Last minute trip recommendations

So as some of you know our 4 generation family trip has been delayed. But my 50th birthday is in a few weeks and my wife just gave me the ok to book a solo trip.
The only dates that work for me are 12/6-12/10 or 12/13-12/17.
It wont be exactly solo as ive convinced her to let me take dd14 out of school for 2 days. Ive also invited dd30 and dgd3 to join me but not sure they will be able to come.

I have a budget but park tix and flights are paid for as i already had them from when i had to cancel he big trip. So im only paying for accomodations, food, and transportation to and from parks and airport.

Im thinking offsite but close to DS so we can still utilize the buses in the evenings if thats possible. What do you guys think? We can uber or lyft to the parks in the mornings. I wont need EMH so it doesnt necessarily need to be one of the hotels that offers that.

Any recommendations for hotels? It will either be 2 or 4 of us. 2 double or queen beds would do. Would like to keep it under $150 a night if possible. Ive been messing around with priceline express but dont understand it to well.

Im ok with winging ADRs as it will mostly be QS or snacking around with probably one decent meal a day.

I realize fpp will be limited but im ok with that. If its just dd14 and I we will be RD-Close so we will see and do everything we want anyway. If its the 4 of us i will totally change TP to accommodate dgd3.

Any hotel or other recommendations i should be considering? Please help :nerd_face:

I am sorry your big trip was cancelled, but it sounds like you are still going to have a great time! I have been “window shopping” on the DVC sites, trying to see how that would work for our family. One thing I noticed is there are often LOTS of DVC rentals that are offering last minute pricing because dates are close and the points get lost. Might be something to look into for your trip. Who knows? You may find some great bargain!

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Thanks @Shellburd . i totally forgot about that option. I’ll have to check that out.

No luck with last minute DVC cancellations but i can stay on site at an All-star resort for about same price as one of the DS hotels. Ive never stayed in an AS resort, I hear the DS hotels would be a bit nicer but weighing the free transportation vs. Ubering to and from hotel may sway me towards the All Star. What do you guys think? It’s rack rate at ASMo preferred room ($150) TA says all rooms have been refurbed. Is that true? DS room after taxes and resort fees comes to about the same price.

It may be a long shot, but double check with Magical Vacations Travel to see if they have any Pop deals left for your potential trip dates. A MVT Pop reservation is likely less expensive than a rack rate AS reservation.

Also check out the “Magical Holidays Room-Only Discount” and the “Undercover Tourist Room-Only Bookings” described on this page of the mousesavers site.

Being such last minute (30 days out) I wasnt expecting to find anything in the value category. However, I sent requests to MVT and also to PDPH (pixie dust & pirate hooks whom i heard about on a podcast). MVT did not have any availability at all for 1st week of Dec. It was PDPH who sent me the offer for ASMo.
In the meantime, I did a bit of researching for a DS affiliated resort through multiple sites including mousesavers. I figured that was going to be my best bet of staying close to property. Although the rates are advertised as low as $75-$99 per night, by the time i got to checkout and all the taxes and fees were tacked on, I was looking at about $150-$175 per night. So i was Ok with that price range and ready to book when i got a call from PDPH about a “Deal” on a value resort.
Doesnt sound like a “Deal”. Its rack rate. However, when i searched WDW website multiple times myself, i couldnt find any avilability unless it was @ GF or another Deluxe resort for huge $$$. So in sense, getting rack rate at a value is an option seeing i couldnt get it on my own.
The perks for me are DME vs UBER/LYFT and free transportation to and from parks.
Just feel the quote through an exclusive agancy deal should of been better than rack rate.

I know that my MVT agent can book a regular room like a regular travel agent if they don’t have any special deals available for the resort I want at the time I want to go. It might be that PDPH isn’t offering you an exclusive deal but is instead acting like a regular travel agent for this reservation.

I just did a search for your dates for a room only booking for one adult on the WDW site. On 12/6-12/10 I see only moderates or more expensive places ($250+ a night), but on 12/13-12/17 I see All-Star Movies for an average of $174/Night Excl Tax and Pop Century for $176/Night Excl Tax. (When I searched for the discounted package, there was less availability; basically only the crazy expensive stuff was available for the dismounted package. Maybe that was what you had your search set for?) I don’t know if that makes you feel any better, but it does look like you’ll be paying slightly less through PDPH than you would on the 13-17 booking through WDW.

You are correct. I did some research and that was the case. Wasnt an agency package but they had access to view availability that i didnt. I most likely could of called WDW myself and possibly got the same deal even though it wasnt showing up on the website. I guess what threw me was the message i received that stated they had a “Great Deal”. Not so great but im gonna grab it. Just works better for us to be on property.