No hotel for a night?

[Ress76]

My mother and niece have done exactly as the OP suggested-park all day, drove to the airport as late as possible (I believe they hit a Denny's or something after park closing to kill some more time). It wasn't something they would reccommend, but it was not unbearable. If you could find something in the $50 range for the night, it would probably be worth it to sleep in a bed instead of a chair.

 

[GaSwan]

but I don't think I'd do it again!

DH and I flew to Salt Lake City from Atlanta to see the Olympic pairs final--yes, "that" pairs event with the French judge.

Our flight arrived early afternoon, and we had a flight out at 6 a.m. the next day. I was in my last year of law school, and we could not afford a room as the only hotel rooms we could find were outragously priced and really far away from Salt Lake.

We went back to airport, and slept sitting up in chairs all night. The people at the airport were so nice and offered us cots, but we were THE ONLY PEOPLE (other than workers) in the airport and we would have felt very conspicous sleeping by ourselves in the middle of the airport. It was the longest night--I would doze off and look at the clock thinking it must be near morning, but only about 10 minutes had gone by.

I did pack toiletries and clean undies in my large purse, so we were able to freshen up somewhat, but it was February, not a warm time of year.

I would have loved a room, if even just for a few hours, to at least stretch out and bathe properly before getting on the plane.

Lee

 

[goofy4tink]

Here's a 'what-if'...
Let's say you are checking out of your WDW resort on Friday. Your resort reservation ends at midnight on Friday. But you have a flight out the next morning, early on Sat. Using DME is going to be iffy. You can not use DME if you don't have a WDW resort reservation for that day. You don't..your reservation ended at midnight. If you are able to get a ride on DME before midnight, then you're good to go. But getting one at 3am isn't going to happen unless you are very lucky.

I would just get a room close to the airport..if there isn't a free shuttle provided, then get a cab back to MCO. Surely there will be a room at the airport which will be cheaper than you were going to pay for an onsite room at WDW. Just take DME back to MCO late on your last day...and checkin to the airport area hotel.

 

[bzzelady]

What if your flight would be delayed because of weather or even a prolonged storm? May I remind you that Florida is the showcase of the Atlantic hurricane season? Having a real place to sleep/hang out until potential bad weather blows over is a much better idea than living at the airport for a protracted amount of time.
You have plenty of time...keep trying to book a hotel for your last night on property even if you stay in a different resort for that night. When you get close to your vacation and still cannot get an extra night, please excercise the Priceline and Hotwire skills mentioned above

 

[lilpooh108]

Ditto on all previous comments regarding Priceline. I've used Priceline many many times for many different cities, and they pretty much don't guarantee anything (no specific location, no specific shuttles). You have to deduce the hotels which *may* show up in your desired Priceline designated *areas* depending on Priceline assigned star levels, and take the risk that you may or may not end up with a certain class of hotels which has an airport shuttle that meets your needs. That said, I don't think it's necessary a bad idea for your situation since you should probably get a hotel room (and Hotwire may be your safest bet to get the MCO Hyatt).

I did an all-nighter once in NYC (think 1999-2000 NYE times square countdown)....oh I thought I was gonna die from lack of sleep having no hotel....would not recommend it to anyone.

 

[uva185]

My DH and I are going to the world at the end of September we wanted to extend our vacation by one day but there is no availablity at our resort. We where thinking of just not having a hotel that night and just head out to the airport at midnight when our flight leaves at 6am. Has anyone done this or had any expirence?

I was in this situation a few years back. I checked out of the Contemporary in the morning, spent the day at Disney, then had a car service pick me up at the Contemporary and take me to the Hyatt inside the Orlando airport. That way in the morning there is no need to deal with taxis, shuttles, etc. Just walk downstairs and check in.

I would not go hotel-less. Much better to grad a room to shower up and sleep in a bed after a day in the parks.

 

[Jaimiebear5]

Thank you to everyone for their ideas. We ended up getting a pretty good deal on airfare we arrive at 8:17am for our first day so now we can have a park day Then for our departure we have a 6:30pm departure flight so we have a half day when we leave! We live in Colorado so sometimes it is hard to find good less expensive flights that do not use a whole day for travel! If this post helps anyone I am a big fan of priceline and we where about to use the hyatt in the airport it looks really nice. Thank you for everyones help. I love these boards they have helped me out a ton!