Unplanned trips...your story.

[Maddies Mama]

My husband is a teacher for military tech school students and due to the class schedules, which are unpredictable and come out for only the next couple of months at a time, we're never able to schedule a trip months or a year in advance. The most lead time we've had in planning a trip was 7 months, knowing we were going on his R&R when he got back from a deployment. We've planned our other trips with as little time as 3 weeks and as much time as 3 months and that's as good as it's ever gotten. The key is to be flexible. If trying to get a high demand ADR, it'll likely be unavailable so be prepared to check, check and check some more a few times a day for something to open up. It also was never an issue until the new FP system came into play, but while you'll be able to get most FP's even a day in advance, if you're trying to see Anna & Elsa or 7DMT, it may not be so easy. And if staying on-site, be prepared for your top 3 hotels to have no availability - this has happened to us twice now and has either driven us off site or over to Shades of Green - again no big deal since we didn't have a lot of planning time, but just a reality of booking last minute trips. Be prepared to go with the flow.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

We also live about 12 hours away we have done trips planned in less than 5 days twice. First was in Aug 2009, I pulled up they had a room left at All Stars for free dining, I asked DH on a break at work, he said yeah if you can get it together we can go. Tried booking online, room was gone!! I called in a CM took forever to find us a room but did and we booked. That was like a Tuesday we left on Friday night, drove to Orlando (12 hours) and hit the parks for a week. It as free dining and we had no ADR's but we still used all our TS credits and discovered some new favorite dining spots.

Feb 2010 I pulled up Allegiant airlines site for the first time they had just come into our area, and they had $10 each way airfare. no joke. I thought I was dreaming. I was at work and had a co worker come look at my screen to make sure. By the time we added taxes, fees, and bags it still was $120 for the 2 of us. We booked an AP room at a value and flew out a few days later. no ADR's no plans just headed to the parks. It was a great trip.

I pulled off planning a Disney Cruise in 4 days a few weeks ago, that was super stressful too but worth it in the end.

You don't need a lot of time to plan, tens of thousands of people show up everyday with no plan and are just fine.

 

[kittylady1972]

We have done a few of these. The best one was the non-WDW trip I planned to Florida as a surprise to the kids. The Florida part was planned a month or two in advance, and we travelled with my in-law and took the Autotrain down. We booked a nice 2BR condo off-site and I planned time for us to visit Legoland (1st time...loved it), SeaWorld (first time for the kids...they weren't totally thrilled) and Busch Gardens Tamps (1st time for all of us...loved it). During our 1st or 2nd night, we planned a last minute dinner at Sanaa at AK Kidani Village because we wanted to introduce the family to it. DH and I had had dinner there on a previous adults-only trip and wanted to return. While at dinner, my FIL brought up the idea of visiting just ONE Disney park...maybe EPCOT. Then maybe MK as well. We had plans to drive home on a Mon or Tue I think, but DH and I didn't have anything pressing for work. He cancelled his work plans, and I tried to extend our condo but was out of luck. I spent the day at Busch Gardens on the phone trying to book a Disney hotel for 2 more nights. Finally ended up booking the Swan from the condo late one night for those 2 nights! We visited 3 out of 4 parks in those 2 days and had a blast. My MIL still talks about that unplanned trip....just last night as a matter of fact!

I planned a trip for just myself, solo, last May for a few days. I think I booked that just a few weeks in advance because I had an AP to use. I really enjoyed it but after a day or 2 was missing my family.

We also booked a last-minute Disney cruise back in January of this year, with only a few weeks notice! We drove both ways (about 14 hours each way) and stayed two nights in a hotel near Port Canaveral before the cruise just to be safe. We did head over the WDW property one day. I booked a last-minute fishing cruise for 6 of our family members and my oldest son and I rented the Water Mice and went around Bay Lake for a while. It was also one of our favorite trips with a touch of Disney flair. We even ate at TWO Disney restaurants despite it not being a Disney parks trip. We just can't stay away sometimes!

 

[xipotec]

Ok!!
Great responses!!!

From someone who LOVES to plan a year our it sounds a bit crazy to do it, but you have convinced me!

Seems like I need to do a few things...

1. Not worry about ADR, honestly, this will force us to try new places, plus I might be fine this trip with Caseys and Peco Bills.

2. Sleep in a bit stay out late and be satisfied with a more relaxed tour (we usually plan so well we go on every ride multiple times)

3. Get what every accommodations are available. We ALWAYS stay at POLY , but since its under construction, might be a good time to try another place!

4. Just remember any day aw WDW is better that work!