Last Minute Availability??

jsanders82

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 6, 2011
Messages
115
I just booked a last minute trip for me and my youngest daughter (16) to go to WDW. Mainly to do AK and see it at night since the sun should set shortly before or after closing. This poor girl told me this weekend that she’s never seen her favorite park at night. Had to change that.

Anyways, I don’t want to spend an arm & leg for 2 nights. Had to book All Stars. Any chance a studio at AKL will come up? Or POP will get some rooms? Tried to rent points but all the studios resort wide are booked.

Not worried about transportation as we always rent a car.
 
I just booked a last minute trip for me and my youngest daughter (16) to go to WDW. Mainly to do AK and see it at night since the sun should set shortly before or after closing. This poor girl told me this weekend that she’s never seen her favorite park at night. Had to change that.

Anyways, I don’t want to spend an arm & leg for 2 nights. Had to book All Stars. Any chance a studio at AKL will come up? Or POP will get some rooms? Tried to rent points but all the studios resort wide are booked.

Not worried about transportation as we always rent a car.
The rooms at Pop are basically furnished the same as the All Star rooms. If it were me, especially since you plan to drive to the park, I would keep the All Star reservation since it is close to AK.
 
Thanks. I think we are just spoiled bc last time we did a split stay renting points at AKL and BCV. AKL was only like $50 more per night so that kinda stings.

Trying to decide if we want to add on an extra day bc you know… it’s Disney :)
 
I've changed resorts while at MCO. :-)

Keep checking, use Chrome Incognito, and be prepared to pay rack/make sure your searches don't default to looking for a promotion/discount.

I'm always amazed at how much availability changes even during the busiest of times.
 
I've changed resorts while at MCO. :-)

Keep checking, use Chrome Incognito, and be prepared to pay rack/make sure your searches don't default to looking for a promotion/discount.

I'm always amazed at how much availability changes even during the busiest of times.
But don’t you have to pay a penalty fee for making last minute changes? I had to cancel a trip several years ago but it was a special situation and I was given a full refund.
 
I just booked a last minute trip for me and my youngest daughter (16) to go to WDW. Mainly to do AK and see it at night since the sun should set shortly before or after closing. This poor girl told me this weekend that she’s never seen her favorite park at night. Had to change that.

Anyways, I don’t want to spend an arm & leg for 2 nights. Had to book All Stars. Any chance a studio at AKL will come up? Or POP will get some rooms? Tried to rent points but all the studios resort wide are booked.

Not worried about transportation as we always rent a car.
Have you considered Coronado Springs? It’s a great property and many times it’s priced between places like POP and POR …
 
But don’t you have to pay a penalty fee for making last minute changes? I had to cancel a trip several years ago but it was a special situation and I was given a full refund.
Depends on the change perhaps? I changed from All Star to Pop three days before a trip and all I had to pay was the difference in rate. This was for a room only reservation. I think anytime you move to a more expensive resort, like the OP wants to, there aren’t any fees for the change. I have never changed to a less expensive resort at the last minute, so I don’t have any experience with that.
 
But don’t you have to pay a penalty fee for making last minute changes? I had to cancel a trip several years ago but it was a special situation and I was given a full refund.
Disney has the right to charge a penalty fee but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone report Disney charged it outside of package booking.
 
Quick Update: I’m resolved at this moment to stay at an AllStars. My original goal for this trip was not expensive since it’s just a 2 night stay.
I was actually able to move from movies to music and saved $200. Using the “savings” to add an extra day to go to EPCOT.

Got our restaurant reservations in for our stay so I’ll just keep checking to see if a different resort takes my fancy over saving money.
 
Anyways, I don’t want to spend an arm & leg for 2 nights. Had to book All Stars
These are the 7 resorts that WDW considers part of the AK area:

AK Lodge and Villas (basically 3 hotels)
Coronado
All Star Sports, Movie and Music


For a 2 day trip I would try to get a hotel as close as possible to the theme park with as many amenities as the budget would allow.
HTH and have a good time wherever you choose to stay.
 
Sometimes you get very lucky with last minute reservations but studios are very hard to get especialy at AKL, we are currently on a waitlist through DVC later this year there
 
In general, DVC and timeshares don't really work for last minute trips. Anything is possible, stalk the website because people cancel all the time - but don't bet on it. There are no "chances" here - it's all about cancellations. You can often find cancellations with a month or more to go before check-in, but less than that is unlikely as cancellations inside a month have the points go into holding.

With DVC, last minute means within 7 months of check-in. The closer you get to check-in the less and less likely you'll find something, especially studios over weekends. Those are often snapped up by members with points to burn to offer for rent.
 
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With DVC, last minute means within 7 months of check-in. The closer you get to check-in the less and less likely you'll find something, especially studios over weekends.
I consider "last minute" to be 31 days out. That's the deadline for DVC members to cancel without a penalty. So anyone on the fence about traveling has until that time to cancel and have their points returned without going into holding. I've seen a lot of movement around the 31 day mark. Maybe not a first choice of locations but definitely some "last minute" cancelations.
 
I consider "last minute" to be 31 days out. That's the deadline for DVC members to cancel without a penalty. So anyone on the fence about traveling has until that time to cancel and have their points returned without going into holding. I've seen a lot of movement around the 31 day mark. Maybe not a first choice of locations but definitely some "last minute" cancelations.

I too have booked a lot of rooms with 40-31 days notice give or take. But it’s a lot more random than at the 7 month window.
 
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