Hi everyone! Hope I am doing this correctly I would greatly appreciate some feedback about a WDW trip I’m planning for myself and my daughter to celebrate her 16th birthday in early December. So first things first, this is a somewhat last minute trip in the sense that I usually would already have had things more lined up and booked, but I was waiting to figure out a few life-things before booking. I was going to try to rent DVC points at Boardwalk (our trip dates are 12/3-12/6) but of course no availability this close to the trip dates. I did look at the Davids DVC rental but it seemed weird that they would charge $100 then refund it if they can’t find your dates (I did check another seemingly reputable site and no availability for those dates which makes sense). We specifically wanted to stay near Epcot bc we have never been during the holidays and she loves the world showcase.
So now I booked the Dolphin for 12/4-12/6…I know it’s not as magical/Disney bubble but we are planning to spend all our time out and about so it should be fine, and we can easily get to where we want to go (I’ve been reading up on it and I realize we need a solid plan for getting to Magic kingdom). There is literally no availability anywhere else besides Disney springs…
Ok now here is the (weird/interesting) part I can’t quite figure out and I’d appreciate input! I would like to fly in the evening of Thursday 12/3 (would like to be there for rope drop on Friday morning)…The Dolphin and all the hotels on property have no availability at all for Thursday 12/3. I am thinking to just book Disney springs or one of the hotels just off-property. Then we could ?uber to the Dolphin hotel and drop our bags off? Then walk to boardwalk to take the bus to MK or just go to Hollywood studios then hop to MK later in the day? We want to end the day at Epcot on Friday 12/4. For Saturday 12/5, we have Jollywood nights party and definitely will spend some time in Animal Kingdom in the morning and whatever other park she wants to do (will have park hoppers both days).
I’ve also seen that Magic kingdom has ?jumbo lockers? To rent so maybe we should just uber to TTC or something and then put our back packs in the lockers until we are done at MK? I should add that we will have only one backpack each and I’ve checked the locker dimensions and it would be fine but I do understand that there is not guaranteed availability, and it does seem kind of uncertain and then I have no idea what we would do with our bags at that point lol.
Please any ideas, recommendations, feedback is much appreciated! Even feedback on which Disney springs hotel that you like. Thanks in advance!
How fun! I’m afraid I can’t help with the locker question, as I’ve never used these. But…
Have you tried plugging different dates into the WDW availabilty calendar? Sometimes single nights show as unavailable, but you’ll get availability if you book a multi-night stay (try a few days before and a few days afterwards). If you manage to book a multi-night stay, you can then either try to modify online afterwards or - if that doesn’t work - call Disney to request that they modify down to only the one night. I’ve done this several times and always found it easy to modify by phone. There may of course be truly no availability, in which case I’d check out these just-announced Disney Springs hotel deals.
We stayed at the Dolphin for our Christmas 2023 trip and really enjoyed it. It has great Christmas decorations and lots of Disney touches. It some ways the location has even more of a Disney bubble feel than many actual WDW resorts!
I am a Boardwalk owner and I was unable to book a studio (any view) at exactly 11 months. I would look at confirmed reservations but not hope any rental company can find an owner to book it with their points.
I would say that anywhere on the Boardwalk is in the bubble. It will be great! Taking a Lyft/Uber to Dolphin will work. I know all Disney resorts have had limited/no availability around your dates but Len was talking on the Disney Dish about how they can sometimes release one night reservations close to the date.
If you are flying into MCO, you might consider booking a room at the Hyatt in the airport for that first night, pending something else becoming available. You could then uber/lyft to the Dolphin the next morning and store your bags at bell services until your room is ready. And, if something more suitable becomes available you could then cancel the Hyatt. We stayed there once the night before an early departure and it was kinda fun!
I wouldn’t worry too much about getting to MK from Dolphin. We have found their bus service to be good and honestly going through TTC and taking the monorail is no more hassle - possibly less - than walking to the Boardwalk buses (we’ve done both).
That is a wonderful idea! (About searching alternate dates then adjusting the reservation) - I never would have thought of that.
That’s so great to hear that you enjoyed staying at the Dolphin! Honestly it seems like it will be a great fit for us we have stayed at Pop century most recently and I love it, but thought we would try something different since this is our first ever girls trip. I’m super excited!!
How much more would it be just to rent a car? Then you wouldn’t have to worry about dropping luggage off anywhere? You also wouldn’t have to worry about buses.
Figuring in the cost of the Uber to and from any of these properties
Are you sure you don’t have an offer that is filtering out all the hotels on the Disney site?
I see Pop Century available for 12/03 and Coronado available for 12/03-12/06 (among other places).
This weird offer filter happens to me all of the time. You just need to take that off. Once you find one resort for a night of availability click on that resort, click on the square button at the top that says “Room Offer Type: Room”, then click at the very top “View All Resorts” and you will see everything available at the rack rate.
Ohhh wow you are right! I don’t know why it did that because I didn’t select any specific offer but it defaulted to the 20% off holiday promotion - when I changed it to room-only, there are several Disney resorts that still have availability. Thank you so much!
Hi! That is a great thought. I did briefly consider renting a car for the reason you said, but I think even if it’s more money, I’d prefer to use Uber or Lyft…mainly because I spend many hours a week driving to and from work and I am hoping to just be a passenger on this trip lol. I agree with the idea though! Thank you
Another thought on renting a car - I think the Swolphin may charge its guests for parking. If you do consider renting a car that might be a good thing to confirm.
Hi there! Yes you are correct - Dolphin has a parking fee so even if renting the car would be easier or cheaper than all the Uber rides, I think just the parking fees would be significant. Thank you!
I would greatly appreciate some feedback about a WDW trip I’m planning for myself and my daughter to celebrate her 16th birthday in early December. So first things first, this is a somewhat last minute trip in the sense that I usually would already have had things more lined up and booked, but I was waiting to figure out a few life-things before booking. I was going to try to rent DVC points at Boardwalk (our trip dates are 12/3-12/6) but of course no availability this close to the trip dates. I did look at the Davids DVC rental but it seemed weird that they would charge $100 then refund it if they can’t find your dates (I did check another seemingly reputable site and no availability for those dates which makes sense). We specifically wanted to stay near Epcot bc we have never been during the holidays and she loves the world showcase.
we have stayed at Pop century most recently and I love it, but thought we would try something different since this is our first ever girls trip. I’m super excited!!