Last minute roadtrip?

Crumples

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 23, 2019
Hello All,
I have a week off (8 days actually) in late May and I've been thinking about doing a roadtrip down to Florida from Southern Ontario. We are not certain if we are going there or stopping somewhere else along the way, it's just us two adults only, but wdw and universal are both on my bucket list so I'd really love to make it there!
Is booking last minute for on-site hotels and tickets doable? Reading the various sites I feel that it takes months to plan.
 
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Welcome to the DIS!:welcome:


I'm going to assume by your post that you will have 4 days in Florida to do things. (two days to drive down and 2 days to drive back)

Is it doable? Yes. But it all depends on exactly what you want to see and do. So here is my very basic opinion to try and keep it simple:

1. With a 4 day trip, I would focus on either Universal or Disney, not both. I know you said they are both on your bucket list so this is assuming you may be able to get to Florida again some time.

2. Universal and Disney are very different animals. It is much easier to plan a last minute trip to Universal. You can even buy a ticket the morning of and (if you have the money to purchase "Express Pass") experience just about any attraction, or eat at any restaurant you want to. Also, if you stay at an on site hotel at Universal the express pass is included.

3. Disney can also be done with a month to go for sure but can be more complicated. You can book dining on Disney property 6mos in advance. On site guests can book their Fastpass+ 60days in advance and of site can book at 30 days. There may be certain restaurants you wont be able to get to and certain rides that may involve a very long wait if you're unable to get a Fastpass for it. Having said that, you do have 4 days so you could hit a different park each day and cover them all depending on your stamina! There are lots of tricks and tips to help with this that you will learn by reading these boards and other websites.

4. Just took a quick peek at the last week in May (I don't know you're exact dates) and there is lots of onsite availability at WDW starting at $142USD a night for a value.

Most of us on here could write pages of stuff with this question. If you have anymore specific questions, just ask, there is a ton of knowledge on here. The Canadian forum is especially nice!
 
Some of us here LIVE to plan trips, even if it's not for ourselves! Give us a few more details and let us see what we can pull up for you, a few more discounts dropped for Disney this morning and depending on your dates it might work in your favour. I agree with @Etch that if you've never been to either Disney or Universal you need to pick one or the other, you wouldn't be able to do both without feeling overwhelmed.
Give us a few details to help you plan a great trip -- it is completely doable to do either park on a whim, we've done it and had a blast! There are lots of planning tools that will help you get the most of your time.

We'll need to know a ballpark budget & exact dates to help you out!
 


Wow you are amazing!
My dates are from the 31 to the 8.
I'm trying to get the 30 off depending if that helps. My budget is around 3k Canadian for hotel and tix, but I can stretch it more for a splurge. I think staying on site would be better for us. So I think if we could manage maybe a 3 full days I'd be happy, like maybe get there the evening of the 2 just eat and rest, then have the 3,4, 5 at a park and leave on the 6?
I really like Harry Potter so I'm thorn between wdw and going to Universal.
 
Wow you are amazing!
My dates are from the 31 to the 8.
I'm trying to get the 30 off depending if that helps. My budget is around 3k Canadian for hotel and tix, but I can stretch it more for a splurge. I think staying on site would be better for us. So I think if we could manage maybe a 3 full days I'd be happy, like maybe get there the evening of the 2 just eat and rest, then have the 3,4, 5 at a park and leave on the 6?
I really like Harry Potter so I'm thorn between wdw and going to Universal.

In that case, OMG you will NOT be disappointed in Universal -- it is simply A-MAZ-ING, really words can't do it justice, we were all blown away with the details (and I'm a born & bred Disney lover! Been going since it opened in 1971) I'll do a little poking around for you -- just sitting here killing time anyway :P You need to look at pictures to see how stunning the details are!
17796609_10210248947114988_8656784016442118909_n.jpg
17522739_10210248943194890_8636666946865060713_n.jpg


 
OK, so this is what i was able to price out --BUT we've come up with much better options for you below :P
 

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OOH BUT if you have a CAA card you can get a Canadian Discounted package that is the $1402.32
PLUS you get all these benefits as well! Might be worth looking into the cheapest CAA membership if you don't already have one, it's a good idea for driving that far anyway IMHO *** Edited to add the lowest membership is $81.36 in SW Ontario (not sure where you live) Which you would more than recoup in the savings mentioned below!!
upload_2019-4-24_15-27-55.png

This is the website i found the above pricing info .. i just clicked the Canadian Resident package button about 1/2 way down on the right hand side

Universal CAA Package Rates
 
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To add to Duck's quote for you, it may be better to buy the tickets through undercovertourist and just get the hotel through Universal, or you can book the hotel through a 3rd party site (like Expedia - if you pay in full you get the CAD rate for that day). You don't need to buy a package through Universal. If you are staying at an on-site hotel, no matter how you book it, you get the same benefits (early entry). Not sure if you are interested in the water park at Universal? If not two adult Park to Park tickets (2 day with bonus 3 free days) is $541.90 USD through undercovertourist.

