How to Make Disney World Room Requests

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Learn how to get the best hotel rooms at Walt Disney World using room requests and booking categories!

Since Disney World resorts are huge and spread out, where your room is located at your resort really matters.

You want a room that’s close to amenities and transportation. It’s also nice to have a good view from your room that’s NOT the parking lot.

Getting the best rooms at Disney World does take a little research and know-how, so read on to learn everything you need to know!

Booking Categories Vs. Room Requests

There are two approaches to getting the room you want at Disney World resorts: booking a guaranteed room category or putting in a room request before your visit.

Room categories mean rooms with guaranteed views or locations, such as those close to the amenities or with specific views.

Here are some common room categories at Disney World:

• Preferred (closer to lobby and amenities)
• Pool view 
• Fireworks view
• Water view

When you book a preferred room, you are guaranteed to have a room relatively close to the amenities at your resort. However, this comes at an additional cost. 

Sometimes I decide that it makes sense to spend extra money on a preferred room location or view.

Other times I decide to book a standard room and make a room request before check-in to hopefully get a room located where I want it (more on room requests in a minute!).

Consulting a map of your resort that shows the location of the different room types will help you make this decision.

I haven’t found one site that catalogs all of the available resort maps, so I suggest just searching the web for a map that shows the locations of the room types at your resort.

It is worthwhile to consult a map because certain room categories may not be in the ideal location for your travel party.

For example, the Royal Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside might appeal to your princess-crazed little one.

But consulting a map of room locations shows that these rooms are the farthest away from the amenities at the resort.

Spending 10-15 minutes walking just to get coffee in the morning might not appeal to everyone, so it is a great idea to check a map that shows a resort’s room locations while planning your trip.

If all of these choices make your head swim, I strongly suggest getting a free quote from my travel agent partner Siera with Destinations in Florida.

She can help you pick the right resort and room category for your family (at no cost to you!) and help you with all other aspects of planning your trip.

In addition to booking a specific room location or view, you can also make room requests prior to your visit.

You can request ground floor rooms, rooms with specific views, or rooms that are close to transportation, for example.

It is important to note that room requests are just that – requests – and Disney can NOT guarantee that they will be able to meet your request. I’ll show you how to make room requests in the next section.

However, if it is critical that you have a certain location or view during your vacation, I suggest looking into a way to book that guaranteed room type and not rely on a room request.

Prioritize Your Room Requests

Whether you have booked a preferred room or a standard room, I always suggest making a room request before your trip.

Even within the preferred room category, some locations will be better suited to your needs.

The next step is deciding what is most important to you in terms of room requests. This is important because the fewer requests you make the more likely they will be met!

I suggest narrowing it down to the TWO most important requests for your travel party.

At resorts with ground-floor rooms, I always request to be on the ground floor.

Since we use a stroller for our little one, it is so much easier not to have to wrestle it up and down an elevator every time we return to our room.

My other requests depend on the resort and the vacation. I often request to be close to transportation if we plan on going to the parks a lot.

When my sister and I stayed at Caribbean Beach on a resort-only trip with the kids, we requested to be as close to the pool as possible since we were going to spend most of our time there.

Other common requests are proximity to other members of your travel party, connecting rooms, being in a certain section of a resort, or having a certain room view that cannot be booked as a separate room category.

It may be hard, but narrowing down your room requests to your top two priorities will greatly increase the odds of getting your requests fulfilled.

How To Make Disney World Room Requests

There are a few ways to add room requests to your reservation:

• During the online check-in process
• Using the chat feature in the My Disney Experience app (recommended)
• By calling Disney and asking for the requests to be added to your reservation
• If you rented DVC points, have whomever you rented points from add your request to the reservation 

Determining whether or not I have to call/use the app will depend on what requests are available in online check-in. 

During online check-in for my stay at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, the only two options were “Near Lobby” and “Near Elevator”. 

Since I want to request a room with a partial Savannah view, I will have to have the person I rented points from add a request to the reservation. 

It’s also important to note that requests can not be guaranteed by Disney.

They will be sure to let you know that requests are not guaranteed any time you make one!

Common Room Requests

Here are some common requests I make:

• Ground floor (especially when I have a stroller in tow)
• Close to transportation
• Close to pool
• A specific view (such as a fireworks view or water view)
• Connecting or adjoining rooms

Now if you want a specific view that is available as a room category, the only way to guarantee that you’ll get it is to book that specific room category. 

Next, I’ll explain my strategies for making room requests that actually work.

Add A Request During Online Check-in

When I complete the online check-in process (which is the same whether you booked your room with DVC points, directly with Disney, or with a travel agent), I always add my top priority room requests if they are available.

Each resort has its own options for requests during online check-in. Common options are specific buildings, specific views, ground floor, and an upper floor. If the requests I want to make are available, then I check them off and I’m done!

If they aren’t available, then I will have to call Disney at 407-W-DISNEY to add the requests to my reservation. 

Adding a Room Request in the My Disney Experience app

The current best way to add a room request to your reservation is by using the chat feature in the My Disney Experience app.

First, find the chat feature by clicking on the “hamburger” menu in the bottom right hand corner of the app (might be in a different place on Android).

Scroll down to Help and Feedback and select “Chat With Us”.

Then you can add your request. This has worked on three out of my last four trips so it is a pretty reliable way to get your room request met quickly and easily. 

How to Fax your Disney World Room Request

In the past, most Disney World resorts accepted room requests via fax.

The amazing view from our “standard” room at Animal Kingdom Lodge

However, as of some time in 2023, all Disney resorts have stopped accepting faxes. 

I am disappointed because this was a way more efficient way to make a request as opposed to waiting on hold. 

Calling Disney To Add Your Request

Another way to add a room request to your reservation is to call Disney at 407-W-DISNEY. 

You will have to go through a series of questions before you talk to a person, which I find pretty annoying. When you finally speak with a cast member, be ready with your resort confirmation number. He or she will use this to pull up your reservation and add your requests. 

NOTE: If you made your reservation through a third party (such as booking Disney World hotels through Priceline for additional savings), then you may have to ask to speak to someone in Disney World Wholesale reservations. Hopefully, the cast member will know how to redirect your call. If they don’t and insist you can’t make any changes to the reservation, you may have to call back and try a different cast member. 

General Disney World Room Request Advice

 

I try to be more general than specific in my requests. I don’t ask to be in a certain room or section of the resort – instead, I ask to be as close as possible to whatever is most important.

For our stay in a standard room at Caribbean Beach, I considered requesting one of the villages that are closest to the pool, but I instead decided to just request being as close to the pool as possible.

We ended up being placed in a preferred room, which is closest to the pool and normally costs an extra $40 per night.

I was glad I made my request as general as possible because I think it contributed to our magical upgrade!

I’ve been lucky to always get my room requests met, including connecting rooms, special views, and proximity to amenities and transportation. 

I believe this is mostly due to the fact that I do some background research, limit my requests, and submit my requests in the most effective way possible.

Any questions? Leave a comment below or join the discussion on my free private Facebook group!

Check out these related posts:

• Disney World Moderate Resorts: The Best & Worst
• Best & Worst of the Disney Value Resorts