Is it possible to plan a successful last minute trip anymore?

[Hikergirl]

Yes I think you can, but you depending on when in the spring you may have to redefine your idea of successful. Spring Break weeks will be very busy so if you wait until last minute you may not get the resort, ADRs and FPs you want. I think the key is to not go in with expectations that everything has to be perfect, that way if you don't get exactly what you want you aren't going to be disappointed. Also, I'm guessing this isn't your first trip and it wont be your last so there will be other times to plan the perfect WDW well in advance. This time you can just go with the flow and still have a great trip!

 

[Lisa F]

If you don't mind not having FP+ for 7DMT (which may not matter with toddler girls who are likely too short to ride it anyway) and FEA (which you can do at RD or during EMH) and if you can be flexible about your ADRs (be willing to have a character breakfast at a place like Cape May Cafe rather than Chef Mickey's) I think you can do just fine going at the last minute. I have been watching even same day fast passes for the last few months and availability is very good even same day on many things that would appeal to toddlers. Peter Pan is another that can be sketchy right at the last minute but even at a week out you should be able to get it. Since your kids are so young they will have no expectations and not be heartbroken if they can't do x, y or z. You may not be able to book a princess breakfast but honestly if it is that important to you, you can start looking for availability now without even having a resort reservation.

You can have a great trip if you are flexible.

 

[Viking Academy]

During low attendance times- Yes, we just did. We originally had reservations for Halloween week and as my cancellation window got closer I realized there was no way we could go then. We talked about it and moved the trip up to mid-September so we were 3 weeks out. We just made the cut to get our magic bands mailed. We don't do sit down restaurants so ADR's weren't crucial to us. I got fast passes for just about everything we wanted. This was our fist trip to WDW in 9 years (we've been DL people in the meantime) and I can see that during times of high crowd attendance it would be harder to see and do all of the things. We did WDW one time in June and I'm just not a hot weather fan. So- long answer short- maybe.

 

[Klayfish]

If we had the opportunity to literally pack up our bags and drive down to WDW right this minute, with no advanced anything, we'd do it in a heartbeat. We'd have a blast and get on pretty much everything we wanted to. So yes, I say it's 100% possible.

 

[tony67]

I don't think you really can do that anymore - even as a solo traveler I would not do it.

My friends who live in Jacksonville cant even think about a last minute day trip to Disney anymore - they did not even renew their annual pass this year -it is just to ridiculous with the Fps in their opinion. They bough Universal this year.
Yes you may get lucky here and there and get a FP - but for the most part you are not going to get in to the restaurants you want - unless you are fine with sitting at the bar (where it is an option).

To me it is just too expensive to risk that anymore - you have to plan 60 days out if you want to be sure to get what you want.
I just went a few weeks back as a solo - and four nights in a row I could not get into Moromoto - I could sit at the bar - but not the Sushi bar - I was not expecting that on a weekday in September - and I was not willing to spend that much and sit at the very crowded bar to eat.
I tried every day to get an FP for Frozen -and no luck - Im not waiting 45 minutes for that (on a good day).
I did finally get lucky and happened to be there when it reopened just after a several hour shutdown so I was able to walk on - in 15 minutes - but you cant count on that
Also by the time I had an additional fast pass I could book - the one I wanted was always gone.
It would be nice if I could book an FP for another park before I used my third one at a park I am in.
the one park rule is ridiculous if you are selling me a hopper.

This is why I really prefer Universal (as do my friends in Jacksonville) - you can just show up and do what you want when you want.
If you get an express pass (or an express pass hotel) - you have no issues at all.
it is just much more relaxed - and yeah i know they have far fewer people and parks to deal with so it is easier for them.

I don't want to have to plan what park I will be in on what day 60 days out. I don't want to plan when and where I am going to eat 180 days out - it's just ridiculous.

Thats why I don't see myself doing Disney again for several years - maybe when the Star Wars stuff is done in 2025.

