Last Minute Resort Reservations?

[Big Kid]

My family and I have suddenly found ourselves with some unexpected (but very welcome) time off. We would love to relax in the sun at WDW for a week, ideally January 17 - 23. We stayed at Disney resort a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. When I check availability at WDW's own website, I cannot find any resort that can accomodate us, two adults and one child in a single room. There were a few rooms available for shorter periods, but I cannot see a way--via the website at least--to combine shorter stays at two different resorts with 7-day park tickets.

I am wondering if it is realistic to plan such a trip at the last minute. If it is feasible, we would appreciate any advice on how to go about it. We would prefer to stay the entire week at one Disney resort, but are willing to move to a second resort for part of our stay if that is the only way. We appreciated the convenience of staying at a Disney resort and therefore would choose to stay in the real world only as a last resort. (Last resort, hehe, get it? )

I booked our previous trip via Expedia, but we were not impressed with the level of coordination between Expedia and Disney. There was confustion about whether or not we could purchase the dining plan via Expedia; Expedia insisted that we could purchase it directly from Disney, but this turned out to be impossible. And it seems that our park tickets were being held at the front desk, but the first couple of cast members that we spoke to were unaware of this so we got a late start on our first morning after sorting that out. For these reasons, I am somewhat reluctant to deal with a third party again.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[sue1013]

I would call it seems sometimes the website and CRO have different availability. I've gotten rooms for a week two days before leaving.

 

[mma800]

Book it on the phone-not online.
We did this in June (3 weeks OUT) I got our stay for 6 nites between 3 resorts. I kept calling EVERY DAY, and finally got to 2 resorts, then at 1 resort (Polynesian) I was also able to get reservations at EVERY place we wanted. I just had to be flexible about days and times.

Say you want 6 night at Poly-but only get 2...maybe you can get 2 more on the phone, and 2 more on line or when you check-in. There are cancellations all the time. But be warned that this is a bad week for you to try to schedule it. Not many people are scheduling for 2 weeks from now, and the cancellation window hasn't closed yet, Give it a few days and there will be cancellations coming in. Any chance you'd try off-site? May be a good time to try something a bit different (Like Vistana,Ritz, Nickelodeon, whatever)

Good Luck!

 

[G8r4evr]

I would check Expedia and Travelocity. Many times, they have much more availability and better rates than Disney. If that fails, call CRO. Never trust the Disney website, it is essenitally useless.

 

[KarenP99]

I just made a last minute reservation too!

We decided to try to go the same week you listed, but there was very limited availaiblity (apparently due to the MLK holiday). We pushed it off one week and were even able to get a discount rate at the Poly.

Last minute is so exciting! Good luck