I am posting this question for a friend of mine. She and her family will be in WDW sometime in late Sept-Oct. of '03. They definately want to stay onsite. They want to stay at one of the moderately priced resorts but since they have no real preferance, she thinks it will be to their advantage to wait until closer to the trip to make reservations. For those of you who have done this: Is there any risk involved w/ waiting 'til the last-minute? When should she start looking? When do the "promo codes" come out that would apply to the fall? Where is the best place to find info on the great last-minute deals I often hear about? (If the answer is Disboards, which forum "Budget" or "Resorts"?) What resorts do the best deals most often apply to? What kinds of rates can she expect to see by waiting? In other words....how do you "pull this off"?
Thanks in advance from my friend.
I went to WDW last fall and have something to share with your friend. I am not a "last minute" type of person, so I made my res 7 months in advance. Along the way, I changed my res because of codes and the price went less and less. Also, if your friends want to watch out for code, I highly recommend your friends to use Dreams Unlimited, who will keep a close eye on any upcoming codes for your friend.
I would tell your friend to go ahead and make the reservations and 2-3 months check out www.mousesavers.com for discount codes during their stay. I just made my reservations for Jan. 2004 and since rates have not been set for 2004 they booked me for the current rate at the resort I am staying at and will change the rate either more or less when the rate does come out. Plus I will be on the look out for discount codes closer to my date. So it is better to be save than sorry, so you can get the type of room you want and to make sure the hotel is not booked by the time you want to make the reservation. Hope this helps.