 

[randumb0]

I don't want to have to plan what park I will be in on what day 60 days out. I don't want to plan when and where I am going to eat 180 days out - it's just ridiculous.

That's been my biggest gripe with wanting to visit certain restaurants

 

[mrzrich]

I don't think you really can do that anymore - even as a solo traveler I would not do it.

My friends who live in Jacksonville cant even think about a last minute day trip to Disney anymore - they did not even renew their annual pass this year -it is just to ridiculous with the Fps in their opinion. They bough Universal this year.
Yes you may get lucky here and there and get a FP - but for the most part you are not going to get in to the restaurants you want - unless you are fine with sitting at the bar (where it is an option).

To me it is just too expensive to risk that anymore - you have to plan 60 days out if you want to be sure to get what you want.
I just went a few weeks back as a solo - and four nights in a row I could not get into Moromoto - I could sit at the bar - but not the Sushi bar - I was not expecting that on a weekday in September - and I was not willing to spend that much and sit at the very crowded bar to eat.
I tried every day to get an FP for Frozen -and no luck - Im not waiting 45 minutes for that (on a good day).
I did finally get lucky and happened to be there when it reopened just after a several hour shutdown so I was able to walk on - in 15 minutes - but you cant count on that
Also by the time I had an additional fast pass I could book - the one I wanted was always gone.
It would be nice if I could book an FP for another park before I used my third one at a park I am in.
the one park rule is ridiculous if you are selling me a hopper.

This is why I really prefer Universal (as do my friends in Jacksonville) - you can just show up and do what you want when you want.
If you get an express pass (or an express pass hotel) - you have no issues at all.
it is just much more relaxed - and yeah i know they have far fewer people and parks to deal with so it is easier for them.

I don't want to have to plan what park I will be in on what day 60 days out. I don't want to plan when and where I am going to eat 180 days out - it's just ridiculous.

Thats why I don't see myself doing Disney again for several years - maybe when the Star Wars stuff is done in 2025.

Did you try open table for your Morimoto reservations? I have always had luck at Disney Springs dining using open table.

I am sorry you feel the way you do. I live 2 hours away and often plan within a week of going. I have no trouble riding what I want and eating where I want.

 

[JessRose]

I think you absolutely can do this as long as you're realistic about it and you plan properly!

With little ones, I would plan on getting to the park for rope drop. Go to the rides/attractions you couldn't get FP+ for first. In the afternoon, when the parks are busiest, it's a great time to have an ADR at one of the resorts and explore or go back to the hotel for a nap and to recharge.

I always try and remember that for every person on the DIS that tirelessly researches their trip, there are thousands of people that have no idea what is going on with the FP+ or ADR system. Don't let that discourage you.

As many people have posted, book what you can, and check back daily to adjust times and see what opens up.

 

[tony67]

Did you try open table for your Morimoto reservations? I have always had luck at Disney Springs dining using open table.

I am sorry you feel the way you do. I live 2 hours away and often plan within a week of going. I have no trouble riding what I want and eating where I want.

Yeah I use Opentable all the time - it just happened to be a crazy busy week which I had not expected.
DS was just packed way more than I had ever seen PI - I think some of the bordering states had the week off from school
I met some of the staff from Morimoto at another bar and they had confirmed it was crazy - they were going to take care of me - but unfortunately I was not able to get back over that last night.

As for getting the rides I want a week out - was not happening for me - i checked back numerous times and had very little luck making adjustments related to tear 1 rides. I had actually tried multiple times every day for about 20 days - it has a lot to do with luck - and Id think as a solo that would be much easier than a group of two or more as far as rides are concerned. I also tried on the day as that used to work OK for me - and no such luck this time - unless you want a FP for late in the day and that makes it tough to park hop since all the FPs need to be in the same park.

That being said I don't miss the running to Toy Story to get an FP and getting in line behind some tour group guy with 50 tickets.
At least now you are walking fast (no running!) to get on the ride - so there are benefits - i just think it has killed the option for spur of the moment and last minute day trips. It may work for some - but there are many that it does not.

