Have you done a spur of the moment WDW trip?

[disneysteve]

On the 1/27/15 podcast segment, I believe it was John who said that a trip to Disney World involves a lot of advance planning and that it isn't somewhere you can go spur of the moment.

I disagree. Although we haven't done it recently, we have absolutely done last minute trips to Disney World. I think it is a very easy place to visit on short notice. Maybe not for a first-timer but definitely for someone who knows their way around the place.

A number of years ago, I was between jobs. I asked my wife one Tuesday morning if she'd like to go to Disney World. She said, "Sure. When?" and I said, "How about Saturday?" She agreed, I went online and made a hotel reservation, and a few days later we loaded up the van and drove to Florida and had a wonderful 10-day vacation. Yes we stayed offsite, but we always do that anyway. We already had APs so park admission was taken care of. The entire trip cost us about $1,500.

Not quite last minute but even our most recent trip in August 2014 involved very little planning. We booked our Windsor Palms condo about 6 weeks before our arrival. I ordered tickets from Undercover Tourist. I did manage to snag a dinner reservation for BoG and just to play with the new system (which I hate), I made a few FP reservations including Mine Train. That was pretty much it. If not for BoG and FPs, the whole trip could have been planned in an hour.

So has anyone else (not counting locals) done a last minute Disney World vacation? Are we the only ones who don't think traveling to WDW involves endless planning months in advance?

 

[AimKo]

Only "virtually".... This is a frequent daydream of mine. I've gotten on Southwest pulled up round trip tix then surfed over to the dvc site to see what's available last minute with the points I have on hand. We like to have APs with the idea that we do a trip and then a second just under the one year mark.

While I haven't pulled the trigger on a spur of the moment trip, given my web surfing I'm sure I could pull it off. We are too far to drive, so airfare would put us out a couple weeks... But certainly could do it with little planning.

Frankly been thinking of doing it for real this week.... In a deep freeze in NY with a sudden drop of a ton of snow, 3 out of 4 in the family down with the flu... And the furnace/boiler system just died! Could use some Disney magic right about now

 

[jeanigor]

A few years ago, on the Tuesday afternoon before Memorial Day, I was chatting with a friend in Chicago (I'm in Detroit) on FB about plans for the long weekend. Possibly going there a visit, or meeting somewhere between. Jokingly, I said: "Let's go to Disney World". There was a pregnant pause in our conversation. Even a couple hundred miles away, I could see the gears turning in her head. Her answer was, "I'm in if you're in. Who else can we get to share the drive??" It took almost all day at work on Wednesday to convince another friend from Chicagoland to join us for our trip. By breakfast on Thursday we had contacted our travel agent, had a plan on where we would meet, what the driving schedule would look like and had an ADR for dinner on Saturday at Via Napoli. They met me in Toledo after work on Friday and we were at the Buena Vista Suites on Sunday around 1pm. We were a tad tired, but after a quick freshening up in the restroom and the adrenaline from the drive and spontaneity of the trip, we hit the Magic Kingdom like giddy school girls. On Sunday, we stayed for Illuminations at Epcot, because we are a bit sentimental and then piled back into the car for the trek north. We all were back at our respective houses by 9pm Monday night and back to work on Tuesday. It was a crazy and fun adventure.
We recreated this trip with about two week's planning for Thanksgiving the following year. That was fun, but it wasn't quite as special as the first trip.

 

[piratehookspixiedust]

We did a MVMCP spur of the moment. We live about 8 hours away so it was kind of a big deal with three kids. But it wasn't a huge trip either. I did manage to get us in for the 1900 PF breakfast the morning of the party!

 

[disneyphreak82]

Depending on your definition of "spur of the moment" we just decided to go this April, only leaving us about 70 days! I live in Idaho and haven't made a trek back to WDW since my College Program experience in 2002. It's quite a thing to have been daydreaming and creating virtual vacations for the last 13 years and then deciding to go with only a 70 day window! (An awesome young lady I worked with just came down on the College Program and we figured no cheaper time to go than now! Tickets from Spokane to Orlando are about $365 round trip and with our Southwest miles, we already have 1 free ticket. The hard part about having a cast member get you in with their free passes is I can't reserve any fastpasses (Right? correct me if I'm wrong.) Do we get EMH on those tickets? So many things to figure out, so little time.
We plan on staying at AOA for 6 nights and maybe splurging for 1 night at a deluxe? (Oh yeah, did I mention we're leaving the kids at home?!!!) Pinterest and Disney's own planning site have been my best friends lately. And of course, the Dis.

 

[genpelletier]

The spur of the moment ones are my favorite. There is no big expectations. Just excitement, and fun.

 

[Funfire240]

The summer of 2013 we planned a week long trip in about 2 weeks. DH was offered a new job and out of the blue said let's go to Disney World, but we had to wait to see when he would start. I made tentative plans with ADR's (and even got BOG!!) 2 weeks in advance - as I had to have some notice at my job as I work for a face paced law firm but luckily they worked with me - Then on a Wednesday when it was confirmed that he would not be starting the following week we booked out resorts and Friday afternoon we were in the car after I got home from work. It was fun throwing at the kids when we had been telling them we didn't know when we could get back there and we picked them up from the sitter and off we went!

 

[AndyPok1]

The hard part about having a cast member get you in with their free passes is I can't reserve any fastpasses (Right? correct me if I'm wrong.) Do we get EMH on those tickets? So many things to figure out, so little time.
We plan on staying at AOA for 6 nights and maybe splurging for 1 night at a deluxe?

You get EMH as long as you are staying on property regardless of the type of ticket you are using including maingates. Maingates can also get FP+ 7 days in advance, but the cast member has to book them.

