Walk-ins

[SusanDK]

My husband and I always vacation without advance hotel reservations. He likes to be spontaneous, and most of our trips include a lot of driving and deciding from day-to-day, and hour-to-hour, where we will go, when we will stop, etc.

For example, if we arrive in Orlando and it's going to be cool and rainy for a couple of days, we might just head to Key West. If it's great weather in Orlando, we'll find a hotel there and do the parks, waterparks, etc.

We usually get rooms in chain hotels like Hampton Inns, Holiday Inn Express, Residence Inns, Fairfields, etc. Sometimes nicer Marriott resorts and Hiltons. As walk-ins, usually in the later evening, we generally get good rates if a room is available.

Has anyone tried to do walk-ins at any of the Disney resorts? I know from reading these boards that most people book long, long in advance and that the resorts are often sold out.

But I just wondered if it was worth bothering to drive up to one that appeals to us and see if they have last-minute availability (eg. cancellations, no-shows). Also, would rates be rack rates or the "best available" rate. I'm sure Disney is a whole different ballgame than 'normal' hotels, where they are willing to discount rooms at the last minute as opposed to letting them go empty. Something like Boardwalk or Yacht & Beach would appeal to us if we could get a rate equivalent to an AP rate or discounted rate.

I'm also particularly interested in Swan or Dolphin. We are Starwood Platinum members, but again, we don't want to book ahead, only see if something is available when we get the urge to stay. Right now, they both look pretty full up for while we are there (December 2-16th), but if we walk in same-day and they have a room available, are we likely to get it for a discount rate (we would qualify for gov't rate).

Susan

 

[cocinelle]

Bump!

Great question-something i've always wondered


cocinelle
xx

 

[dizneygirl55]

I'll have to watch this one as I am interested as well.

 

[jodifla]

We asked about this once when we saw a Disney sign saying "accommodations available tonight" I forget where that sign used to be, but I think it was when you were driving away from the parks. (That was before we were DVC members and used to stay at places off site.)

However, they were decidedly not discounted rates.

 

[gatour]

Haven't exactly walked in, but here is my story. For a point of reference I live in Jacksonville FL

About a year ago, had a rough couple of weeks at work. You know the story, long hours, several percieved crises and every thing had to be fixed NOW. Finally got them all resolved, with the last one done on a Friday. Started driving home on I-95, when I got to the I-295 interchange south of the city, instead of turning right onto I-295, I continued south on I-95. Got on the cell phone to Disney reservations (this was about 5pm). Got a nice reservationist, inquired about the Poly and quoted a rate that seemed to be rack rate of around $300. Then inquired about the Contemporary. She could put me in a wing room overlooking the parking lot for $150, I booked that. When she asked where I was at (expecting to say a town) and when I was arriving, I replied that I was currently on I-95 passing through Palm Coast and will be arriving in about an hour and half. She got a good laugh

I then called my wife to tell her she was on her own for the weekend. She had recently taken a trip without me so turnabout was fair play. When I got to the hotel, they assigned me to a Bay Lake view room. Now keep in mind that this was a very impromtu trip, so all I had with me was the clothes that I wore to work that morning and my credit cards. No worries there, went to the sundry shop and was able to buy some toothpaste and a toothbrush. Walked over to one of the other shops on the Concourse and bought a couple pair of shorts and shirts. The next morning, went to the SuperTarget near the Mall of Millinia and bought the rest of my needs.

I then spent the weekend doing exactly want I wanted when I wanted. For example, I haven't been on the little speed boats since high school, so I rented one of them out and had a blast. I have an annual pass (obviously not with me), so got a new one from guest services and went to the parks.

All in all a great trip.

So it is possible to "walkin" but I would not recommend trying to do it during a busy period and you would need to be flexible.

 

[WDWRC]

If CRO is still open, they will call and see if there is any offers available to book for you (ie Annual Pass, FL Resident). If they are closed, the only thing the resort can offer you is rack rate.

Tracy

 

[SusanDK]

Loved your story, gatour. Sounds exactly like the kind of impromptu things my husband likes to do.

I guess we'll "play it by ear" which is how we always travel. He doesn't even like that I insist on booking our first night's hotel after a 16 hour flight, just to be sure we have someplace to crash upon arrival.

From reading these boards, I really think the Swan would be our kind of place, but only if we can get one of the discount rates. Or Celebration hotel which I see still has some good mousesavers rates for the dates we are there. I told him about Celebration Hotel and the good rates I found and his only comment was "we don't have to book it in advance, do we?"

