So I haven’t been posting in a while because our WDW trip (currently scheduled for May 11-16) was up in the air a bit, waiting for my dad to get a clean bill of health, and then yesterday I got an offer to teach a summer class at the school where I got my PhD. Which should be a great opportunity… but the first day of summer classes is May 13th.
Yeah.
I haven’t cancelled or changed anything yet. I’m trying to figure out what my options are. We can obviously push the trip until later in the year, although that has its disadvantages (namely the Star Wars-related crowds). My father is also concerned that they might “find something” and so he’d be less in a state to travel (who knows. He passed all his cardio tests with flying colors).
The other option is to move things up. We can’t go the week of May 8th because both DD9 and I have commitments at school that week. We could, theoretically, go the week before that, April 29th. I’m trying to figure out right now — is that even possible? Would everything be sold out?
Anybody got advice for me? I don’t want to lose the trip!
I would start by looking online to see what you can find for that April time period and take it from there. You might be surprised by what you find. Easter is over so may have availability. Where are you currently booked and are you willing to change resorts?
Currently we’re at WL. The original goal was to be close to MK/Epcot especially but I’ll have a car so we’ll have more flexibility than folks who fly in.
Maybe check for any confirmed reservations through DVC Rental Store? Something might pop up that you can snag for that April 29 week. Plans change all the time, and something might open up!
Can you find a room you’d be happy with during that timeframe? It looks like there are rooms, but I’m not sure what your budget is and what you’re looking for in a hotel. Also, are you okay with not having your original FP and ADR selections? We were originally looking at that week (April 29). In terms of weather and crowds, it was a pretty good looking week, as I recall. If you can find a room, and you’re happy with less-hot FP and ADRs, I’d seriously consider bumping the trip up.
That being said, if it were me I’d probably push the trip forwards. I’m a planner and it would really bum me out if I had to skip my FOP and SDD FP, my CRT and Cali Grill fireworks ADRs, etc. I’d rather push the trip out and have a better chance of reserving the trip I really want to take.
Along the same lines, David’s also has similar reservations available:
My understanding is that these include reservations that had been previously been made but then canceled, so they make them available at a cheaper price to try to offload them.
@Beth33 I hear you! Our advantage is that I’m the only one who wants to ride any roller coasters, so it won’t be too bad if I can’t snag the likes of Space Mountain. But I did have two CMs and one Rose & Crown reservation in hope of seeing Illuminations. I’m on my tablet right now so I’m going to wait until I’m home to start playing with Disney’s site.
We planned a trip in October with about 3 weeks notice and it was great! The only FPP’s we couldn’t get were FOP and SDD but we took our toddler so those weren’t a big deal.
I highly recommend using the dining reservation finder. I picked up whatever reservations were available when I booked and then was able to get everything we wanted with the reservation finder! We ate at Ohana, PPO BOG, Garden Grill, Tusker House, and lots more!
That week is also great crowd/weather-wise. We went 4/30-5/8 a couple years ago and it was wonderful.
Have you considered renting points? If you use this tool, you can get a sense of what you could rent using DVC points. The good news is that where the reservation would be so close, you could use anyone’s points; you wouldn’t need to find a DVC owner whose home resort matched where you wanted to stay. Sometimes you can find relatively inexpensive points when you’re booking just a month out. That would mean a private rental rather than one through a broker; not sure if you’d be comfortable with that.
Here are some potential options for April 27 - May 2 if you went through a broker like Dave’s:
Animal Kingdom Kidani Standard 1 BR for $2,856 (168 points)
Old Key West 2BR for $3,757 (221 points)
Sarasota Springs Standard 1BR for $2,873 (169 points)
Sarasota Springs Treehouse for $4,607 (271 points)(I’d love to try the treehouse sometime!)
Copper Creek Cabin for $11,322 (666 points)
So, the good news is my dad’s problem seems to be acid reflux, and the doctors think it’s treatable. The bad news is that he’s feeling iffy about the new hotel location (Tuscany Village) and worse, his acid reflux at this point seems to be linked to exercise and, while it seems to be treatable, it hasn’t been fully treated yet. Also he still really wants a monorail hotel.
So I think I’m going to have to cancel everything and postpone until late July at the earliest. I don’t know. This is stressful.
Just going to say it. It took a lot of work, but I got an FOP two weeks before our March break trip. It was evening, but I got it. I also got a late afternoon SDMT within 3 weeks. It can be done, but I was checking all the time. I’d wake up to go to the bathroom and would check then, too.
I know what a bummer it is to have to move your plans back a few months. We had to do it with our honeymoon years ago (soooooo many years ago!) but I remember trying to do anything we could to keep the trip but finally hitting that realization that I just couldn’t make it work (we rescheduled for a month later). It was a miserable feeling, but the good news is that you at least have a plan to make it happen! So the planning fun gets prolonged! (Looking for silver linings here…)
It’s hard to postpone something that you’re looking forward to, but I find the in-between time when you’re on the fence to be the most stressful. I’m glad that you’ve made a decision and can focus now on making your new trip awesome. And I’m sure it will be!
Best of luck with you summer class. Congrats on getting the position, btw!
(Personally, I’d probably do October if that’s an option. July in FL is HOT.)
Disappointing I am sure, but the good news is you will have more time to plan, and your dad will be in much better shape to have an enjoyable trip! Plus, once you are there you will be so happy you are on your trip- if you hadn’t changed plans it would already be over
We have learned that my husband’s frequent-flyer miles will go much further towards getting us to Ireland if we apply them in October instead of late July / early August.
That frees up late July / early August.
I’d say going to Florida in late July / early August is insane, but I’ll already be in Georgia, so…
