierge and many times getting it met or close to that. We have fewer rooms that could be assigned but I'm sure they do everything possible to make that assignment work for us and "tweak" things a bit if need be. I'm confident mail/phone contact with the IPO before arrival can be a big influence -where possible obviously- when it comes to making sure a room is assigned that perfectly fits needs.

You remind me, december is also party time. Another thing to consider, allthough I might decide to skip it. Did the MNSSHP in '09 and enjoyed it but nowhere near as much that I found it worth the ticket prices. Has made me weary about the christmas party.


As far as my resort-undecidedness is considered, I think I made a decision. I'm finding myself mostly torn between either CSR or BC for those first 5 nights, so apparently the combination of checking out a new resort (both are new to me) and either saving $ (CSR) or being able to walk over to 2 parks are more attractive to me than staying the total 17 nights at SSR. Now only to decide between the two. (or knowing me, end up staying put at SSR )

 

[dclfun]

Haven't got a clue what triggered that one. First time figured it was just a lucky case of pixiedust but somehow it just kept on happening. Either closest building in TN or the closest one in Martinique. Never failed. Having met many guests over the time at other HA rooms close by, I reckoned it was a resort where rooms aren't that spread out. Until running into a trip report that mentioned a roll in shower room at the other side of the lake. But why me always prefered when booking standard? Who knows!?



Kathy; ahh Sugar Loaf, nice option for the holiday season! From my stay at AKL CL, I do believe the concierge team can actively "influence" room assignment. Obviously when booking the special needs dep. blocks something but beyond that? Concierge is in the business of making their guests happy and it's a well reported thing on the resort board that folks sent their requests to concierge and many times getting it met or close to that. We have fewer rooms that could be assigned but I'm sure they do everything possible to make that assignment work for us and "tweak" things a bit if need be. I'm confident mail/phone contact with the IPO before arrival can be a big influence -where possible obviously- when it comes to making sure a room is assigned that perfectly fits needs.

You remind me, december is also party time. Another thing to consider, allthough I might decide to skip it. Did the MNSSHP in '09 and enjoyed it but nowhere near as much that I found it worth the ticket prices. Has made me weary about the christmas party.


As far as my resort-undecidedness is considered, I think I made a decision. I'm finding myself mostly torn between either CSR or BC for those first 5 nights, so apparently the combination of checking out a new resort (both are new to me) and either saving $ (CSR) or being able to walk over to 2 parks are more attractive to me than staying the total 17 nights at SSR. Now only to decide between the two. (or knowing me, end up staying put at SSR )

Keep us posted! You can't go wrong either way, but if it's not much more $$ I'd probably go for BC just for convenience. One word of warning though- I had an accessible room (DVC part/villas) there on the ground floor that was the pits! It faced a walkway so people could walk right by and see in my room. This led to my drawing the curtains and as such, staying in a dark and dreary room which of course I hated. Then the bed was way too low for a transfer, so they had to put an extra mattress on top. This took hours, at a time when I REALLY needed to lay down. I was in so much pain by the time engineering came in that I was in tears. Skye liked the roll in shower there though, which was nice and spacious, lol. We were only there for a few days before our transatlantic cruise so guess who got her doggy wash so she was fresh for the Magic? Yes, we cleaned it well so there were no dog hairs left in the shower stall after and let housekeeping know she was in there. If I stay there again with my DVC points, I will be sure to specify that I do NOT want a room on the ground floor, and will probably request a regular room w/o roll in shower as I was told all the beds in them are really low "due to ADA requirements". I've stayed in every WDW resort and comparatively speaking this bed was practically on the ground! Oh...and they are on a different frame so that someone could use a hoyer lift which meant that mattress had NO support. Make sure you let them know what you need, esp. if you'll also want/need the extra mattress.---Kathy

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Pff, what do I always seem to get myself into?