Just the hotel i:
Sunday, Jun 2, 2019 — Thursday, Jun 6, 2019
Universal’s Aventura Hotel
Enjoy special savings - the longer you stay the more you save! You'll receive Early Park Admission to one hour before the theme park opens. Not combinable with other offers/discounts. Theme park tickets not included.
Standard 2 Queen Room

Jun 2 $179.10
Jun 3 $179.10
Jun 4 $179.10
Jun 5 $179.10
Taxes
Occupancy Tax $42.99
State Tax $46.57
Subtotal $805.96
Deposit $201.50
Remaining Amount $604.46

So total tickets & hotel is $1347.86 USD. - If you book through Expedia and pay in full it's $1070 CAD for the hotel, plus you'd need to buy the tickets (you can even buy at the gate but it'll be a bit more than the Undercovertourist price).

Disney will probably cost you more, I'd suggest Universal for a shorter trip, two adults, and your love of Harry Potter :)
 
Lots of good advice given by the experts already (wish I were the one planning another trip, but we just came back last month, lol). So just wanted to chime in that if you are a Costco member, Costco travel has a number of WDW/Universal deals which include park tickets.
 
My partner has Caa plus for his motorcycle! We didn't even think about checking it for vacation discounts.
I'll do that right now!
Thanks so much for looking into this!!!


Thank you so much, to you and everyone that helped with this
 
Here’s a tiny add on to the conversation- I know your title says road trip.. But there’s a Westjet flash sale on until 11:59pm MT tonight — I just priced (for myself before reading this thread)

YYZ to MCO return- non stop (7:35am dep — 5:30ish pm return)
May 31st to June 9th all taxes & s/c

$288.00 CDN per ticket

*** updated info - seat sale now running until April 29th @ 11:59 MT

for travel through December 14/19 some blackout dates in effect
 
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My partner has Caa plus for his motorcycle! We didn't even think about checking it for vacation discounts.
I'll do that right now!
Thanks so much for looking into this!!!


Thank you so much, to you and everyone that helped with this
Don't forget to ask the CAA for a TripTik and maps. Yeah, I'm old school. I'd rather have them than find myself in a wireless deadzone.
 
Hello All,
I have a week off (8 days actually) in late May and I've been thinking about doing a roadtrip down to Florida from Southern Ontario. We are not certain if we are going there or stopping somewhere else along the way, it's just us two adults only, but wdw and universal are both on my bucket list so I'd really love to make it there!
Is booking last minute for on-site hotels and tickets doable? Reading the various sites I feel that it takes months to plan.
 
We have driven down from Southwestern Ontario the last 5 years. We found that leaving around 4am works the best for us. We stopped at Macon Georgia for the first night usually at the Drury Inn and leave Macon at 6am to beat the ATL traffic and you are in Orlando by check in time. I 75 drive has been pretty good with only Cincinnati having major construction
 
Hello All, just wanted to thank you again for your help.
I booked through caa as suggested above, at the Aventura and splurged a bit, got the 5 days 2 parks, park to park with universal pass unlimited, which ended up at 1900$us total.
I did have an appointment with a caa travel agent this weekend but they weren't ver knowledgeable about the promos so I just went online to book lol.
 
Here’s a tiny add on to the conversation- I know your title says road trip.. But there’s a Westjet flash sale on until 11:59pm MT tonight — I just priced (for myself before reading this thread)

YYZ to MCO return- non stop (7:35am dep — 5:30ish pm return)
May 31st to June 9th all taxes & s/c

$288.00 CDN per ticket

*** updated info - seat sale now running until April 29th @ 11:59 MT

for travel through December 14/19 some blackout dates in effect

Echoing the quoted reply, with only 8 days, I would suggest exploring the cost of flying.

The most obvious reason is that you are spending 1/2 your time off on the road. I don't mind driving but getting to Florida in 2 days basically means you are on the Interstate or stopped for sleeping / food / gas - you don't get to stop for sights and you don't see much from the Interstate.
Also, the cost of fuel / hotels & food along the way will probably be relatively high so flying might not be that much of an expense (in our motor home (very bad gas mileage), driving to / from Florida is probably $600-700+ each way)

Having said that, I would certainly recommend you look at prices from US airports. We are flying from Ogdensburg, NY to Sanford, FL on May 18th and it's $47USD per person for one-way flight (I'm driving my motor home back). Rental car was $52USD per day (you can probably do better, I just needed it for a few hours but it was cheaper using Uber).
 
I 1000% agree but my boyfriend has an issue with flying so we are driving. I'm don't want to force him to do something he is so terrified of because he's just going to worry about the flight back the entire time we are there. We have more days to drive back so we will take a stroll and stop at a couple of sights.
Next year we are thinking about doing Disney world or a cruise so we will be planning two weeks off then for sure lol. This was just really last minute.
 
I sympathize with you. It certainly won't happen overnight but you should work on him to make him understand that air travel is safer than car travel (and statistically, it's not even close, air travel is much safer). Driving from Ontario to Florida on Interstates, you will likely encounter at least one accident with fatalities. You'll more probably never witness a commercial flight accident in your life.
 

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