Are last minute trips now a thing of the past?

[John Darling]

I have been thinking about taking the family down for a "last minute" trip at the end of this month. In the past this would have been doable with legacy fast pass. But now I'm wondering if we'd be able to get the FP+ we'd want. Any thoughts on this? We do rope drop normally and would on this trip as well. TIA.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

You can still get popular rides by booking the day before. If you just want to do day of, you will find your headliner availability limited, especially at a busy time. You may have to forget about Anna/Elsa unless those happen to pop up.

 

[disnut8]

The PP is correct. When we went over Memorial Day weekend, there were still FastPasses available for all the major attractions but some with "limited availability". This was on that day we were at the park. The OP said they might go at the end of this month. I'm an annual passholder staying offsite for the July 4th weekend. I could only reserve my FastPasses thirty days in advance which I did on June 4 and then again on June 5. I got everything I wanted and even was able to change things around just two weeks ago.

 

[mare1203]

Nope, I don't think so! The only things I can think of that you might not get would be mine train or Anna and Elsa, but that would have been true with legacy fastpass as well.

I did a last minute day-trip a few weeks ago, so I didn't make FP until I actually got into the park (arrived about noon) and still got all the headliners I wanted. Definitely doable.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

They are still an option, they are just different.

We did a last minute trip in Jan. over MLK weekend, so it was a relatively high crowd time frame. We were even able to get custom MB!

Granted FP+ is still in flux, and was even more in flux in Jan. In Jan, offsite guests could only use the in-park kiosks for FP+. So even with last minute booking, being onsite was a huge advantage.

Compared to previous last-minute trips, more prep was required.

What is less of an option, IMO, is going with extended family.

Also less appealing is the idea of a spontaneous day.

 

[ILikeWaffles]

I took a last minute trip over President's Day weekend this year. I got all the FP+ that I wanted. I also got all the ADRs that I wanted, except a Tusker House ADR. I showed up before park opening, though, and a very kind CM was able to get me into Tusker House without an ADR.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

As long as you have reasonable expectations. If you are willing to forgo Elsa & Anna and prime time meal reservations at TS restaurants, it's no different than if you were 180 days out.

 

[sethschroeder]

Just looked on 4th of July I can get Toy Story in the afternoon if I wanted to. Heck even Anna and Elsa is available right now (9:30PM but hey its 2 days from now for the most popular attraction in all of WDW) These are all for 2 people.

 

[kaybird]

Personally, I think FP+ has made our last minute trips better. 2 of the last three have been over high volume holidays, and all 3 have been planned in under a week. (Day before one one.) We got everything we wanted, got to ride TSMM which we had missed the last few trips on FP-, and even got to ride SDMT.

 

[kellyg403]

Yes! My girlfriend and I batted around the idea of a trip for a couple weeks and We actually decided to go about 9 days out! I did not get a FP for Mine Train or Elsa and Anna, but was able to get a Fatasmic Lunch package and no problems finding something suitable like the Akerhaus Princess Lunch in Norway. I didn't get CRT, but the girls were quite happy with the Princess. We were able to get a late in the evening for arrival day at Crystal Palace to start off the trip.

It was a great 5 days and we planned very little but ADR's. We slept late and played late at MK for 4 nights. The girls did everything they wanted to do like BTMRR and Splash. It was wonderful! We changed FP every single day if we woke up and decided to do something different.

I actually think it was quite easy to go on the fly and still have a great time!

Kelly

 

[John Darling]

Thanks to everyone who responded. It's good to know that these kind of trips will still work!

 

[Kellykins1218]

We just did a last minute trip last week. We purchased our tickets at 9:00 the night before at DTD. I linked the tickets around 10 and FP+ was available for every headliner except 7DMT and A&E. We didn't have any problems changing times or selections during the trip either. The lines weren't any worse than usual for what were predicted as "9" crowds. We did rope drop and were able to do just as many attractions as we always had with regular FP. I'm a huge planner & was really worried we wouldn't get to do many of the things we wanted. I was wrong.

