Am so excited that friends will be making their first trip to WDW from CA in November. They’re meeting us for 3 nights. They bought plane tickets last night. BUT-UGH- MVT has no rooms for their dates.
I want them on-site since they’re only staying 3 nights and they need those extra magic hours/little perks.
Orbitz has nothing. Hotels.com has the Swan for $250/night and Disney has Art of Animation for $300/night for a Cars themed suite. These are folks use to spending probably not much more than $100/night (not cuz they can’t afford it, but because they just have their own way of traveling/budgeting/etc. They’re more the low-key, basic kind of travelers that don’t care that much about the hotel).
Help!
What do I do? What do you recommend? I want their trip to be great since I’ve been raving about WDW! They are a family of 2 adults and two boys aged 10 and 13.
It’s a tough call this late in the game. If the inventory isn’t there I’m not sure what they can do. I believe one of the hotels near DS also gets EMH privileges. The Hilton maybe?
MVT is the only TA I know of that books big groups of rooms that might haven inventory when Disney or Orbitz doesn’t.
You could check with Davids or DVC rental store to see if they have any last minute reservations they are trying to fill from a cancellation but that may be a long shot.
WBC might have some rooms but that’s not considered on site so no EMH. They may just need to forego EMH and use a good TP.
It’s the Hilton Orlando at Lake Buena Vista that also gets them EMH, so you might check to see if they have anything. Do they happen to be active or retired military?
I found it hard to believe that all Disney resorts are sold out in November unless, maybe, the dates are Thanksgiving week. Heck, I’ve found rooms for 4th of July weekend on July 2nd two years in a row. Have you tried the WDW website directly?
$100/night? The only time I’ve ever found a room on-site for that was with a 30% military discount at POP… I think you’re just going to have to tell them that WDW is more expensive than a “typical” low-budget vacation, and at this late stage they’re just going to have to suck it up and take what’s available. That’s what I’ve had to do for last minutes trips…
Yes, I agree! It is what it is. They can afford it, I do know that. It’s just crazy that I got a good package a while back for 5 nights/food/resort/tickets and they’ll pay more than me for 3 nights without food. It is what it is.
So, would you guys chose Swan or Art of Animation (Cars Suite)? Swan is like $250/night plus the $25 resort fee. AoA is $300/night but that isn’t counting taxes. So, I do think Swan is cheaper overall (even factoring in that they’ll have to get transportation from the airport). Given the location of Swan and the boats, I’m leaning toward recommending Swan.
I did a quick search and all of the values are available for those dates. If your friend is cost conscience that is going to be the lowest cost option. Good luck and have a great trip!
I looked at that. Didn’t include taxes/fees/resort fee. But still, he did book it through the 21st and the price really wasn’t bad for timing/place! Still under 300/night all in.