Success using Touring Plans to secure specific hotel room? UPDATED since travel

[pajammies]

Has anyone here actually used TouringPlans.com to try to get a specific hotel room and succeeded?
I was looking at the rooms realizing I could sit there for two hours trying to pick out the best room and then wondered if it would be worth it. I thought I read on the website that they send a text to Disney on your behalf (of course with the rididulous amount of info on their website, I can't find that anymore) but I'm not positive.
Does it work?
Thanks

 

[Master Yoda]

I understand, like I said, it wasn't a big to me at all. I figured I'd try it.
Do you know what she was talking about when she said they would honor requests of people that stayed there before and asked for the same room number? I thought that would be more of a pain than anything.
I will say, if it is indeed Disney's stance to not accept requests by fax, then I don't think TP should offer it. I may not have cared, but I could see it upsetting some people.

I am just guessing, but that sounds either made up or something rather new. I have know several people that worked the front desk at various Disney resorts and never heard of anything like that.

 

[pajammies]

I am just guessing, but that sounds either made up or something rather new. I have know several people that worked the front desk at various Disney resorts and never heard of anything like that.

Lol, that's interesting.

 

[NonnaT]

I plan to report back as well, now that I know there is interest. I have a request pending through TP for an area at CBR. (Basically the same area we were in before, loved the room view as well as proximity to bridge.
Looking forward to our stay 12/15 - 12/20. Good to know @lentesta is on the forums! It makes it a little more personal this way!
Thanks for this thread!

 

[lentesta]

@lentesta I thought I would update the thread since it seemed to most people it might not work.
Well, sorry to say, it (sort of) did not work. Now mind you, I did not really care too much what happened, so this did not ruin my stay and was not problematic. I was testing it for you, lol

Sorry to hear that, @pajammies. I'm moderately surprised that the 50's buildings were completely occupied. I hope the rest of your trip went well. If you have a sec, please update our "It's Alive" thread with your results. That's our semi-official source for statistics.

Oh, and the fax comes from you, not TouringPlans. Our name isn't on any part of it - only yours. There's no reason for us to put our name on the fax, so we don't. I mention this in case anyone reads this later and has the same question.

FWIW, "Someone already in the room" is now the top reason why requests don't work. There's a room at the Contemporary, for example, where almost two dozen of our users have stayed in the past two years. It's hard to get that room.

#2 is asking for a room category not booked (as in "I paid for standard view, am requesting Theme Park Club Level.")

..., she said she never heard of it and they never take requests unless someone has stayed in the room previously.

I laughed coffee out of my nose when I read this. This CM should be driving buses with that kind of storytelling magic.

 

[pajammies]

Sorry to hear that, @pajammies. I'm moderately surprised that the 50's buildings were completely occupied. I hope the rest of your trip went well. If you have a sec, please update our "It's Alive" thread with your results. That's our semi-official source for statistics.

Oh, and the fax comes from you, not TouringPlans. Our name isn't on any part of it - only yours. There's no reason for us to put our name on the fax, so we don't. I mention this in case anyone reads this later and has the same question.

FWIW, "Someone already in the room" is now the top reason why requests don't work. There's a room at the Contemporary, for example, where almost two dozen of our users have stayed in the past two years. It's hard to get that room.

#2 is asking for a room category not booked (as in "I paid for standard view, am requesting Theme Park Club Level.")



I laughed coffee out of my nose when I read this. This CM should be driving buses with that kind of storytelling magic.

@lentesta You should know that she was training someone also. So either that changes things or they will both be driving buses. Lol
Just to clear up what I said or at least tried to say, lol, she said that the 50's were not available at that time, so not sure if that meant they were full or being cleaned or in her mind anything else.
We did have a great trip and it's all good, we were in building 4 and very close to the front, so it worked out quite well, thank you.