Had a long hard look at my likes, dislikes, verly likely things I'll do and be a bit more honest with myself about not being recovered enough to my usual level by december.

Decided that moving to the Boardwalk area would be a smart move. First up having a indoors hallway for unpredictable december weather will be a huge bonus. SSR is great for the DTD moments, WPE and easy access to Lynx for my shopping day but it also has things that aren't so perfect. I'll want to check out the Osbourne Lights again, love TSM (and have been known to ride that once on a good day and have a day basically spent energywise), love Soarin' etc. So being able to just do the walk will be a huge benefit for those 2 rides and seeing the lights more than the one time I was able to do that back in 2008. Focussing those first 5 nights/6 days on those parks and the next 11 at the other parks, DTD and offsite would be a good combination.

Saving money is great, but for this trip I really need to start looking at comfort and easiness. CSR will still be there for another trip but the saved $ isn't worth the move and still having to bus to anything and all.

And then the hard work started. Kept being told "no" for options I wanted checked. Hit a few grumpy CM's which left me hanging with an unclear image of which caused the no (roll in shower? using the pin? the roomcat?) and getting shipped off to the auto survey before being able to ask to check a next option but just had a great CM on the phone. Decided to work the other way round; have him check which rooms with roll in shower are available, pref. at the boardwalk area (incl. DVC resorts) but if need be all deluxes. Took some time, but he did his work and checked quite a few more things before getting back with half an answer. Not sure what's going on, but it came back that they had not one roll in shower room left at any of the deluxe resorts or BVC or BWV. None where ever did kinda surprise me, as it did the CM.

Anyhow, he next checked what was available under the PIN-code I've got, which also had real poor availability. Pool view at YC, waterview CL at YC or standard view CL at the BC. Obviously all standard rooms, no accessible shower features. He checked to see if any grab bar rooms avail for that; nothing either.

What to do next? Finally decided to go with some more comfort but the price difference is quite a bit more for these rooms than a standard room BC/YC would've been compared to the SSR studio and no roll in shower. Decided to suck it up and had the ressie changed to a standard view CL room at the BC. Special needs already called BC to have at least a handheld showerhead and some other stuff put into place to make things a bit less..... well......... like home. (read; I've got a roll in shower here but can not use it in reality because it causes such floods due to construction mistakes when the building was built, it's beyond dangerous). I know from pics and own experiences that I can reach the sink, so I wont need to go around nonclean. It'll make me appreciate the proper shower set up at the SSR even more and I'll just focus on all the other plusses at the BC. and keep checking on something more accessible opening up meanwhile, can never hurt


Kathy; after a surprising experience at CBR, I know always check up on bed height. Had a roll in shower room, but somehow had a bed that felt like climbing the Mt. Everest. Once, but never again. Lesson learned. Decided that's a plus now with having booked club level, I'll check the numbers with IPO and if something needs to be changed it should be a bit easier with a smaller and a bit more customer "direct" group like IPO and CL CM's to work on what is and isn't possible. Heck, if need be I'll simply make arrangements for the same mattrass I've got at home to be there.


Great that Skye liked the shower area at BC! Some sure are laid out so ackwardly I couldn't imagine it working "easily" in there when giving Skye her well deserved freshening up.

 

[dclfun]

Woo hoo! I'd keep checking on accessible rooms at the CL level there as perhaps something will open up. I love the BC and the atmosphere and if you're up to it, there are several hot tubs that might be relaxing ( yes, I did them years back with a PEG). I know so much about WDW, but it was really nice for once to use the IPO for our trip since there are so many people to coordinate and just because it's nice to relax sometimes! My trip is based on the same things -ease of transportation, convenience, comfort...not $$ and I think it will be well worth it. I'm sure it will be the same for you too!---Kathy

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

With my track record I'll just leave that hottub for others to enjoy. Still trying to hit that jackpot and get my 100% rate for needing medical attention during a trip down.

