No more room requests effective 4-19 !

Oh no! This is a big bummer bc I almost always have multiple rooms booked and like to request adjoining or nearby rooms.

The interesting thing about this is that AI would be better at accommodating room requests than a human if the agent is trained correctly.

I really hope not. They keep taking more and more away. Not cool

Hm. I usually check in at the front desk and request a room. If this is real news, hopefully I can still do what I've been doing and get the great rooms I've been getting.

I’ve always requested a pretty specific room after researching weeks before I arrive and had great success. Now I will be asking when I arrive at the hotel by which point rooms will be assigned and I’m highly skeptical I will continue to get the kind of rooms I have in the past. I hope I’m wrong and Disney adds more detail to the room request feature in MDE. I’m highly annoyed they are apparently going to fire the real people involved and just rely on AI

With GenAI I'm surprised they can't try to honor room requests with an Agentic AI system. It will probably screw up royally at times, but it would be better than just saying no room requests anymore. What about for things like connecting room requests (not a big deal with most DVC rooms, but it is a common requests for non-DVC rooms).

That's disappointing. How long has AI been assigning the rooms?

This would stink! I’m already sick of AI

We should see whether this is legit or just something Touring Plans heard somewhere, because we don't have any first-party sourcing, do we?

Even if we do, I'm like VikeQueen, and I've usually had fairly specific requests (I try to have a few options), and I've done pretty well in terms of views after asking at the front desk. My views at Poly in Februrary and Aulani in December where exactly as I'd pictured them. So, hopefully this continues to pan out. Obviously room requests are always subject to timing around other guests' stays.

Agree that this is super disappointing. I really hope Disney and DVC will increase the online request options - what’s in MDE is minimal for most resorts. This also seems like it hurts Touring Plans, which is a bummer too.

Here is the text from the Touring Plans site.

End of Life Announcement

Unfortunately, Disney World will stop processing detailed room requests on Sunday, April 19, 2026. (See our WDW Room Request Feature Last Day is April 19, 2026 blog post for more details.)

After that date you may only make room requests as part of Disney's Online Checkin process, using Walt Disney World's official website or app.

As always, if your assigned room is not what you want, when you physically arrive at the hotel you can visit the front desk and politely inquire whether you can move to a room you'd like better.

This change impacts only our Room Request tool. Our Room Finder continues to let you explore Walt Disney World hotel room locations, features, and more than 30,000 room view photos.

Here’s the link if anyone wants to read also: https://touringplans.com/blog/wdw-room-request-feature-last-day-is-april-19-2026/

Tried the chat, and Member Services says you can always make specific requests by contacting them, but then again, they are often the last to know about changes, so take it for what it's worth.

Sounds like some kind of backend change that is affecting Touring Plans ability to make requests on users' behalf.

I did use touring plans room request feature and felt it was effective. Part of the annual membership they have. Ill still use their planning tool for my park days, its been helpful.

Actually had the chance to connect with Len Testa earlier today, and we chatted through this... We agreed we'd find it hard to believe DVC continues to offer detailed request options since its all going to ultimately funnel to the same team or front desk. I plan to chat with Member Services next week again to see if they were just ill-informed, per usual, and the last to know about a potential change.

I'll ask a bus driver, next time I'm at WDW.

I hope not, as someone with slight mobility issues, near elevator is a standard request for me.

That will be a huge disappointment, for those of us that are regulars we know where we want to stay in the resort. May not always get it but the option to at least ask is just good customer service. I sure hope this isn't going to be taken away.

Wow this is truly disappointing. I’ve always had great success using g touring plans room finder/request tool

Absolutely. If I'm at OKW I request ground floor. I don't care where and I don't need to take an accessible room from someone who needs it but my travel party often has 2 scooters.

Maybe the CMs doing this work are on the layoff list, to be replaced by AI.

I saw that. Very sad to hear 1,000 some workers are getting laid off. It said marketing department so I wonder if this is affecting it.

I was thinking along the same lines and if true thats really sad, especially to be replaced by AI which will do a worse job than the people it replaces.

This would be disappointing. I’ve had good luck with Touring Plans.

This is the way. 🙃

Well that sucks, especially when you have guests that want to be close to amenities and some that do not. I would think giving guests the option to choose would actually make it easier for room assigning. Sure sometimes you do not get what you want especially if you stay at animal kingdom kidani village dvc which is a hike and a half to get to, but any Disney room is a god room to me.

I’ve noticed recently that my Touring Plans room requests haven’t come through. I began to consider that there was no guarantee Disney would honor (much less look at) the requests. I don’t think they’ve ever been obligated to. This may be just another thing that falls into the category of “it was nice while it lasted.” I guess I can let my TP subscription lapse, as room requests were my primary use, and I’m probably not alone.