Len, I do have a question if you have a minute... We have used your site in previous years and had no problems with using the crowd levels to predict slower times and chose our trips accordingly.
I know there have been lots of changes at Disney and crowds continue to grow, but my question is this... when you see days that are about 6 on your site and turns out they are 9, are you guys over there seeing something specific that makes the jump so huge? So I guess I'm asking, is there something after the fact that makes you go, Oh yea, we didn't consider that, or is it just, suprise! the place is packed today?

We were shocked at how busy it was when we were there! Our stay was from Nov 11-17, but we saw the crowd lighten a bit on the 16th and 17th. I'm just so curious in the differences between the levels we are seeing and the actually levels. Is it getting harder for you guys to predict or is this some transitional phase? I believe on one day, the crowd level in Magic Kingdom was reading as a 6 and in reality it was a 9 or 10. Not positive of the exact numbers, but a big jump.
I'm just curious, Thanks

 

[lentesta]

@lentesta You should know that she was training someone also. So either that changes things or they will both be driving buses. Lol
Just to clear up what I said or at least tried to say, lol, she said that the 50's were not available at that time, so not sure if that meant they were full or being cleaned or in her mind anything else.
We did have a great trip and it's all good, we were in building 4 and very close to the front, so it worked out quite well, thank you.

Len, I do have a question if you have a minute... We have used your site in previous years and had no problems with using the crowd levels to predict slower times and chose our trips accordingly.
I know there have been lots of changes at Disney and crowds continue to grow, but my question is this... when you see days that are about 6 on your site and turns out they are 9, are you guys over there seeing something specific that makes the jump so huge? So I guess I'm asking, is there something after the fact that makes you go, Oh yea, we didn't consider that, or is it just, suprise! the place is packed today?

We were shocked at how busy it was when we were there! Our stay was from Nov 11-17, but we saw the crowd lighten a bit on the 16th and 17th. I'm just so curious in the differences between the levels we are seeing and the actually levels. Is it getting harder for you guys to predict or is this some transitional phase? I believe on one day, the crowd level in Magic Kingdom was reading as a 6 and in reality it was a 9 or 10. Not positive of the exact numbers, but a big jump.
I'm just curious, Thanks

I think the crowds in September and October were a surprise. There were days in those months where the crowd levels were +5 or +6 from the year before. That was unexpected. I did a series of blog posts on this, if you're interested.

 

[pajammies]

I think the crowds in September and October were a surprise. There were days in those months where the crowd levels were +5 or +6 from the year before. That was unexpected. I did a series of blog posts on this, if you're interested.

Thank you, yes, I will read them.

 

[NonnaT]

The crowd levels seem almost insane lately per guests. I did ask in an earlier post about the possibility that crowd levels were getting dramatically higher. My thought was that they could be in part because people want to see the Osbourne lights "one last time", hence are booking unexpected November/December trips, increasing the numbers all throughout WDW.
What say you? @lentesta ?
Thanks, Nonna

 

[pajammies]

@NonnaT I do not pretend to even coming close to knowing why crowds ebb and flow the way they do, but I read the blogs @lentesta linked a couple posts up, and they were just interesting to me.
It sounds like a lot of people are stumped right now as to the crowds, lol.

Again, I'm clueless, but do you really think the last year of Osborne lights would bring that many people. Does your average person coming to Disney even know it's the last year for the lights?

I will say that somewhere in all of those articles he wrote, someone replied with "just look at the lines for the bathrooms" (not an exact quote) and they couldn't be more correct! We have gone to Disney, I think 6 times in the last 10 years, and I swear, I never ever, remember a time when there was anybody, much less 4-10 people waiting to use the woman's restroom. Admittimgly, we always tried to go at slow times, I'm just saying maybe Touring Plans should just count the women in line for the bathroom and that would be indicative of the crowd level.

I also realized after I came back how much we didn't see. Maybe it's because I'm only 4'11", but when there are crowds completely surrounding you, you just want to get through, you don't notice things like you would if you were just strolling along. You can't take a picture without approximately 7 extra people in the photo, and you miss the details that Disney tries so hard to make. I miss the days of smaller crowds

I think I hijacked my own thread

 

[lentesta]

My thought was that they could be in part because people want to see the Osbourne lights "one last time", hence are booking unexpected November/December trips, increasing the numbers all throughout WDW.

