Disney World's Room Request List Gets Longer and More Specific, With Picks Like 'Near Skyliner' and 'Rock Inn Section'

"Near Skyliner" is now on the menu. The room request screen in My Disney Experience has been updated with more choices specific to the resort you booked, including section names, location preferences and, at some hotels, bed or tub options, alongside familiar picks like Ground Floor.

Resort-specific requests are not brand new. A September 2022 answer from a panelist on planDisney, Disney's trip-planning Q&A site, described two drop-down boxes at Pop Century offering a ground floor, a king bed, the 50s section or the 70s section, plus an option to prioritize having the room ready. What appears to have changed is how many choices now show up, and how specific they get.

WDWMagic reported the change on Wednesday morning, October 21, after Len Testa of TouringPlans posted screenshots in the WDWMagic forums. "It looks like MDE got upgraded functionality for guests making room requests," Testa wrote. "There are now many more options available, and they're resort specific." We found no announcement from Disney about it.

The updated Room Requests screen for a Caribbean Beach stay, with Aruba in the first slot and Near Skyliner in the second. Screenshot: Len Testa, via the WDWMagic forums

What the updated screen looks like

In the app, the screen opens with a section called Prioritize Room Readiness. Its checkbox reads "Prioritize having my room ready early over these room requests." (On the Disney World website, the same box is worded "Please prioritize having my room ready earlier than waiting to fulfill one or more of the following room requests.") Tick it, and you are telling Disney you would rather have the first available room than wait for one that matches what you asked for.

Below that are two dropdowns, Room Request 1 and Room Request 2, both optional. The app does not spell out how the two slots interact, and we found no Disney explanation. WDWMagic writes that "Based on how the app behaves, these appear to work as 'OR' conditions," meaning Disney would try to match either request, not necessarily both. Testa, whose forum post came first, put it this way: "I believe the system considers them as 'OR' conditions, not 'AND'." His example is Caribbean Beach, where a room cannot be in both Aruba and Jamaica.

The choices depend on where you are staying

Here is what the screenshots show so far:

• Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort: Aruba, Jamaica, Martinique Section, Barbados Section, Ground Floor, Higher Floor, Near Bus Stop and Near Skyliner. A second, unlabeled screenshot in the thread, apparently from a different Caribbean Beach booking, shows Aruba, Jamaica, Trinidad, Ground Floor, Higher Floor and Near Bus Stop instead.
• Disney's All-Star Music Resort: Ground Floor, Higher Floor, King Bed, Country Fair Section and Rock Inn Section.
• Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge: Kudu Trail, Zebra Trail, Near Lobby and Near Elevator.
• Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa: Sugarloaf Key and Tub Shower Combo.
• Fort Wilderness: a specific loop, with Loop 2200 through Loop 2700 in Testa's screenshot.

At Fort Wilderness, the request list is a list of loops. Screenshot: Len Testa, via the WDWMagic forums

The list also follows your room category, not just your resort. WDWMagic says that "If you've booked a Standard View room, you won't see Preferred section options in your dropdown." Testa makes the same point, using a Standard View room at Pop Century.

Testa also flagged the King Bed choice at All-Star Music as interesting, since Disney often makes the bed type part of the room type you book.

Bathtub fans, read this part

Bathtubs came up in the very first reply in the forum thread, and more than half of the replies since have been about them. Testa's own answer: "Some room requests include the option for a tub. Others don't, and I'm not sure why." The Grand Floridian list in his screenshots, taken on the Disney World website rather than in the app, is one that does, with a Tub Shower Combo choice.

Animal Kingdom Lodge's list names two of the lodge's trails. Screenshot: Len Testa, via the WDWMagic forums

Still a request, not a promise

None of this guarantees anything. WDWMagic notes: "Room requests have never been guaranteed, and that hasn't changed." Its argument is that specific choices are easier for the room assignment team to act on than vague ones, and that Near Skyliner at Caribbean Beach is a good example.

One more thing is worth watching. Testa added in the thread, "I'm told the room assignment now happens when you arrive at the resort, e.g., when the security guard verifies you." That is second-hand, and other forum members replied that they got their room number before reaching the resort, one by text before boarding an evening flight last week. Treat the timing as unconfirmed for now.

WDWMagic says the expanded options "are available now through the My Disney Experience app ahead of your stay," so if you have a trip coming up, it is worth opening the app and taking a look at your own list.

So which would you pick: the room you asked for, or the room that is ready first?

Sources

• WDWMagic, "My Disney Experience Room Requests Updated With Resort-Specific Options" (October 21, 2026)
• WDWMagic forums, "New Room Request Options in My Disney Experience," thread started by Len Testa (October 21, 2026)
• planDisney, "How early can I make a room request?" (September 2022)

Image credits: WDW News Today (featured image), Len Testa via the WDWMagic forums (screenshots).