A spontaneous trip in the FP+ and ADR era

[njmom76]

Booked 58 days out this summer, got ADRs we wanted & FP+ with no issue on first shot. Was a bit slower time, but I didn't have to stalk at all!

 

[nkereina]

I definitely agree that the trip was spontaneous for a DISer. But we're only a small fraction of folks who go to Disney so to say a "spontaneous" trip is still possible considering the grand scheme of Disney visitors is the only thing I disagreed with.

Just because you take a spontaneous trip doesn't mean that you don't want to plan.

I think it's spontaneous in the fact that you didn't expect to go to WDW, not spontaneous in the fact that you were just going to "go wherever the wind takes you"

Sometimes an opportunity comes up and you take it! We planned to go about 3 weeks before one of our trips and I did some planning, but not all. I think experiencing Disney in all different ways is great!

I hope you have fun!

Ehh... a planner isn't good with spontaneity. I am the uber planner type of personality and I do virtually nothing spontaneously. I see what you're saying, but this is a different type of scenario than a person who decides they want to up and go to Disney World and they show up with no planning whatsoever.

We live 20mins away from the world and we go on spontaneous day trips about 2-3xper week. We often will book our FP+ the night before or even the morning of and we typically get what we want. We've even had luck getting A&E and 7DMT on relatively short notice too! We find the best thing is to get there at rope drop! If we do that, we always get to do everything we want, regardless of whatever fp+'s we have/don't have. Your trip is TOTALLY do-able!

For locals, it's much easier to be spontaneous because most locals are OK with not doing everything in one day. Anyone else who goes last minute that doesn't live locally has a high probability of complaining afterwards because they couldn't do all they wanted. Obviously it's their fault for not planning, but Disney will get the blame because they've turned their vacations into months long affairs that require planning to maximize the experience.

 

[rajak73]

Here's our FP experience, we have been here since Dec 1, haven't used more than half the Fp we booked. Why stand in a fp line when standby is only 10 min? Had safari ride at AK for 9:30, park opened at 8. Got to ride about 9:15 line for FP and 10min standby, took standby and beat all the fp waiters to where it merges. Same with Everest, standby 10 min. Used a dinosaur because it was down at the time of fp so used it later. Glad we had fp for Mine train, but if you do a xmas party, line was only 20 min late and 30 min most of night. Only used fp for RR at HS everything else at time we arrived was 10 min. Same at epcot. used fp for soarin but everything else was walkon. I haven't really noticed that the standby lines are any longer than the last time we were here which was 2011.

 

[Angel Ariel]

There has been a great deal of discussion here over the last few months if trips can be booked inside of 60 days. We leave tomorrow, and booked our trip at 39 days out. I figured we were doomed as far as getting any desired FPs or ADRs and this trip was all about Disney at Christmas. Disclaimer: I stalk the heck out of MDE when I get a notion in my head. The night we booked we had a few priorities: Pre-opening CRT, CM, CP dinner on our party day around 4pm, SciFi, SDMT for everyday at the MK, A&E once, TSMM.

The day we booked I landed TSMM right off the bat, nothing else was available that we wanted. I was really discouraged and figured the spontaneous Disney trip was dead. Then I got my pre-opening CRT and Disney changed the operating hours and I was even more defeated. However through constant checking of the site and a FB group of fellow December travelers I leave tomorrow with 100% of the things I desired on my itinerary. I can see how someone who doesn't like having to constantly try to plan their vacation on a daily basis would hate it. But for those ultra planners out there, or those using a TA, I'd say the spontaneous trip is still viable.

Now if only the crowd calendars are correct, I think we'll have an awesome trip, fingers crossed.

I'm thrilled for you that you got what you wanted, truly . I wish we had found similar availability for my friend's spontaneous trip in November. Dining was hard to come by for their trip, especially. They did finally get A&E, but that was through a cancellation thread here. They weren't there during a crazy busy week, but their trip was a bit harder to plan because they decided to go within the 60 day mark.

 

[Angel Ariel]

That's fair as well. It's just that the word "unplanned" is always hard to apply to a Disney trip. Every trip is "unplanned" right up to the point when it gets planned. Could happen two years in advance. Or 39 days in advance. The only truly "unplanned" trips are those taken by people who are in the area and decide to go to the park that day, or by people who wake up one morning and decide to hop on a plane and go to WDW. But even this last group can plan ahead if their plane has a wi-fi connection.

I would change the bolded to WDW instead of Disney. It's entirely possible to do an unplanned trip to DLR. Our last trip to DLR in 2011 was decided on one week before we arrived. We didn't buy tickets (AFS) til we arrived in Anaheim. The only "planning" done was getting a reservation for Blue Bayou (which wasn't actually necessary). No crowd calendars, only the one ADR, no FP planning/strategies...we just showed up and went where we wanted when we wanted to.

It was absolutely glorious.

 

[RubySue]

Absolutely possible to do a relatively last minute trip! I just did two of them. One Oct 13-22, booking 28 days ahead and one Nov 30-Dec 11, booking 20 days ahead.

Got most of the FPs that we wanted before we left and the headliner attractions we couldn't get FP for (like SDMT), we did during MNSSHP and MVMCP or just before park closing. We are night owls and hate RD. Since I have older teen grandsons, I didn't have to worry about A&E. For us, FP+ works. We find it more flexible than the old FP. We changed or postponed a couple of things and it all worked fine. As someone said in another thread - We used FP as a tool, not as a commandment.

I also got ADRs we wanted like HDDR, Ohana breakfast (DGS is a Stitch fan), 50's Prime Time, and LTT. We skipped breakfast one day, went to BOG and was able to get in for an early lunch.

I am NOT a computer or smart phone wizard (as my grandsons like to point out), but I didn't have any major problems with MDE. Some people here use the word "stalking". When making plans, I wouldn't say that I stalked, just checked the app now and then. Maybe 2-3 times a day for a few minutes each time. It didn't take up a lot of time or energy.

Both trips were wonderful. We usually go to WDW the end of April after Spring Break. This was the first time we went to MNSSHP and MVMCP. Oh, and we love the Magic Bands!

 

[DaisyNY]

We just had to change around reservations for our trip next week....canceled a few ADRs and made some new ones. I imagine as people get closer to date when they are charged for no shows there is some openings that you can take advantage of.