It's possible that more people (especially locals) will go see Osborne Lights in late December and early January for one last time.

We've seen an increase in crowds since roughly mid-September that is remarkably higher than in past years. I don't think we have a cause fully nailed down yet. I'm leaning towards an improving economy. We'll see what the models say.

 

[Tinkerbella16]

Well I am happy to report that I used the TP's room fax request for my Nov 5-14th stay at POR. I had requested 3 rooms on the fax. I was booked in a garden view royal room. I DID get one of the rooms I requested! I was surprised, and very happy! The room I did get was actually a pool view, so it was a nice little upgrade, as I noticed on MDE that my reservation went from garden view to pool view. I loved the location, as it was close to the foot bridge to the main building. I also did online check-in for the first time and it was awesome, and will continue to use it. My plane landed, I got a text saying my room was not quite ready yet. Standing in line at Magical Express, I got another text saying my room was ready, with the room number, and that I could skip the frontdesk and head straight to the room. This was awesome! Next trip I will use TP's room fax request again, and I know it is not a guarantee that I will get the requested room again but it was very easy using this feature!

 

[pajammies]

Well I am happy to report that I used the TP's room fax request for my Nov 5-14th stay at POR. I had requested 3 rooms on the fax. I was booked in a garden view royal room. I DID get one of the rooms I requested! I was surprised, and very happy! The room I did get was actually a pool view, so it was a nice little upgrade, as I noticed on MDE that my reservation went from garden view to pool view. I loved the location, as it was close to the foot bridge to the main building. I also did online check-in for the first time and it was awesome, and will continue to use it. My plane landed, I got a text saying my room was not quite ready yet. Standing in line at Magical Express, I got another text saying my room was ready, with the room number, and that I could skip the frontdesk and head straight to the room. This was awesome! Next trip I will use TP's room fax request again, and I know it is not a guarantee that I will get the requested room again but it was very easy using this feature!

I read a lot of reviews on the TP website that state people did get the requested room, I must have just had bad luck that day, lol. Glad you got yours.

I have not tried the online check-in yet. There is just something about talking to a person while checking in, that just makes it feel more complete and of course personal.
Maybe I shall try it next time. I'm sure it saves a bit of time.

 

[Tinkerbella16]

I read a lot of reviews on the TP website that state people did get the requested room, I must have just had bad luck that day, lol. Glad you got yours.

I have not tried the online check-in yet. There is just something about talking to a person while checking in, that just makes it feel more complete and of course personal.
Maybe I shall try it next time. I'm sure it saves a bit of time.

I always felt the same exact way about checking in upon arrival. I thought I was the only person left who actually preferred the normal way of checking in lol! Online check-in was so great, I will probably do it that way next trip too!

 

[Dwarful]

I am on touringplans as well. Staying at Pop in Dec and now I am up all night trying to figure out what section /room/ category to ask for. lol

 

[pajammies]

I am on touringplans as well. Staying at Pop in Dec and now I am up all night trying to figure out what section /room/ category to ask for. lol

I didn't look around for too long to find a room, i just picked a few lake view rooms.
Did you pick anything?
After coming home I realized that without a balcony, it wasn't a huge deal to me where I stayed, it's not like you have a chair out there to see whats going on, lol.

 

[Dwarful]

I haven't really looked too much yet. We are going with a lot of family, staying in Standard rooms. My sister has neuropathy really bad so I'd like to find ground floor close to the food court/buses. Not worried about the 'view'.

 

[pajammies]

I haven't really looked too much yet. We are going with a lot of family, staying in Standard rooms. My sister has neuropathy really bad so I'd like to find ground floor close to the food court/buses. Not worried about the 'view'.

Ah, ok. I know we were in the standard rooms also and stayed in building 4 and we were pleasantly surprised at how close the buses and food were.