Last Minute Resort bookings -- advice, discounts?

[Zombie]

So we've got yourself in a situation where we're booking a last minute trip. I know that some people are going be really anti-that idea. No touring plan, no ADR. We're OK with that.

What we're wondering is if there's somewhere where we might get some sort of discount with booking last minute?

Right now we're looking at about 4-6 weeks out from when we would be going. But we also won't likely be booking for another week or two. Really -- we might more realistically be booking about two weeks before out departure.

We've got a health issue in our party so that's why we've been putting things off.

We'd prefer to stay on resort-- preferably a moderate.

Any advice on last minute trips or if there's some way to get a bit of a discount from sell-off rooms or flights or sites that are good for that sort of thing, it'd be much appreciated.

Right now, our impression is such things don't exist when it comes to staying on Disney. That we might do better with off-site. But then we get into the whole rental car and commuting, etc. and with the health issues in play, we think it'd be easier to just stay on-site and use Disney transport or taxis when necessary.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Disney is offering discounted rooms and packages August 15th through October 3rd if you book by August 31st. We booked a last minute trip in February - 36 days before arrival. We got a great passholder discount and were able to get all of the ADR's we wanted and all of the fastpasses we wanted. I think that since we booked more than 30 days ahead of time the fp's were all still available.

The only bad thing about a last minute trip was that the airfare was higher than we like to pay.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/

 

[loves to dive]

Depends on when you are planning on going, Disney is offering discounts now and I think they may have opened some fall discounts as well. Whether there would be any rooms available is the luck of the draw. You could always hope Orbitz or one of the other discount sites might have them, I've had luck finding something on Orbitz for a date Disney didn't have it and they almost always offer some sort of discount usually 15%. As far actually travelling last minute with no ADRs or FP, I rarely make them even when I'm booked 3 months out, just like to book my FP the night before since I don't really know what park I'm going to be in the mood for and I book ADRs the day of, you might get some weird times and some places you hadn't thought of but it's certainly doable. I've done a number of trips that I decided for whatever reason, I wanted to go about 2 or 3 weeks before I went.

 

[spiceycat]

disney does not give last minute discounts - so would definitely look at Expedia, orbitz, and a few others. you might need to change when you go and yea if you need to fly except higher prices.

 

[buzznina]

We have done a few last minute trips with one being done 2 weeks before. We used a Disney discount(we never pay RRR) and we called and just asked what resorts were left with the discount. Of course you cannot be to picky on what they have left As a matter of fact that trip was when we realized that we had more fun by not having everything planned out and we also do not do many ADRs, to much time spent in restaurants. As for Mods, CSR is a convention resort and can have rooms come available at any time.

 

[jt'smom]

I just booked for 2 nights at CSR for next weekend. I got a dirt cheap Florida Resident discount price, and most of the resorts still had availability. I couldn't believe there was so much open 10 days out! And as for getting ADRs and FPs, I didn't have any problem with either. As long as you are flexible with eating times, I've always found that you can score ADRs right up to a day before. We pop up to Disney frequently for the day, and always get to do what we want, for the most part

 

[shoreward]

If you are booking at a Disney resort, for room only, you could make your resort reservation now; if you find you need to cancel, due to the unknown health matters, you will receive a full refund of your deposit, as long as you cancel with a minimum five day notice. So, you really have nothing to lose by booking now, when there is probably better availability, than waiting longer and taking a chance on what is open.

As far as flights, you will find lower fares with 30 advance booking; after that, fares normally increase at 14 and 7 days before departure. With less than a seven day advance booking, be prepared not only to pay the highest fare, but you may not find any available seats for your preferred date and time; airlines have cut back on departures and are flying full flights. If you live near an airport served by Southwest Airlines, you might want to check out their flights. Southwest has a no-penalty policy for changing or cancelling flights, unlike other airlines. If you need to change, your flight can be changed and you just pay the prevailing fare for the new flight. If you cancel, they will hold a credit on your account for the amount of the ticket, and that credit can be used within one year, from the original booking date, toward another flight, without any other charge. If you don't feel comfortable booking the flights online, yourself, you can call Southwest; unlike most other airlines, they don't charge you extra for phone reservations. You may also want to call Disney on the phone for their help in finding a resort that works for you.

Hope the health situation works out for the best.