Last minute/Walk-in Hotel Reservation

[Amska]

Hi everyone! First time poster, but Disney World nut for the last 30 years.

I have been searching all over for an answer to this question: does Disney take walk-in room-only bookings?

I am very lucky to have a flexible flight schedule. So I plan to fly down to Typhoon Lagoon and return same day. However, if the weather looks good or if I’m too tired, I would like to stay for the night.

I know I can call the booking phone number to ask about same day rooms, but it will be probably late at night and they might be closed. Has anyone had success just walking up to a hotel? Or is there a booking kiosk in Disney Springs? Obviously this is all subject to room availability, but I imagine at a place with 30000 rooms, there are ALWAYS last minute cancellations.

Thanks everyone!

 

[BK2014]

I believe that the reservation phone line is open until 11:00pm eastern seven days a week. So that would probably be your best bet. Otherwise, I think you may have to simply walk into a resort and see if they have availability. I do not know if one resort has the means to see another resort's availability, though I would think they could call and ask. I suspect you would end up paying rack rate for such a last minute reservation. Your likelihood of success will of course depend on the time of year, day of the week etc.

 

[Mome Rath]

From what I can find, the hotels aren't really set up like other hotels and you may just have to call booking even if you show up somewhere in person... but I would try online first. So, checking for tonight you can see what rooms are available and for what price.

 

[Lynne M]

They'll allow you to book a room if they have one available, but you should expect to pay rack rate (the highest possible rate). Also, there are nights when the only available rooms are the most expensive ones. I'd recommend being ready to search for Disney Springs or offsite hotels.

 

[AngiTN]

Yeah, they allow it but problem is, which Resort has the opening? You need to call the number, not just walk into the hotel. They do have the number posted on a sign on the side of the road and even say, call for available rooms tonight. So do that. Don't just walk-in. Mostly because, that's just wasting time going resort to resort trying to figure out what one. Even if you call early to know ahead of time which resorts have availability.
You can also open the website and look for yourself. I just did it for a room for tonight and found rooms, with a discount

 

[FSU Girl]

I just did this, this past weekend. I needed a last minute hotel room and called them at 10:43pm. I had looked on the website to try and book there, but it wouldn't let me. She was really nice and helpful and told me what hotels were available for when I needed them. I would call and book it this way instead of just showing up to the hotel. It's possible that if you saw a room available as you were driving there someone could have booked it. It didn't take long, the entire call lasted only 13 minutes.

 

[AngiTN]

I just did this, this past weekend. I needed a last minute hotel room and called them at 10:43pm. I had looked on the website to try and book there, but it wouldn't let me. She was really nice and helpful and told me what hotels were available for when I needed them. I would call and book it this way instead of just showing up to the hotel. It's possible that if you saw a room available as you were driving there someone could have booked it. It didn't take long, the entire call lasted only 13 minutes.

And they gave you the rooms at the discount too, right?

 

[FSU Girl]

And they gave you the rooms at the discount too, right?

Yes I was able to book a discount that the room fell under.

 

[AngiTN]

They'll allow you to book a room if they have one available, but you should expect to pay rack rate (the highest possible rate). Also, there are nights when the only available rooms are the most expensive ones. I'd recommend being ready to search for Disney Springs or offsite hotels.

This is what I was told at Poly one time. We were moving a day early due to CS issues at our existing Resort. The room was available and available at the discounted rate I had already booked under. When I stopped at Poly to ask about adding the night on and moving early they explained that if I did it at the desk they would have to charge it at Rack rate, that was the only rate they had access to. That if I wanted to add on the discounted rate I needed to call. So I stood there and called right at that minute and got it adjusted. We went back to our other resort, got our stuff and moved.

 

[BK2014]

This is what I was told at Poly one time. We were moving a day early due to CS issues at our existing Resort. The room was available and available at the discounted rate I had already booked under. When I stopped at Poly to ask about adding the night on and moving early they explained that if I did it at the desk they would have to charge it at Rack rate, that was the only rate they had access to. That if I wanted to add on the discounted rate I needed to call. So I stood there and called right at that minute and got it adjusted. We went back to our other resort, got our stuff and moved.

I am not surprised. I used to work the front desk at one of the best hotels in town, no WDW hotel experience. We had a reservations department, but if someone walked in or called after the reservations department closed and needed a room that night, we were told to always quote the rack rate. The reason being that, if they are coming to us for a last minute room, they probably really needed it and would be willing to pay. If they said no, then we were able to try and lower the rate. For what it is worth, making room reservations was one of the worst parts of working at the front desk, when it did happen.

 

[Macprincess]

I did this last May at Port Orleans. We are Florida resident pass holders and spent the day in WDW visiting with family staying from out of state. We ended up visiting far later than we had intended and I wasn't in the mood to make the two hour drive home. I stopped by the front desk and asked if there were any rooms available with either a pass holder or FL resident rate. I don't recall which discount we received, but it was one or the other. It was no problem. They were happy to allow me to book the room.

 

[Amska]

Thanks everyone! I didn’t know the booking line was open until 11pm. I would make the decision around 1030pm so this works perfectly.