After speaking to two agents on the phone, we went ahead adn booked the non-connecting room. Neither saw an issue with the verandah opening between the two and one asked her supervisor. I had to call twice for some other questions, I didn't call just for that...
One agent was great and suggested changing to the other side of the ship as the ship backs in to Castaway Cay and we would see the island from the starboard side vs. port side! Those are the tips I love!
So, we put our deposit down. If the verandah won't open, then we will just deal... it's my adult daughter and her boyfriend in the next room over, so the connect rooms wasn't a necessity, but would be awesome to gather on the verandah. If for some reason they can't open it, we will just have to deal with that too. I choose the rooms being at the bump out because I heard those were slightly larger.
For the AFT rooms marked for disabled... I really am curious about those. I am 100% disabled Veteran but I do not use a wheelchair nor do I need special bathroom... but maybe I can learn more about that in the future. My hubby uses a walking boot frequently, knee scooter occasionally, and once had to rent a mobility scooter for him when we had a planned trip to Disney with out-of-state relatives, but he should be fine unless he has some unexpected flare up. We learned the hard way not to have medical procedures before a planned vacation as he had a medical procedure before our family came for the Disney trip that required him to go off most of his meds, and then one of his issues flared up where he couldn't put weight on one leg to walk, thus needing a wheelchair.