Tips for last minute trip

[dosekies]

My brother and sister in law plan on taking my 5 year old niece on her first trip to WDW sometime in 2018. The only problem is, it will have to be a very last minute planning sort of trip due to my brother's job.

I have planned plenty of trips well in advance, but have never planned one last minute. Since I will be in charge of planning for them when the time comes, I want to know if you have any tips or tricks when it comes to planning a last minute trip!

 

[LSUfan4444]

Remain flexible. Park Hoppers would be a huge help with this. I'd identify the must do night time entertainment shows, the must do early morning attractions (in case they can't get FP+) and go from there. Once they figure out where they want to go, I would decide on what resort. Not sure their budget but deluxe resorts are great for families with little kids because of the ease going to/from certain parks and avoiding long travel times on buses, etc.

 

[otten]

A few years ago my family did a Disney cruise and then spent some time in Florida with family. Towards the end of the trip I convinced my husband to go to Disney for a day. It was actually the best day ever. We had such a good time. We made fastpass reservations in the car on the drive down and then made good use of same day fastpasses. You absolutely can have a great trip without months of planning.

So my advice is try to go Lower season if they can and go in with a good attitude. Some things will be harder to do on short notice like Bibbidi boutique and Be Our Guest but there’s plenty to make a magical trip without them.

 

[NJlauren]

When you say last minute do you mean 2 days or 2 weeks?

I planned a trip well into the 60 day FP window and with a bit of stalking the website got everything I wanted FP and ADR wise.

Is totally do able but how last minute may make a difference, how much you can stalk the site. I think ADR will be fine depending on the time of year people cancel and move around all the time, can even grab stuff the same day.

FP may be a bit harder for extremely popular rides.

 

[dosekies]

When you say last minute do you mean 2 days or 2 weeks?

I planned a trip well into the 60 day FP window and with a bit of stalking the website got everything I wanted FP and ADR wise.

Is totally do able but how last minute may make a difference, how much you can stalk the site. I think ADR will be fine depending on the time of year people cancel and move around all the time, can even grab stuff the same day.

FP may be a bit harder for extremely popular rides.

That is the problem - I won't know how last minute until the time comes! I am hoping I will at least have a couple of weeks but it is very possible that I won't know until the week of/week before so I want to be prepared!

 

[NJlauren]

That is the problem - I won't know how last minute until the time comes! I am hoping I will at least have a couple of weeks but it is very possible that I won't know until the week of/week before so I want to be prepared!

Hopefully it’s at a slightly less busy time and with some stalking of the website you'll get everything they want!

 

[cgattis]

I guess I'd say start by deciding how many/which parks you'll try to tackle. I'd definitely want 2 MK days for a 5YO. Then as PP said, I'd identify if there are any you must do at night. Those two things alone can help you decide your rough plan now. Also, I'd note any major fans or fears (does she adore Minnie but is scared of the dark? Etc.) to help decide which things are must-do or may-skip. One PP noted it would be good to get an idea of resort price range you're targeting. I'd say to do something similar WRT meals, whether based on food preferences (go to allears and look at menus with them), cost, or time you're willing to spend. If you gather all that info ahead, hopefully you'll be ready to start making concrete plans as soon as you get the go for a trip!! Sounds challenging but awesome to plan for a first timer!!!

 

[loves to dive]

We just got back last week from a trip we didn't even think about until 2 weeks before we went. When we decided we wanted to go I found a resort (which was the biggest challenge). I booked no FPs until the day of every single day and booked one ADR in the car on the way down for the next night, booked one ADR for the night we arrived while walking around the parks and booked another for 2 nights later that night as well. I booked one ADR at our resort while on the bus back to the resort. The key is to know that there might be some "must do" things they might not be able to do but if they are flexible and just going with the attitude of being happy to be there, everything will be fine.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

Not only do I think you can absolutely do last minute stuff, I intend to do it from now on. We had everything planned months in advance only to move everything around at the last minute due to illnesses during the trip. ADRs, fastpasses, it absolutely can all be done on the fly. I was grumbling to myself about how much I had reserved that got flushed straight down the can due to circumstances beyond our control but we did most everything we had wanted to do anyway.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

I live 9 hours away from WDW. and once took a trip with 30 minutes notice. That was a solo trip and I stayed off site, so some variations from the plans you may have to make. One thing is to have realistic expectations about FP+. Chances are there will be FPs for 80-90% of the rides they really want to do. Encourage rope drops for handling the rest.