Last minute Thanksgiving reservation

[jolynne28]

Hi all! I've been totally absent for nearly 3 years, and we're about to make our first trip back to Disney in September. My family is about to lose their collective minds from the excitement. We will be activating annual passes I purchased in July of 2019, so I am trying to make as many reservations as we can to maximize our passes, while trying to avoid as many unexcused school absences as possible.

Oh the best part, b/c of Covid my husband began working remotely and we were able to actually relocate to Florida, so we are now residents. Our two day drives there are now only about 2 hours, so we can make shorter trips. My question is, how likely is it that we can stumble on a reservation for the week of Thanksgiving? And when would be the best time to stalk the website? I've got the dates of Nov. 15-20, but the September trip is a full week and the kids will miss school, so I'm trying to avoid doing that again. I know how busy it will be, but since we're local and can technically drop in for a day trip when we're up to it, these trips are more for us to just get away and go at a relaxed pace while the kids are out of school.

I've already missed booking Thanksgiving 2023, so I need to set a reminder in my calendar for the 500 days out for 2024.

I hope all is well with you all! I know we have a lot to learn about the new park reservation system, and so far I don't have nice things to say about what I've read on Genie+, but we're still die hard fans and Disney is going to get their money's worth out of us for a little while longer.

 

[Narcoossee11]

Welcome to Florida.
Good /news bad news.
Now that you are so close, you oddly will not come as often.
You will probably do maybe 1or 2 night stays.
Come over , go to park, sleep, go to park, drive home.

You will very quickly be greeted by the terrible traffic. Enjoy your new state.

 

[Stratman50th]

Welcome to Florida.
Good /news bad news.
Now that you are so close, you oddly will not come as often.
You will probably do maybe 1or 2 night stays.
Come over , go to park, sleep, go to park, drive home.

You will very quickly be greeted by the terrible traffic. Enjoy your new state.

Ditto!
We don't go at all any longer
Overnight stays are out of the question as they are way too expensive to justify when you live 30 minutes away.
Horrible traffic is correct!

 

[Teamubr]

Hi all! I've been totally absent for nearly 3 years.

Welcome back!

We were able to actually relocate to Florida, so we are now residents.

You are living our dream. Traffic and all. Although we will likely be moving somewhere on the panhandle in a few years.

As for Thanksgiving, stalking the web site leading up to that 30 day mark when people with packages have to pay up or cancel is the best bet. It seems most people are able to piece together what they need eventually. It does take persistence and I'm sure is a little anxiety producing.

j

 

[jolynne28]

Welcome back!


You are living our dream. Traffic and all. Although we will likely be moving somewhere on the panhandle in a few years.

As for Thanksgiving, stalking the web site leading up to that 30 day mark when people with packages have to pay up or cancel is the best bet. It seems most people are able to piece together what they need eventually. It does take persistence and I'm sure is a little anxiety producing.

j

Thanks! We've been here almost a full year, and are loving it. My parents just relocated as well and bought a house down the street. We are close to Sarasota, beaches are amazing, and being close to Tampa, Disney and other theme parks was an added bonus. We moved from Louisiana, so the panhandle wasn't an option for us b/c of hurricanes, though it's gorgeous and we vacationed along 30A many times before we decided to move.

I've had to do stalking before, so I remember it being somewhat stressful. Our last trip was the week before Thanksgiving with my parents, and it took me forever to manage to scrounge up reservations for them, but it all worked out and we ended up being side by side in the 800 loop, which was really nice. My mom is on another forum, and she's told me that people have been complaining about not being able to piece reservations together like in the past. I'm hoping that's not the case, but we have something we can work with if I don't get anything else.

Here's to your dreams coming true!

 

[jolynne28]

Ditto!
We don't go at all any longer
Overnight stays are out of the question as they are way too expensive to justify when you live 30 minutes away.
Horrible traffic is correct!

It's been nearly a year, so we feel pretty settled in! It did take a while to get used to so many more people, but we still love it.

Disney's luster will wear off sooner rather than later for us, but we've got 3 kids 9 and under, so they're still really excited about it, and our youngest was only 1 the last time we went so he has no memories. I can't wait to see his little face when we walk in the first day.