Ever just up and go? Help.

[mena292]

Anyone who is NOT in florida, have you ever just got up and gone to Disney? I am on Ohio, and though it is a really long complicated story about my boyfriends job and his lack of schedule (he works for an independant contractor for the USPS, and is constantly flying all over the US at the last minute, then home for a week or a weekend and then off again for up to 5 weeks at a time) we might just book a flight within 24 hours and call and see if POP has rooms and just go. Its so exciting! I have the list of possible dates. They are sketchy, and so it would be a "he calls me the day before and says he is coming home the next day or two" I book the flights and we leave whenever that is. Has anyone done this? Just up and went. I know airfare will probably be a mess and expensive?
Has anyone else done this?
Did it go ok?
Were you able to stay in a value?
How short of notice can you book airfare?
I am stressing about if it is possible to do this?
I am not stressing about just up and leaving and saying See YA!
Just the logistics of it all.
Thanks Missy

 

[lilyv]

No, I haven't. But if I was considering it, I'd call Disney. In this case, I'd make sure the CRO person seemed like someone I could work well with, otherwise, I'd call back. You'll want someone helpful, a person who's happy to answer all your questions and quote you rates.
You'll probably be doing so back and forth on air websites, talking to Disney, coordinating everything. I'd have paper, pencil, calculator and computer at the ready while working on this.
Good luck!!

 

[Taja]

Shortest I've managed is 2 weeks notice in for March, 2007. In mid-February, discovered a hole in my schedule for the first week of March. Called WDW to see if they had a vacancy--and an AP discount--for my dates. They did. Booked it. Called SWA to see if they had flights I could redeem for my RR credits. They did. Booked them.

Arrived at WDW March 1, 2007 and departed on March 7, 2007.

A very nice--but too short--break in the world!

Couldn't get any ADRs that I wanted, though. Which was okay. I just grazed--and lost five lbs.! Go figure! *LOL*

 

[mena292]

Thank you for your input! Thats a great idea. Still looking for other brave souls!

 

[Taja]

As long as the airline has seats available, you can book them.

But unless you're lucky enough to stumble on a last-minute sale (think SWA DING or other airline email notifications), airfare is likely to be quite high.

Let's hope you're lucky!

 

[lilyv]

One other thought about the airfare...while you're comparing dates with Disney...I've found Travelocity's flexible search option very helpful. You plug in dates, and they look for best fares. Not always available when you finally click, you kind of have to adjust, work with it. Overall, though it's a fairly fast way to look for relatively good deals if they're out there. (And I think you have to look at Southwest at their site.)

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

What you'll probably have to do is go ahead and book a "room only" reservation at a value resort, since that is what you're wanting, as soon as you know you're going. I wouldn't recommend just showing up at the hotel and asking for a room. That could be a disaster. If you make the reservation the worst that can happen is you lose your deposit, right? Everything else will fall into place.

 

[Laren]

I planned a five night six day trip for three adults and a child with 36 hours from the time we booked till the time we left.

We even lucked into great airfares (though this is not the norm usually booking last minute will cost you an arm and a leg!) Be sure to try different flight times if you're willing to get up early or fly late sometimes the fares are better.

I did it in this order: Called CRO for a room only reservation (I've never tried to book a package on such short notice so I don't know if it can be done but you could try!) to get a room.

Called the airline to get seats

Arranged ground transportation via towncar (we didn't use magical express)

Then got a few dining reservations (though with last minute you may not get some of the more popular places especially during the busy season- be prepared to eat counter service if you have to)

We bought our park tickets when we got there.

That's it! Threw the clothes into a bag, got on the plane, and had a WONDERFUl trip (even though we ended up changing resorts when we got there cause we didn't like the one we'd booked LOL)

It can be done! Hope you get the chance to go and have a great trip.

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

We do "spur of the moment" trips all of the time. We fly ALL of the time and have often gone "Same Day" to WDW and other destinations.

 

[MPHARJ]

Several years ago we did this we had to cancel our trip for later in the year. My ex and I were working at the same place and we were getting tired of them basically screwing with our schedules so we went in that morning, quit he luckily had another job lined up, came home that afternoon booked at trip to WDW leaving the next day only thing available was WL and we took it because he would have to come home and start his new job we couldn't go later. Packed up our DD and headed out. We drove only because we couldn't afford to fly that quickly. It was the best unplanned vacation ever. Of course now that I am older I would never just go quit my job, of course now I have one I love.

 

[Tinker*Shell*Bell]

In 2000 we got back from a trip to Nebraska on July 31st and On August 2nd we booked a week in Florida...Plane tix were super cheap!

11 days notice is not much but I don't work in the summer so I had plenty of time to plan and pack.

It was fun!
Sheli

 

[hmillerbarilla]

In September of 2005 we booked in the "less than 30 days" window... I think it was maybe 2 weeks before we left. We did a package and everything worked out fine.

We've also just "showed up" at a resort and gotten rooms. The hardest time was Thanksgiving weekend... I know, what were we thinking... and we just went to CBR, then CSR and the lovely people at CSR called around for us and got us into POFQ for our stay. It turned out fine since we were not picky about where we ended up.

Spur of the moment trips are fun--they may be challenging to do, but the memory is great. Have fun!

 

[DisnyMama]

Last summer DS and I asked DU travel to see if there was anything at a value available with less than 2 weeks notice but there wasn't so we got a really good deal at the Royal Plaza for 10 nights so we hit the road. After a few nights of having to leave the parks because we couldn't take part in EMH since we weren't staying "on-site" I took a chance and called CRO and asked if they had anything available for the duration of our vacation at a value. They said they had AS Sports- YEAH!! So we immediately checked out of the RP with no problem and checked in to AS Sports and wow...what a difference to have that disney feel again.

 

[PJR]

I booked Sunday and we are going on Saturday. I was at first disappointed with the limited hotel choices, but we picked Coronado Springs and I am completely THRILLED with that now (after doing my homework).

 

[eliza61]

I've done a 2 week in advance trip. Loved it. It was the first time Dh & I went by ourselves. We were originally looking for a weekend getaway but by the time we checked out hotels in our immediate driving area (Philly, DC & NYC) we figured we could go to the world for almost the same price. Our biggest challenege was airfare.

 

[mena292]

Wow thanks all! You are quenching my fears! Yea!

 

[justplaingoofy]

i did this in Jan. My sister went down to Disney with her family (they live in C.T) and she called me when they arrived and said how beautiful the weather was... and asked me to come down...

So i got off the phone with her (1pm) and booked a flight down on JetBlue for the next morning. At 4am I was on my way to the airport...

It was fun, but I felt overwhelmed.. I had lost 15 lbs. and barely had any clothes that fit. (& I couldn't plan anything because I was going to meet my sister and it was really there vacation)

I felt so out of control

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

All the time! Just be prepared to have major ressies issues if you favor dinner at the better restaurants.