Last Minute Trip?

Lynette7279

Earning My Ears
Joined
Oct 13, 2010
Hi everyone. So I woke up this morning and decided I wanted to take my family to Disney next month during teacher's convention week (we live in NJ). Dates would probably be Nov. 6-13. There is limited availability at the Disney resorts, as well as off-property hotels during this time. Is this a bad idea to plan so last minute? Will I miss out on dining and fast pass options and have to deal with huge crowds? Must decide asap so any input is appreciated! (Including recommendations for nice off-site hotels- family of 4, 2 girls ages 11 and 13). Thank you!
 
We did a last minute trip, due to missing a cruise. One day to plan and had a great time. Orlando has an oversupply of hotel rooms that I really think it would be easy to find something offsite. I'm looking at doing something last minute Dec. 21 - 25, and even for Christmas week, there is tons of availability. We just like the vibe of the parks. On our last minute trip in January, we were able to get some good fastpasses, but selection was a little more limited. It was still well worth it do do that. We did three Disney parks, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Magic Kingdom. We also did SeaWorld and took the free bus and did Busch Gardens too (easy way to meet up with my cousin who lives in Tampa). We usually don't do a lot of table service meals at Disney, but you could easily call and check what is available. They have an app you can use to quick service to save time when there are long lines that I highly recommend.

My personal favorite for a good deal is a timeshare condo rental (love the extra space and love the resort feel and amenities). These IMHO offer a really good value for what you pay for them.

If you are mostly doing Disney, condos at Cypress Pointe near downtown Disney are a nice option and usually a very decent deal even if you do retail. You can do retail rentals from their site directly or thru a third party like Booking.com. Another one similarly priced I haven't done before but am trying on our next visit is Grand Beach. If you are going for a full week, and a Friday to Friday, Saturday to Saturday, or Sunday to Sunday, you might be able to find a really nice offsite condo on TUG2.met (marketplace) or on Redweek.com renting from a timeshare owner and saving even more.
 
Looking at touring plans crowd prediction I wouldn’t be concerned about the crowds at all but I would stay away from Epcot and Hollywood studios the 10th and 11th
 
We did a last minute trip, due to missing a cruise. One day to plan and had a great time. Orlando has an oversupply of hotel rooms that I really think it would be easy to find something offsite. I'm looking at doing something last minute Dec. 21 - 25, and even for Christmas week, there is tons of availability. We just like the vibe of the parks. On our last minute trip in January, we were able to get some good fastpasses, but selection was a little more limited. It was still well worth it do do that. We did three Disney parks, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Magic Kingdom. We also did SeaWorld and took the free bus and did Busch Gardens too (easy way to meet up with my cousin who lives in Tampa). We usually don't do a lot of table service meals at Disney, but you could easily call and check what is available. They have an app you can use to quick service to save time when there are long lines that I highly recommend.

My personal favorite for a good deal is a timeshare condo rental (love the extra space and love the resort feel and amenities). These IMHO offer a really good value for what you pay for them.

If you are mostly doing Disney, condos at Cypress Pointe near downtown Disney are a nice option and usually a very decent deal even if you do retail. You can do retail rentals from their site directly or thru a third party like Booking.com. Another one similarly priced I haven't done before but am trying on our next visit is Grand Beach. If you are going for a full week, and a Friday to Friday, Saturday to Saturday, or Sunday to Sunday, you might be able to find a really nice offsite condo on TUG2.met (marketplace) or on Redweek.com renting from a timeshare owner and saving even more.
Thanks, will check that out!
 


You'll be fine! We went Jersey Week last year, and while it was busy, the crowds weren't holiday level insane. Just have a good plan, and you'll be fine.

Dining options come and go. Unless you have your heart set on CRT, you can probably get most of what you want with a bit of rechecking. I'm going the week after you, and just yesterday booked BOG for 8:30 on a 9:00 opening day. I've been playing around here and there over the past few days, and I've seen most restaurants come up. Many people cancel the day before to avoid the cancellation fee, so that can be a good time to grab something last minute.

For FP, you might not be able to book the headliners - at first. Keep checking back, especially the day before and morning of. People change plans all the time. If you can't get what you want, there's always rope drop or getting in line just before the park closes. The good thing is that each park really only has one or maybe two rides that are difficult to prebook, so even if you have to wait for them, it's not that much time out of your day.
 
I just booked a last minute trip two days ago, for Nov 10 - 16th. We are staying off-site at a timeshare at the Marriott World Center. In regards to fast passes, all of the "must have" fast passes were gone (FOP, SDD, SDMR, Peter Pan). But there were still some left for most everything else we wanted to do.

Happy planning!
 
Hi everyone. So I woke up this morning and decided I wanted to take my family to Disney next month during teacher's convention week (we live in NJ). Dates would probably be Nov. 6-13. There is limited availability at the Disney resorts, as well as off-property hotels during this time. Is this a bad idea to plan so last minute? Will I miss out on dining and fast pass options and have to deal with huge crowds? Must decide asap so any input is appreciated! (Including recommendations for nice off-site hotels- family of 4, 2 girls ages 11 and 13). Thank you!

I just booked a trip last week and I’ll be in WDW next week. I was able to get a good rate at one of the Disney Springs hotels and I got morning fast passes at MK for Splash, Space and Thunder Mountain. I wasn’t able to get FOP at AK but that was the only attraction I couldn’t snag. Frozen, Test Track and Soarin had FP’s available as did Slinky Dog at HS. I’m happy to help!
 


the DIS Unplugged just covered making a Last Minute Trip.

Podcast:
at 47:27

I can't find the article they are referencing on WDWinfo.com
 

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