When planning a DVC vacation I like to research where in the resort I’d ideally like to stay. There might be a particular amenity I’d like to be close to, or a certain view that would take those relaxing evenings on the balcony to the next level. The way to let DVC know where you’d like to stay is by putting in a room request and as we’ve explained here there are a few ways to do this. A room request is never guaranteed and whilst it may help you get the room location you want, I’ve found requests at some resorts seem to be more successful than others.
I’ve reviewed my requests over the years and have come up with my top three most successful and bottom three least successful resorts for room requests.
Most Successful Room Requests
No room request is guaranteed and it seems to often be down to luck as to how successful any request is. However, there are some resorts where that luck seems to come through more often than not. So in reverse order below are the three resorts I’ve found to be the best at fulfilling my room requests.
3. Polynesian Villas and Bungalows
At the time of writing this (before the new Polynesian DVC Tower is open) the DVC Studios at the Polynesian are split into three separate buildings. Moorea, Tokelau and Pago Pago. If staying in the more point-heavy Lake View rooms you’ll be located in the lakeside Moorea building. When staying in a Standard View room, you could be in any of the three buildings.
When requesting a standard view room, I like to request the building I’d like to be in, then the floor (I always request a high floor) and finally an example of the type of view I’d like (the quiet pool). I’ve always ended up in the building I asked for. I’ve had 50/50 success with the view, sometimes getting exactly what I requested and other times getting a completely different view. Where I’ve had less success is with the floor, I’ve only once managed to bag that top-floor room!
2. Old Key West
The original DVC resort, Old Key West has 49 different buildings, across a huge variety of locations. Eight of these buildings are in the Near Hospitality House room category. The remaining 41 buildings are all Standard location. My room requests for Old Key West usually consist of a building number, floor and general view type. Whilst I’ve never managed to get the exact building I requested, I’ve always been in a building adjacent to it and in the right area of the resort. With only three of the buildings having elevators, I’ve always requested the ground floor and DVC has always granted this request. The views at Old Key West all tend to be fairly similar, with general greenery, golf courses and lakes, so it’s quite difficult to end up with a bad view here!
1. Saratoga Springs Resort
My top resort for always coming through on room requests is Saratoga Springs Resort. This is by far the biggest DVC resort. The sprawling resort has 18 buildings, split across five different areas. The Springs and Congress Park areas both count as Preferred location due to their proximity to the Carriage House (with the main hotel amenities) and Disney Springs respectively. The Carousel, The Paddock and The Grandstand areas all count as Standard location. Your room location at Saratoga Springs really can make the difference between a relaxing break and what could easily turn into a hiking vacation, if your room is in a far corner of the resort. Because of this I feel the Cast Members might take room requests more seriously here.
I’ve stayed at Saratoga Springs many times and I’ve always had a room in the area of the resort I’ve requested. In fact, nearly always the exact building. No matter where in the resort we decide we’d like to be, I tend to request to be near a pool and I’m yet to have a room that isn’t located right next door to one of the pools! Because of this Saratoga Springs ranks highest in my opinion of successful room requests.
Least Successful Room Requests
Whilst it’s great to end up where you were hoping to be in a resort, sometimes room requests just don’t work out! This isn’t always a bad thing though. You might even like your new location better than the one you originally wanted to stay in. Again, in reverse order, below are the three resorts where I haven’t been so lucky with having my room request granted. (But don’t worry, sometimes not having a room request granted turns out to be even luckier!)
3. The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort
There are two DVC buildings at The Grand Floridian Resort.
- The original DVC Villas which contains Deluxe Studios, One Bedroom Villas, Two Bedroom Villas and Three Bedroom Grand Villas.
- The more recently renovated Big Pine Key building which contains Resort Studios. These more closely resemble a standard hotel room, with a few extra DVC touches
Whatever room category you decide to book, you’ll be limited to rooms within one building only. This means any room request is going to be solely focussed on the view and floor, not the building location.
Whilst I haven’t stayed in The Grand Floridian as many times as other resorts, when I do I always request a high floor and state the view I’d ideally like. So far I’ve only ever been given a ground floor room and never with the view requested. The reason Grand Floridian isn’t ranking as my number one least successful room request though, is because on my most recent stay, I was upgraded from a Standard View room to a Lake View room. We could even see Magic Kingdom from it. So whilst I may not have got a room close to my request, the view I was given was far better than anything I could have requested in the Standard View category!
2. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village
Animal Kingdom Lodge has DVC rooms in two separate locations.
- Jambo House, in the main Animal Kingdom Lodge Hotel building.
- Kidani Village, a separate building made up of only DVC Villas.
When booking here you have to choose which of these two buildings to stay in, so you can only request rooms within the one building.
In the same way you have to choose the building you want to stay in, you also have to choose the view type. In Kidani Village you can either choose Standard View or Savanna View. This means the room category you’ve chosen largely dictates what your view will likely be. Although it is good to note that there are some hidden gems in the Standard View rooms, where you can end up with a Savanna View.
We’ve always opted to stay in Kidani Village, but our room requests here have been largely unsuccessful. Having only had Savanna View rooms our requests are always based on location, in particular to be near the lobby. On our last stay, we were at the furthest point at the opposite end of the building. This gave us a 10-15 minute walk from our room back to the main lobby and pool. Our view was spectacular though, and with all the Disney snacks we ate, the extra steps probably did us good!
1. Beach Club Villas
In top place for my least successful room requests is Beach Club Villas. This resort only has one building and unlike most other resorts, it only has one view category – essentially just Standard View. So when booking a room at Beach Club Villas you could end up with a beautiful sunset view over the quiet pool or a view directly over the main road behind the resort. For this reason, Beach Club Villas is one of the resorts where I really do hope to get the view I’ve requested. Unfortunately despite having stayed here many times, we’ve only managed to get our requested room view once!
We always request a high-floor room with a view over the quiet pool. On our first stay, we had a room on the third floor looking straight over the pool. It was beautiful. Sadly, that’s where our luck with room requests at Beach Club Villas ended! Since then we’ve always put in the same request, but have mainly ended up overlooking the trees and road behind the resort. Once we snagged a great view of the Epcot fireworks though, which did make up for the lousy daytime view. Most recently we got a new view altogether and were facing the main hotel building. Whilst this still wasn’t the view we requested, it was certainly a welcome break from looking at those trees!
Is it Worth Doing a Room Request?
As you can see I’ve had mixed success with room requests. Despite this, I’ll still keep requesting rooms ahead of my DVC vacations. I know you’re never guaranteed to get a particular room or location, but I enjoy researching where I’d like to stay and it’s fun to see how close we get. From my experience, it seems you have more luck with room requests at the larger resorts. If you have an upcoming stay at one of these bigger resorts it might be worth putting in a request before you go. But, if you’re the sort of person who’ll be upset not to get the location you have your heart set on, it might be better to leave the room requests. Honestly, I don’t think there are any truly bad locations in any DVC property.
If you’ve ever put in room requests for your DVC stays, where have you had the most success? Will you be putting in requests for your upcoming stay? Let me know in the comments below.
Tim
August 20, 2024We’ve had mixed results with room requests. Old Key West is our home resort, and we’ve been pretty lucky there, the cast members doing what they can to grant our requests. Except this last time, because we were unable to get a water view room we wanted, they put us near the Turtle Pond pool, with a view of a swampy end of the pond there, and a parking lot just beyond. Oh well. As much as I love the Polynesian, we only stayed there once with DVC, and they weren’t to interested in fulfilling our room request. We had a corner room, great, but there were service carts & vehicles parked on the walkway most of the time right outside our patio, going in and out, not magical. Not too keen on returning there now that we’re DVC, which is a shame because the Polynesian is a fave of mine.
Danielle
August 20, 2024What’s the best way to request a room/view? Contacting DVC or the hotel directly?
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August 20, 2024I almost always put in basic room room requests like upper floor. If I can get a balcony, I am pretty happy. On our trip this August, we stayed at Polynesian and Boardwalk villas. We rented points for Poly, so we weren’t able to put in a request (we didn’t want to bug the people that booked for us). We were put in the one building we didn’t want, and on the first floor. We checked in right at 4, and the cast members were able to change us to a building we preferred on the second floor, so it worked out well. At Boardwalk I had put in room requests, but was again put on the first floor, and not with the view we asked for (Village Green). We checked in at 4, and requested room changes as we were put on the first floor, and were given an upper floor room this time. I didn’t specifically ask for a view upon check-in, and ended up overlooking the Luna Park Pool. It turned out to be a good thing, as there was quite a bit of work going on with the exterior of the Village Green area while we were there.