 

[aristocatz]

How last minute are you talking? I really wouldn't recommend just deciding same day to go then trying to get FP's.

However most of our trips to Disney some would consider last minute. We are AP holders, stay offsite, and usually plan to go about 2-3 weeks out. 30 days or less, only things I've had trouble getting abundantly was 7dmt & Wishes (no more FP anyways).

Really..if you're booking a trip and doing FP's a week or more out, you can pretty much get the FP's you want. Time slots might be a little slim for the more popular ones like Soarin, Space Mountain, etc..but you can get them.

That is encouraging thank you! We were thinking about a month out. We are interested in staying at Pop. We don't need to go on 7DMT-neither of my kids are old enough to enjoy. I just want them to be able to do things like Fantasyland toddler attractions, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Nemo, Mexico Boat Ride......

......& I was hoping the new Frozen ride at Epcot.....is that out of the question?

 

[Disneylover99]

That is encouraging thank you! We were thinking about a month out. We are interested in staying at Pop. We don't need to go on 7DMT-neither of my kids are old enough to enjoy. I just want them to be able to do things like Fantasyland toddler attractions, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Nemo, Mexico Boat Ride......

......& I was hoping the new Frozen ride at Epcot.....is that out of the question?

The frozen ride has been down so much, I wouldn't worry about trying to get a fp for it anyways.

 

[RedAngie]

Granted it was just for one day at a slower time of year, but we bought tickets at the gate of Animal Kingdom, linked them to MDE, and were able to get FP+ without any problem for Everest, the Safari, and Dinosaur. Got three additional FPs later in the day too.

 

[Disneylover99]

Granted it was just for one day at a slower time of year, but we bought tickets at the gate of Animal Kingdom, linked them to MDE, and were able to get FP+ without any problem for Everest, the Safari, and Dinosaur. Got three additional FPs later in the day too.

We go the week of Christmas and easily change our fp's the day before or early in the morning before parks open. I think last minute trips are easy and quite enjoyable.

 

[Oswin]

Yes. I just booked a 7 day trip about 30 minutes ago. I leave tomorrow. I called to see what was available resort wise (wanted Poly but got CR instead), purchased MNSSHP tickets, and got what FP+ times I could. I'm only traveling in a party of 2 so we were able to get FP+ times for everything we wanted. As far as ADRs go, I'm going to wait until the night before or day of to make them. I've only made 1 ADR so far, for Chef Mickey's tomorrow night. We have the dining plan and know there's almost always cancellations at all the places we want to eat 24 hours in advance so I didn't bother making any other ones. The biggest problem for me was airfare, but that was to be expected.

 

[Accident]

I think it's even easier than ever to go last second as long as it's not your first trip to disney... fastpass and adr kind of has people freaked out and while better to start as early as you can it's not impossible if your flexible to go down even with only a day or two notice (and my shortest trip had 36 hours from booking to arrival and I become a local this year where I only get hours notice that I'm going into a park that day so this is first hand experience).

They've really fixed up adrs and fastpass for short notice needs. first you can no longer have an adr and fastpass that overlap (for an hour) so it's really reduced how many adrs people horde. Second is they've legally gone after all the sites that were booking all the adrs and selling them to people so there is more adrs you can personally find now. The fee if you don't show ($10 per person) has those that still horde them canceling the night. and last you aren't forced to take 3 fast passes anymore so many do exist, even if it's not htat prime ride you were looking for..

First and foremost, book as soon as you can. If oyu can afford to have $200 lost for the package reservation then book as soon as you can. Waiting however can be a benefit to see what discounts there are (and discounts are better the less there is booked to stay so booking too early actually hurts what discounts will come out) and you can also monitor flights to try to score some of those cheap ones and then book around when you could get low cost airlines (assuming your flying).

