Let me be of some help...
We have been instructed at the Reservation Center that ALL of the Disney Resort Hotels will no longer accept or consider any room request faxed or mailed to them. If you try to call the resort directly before you check-in, the switchboard is instructed to redirect your call to the reservation center, not the front desk.
The best time to make requests for specific rooms, buildings, bedding (i.e. a king bed, bunk beds), smoking or non-smoking, ground-floor, connecting rooms, etc. is when you first book the reservation or as early as possible after your reservation is made. Please note, we at the reservation center have a VERY limited space to enter in room request, so please limit your requests. Also note, package bookings do have more space to enter requests then room-only bookings.
When you call to make any modifications, please have the reservation agent verify any requests you have made for your room are still there. Due to system challenges, the accommodations comment box on a reservation will clear when a modification is confirmed, erasing any requests that were noted. To ensure they are correctly re-entered, please ask us to read back to you what is there before the end of your call.
The resort room coordinators will do their best to honor as many request as possible, but will factor in the number of request made. For example if you have 10 different request and another guest made 1 or 2 requests, you may get some of the 10 honored, and the other guest may get all of their request honored. Although the Resort may start pre-assigning rooms up to 2-3 days prior to your arrival, your room assignment is never finalized or guaranteed until you have arrived and are checked-in to your resort. No one at DRC or the Resort itself will be able to disclosed what (if any) pre-assignments have been made, so please don't ask.
Please try to be general in your request. If you simply request room 1004 (because you know it is the closest to the bus stop) and it is not available, the resort does not know how to honor it. If you simply request a room close to transportation, and room 1004 is not available, the resort may assign you room 1005 next door, honoring the general request you made.
Be sure to always ask your reservation agent to check to see if what you want is even possible. For example, if you are booked in 2 standard (parking) view rooms at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, and you want connecting rooms, it cannot be honored, as there are no connecting standard view rooms at the Lodge. Also some room categories are all non-smoking, and some are all smoking optional. Many rooms now have limited bedding configurations. Request for king beds, or bunk beds may not be possible because there are none in the room category you are booked in. New for 2007, most bunk bed rooms are now a separate room category. Magic Kingdom view rooms are also now a separate room category.
Please keep in mind, rooms such as the Preferred Rooms at the Value Resorts are charged a preferred priced because they are the closest to the main hall with the Food Court, Bus Stop, Front Desk, etc. Please do not request to be near these locations if you are booked in a standard room. These type of request can not be honored or even considered as it is essentially asking for a free upgrade.
Finally, remember nothing will guarantee you get your requests; that really will always depend on what rooms are scheduled to be vacant on the date you check-in. Often there are only a few rooms in your room category for the room coordinators or front desk cast to choose from.
