What is the shortest amount of time you have had to plan a WDW trip...

[hineshm]

About 10 hours....lol We used to leave for Disney every Christmas Day and one year we decided not to. We were driving home from my Grandmother's house on Christmas day and started talking about what we would be doing in Disney this time of the day. All of the sudden we decided to go. Went home, booked a room, packed our bags and headed out the next morning. Everything was great. Of course we go so often, that we pretty much know "the drill". I am NOT a spur of the moment person, typically I plan for 1 year in advance, but we had a great time none the less.

 

[Vickilynn42]

I'm shocked and inspired by some of your answers! Those are some short notice trips for sure and sound so exciting!! Due to finances we have to postpone our trip till March of 2014 which is a real bummer, but that gives me time to plan. We are hoping that we can talk my parents into coming this time- they have never been there- and my brother wants to come. So it could be a lot of fun.

I hope to be in a position to take a spontaneous trip like that someday. Right now I have three dogs, four cats, and six chickens that I have to find care for! So that kind of holds us back a bit!

 

[Jana49]

3 1/2 days!! It was great! We had saved for the tickets and resort, and were still saving for plane fare. Back in '93, on a Tuesday evening we decided to drive, instead, and left early on Saturday morning. I'll NEVER forget the excitement in our house while we packed, made arrangements, etc. Rooms ressies were changed from Dixieland to Port Orleans to accommodate us. It was our most fun trip ever!

 

[alexsmom12]

Decided today to go in May!

 

[karenrevis]

And how well did it work out?

Once I booked a trip on Tuesday and we left on Saturday! We had AP's and I drove... Left at 1:30 am and arrived in Orlando at 11:30pm.... Did not tell the kids... Went to bed on Friday night at 6ish pm ... Told the kids I had a headache... Car had been packed during the day.... Woke up the oldest son at 1am and said- do you want to go to Disney? He said yes.... I said go wake up your sister and brothers we are leaving now.... My son woke up my daughter.... My daughters exact words were " go back to sleep Matthew, you are dreaming" lol I was in the doorway- I said no we are really going- get up! It was one of our best trips EVER!!!!! Planning a surprise trip again.... We leave in 28 days.... Only my daughter knows.... She is 18.... The others 15,14,13 and 10 have no clue!!!!!! All my Disney trips are great!!!!!!!

 

[redfisher333]

In 2011 my son was getting married at the Grand Floridian on April 3rd.. It was a special deal for $1995. They could only have 4 guest. They decided to invite no one since they could not invite everyone. I got fired from my job on March 31st with no warning. I called my wife on the way home and told her to pack up. We left the next day, drove to WDW, crashed their wedding and we all had one of the best weeks of our lives. They were thrilled someone showed up. I was actually making reservations on the mobile on the drive down. How is that for last minute?

 

[Random Ninja]

The night before for me. I live about 3 hours away and one Friday night around 8 or so, I decided to go down Saturday morning. I packed a bag, woke up early, and drove down. Didn't even book a hotel room until that afternoon when the Hotel Tonight app updated. I had to leave Epcot to go check in.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

One day. I booked the night before, drove down the next day.

But I was only staying for 2 nights, it was just me and I only booked 1 ADR the same night I booked Pop. So it was much easier than if I had the teens with me.

I had a great time and would do it again except for having to drive my husbands car. I hate his car. The seats are very uncomfortable compared to my comfy Highlander.

 

[kensethfan]

I think it was 6 days. Summer 2008, we had planned to take our then 6 and 8yo sons to COSI (great science museum in Columbus, OH) and then spend a couple of days at nearby Kings Island. DW reminded me that we had 3 days left on no expiration tickets to WDW, and asked if we might find a deal on a hotel near the world. Found that the Radisson LBV had just finished a renovation and was offering rooms for under $100/night. Since the tickets were already covered, we realized the difference in gas for a 200 vs. 2000 mile round trip was about the only difference.

Best part--we didn't tell the boys we were going to Florida instead. We got up at our usual 2:00a (usual for a drive to Orlando, not to Columbus) and piled the very sleepy kids in the van. About 30 miles from home, older son said, "Why are we driving south?" and then hit us with the most surprising words I think he's ever said:

"Are we going to Disney?" (Long pause.) "Oh, man...I really wanted to go to COSI!"

This boy loves WDW, but he really likes science, too. I had to spend a few minutes reminding him that EPCOT has a lot of science exhibits, and that they are just as hands-on as any science museum's. As you'd imagine, we all had a great time, but it was a litte dicey for a few early morning moments!

Last minute trips are awesome.

 

[JoshP]

One week? Whoa! I'm with phillymummer and thought I was cutting it WAY too close with 3 months! I guess I've based planning off of my families previous trips which were planned 365+ days in advance and restaurant reservations were done exactly 180 days out. Only problems I had were reservations for restaurants (And we're going during a slow time!). Other than that, not too bad. Flights get high last minute, but 3 months out was fine.

 

[kensethfan]

JoshP, you'd be surprised sometimes. Our current trip is 71 days out, and I have made all our ADRs in the last week and a half. That included both lunch and dinner at HS on the 2nd Saturday of SWW, so anything's possible. Well, not anything--we couldn't get BOG for dinner anytime during the trip. We didn't even have this one planned until well inside the 180 day window, so that was not likely to happen. Based on their tastes, though, our sons will actually prefer the lunch menu more than dinner there anyway.

So don't fret. Whether you have a year and a half or a week and a half, you can find a way to make it work!

 

[ford91exploder]

12 hours!

Due to weather a critical flight was cancelled (Business Trip), I looked and found that I could fly down to orlando and fly to west coast from there with a 12 hour layover.

So I booked DW with points and WE went down and enjoyed a day at the World and sent DW home separately and most important was there on Monday AM for my meeting.

AP's sure help for these spur of the moment trips!

 

[aimeeinohio]

Our shortest- we booked the end of June and Went the 2nd week of August.

 

[zoie101]

6days

 

[msd1776]

I booked a Disney cruise on 11/21/12 that sailed on 12/1/12. We arrived in Orlando 11/29/12 from Nebraska and want to Disney on 11/30/12 and for two days after our 7 day cruise. It was one of my best trips ever.....especially the cruise. I am a planner and this was my first cruise and was totally spur of the moment so I had a lot of research to do plus we had to figure out what to wear for pirate night! I had a blast with the burst of planning and excitement of the Pending trip. Disney itself didn't require much planning since I had been there recently. We went budget on lodging, due to the cruise, and stayed at POP. Also since we had the cruise, ADR weren't critical to me. My DD loves Sci Fi, which I was able to get so life was good.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

DH planned a surprise trip on his lunch break on Friday, called me and said start laundry.

We are leaving today.

 

[zoie101]

We planned and booked a rental house 2 days before the 17 hour drive to wdw!

 

[xxnaomi89xx]

My upcoming trip which is in 4 weeks time! Booked it two days ago. The planning is already in full swing .