Interesting you are in Jacksonville -- my sister just moved there so we'll be visiting her this trip as well.

Susan

 

[robinb]

You can call Central Reservations on the day of your arrival. In August we changed our plane reservations at the last minute to fly in the day before Hurricane Charley (it was supposed to hit Tampa and not Orlando) and we needed a place to stay. I booked my resort on my cell phone in the airport .

You can also stop at the AAA Walt Disney World Welcome Center in Ocala if you're coming from the North. I read they often have last minute specials.

Edited to add:
Here's some more infor about the AAA Welcome Center:
http://www.mouseplanet.com/dtp/wdwguide/3_Tripplan/traveling_issues/ocala_photo_tour.htm

I also wanted to caution you against doing Walt Disney World "by ear". People who do not plan at all tend to be unhapy with what WDW has to offer because the end up spending too much time in line and they miss out on attractions they wanted to see and places they want to eat. You're here, so that's a great start . I would recommend that you pick up a good guide book. The Passporter guide book (http://www.passporter.com/wdw/) is good as is the Unofficial Guide (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...71/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/104-7922429-1023942) although it might be too restrictive for you.

 

[SusanDK]

I also wanted to caution you against doing Walt Disney World "by ear". People who do not plan at all tend to be unhapy with what WDW has to offer because the end up spending too much time in line and they miss out on attractions they wanted to see and places they want to eat.

Hi Robin,

Thanks for the extra info. I do understand about planning WDW a bit, but thanks for mentioning it. We've been there several times, so do know what to expect, and we know which attractions we really want to see.

I've also purchased the 30-day Fun in the Sun tickets this trip, that I learned about on these boards, and I think these will suit us wonderfully. We are the type that might come to a park and, after just a few hours, decide we want to do something else (like go shopping at the outlet malls). Then we might want to pop into Typhoon Lagoon, but just for a couple of hours. Or we want to spend the evening in one of the parks, primarily for the fireworks display.

So these tickets will be great for us because we won't feel we've wasted money if we take a clip off a Park Hopper and then decide we aren't "in the mood" after a short time.

It's just the two of us, no kids, so we've always kind of flown by the seat of our pants. We also like areas outside of Orlando, so if the mood hits, we'll drive elsewhere for some days, and come back to Orlando when we feel like it. That's why we don't like to book hotels for certain days in certain cities; we never know what day we'll feel like ending up where.

Sure, we've had a few hiccups along the way (one night in Key West we could not find a room and ended up driving all the way back and getting a hotel at 4 AM in Ft. Lauderdale), but we've also had wonderful trips, found great places just by driving past, and great bargains. And it never fails, often when we do book a hotel in advance, something seems to go wrong. I have many more horror stories about pre-booked accommodation than bad stories about turning up without a reservation.

We're really looking forward to this trip as we haven't been to Florida since December 2000 and we need a warm weather break right now. We fly Thursday.

Susan

 

[WEDWDW]

This is a great topic.Can you actually walk up to a check-in desk at a WDW resort and book a room for that night or do you have to handle the booking via telephone?Thanks.

 

[robinb]

Hi Robin,

Thanks for the extra info. I do understand about planning WDW a bit, but thanks for mentioning it. We've been there several times, so do know what to expect, and we know which attractions we really want to see.

I've also purchased the 30-day Fun in the Sun tickets this trip, that I learned about on these boards, and I think these will suit us wonderfully. We are the type that might come to a park and, after just a few hours, decide we want to do something else (like go shopping at the outlet malls). Then we might want to pop into Typhoon Lagoon, but just for a couple of hours. Or we want to spend the evening in one of the parks, primarily for the fireworks display.

So these tickets will be great for us because we won't feel we've wasted money if we take a clip off a Park Hopper and then decide we aren't "in the mood" after a short time.

Susan:

I'm glad you won't need a guide book . I have heard from too many people who don't plan, get into the park around 11:00 am and then complain about how crowded it is and that WDW is a big rip-off. One day we'll commando and the next it seems like we make it to only 2-3 attractions. We are annual passholders for the same reasons you bought the 30 day passes. It's just easier not having to worry about "wasting" a park hopper day, but with a 5 year old we have the regular APs and not PAPs.

I hope it works out for you. You have better fortitude than I do .