 

[sethschroeder]

We just did a last minute trip last week. We purchased our tickets at 9:00 the night before at DTD. I linked the tickets around 10 and FP+ was available for every headliner except 7DMT and A&E. We didn't have any problems changing times or selections during the trip either. The lines weren't any worse than usual for what were predicted as "9" crowds. We did rope drop and were able to do just as many attractions as we always had with regular FP. I'm a huge planner & was really worried we wouldn't get to do many of the things we wanted. I was wrong.

It's good when your wrong in a good way lol.

 

[bcrook]

They are still an option, they are just different.

We did a last minute trip in Jan. over MLK weekend, so it was a relatively high crowd time frame. We were even able to get custom MB!

Granted FP+ is still in flux, and was even more in flux in Jan. In Jan, offsite guests could only use the in-park kiosks for FP+. So even with last minute booking, being onsite was a huge advantage.

Compared to previous last-minute trips, more prep was required.

What is less of an option, IMO, is going with extended family.

Also less appealing is the idea of a spontaneous day.

I agree.

My last trip included 10 people and my next trip will involve 14-18. Scheduling for those groups is challenging and quite frankly maddening. The people going with me are not Disneyphiles, so either I or my daughter will have to plan it out.

Spontaneous days and riding your favorite ride multiple times via FP is much more difficult.

 

[JustPeachy2014]

This thread is comforting! A friend and I have been talking for awhile about going at the end of this month, but we just confirmed it with each other yesterday. I've been worried about whether or not we will be able to get FP for Space Mountain, BTMRR, Peter Pan, and Mine Train. I'd like to do A&E if possible, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[fairestoneofall]

On Mother's Day, we decided to do a last-minute trip at the end of May. I was still able to get FPs for everything we wanted about two weeks out from our trip. It absolutely is doable!

 

[katt789]

We've done a couple last minute trips with the fp+ system being there and they've worked fine. A lot of the time we just go and don't worry about having the fast passes, rope drop our favourite headliners and get what we get for fast passes!

 

[frozenchick]

It's unfortunate, but much at Disney isn't spontaneous anymore Though I like FastPass+, you probably won't be able to get much. However, when I went in January, I stayed offsite. Every morning I had to sign up at park opening for my attractions. I got to see everything I wanted to. That doesn't necesaarily mean you will though. I guess I got lucky.

 

[staceyeileen]

I'll preface this by saying that I'm a local passholder. :

I almost always book my FP+ the day before we go to the park, and haven't had any trouble getting the rides and times I want with the exceptions of 7DMT and A&E. Sometimes it's really a spur of the moment decision to head to the park, and I just book them in the morning before we leave the house. In that case I usually get the rides I want but sometimes not ideal times. YMMV.

 

[Kellykins1218]

I actually made my own post about this before I saw this one. This is mine...


Last minute trips are still easily doable with FP+!

We decided on the evening of Thursday June 19th that we were going to DW June 23-26. Yes, my insane husband gave me a day & half's notice to get four of us packed & ready lol. We left on Saturday and on Sunday we went to DTD to redeem our Disney Rewards points & get tickets so I could schedule FP+. I expected to have very little choice but was pleasantly surprised that almost everything was available. Out of all 4 days at the parks, the only thing we couldn't get FP+ for was 7DMT. (We couldn't care less about meeting A&E) I had imagined a trip with FP+ for nothing but Captain EO, Stitch, and Hall of Presidents.

During the trip we easily changed our FP+ times and selections several times with no problems. The app was a little slow on our day at HS so we did have a CM make some changes for us on their iPad. There were about 6 CMs at the kiosk by TSMM and we didn't have to wait at all.

I wouldn't hesitate to make another last-minute trip. I hope this info helps anyone on the fence about going without weeks or months of planning. It can be done!