Does anyone know how to put user comments onto the Room View photos? The photo that Touring Plans displays for room 8936 (they use the view from 8736, same location but 2 floors lower) is not correct. Their photo shows a parking lot. But the actual view is of a construction site, for the gondola station I believe.
There is a button that says add under user comments on the room finder. So go to the room view page and add your comments. Also in the future when/if making a room request, just putting in a specific room number tells the room assigner nothing about why you wanted that specific room. So you requested 9562, but when 9562 was not available the room assigner did not know what to do. My room faxes give suggestions of 3 rooms that would work, but also in the comments tell exactly what my preference is. For example for POP last fall I asked for any 4th floor non-connecting room. Would like a refurbed room if possible, but 4th floor is first priority. I got exactly what I requested, 4th floor refurbed non-connecting. If I had just given a room number, the room assigner would not have known what it was about that room that I liked. I am sorry you disliked that room, please send an updated picture to Len so he can update the view.
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That may have been what the CM wanted you to think, or your interpretation of what was going on, but as has been repreatedly pointed out is that the front desk has to go to the room assignees (either by calling, or going to the manager of the area) and check the rooms. Club level staff have the ability to make those changes on their own, but front desk does not . No one here is trying to fight about this. Everyone is trying to help you understand the process and how the system works to help you if you want to understand and do things differently next time. Knowledge is power …
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Just returned from Disney. Did a split stay. 4/7-4/11 was at POP. I didn’t request a specific room but a range of rooms in the fax. In the additional comments section below the room description that TP populates based on the room you choose, I wrote in there something like “this was our fourth stay and Pop and that we love it there. We would love a room on the first or second floor of building 6 of the 70’s section close to Classic Hall”. I got EXACTLY that–a first floor room, in building 6 of the 70’s that was near classic hall. I also did online check in with requests for 70’s section and lower floor.
From 4/11-4/14 was at Wilderness Lodge with Standard room. Again I didn’t request specific room number but a range of rooms. in the comments I asked for a room on the 5th floor or higher and noted that we had stayed there last year and had a great view of Cinderella’s castle and loved watching the monorail from our balcony. Again, I got EXACTLY what I asked for which was a room on the 6th floor. I could see the Contemporary, Space Mountain, Astro Orbiter, Cindy’s castle, and the train station lights. I did online checkin and asked for upper floor.
Since I wasn’t dead set on a specific room and made more general requests, I feel satisfied and very happy with what I got and got exactly the room type I had in mind.
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To reiterate, i put ALL our preferences in the specific boxes on the form. After already making all those choices, there was nothing left to write in the comment section… so I typed a specific room number, just so nothing was left blank. If a “room assigner” actually looked at the fax-form, they’d see all our preferences… certainly more than a room number. Len, could you please correct your post so people will stop implying that my request was incomplete?
Sounds like the fax form needs a redesign, if most of the room preference selections aren’t even viewed by “room assigners”.
In this case, if the CM was just pretending to look at all the buildings and actually the room was chosen by someone else, then my original point stands: Room-request thoroughly failed. And it absolutely needs to be known that the room i was assigned was geographically the furthest Little Mermaid room from our requested area. Coincidence? Unlikely. There is NO OTHER room in those 3 buildings that is further from & more UNlike our faxed preferences.
Walking distance from our requested area to the assigned room is 2 1/2 football fields. If you have legs that work great, then you will laugh at this. But the difference between what we requested vs what we were given was problematic for our situation.
The concept of room-request is brilliant, and the selection tools Touring Plans have provided us are fabulous. The only thing that needs improving is getting Disney to acknowlege/attempt to honor the requests, on a reliable basis.
My biggest concern is that the fax-requests will have the opposite of the intended result: that room assigners will be annoyed & will intentionally assign rooms that contradict any specified preference.
I have 3 more stays in the next 5 months. I’ll post future results of the room-request attempts.
Sorry i didn’t take a picture of the room view.
FYI, all the following AofA rooms face the construction site:
8513-8536
8613-8636
8713-8736
8913-8936
They were working until 7pm on the day we came back for a nap. Construction noise was audible from within the room.
We are only trying to help you understand how to get the room type you want from years of experience. I am sorry you feel like we are implying you did something wrong. We just are trying to help by telling you what works. The room assigners are busy people, make it easy on them by being specific in your comments. I take all the jibberish of the NE facing, first floor out out of the fax and specifically ask for what I want. For me that is top floor, non connecting room at a moderate or value. Bed choice somewhere like AKL where we care more about the beds than view or location. We are not trying to blame you, only telling you how to get what you want. And if it is not available when you check in, ask if you can move rooms the next day. They were more than happy to do that for us at AKL over Easter.
I hope you had a wonderful trip despite the room location.
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I feel JenniferB1975 is probably correct in asking for a location rather that a room. We just stayed at PoR and I used the Reservation finder. I requested a room number but I stated that anything close that was in Magnolia Bend and preferably Magnolia Terrace and quiet not too far from the bus stop would be appreciated. Because I had gotten my room at a huge discount through MVT, I didn’t expect I would get even close to what I requested. Figured I’d get Alligator Alley which is a ways from everything but exceptable. Here’s what we ended up with. Magnolia Bend, Building Magnolia Terrace, First Floor, (I had requested Second), Back of the Building close to the bus stop and very quite. As you can see I did not get the room I requested but it was very close to what I asked for. Now I was not there during prime time but we were there for the first two weeks in March. As I have been to WDW several times and used reservation finder most of them I have not always gotten what I requested or even close. On those times I went to the reservation desk and talked to a CM who talked to housekeeping who makes room assignments. They have Always done the best they could and changed my room a number of times to my liking. As stated. Reservation finder is NOT a guarantee but just a tool to improve your chances of getting what you would like.