HOWEVER, CPs usually only get 6 days of maingates per session, and presumably your friend that is a CP will have other people visiting her, so she probably won't be able to get you in every day. Also, maingates are blocked out at MK for half of April, and until around the ~10th at DHS and DAK.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I used to be an uber planner years ago, but that is no longer the case. Thanks to DVC and having an AP, my planning is at a minimum. I usually make a few ADRs for my favorites and swing the rest depending on what I am in the mood for. With MDE & FP+, I do that and make FPs for my favorites. However, I don't always use them. I often switch things around that day. I have rarely had any issues.

 

[Alztybrn]

Spur of the moment trips are fun in there own way...yes, most of the time we plan way in advance, but have really enjoyed the few last minute trips we have done as well.

 

[amyren]

Yes!! Last Feb snow was predicted for Atlanta which meant the entire city was about to shut down. We got the call that school was canceled at noon, by 4 I had a reservation at Poly and by 7pm we were on the road! School was canceled 2 days and DD had a holiday (President's Day) so we ended up spending 5 nights. It was one of my favorite trips!!!!

 

[Pooh2]

Twice we did trips with less than 10 days notice. The first was at Fort Wilderness, left NH in a snowstorm pulling a pop-up camper on Feb school vacation.

The second time was 2014 Thanksgiving week. Less than a week out, we were able to book CBR and get dinner reservations and Christmas Processional pkg. It was a fantastic trip!

For our trip trip this month, my husband surprised me for Christmas so I only had about 3 weeks notice. He booked POR and airline tickets but did not make any further reservations. Everything worked out very well with this trip as well.

 

[disneysteve]

Yes!! Last Feb snow was predicted for Atlanta which meant the entire city was about to shut down. We got the call that school was canceled at noon, by 4 I had a reservation at Poly and by 7pm we were on the road!

I love this story!

 

[SaraMc]

Two years ago I got put on a special project at work, I found out that I wouldn't be able to take any vacation time for about 8 months and that I should take it before I started the project. I had 3 weeks to use up and DH had just ended a contract at work. We decided to go to WDW we didn't tell the kids, booked it all within a few weeks and were off. We had AP's got a room and went down with nothing planned. It was a great two weeks, we were relaxed kids had a great time. However this was no where near our first trip. If we were new we would never think about it, if we had the thought this was a 1 time deal we would never go unplanned. But with 20 plus trips under our belts it was awesome.

 

[Swank]

Just last month, I was scheduled to leave for San Diego on Saturday for a Conference on Monday and Tuesday, I was planning on just seeing the sites in San Diego on Sunday and then going to the conference. Last minute I had to change my flight to Friday due to upcoming weather. So within three hours I booked the Super 8 near Disneyland, bought Tickets and on Saturday Morning (less then 24 hours later I was entering California Adventure, and then spent Sunday in Disneyland.

This was my first Trip every to Disneyland and I loved it.

 

[Lady Marie]

I can see if you only go once a year why you would want to plan it out. DH and I have APs and go frequently. So for us, since we know we will be back soon, we don't feel that sort of pressure to do "everything." So, yes, I do think it's possible with the right mindset. We have decided mid week to go up on the weekend (granted we live within driving distance), but it's always a lot if fun!

 

[disneysteve]

I can see if you only go once a year why you would want to plan it out.

We only go once a year and feel no need to plan it out. We've been there enough times that if we miss something on one trip, we know we'll see it the next time. We usually have a very short list of things we want to make sure we get to each time, usually something that is new or different since our last trip.

 

[GAN]

Just got back yesterday from a spur-of-the-moment trip. My parents, who stay in New Smyrna for three months, have been on us for years to spend some time away from the snow(here in New England) for a few days. So we finally booked flights on Jan. 1st for a trip from Feb. 5-9th. The flights were cheaper into Orlando so we went that route and rented a car. We are DVC members and had enough points for a studio at BLT - we figured we'd fly out at 6AM, land at 9:30, be in MK by noon ...then the next day get up and head to the beach. We bought One-Day MK tickets using some Disney Reward Dollars we have been squirreling away and waited for the magic bands to show up. In the meantime, I had gone to book the studio and they weren't available ...the only option was a 1-BR theme park view. We borrowed a few extra points and "made" that work(12th floor, beautiful BTW).






We actually had no problems booking FP+ only a few weeks out(granted it was February), but we got 7DMT for around noon, SM around 2, and BTMRR for around 5. Booked a late dinner at Citrico's for 9PM. I have to say everything worked out perfectly. Got into the MK around 11:30 and had a great time. Went back to BLT to freshen up, then went to Top of the World Lounge for a couple needed cocktails and watched Wishes. The ONLY issue was that in my rush to make our FP at 7DMT, I forgot that there was no valet for the car! As we're walking up Main Street I get a call that my car is still in front of BLT ...fortunately the keys were still in it, and being a Mustang GT there wasn't a shortage of valets willing to take it for a spin($20 later)! Thank you, Joe from Scottsdale(if you're reading)! It was a whirlwind kind of day, having started by getting up at 3AM to catch the plane ...but well worth it.

Now, given all that -John(the genius)'s idea of spur of the moment is probably rolling out of bed and deciding to go to MK for a ride on 7DMT.... In his defense, yeah that isn't so easy anymore. The locals definitely get squeezed by FP+.

 

[tlmadden73]

No .. but now that I live in NC and day's drive away .. I think about it all the time. Almost pulled the trigger going in a few weeks, but opted to do it later in the year to plan more and to be able to be there on my son's birthday.

 

[monkistan]

i've booked with about a month's notice. nothing shorter than that. though i have to ask in advance for days off. if not, i'd book whenever. Disney takes a lot of planning. or not, depending on when you go and what you want to do, and what you expect out of your trip.