Looks like somebody is kinda watching out for me. As posted I ended up upgrading to BC CL but was worried about the $$. Today I decided to check some pricing for 2012 with WDTC UK and noticed a "last minute" offer for this fall. Never seen that before, but basically turned into a 30% off at any offered resort/room cat for my dates. Did the math and lo and behold; I could book a water/pool view room at either the BC or YC for an amount that equals the price I would've paid with my USA PIN for a standard (non cl) room, if they would've been available under the PIN.

OK, the booking requirements are quite a bit stricter with WDTC UK, but that's not a problem. So, I ended up getting the price I wanted but one level up room! No more worry about spending more than planned and smart. OK, still no roll in shower room available but that's still the story for all of those resorts and room cats.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Just updating it so perhaps one day others can benefit from the experience.

After making the switch and no roll in shower room available, I kept checking. Well, today we found there were 2 rooms with roll in shower available. One at club level at the BeachClub and a standard view at the Yacht Club. However; they were available in the US database, but these roomtypes are not available in the WDTC UK system which would mean not being able to book such a roomtype and thus being able to get a roll in shower room. Took them about 20/30 minutes of hard work and some stress, but then they were able to transfer it into the UK database. Not only that, but they honored the promo I had booked under eventhough obviously this roomtype was not avail for that (heck, isn't available to begin with through WDTC UK ).

This resulted in a cheaper price than the waterview room I had at the BC. To make it even sweeter than finally finding a suitable room for both needs and location; they refunded me the difference. Won't sound so noticable when being used to the US system, but as this was a WDTC UK booking payment had to be done 8 weeks prior to check in (yep, also for this room only). Also any changes made that result in a cheaper or equal price, at any time, comes with a changing fee. Let alone when making changes within that 56 days period. Because of the need for the room, the above mentioned refund was done and no fee what so ever was tacked on.

Yet another story that demonstrates that it never hurts to keep checking when you need an accessible room but it's not available at the moment of booking. You have nothing to loose, but might be winning loads. Keep checking!!!



And ironically, I ended up staying where I'ld love to stay to begin with -but being worried about the price- at a price that ends up being about $50 cheaper than the reservation I had for that studio at SSR.

 

[Piper]

Just updating it so perhaps one day others can benefit from the experience.

After making the switch and no roll in shower room available, I kept checking. Well, today we found there were 2 rooms with roll in shower available. One at club level at the BeachClub and a standard view at the Yacht Club. However; they were available in the US database, but these roomtypes are not available in the WDTC UK system which would mean not being able to book such a roomtype and thus being able to get a roll in shower room. Took them about 20/30 minutes of hard work and some stress, but then they were able to transfer it into the UK database. Not only that, but they honored the promo I had booked under eventhough obviously this roomtype was not avail for that (heck, isn't available to begin with through WDTC UK ).

This resulted in a cheaper price than the waterview room I had at the BC. To make it even sweeter than finally finding a suitable room for both needs and location; they refunded me the difference. Won't sound so noticable when being used to the US system, but as this was a WDTC UK booking payment had to be done 8 weeks prior to check in (yep, also for this room only). Also any changes made that result in a cheaper or equal price, at any time, comes with a changing fee. Let alone when making changes within that 56 days period. Because of the need for the room, the above mentioned refund was done and no fee what so ever was tacked on.

Yet another story that demonstrates that it never hurts to keep checking when you need an accessible room but it's not available at the moment of booking. You have nothing to loose, but might be winning loads. Keep checking!!!



And ironically, I ended up staying where I'ld love to stay to begin with -but being worried about the price- at a price that ends up being about $50 cheaper than the reservation I had for that studio at SSR.

 

[dclfun]

So are you now at YC- I know you mentioned wanting that resort. I'm so glad you kept checking. I'm a checker/re-checker too as other people can change their minds about what they have reserved at any time. It still seems odd to me not to have any roll-in shower deluxe rooms- I'm glad I made my ressie last October!---Kathy