My take on this is that we can change the fax to better spell out in plain English the kind of room that’s being requested. It’s clear from @wrig8’s experience that the fax language could be better. And if we (touringplans) have the information to do that, we shouldn’t expect the user to do it. It may improve our success rate.
I’m reasonably confident AoA got the fax. What happened after that is unknowable. I suspect that if we make the fax easier to understand, fewer things like this will happen.
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I am wondering if the fax needs to be sent more than one place. If indeed that the CM’s at customer service are not able to see or find the fax and only the room assigner is then, if they both got a copy and you went to the CM to explain what you requested via fax, they would be able to bring it up. Just a thought.
We just got back from our stay at AKL Kidani Village and the fax request worked perfectly. We booked a standard view studio but I asked politely for a room from which we could get a peek at some animals, like Room 7637 or 7737. If no partial views were available, I asked to be close to the pool. We got room 7737. We saw a bunch of animals from our balcony and it was close to the pool. This room and the ones above it seem like good choices for standard view studios. Also, it was not far from the Rafiki elevator and a quick ride down to our car in the parking garage and not very far from the lobby. All around, a win!! One note: Room 7637 is marked on the Touring Plans Room Finder as Savannah View but it’s Standard. I think it’s switched with the room across the hall which is listed as Standard but is most definitely Savannah. Thank you for a great service!
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We have just returned from the most spectacular WDW vacation 
It was our first stay at Polynesian and we absolutely fell head over heels. We will be back there someday!
Having made use of the Hotel Room Views page here in TouringPlans Land, I requested a room in Fiji. I figured I couldn’t go wrong with a view there - one side looks out at the marina/lagoon/pool and the other at GF/lagoon. When I booked, there was no “marina view” paid category and I believe there now is. I had booked a standard view room and toyed with the idea of changing my request due to the new bookable room categories.
I can’t recall the specific verbiage of my text, but I believe I requested 3316 and stated that if that room were unavailable any room on the first or third floor of this building would be ideal. I specifically excluded 2nd floor because of the juliette balconies; I prefer a full balcony or a patio.
We got room 1301! It was perfect. Gorgeous view of GF from the patio, and with the hedges it felt very private.
It was also very near to the longhouse entry/exit, which I admittedly worried would mean it would be noisy but it really was not. We were super close to Captain Cooks and Trader Sams as well as the pool. Laundry was a hike (see my tagline to understand why that’s important to me LOL). I’d be interested for this reason in checking out Samoa or Niue next time, but on the side away from the Great Ceremonial House/Lava Pool.
The one drawback I could possibly see from this room is that the drum beats from the Luau are quite audible. Not a problem for us as we were up late most every night, beyond when the drums from the second show stopped. But for families with young children who may want to be in bed early, or even for those with a late day nap plan, this could be a bit disruptive. Nothing a little white noise wouldn’t fix, but something to note in case that matters to you.
Thanks for the Fax Service @len et al. We are still ahead on wins vs losses with this one! 
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Thanks for adding your comments to the database too!
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Truly the least I can do 
Another success story for TP fax service at Coronado Springs!
We returned on December 16 (sorry I am just now posting).
We had requested room 8201 but within our fax, I explained that we would be super happy with any room in building 8A and if building 8A was full, 7A would be great and that my main request was for a new refurbished room, We were assigned room 8106 and it was perfect! Super quiet, a 1 minute walk to the bus stop, a 1 minute walk to the Dig site and a beautiful 4-5 minute walk from El Centro!
Thank you again!
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Question for everyone:
In looking at the options for my room (DVC points, standard studio at AKL-Jambo) there’s one room that’s an outlier, 5522, in that there’s no other rooms eligible around it. But when you choose that room for the fax, it states: Jambo,Flr 5,SE-facing room.Exmple:5522,5520,5524,5518,5528,5512,5510,5508,5506. None of those other rooms are Standard Studio.
So, instead, I’ve modified the fax to say “Prefer 5522, then XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX” for like 8 XXXXs based on my looking at the pictures from all the other Standard Studio rooms.
Does anyone think this will confuse Reservations staff? Is it a good idea? Is there a better approach? I’m like 5 weeks out and just putting ducks in a row. Responses/help appreciated!
I usually like to state one specific room and then indicate the block of rooms with most preference, then wing, and then “if none of these are available then any room with ____ (bed configuration preference)”
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Thanks, OB! If you don’t mind answering another question, how many rooms are in the block you list? Is it just like “5020, 5034, 5040, etc” or do you mean like “5020-5040”? Just don’t want to make it tough on these folks and be clear and concise! Thanks again!
Sure!
I guess for my last couple of trips I’ve listed a block of about 6-10 rooms max, and when it’s important to me I am specific about which side of the hall I would rather be on. I give the range you mention (ie 5020-5040) rather than listing off the rooms.
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We got back from our trip to WL a couple of weeks ago. We paid for a standard room and I think my request said something like “Highest floor possible (5th or 6th) with a view of Cinderella’s castle.” Then I added in the body something like “Thanks very much for considering our room request. We’re so excited about our upcoming trip” or something like that.
I’d call our request a win! We ended up with room 5012 which is a nature view bunk bed room. We had a great view of the fireworks but the castle was mostly blocked by a cluster of trees. We also had a lovely view of the water and the monorail. It was great!
We did book when the nature view rooms were standard view so I’m sure a number of people ended up with upgrades to nature view, but it was still a pleasant surprise.
Thanks again for this service!
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