Fastpass can be looked at 2 ways. Most see it as getting the long line shorter. You can also look at it as getting shorter lines even shorter so you spend an equal amount of time with the longer wait and you get your time back but the few other rides you had fastpass for. Lets say you get a 7dmt fastpass, you'll save about 20ish minutes in the spring by using a fastpass. but if you get a fastpass for 3 other rides, each saving you 10 minutes then you've actually spent less time in line than someone who only got a 7dmt pass. Of course getting fp+ for all the longer lines is best but you can't always get that and you need to be creative in how you spend your time. Fastpass for the same day is more plentiful now and you want to start checking about noon for them. you may get some hard to get rides also,it's not limited to the short ride but keep the second way of looking at it in mind. If you can shave a few minutes off on a lot of rides, then you actually spent less time in line than someone with just 3 fps for the day when you add up the time saved at the end of the night.

ADRs pop up all the time, and for good places. You only need to know that people need to cancel the day before if they don't plan to use it. things happen on vacation and people horde adrs that can't use. I successfully get hard to find adrs the evening before I head to the park. You may not get exactly what you want but you'll get a table service at a place you'll enjoy being at . More often than not, I get exactly what I want sometimes just hours before I eat. Also don't think not having an ADR means you can't eat someone. People are late all the time (especially if you go right when the meal time starts. so 11am for a lunch and 4pm for a dinner). they will give you a table that is empty and have the person late wait longer to start eating because you asked. doesn't always work but if your nearby the place anyway, just ask. I also find sometimes asking if there is a future time they think they might have room to be helpful. I've gotten into the impossible places just going up and them telling me when to come back. (try to find the same person when you come back).

I have lots of other suggestions if anyone cares.

 

[Accident]

Yes. I just booked a 7 day trip about 30 minutes ago. I leave tomorrow.

See my post below yours!!! this will probably be your best trip ever, it was for me when I did the same in 2014 and started to learn how to do disney different becasue I was forced to with no notice trip.

 

[kaybird]

We are big fans of last minute trips! FP+ ressies were made on the bus on the way to the parks, ADRs were easy utilizing phone line and specifying "in the next 7 days". Take whatever onsite resort we could get, and we always have a blast!

 

[OB1]

We did a very last minute trip 2 years ago, that started on THURS and went through SUN of Memorial Weekend. My wife had said no trip that year, then decided 3 days before that she wanted to go. The only onsite hotel we found was All Star Movies. We are DVC owners, but nothing in our range was open, so this was not a first choice.

We actually were able to get a number of good FP. Of course, no Toy Story, but plenty of other quality attractions. We missed a few things, but did plenty. With early arrival, and hopping, we did minimal waits in lines. Great trip. BTW - we are not table service people, so that was not an issue at all.

 

[skuttle]

We were supposed to be in WDW this weekend for a long weekend to enjoy MNSSHP. Hurricane Matthew made us cancel. So we moved our trip to Thanksgiving week. We had to play around with the dates, but we finally managed to get resort that will fit us (family of 5) and still stay in the budget we had for our long weekend . We were booked at the contemporary for our weekend trip, but downgraded to a moderate to stay longer. I wanted 6 nights, but all we could get was 5. Will keep checking to see if we can add a day, especially after the 30 day mark.

I was able to get FP for everything we wanted except for Frozen. our 7DMT FP is a bit earlier than we would have liked, but we have one, and on Thanksgiving day! We have a few ADRs and at normal times, even scooped up Hoop Dee Doo! I plan to keep checking ADRs until our trip to try to snag some sort of character meal. So far, I'm happy with the way its coming together.

 

[queenofthehive]

Yes, get to the parks at rope drop and ride the major attractions first. Go back to the hotel in midday for a break and back to the parks in the evening. Ride the higher capacity rides until right before close where you should try to catch some headliners again as those lines should be shorter. Times posted are usually more than actually are so as to close out the park faster. As for ADRs, catch what you can but don't expect much.