Anyone done Florida last minute?

[Twiggy1953]

We had a flood about 2 weeks before Xmas. Couldn’t stand the thought of living in the mess all over xmas so a week before Xmas I booked flights on Boxing Day until New Year’s Day. Must admit it cost us quite a bit as we also got the last studio available at the Poly, but we did get some quite good ADRs. Didn’t get to do many rides but it was a nice experience nevertheless.

[ianc]

Charlie_fame: booking 2/3 months in advance is not 'last-minute' - it is actually 'normal'. Most of my own guests are from the US, not the UK, and most of them tend to book 2/3 months or so in advance - quite a few with only 1/2 weeks to go. The US still hasn't got round to the period from June onwards yet - and based on my experience of the last 4 years, I expect to be full over the summer again. US visitors make up the vast majority of visitors to Orlando/Disney, Brits are a small minority. I've only just booked my own June holiday 2 days ago (to Greece).

It amazes me that some Dibbers are already trying to book 2019 and getting themselves into a tizzy about it. Their posts are next to lots of other posts from people who previously booked early and are having to re-book or change their plans, because of construction work at Disney that was announced after they booked, or villas that have been sold, or flights (that aren't even released until 11 months out) being cancelled/re-timed/merged or family circumstances changing, hurricanes, etc. Unless there is a genuine reason for an early booking, e.g. a time-limited promotion such as Disney's Free DDP which you have previously costed as a better option, booking so early makes little sense.

My definition of 'last-minute' would be within a week of travel. Bozza is perhaps as extreme 'last-minute' as you can possibly get - that post is very useful as it proves it really is possible to get up and go If you don't have a job, that requirse notice to be given) - but lots of people book 'late'.

[Tracy34]

My shortest countdown was 4 weeks.
...once the flights were booked everything else fell into place.
I didn't need insurance or ESTA as they were still valid.

If you can do it ...then do it...

[nadya]

We booked a week before in 2010-family of 10-direct flights for £199 each-had a great time

[sky13]

I don't think I've ever booked a WDW holiday at further out than 2 months. For my recent trip I booked my flights and hotels sometime in December 2017 - the only problem that presented was that I couldn't get Pop for all 7 nights and so had to split stay the last night with ASMovies. (I don't get my holidays approved until very close to the time, which means I can't plan anything non-refundable until my holidays are approved...)

Have a look at Kayak for flight ideas, and then look at Expedia/Orbitz and the US Disney sites who usually still run offers for rooms. In fact last year I arrived at WDW, and found out I could rebook my split stay room (booked for a few days later) for a better offer price...

[charlie_fame]

Thanks for your advice guys this made me laugh there’s some amazing last min deals out there it seems ! This may be a silly question but how do you actually get on the US Disney site ? It just keeps taking me back to the uk one 😊

[sky13]

Originally Posted by charlie_fame

Thanks for your advice guys this made me laugh there’s some amazing last min deals out there it seems ! This may be a silly question but how do you actually get on the US Disney site ? It just keeps taking me back to the uk one 😊

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Think you have to click on the top right hand corner and change the site to the US Disney site - hopefully it stays on there without defaulting back to the UK Disney site.

[shazbazandtom]

We weren't supposed to be going last year but after struggling to find a nice all inclusive to Menorca for a week with only 3 weeks to go I started looking at Florida. Found a deal first two weeks of the school summer hols - direct virgin flights MAN-MCO and 14 nights at the Homewood suites for £2300 (2 adults 2 children).
Got Seaworld/Aquatica/Busch tickets and visited a few beaches.
Had a fantastic time too 😀

[Bentley]

In 2013 we booked with Thomson on the Sunday afternoon flew Tuesday morning. Five of us for just just over £1500 that was flights, car & hotel.

We sorted ESTAs that afternoon and had a cracking time. No fastpasses as we only did on day at the Magic Kingdom.

[Cha cha]

Originally Posted by charlie_fame

Ok so this is new territory for us , we have been to Florida 6 times now, we have always booked onsite with free ddp the year before our trip . We were not planning on going back until 2019 but a lot has happened this year already and we have been talking about going on holiday in the next 2-3 months as something to look forward to . Hubby suggested an all inclusive in the canaries but I can’t help thinking we could have a week in Florida for the same price. So my question is where do people get last min deals for Florida , preferably to stay onsite ?

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Hi Charlie-fame.

We did a last minute booking last year.
We booked 2 weeks before departure, accommodation was AoA and package was with Thomson Holidays(TUI)

I think the hol was approx £650pp - this was for dates during the Easter holidays.

We bought a MYW tickets direct with Disney US site & linked it to our MDE, only did a couple of park days, but managed to get the fast passes we wanted - except Seven Dwarves.

There were some really good last minute deals around with Thomson last year.
😊