Just another example of the dilution of the magic. I've been saying this for a while. Somewhere out there is a line Disney will inevitably cross resulting in substantial financial or branding losses...but they keep pushing just to meet short term goals while neglecting the future. It is not just the constant price hikes, but also the removal of perks resulting in a diminished experience. Even hardcore Disney fans are getting tired of this.

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. I very recently signed up for TP and found it odd that they even had the ability to automate these room requests for you. From someone who works in the Data Space, this is actually a task very well suited for AI. The simple categories/priorities folks can set when checking in are Disney's first iteration at an agent that can automate this heavily manual process of accommodating specific room requests. In all honesty I'd rather them switch over to something more similar to Hilton where you can select a specific room at check-in, although this too probably would come with its own challenges (I can already see myself waking up at 5AM 30 days out to get first pick of my room :) )

I totally agree with you. I always use preferences and usually get them. In all stays except towers, we prefer 1st or low floors and use near elevator as our back up. When at OKW or SSR the low floor is our jam, and near transportation.
We are flying down for a split stay at BWV & RR and I will report back if they are looking at an honored our room requests.

It seems Disney will probably have to update the MDE check-in process to allow for more detailed requests that an AI can take into consideration. Otherwise, front desk will be inundated with customers, and that’s something Disney has actively been trying to cut down on.

My first post! Love the new forums! Now I can finally delete Facebook.

Agree any room is a good room. Sometimes I want to be close to lobby and buses for a busy park trip, and other times I want a room close to quiet pool to read and drink all week long. Did I say drink, I meant nap. LOL

Is this only for wdw resorts?

The Touring Plans feature that made the room request for you was only available for Disney World resorts. I believe we only know about this Disney policy change through the word of Touring Plans because they are ending their feature.

You bring up a good question though. Will members still be able to make requests at Hilton, Vero, Aulani, and the Disneyland Resorts?

I am going to guess that you will be able to still make room requests at those resorts. To me it seems that the Centralized Inventory Management Team that Len refers to in his blog post was localized to just Disney World. It's probably easier for the standalone properties to continue to do their own room assignments.

What?! I feel the pain in the depths of my being.

I will definitely see in June when we check into Aulani. Previously at Aulani I received my exact requests through member services even during the peak of summer with a split stay in two different room categories. I will be going to the desk to check instead of mobile because I have to registered my rental car for the parking garage and will see then if it is noted on our reservation.

This is a classic example of "Just because you can, it doesn't mean you should". I have worked the IT field for over 40 years (retired now). The question that should be asked, answered, and advertised/announced is how is this change going to enhance/improve the 'guest' experience? There could be opportunities available in the AI process that may actually improve the room request process. Unless we (the customers) are told, a negative mind set usually occurs.

Right, this is where I am trying to remain a bit optimistic. I am a Data Management/Analytics consultant that has implemented agents that perform tasks just like this, it just will take some time and iterations, but AI is perfect for this task,

I agree, my fellow CCV owner and AKV owner and sorcerer hat appreciating comrade

Interesting Update! I like to put my room requests into Touring Plans months ahead of time. This morning Touring Plans sent me emails that my requests for my August 2026 trip, and December 2026 trip were sent to Disney. I wonder if they are just trying to get rid of their queue and this means nothing, or are these actually being sent to Disney and Disney's team is noting this before they hand everything over to AI (if that is actually what is happening).

I saw Len Testa post on another forum that Disney had agreed to process everything in the TP queue and expressed appreciation for that. Of course, requests are still only requests.

Yup, TP pushed them through as Disney would honor any they'd get before closing. Crossing my fingers for a good room in Dec at CC!

Loved this feature of Touring Plans

The room finder and photos are still there, just not the auto-send in feature.

Yes I’m glad touring plans is keeping this. My understanding is that it still remains to be seen whether Disney is going to give us a way to submit a request using the information.

Like any other inevitable change, I can choose to stomp my feet or channel my energy to winning at whatever structure is implemented (this doesn’t necessarily equate to being happy about it)

For those who used to use the TP room request, did you find it any more reliable than MS?

I used the TP room request feature back when making cash stays in the 2010s, but I'm a new DVC member and was hoping that chatting or calling MS would yield similar results. Not looking for a specific room, just want a better option than "near elevator" or "high floor".

Based on some earlier posts in the thread it sounds like Disney is automating as much as possible, so I assume this will also reduce or eliminate the ability to email/chat requests for rooms. I hope they increase investment in MDE to allow more granular requests. Some are great (eg, BLT) but some aren’t (BRV).

Ah, so the more granular information? Yes, I agree I hope there comes a way to add a comment to a request.

does anyone know how things are making it work now that the feature has been sunsetted?

has anyone been able to secure a reservation request with DVC Member Services?