reservation or not?

[LimeGreenCheri]

We will be heading down to Disney on a Saturday afternoon after DD's ballgame. I wanted to leave earlier, but the ball scheduele changed our plans. :roll: We plan on driving to Gainesville, FL and stopping for the night. Would you call and make reservations or would you just hope that you can get a room?

My hubby wants to just "get a room". He says we may drive further, or not all the way to Gainesville, depending on when we leave. My worry is that we'll end up sleeping in the van. :shock: If there is no room at the Inn.

What would you do? And it is Spring Break.

[Sheryl]

Tough call Cheri, but being the worrier that I tend to be :roll: , I'd probably call and make reservations. You'll be leaving this Saturday!! MY GOODNESS, I am so envious of you! I know you'll have a great time, whatever you choose.

:mickeyWalk: Sheryl :minnie:

[LisaS]

Well, Cheri, I am usually pretty adventurous, and I can understand not wanting to tie yourself down to a certain stop - you may want to push on if you feel up to it! But we did get stuck a couple of years ago and traveled until after midnight looking for a room - actually, it ended up being a good story and we still laugh about it today - we could only find a smoking, king room. Well, it was a nice room, but smelled really bad and the four of us had to share the king bed - of course I got stuck in the middle, cause the kids wouldn't stop torturing each other!! Not very restful!!

Anyway, after that experience, I have been more cautious. Why don't you make a reservation, most places will allow you to cancel up to 6 PM; then if you are riding along and feel like you don't want to stop, you could call ahead to another place a couple of hours down the road and cancel the original. If you have the AAA tour book, this is generally a pretty simple task. This way, you're safe, but have the flexibility option just in case!! Enjoy your trip!!

[Francine]

If you have a cell phone you could make a list ahead of time of some hotels in the areas you are planning to stop. Then as you get closer you could make some calls from your cell phone to make a reservation. This way if you want to drive further you can.

Francine

[LimeGreenCheri]

Tough call Cheri, but being the worrier that I tend to be :roll: , I'd probably call and make reservations. You'll be leaving this Saturday!! MY GOODNESS, I am so envious of you! I know you'll have a great time, whatever you choose.

:mickeyWalk: Sheryl :minnie:

Not this Saturday Sheryl, but next!!! :clap:

[Sheryl]

Oh yes Cheri, ROFL now I see your counter is for next week. :rofl: I guess I was not that awake this morning. :wink: I still wish I was going, even if it is next week. Lucky you!

:mickeyWalk: Sheryl :minnie:

[Collette]

I vote for getting a reservation, too - and cancelling if you change your mind.

Only twice we tried to wing it and never again if we can possibly avoid it. Both were Saturday nights. The first time was in Milwaukee. Finally found a place, but it was a long night. First we paid through a tiny little window in what I suspected was bullet proof glass. The room was filthy - years of dust along the edges of the carpet, moldy shower, see through sheets, arm broken on desk chair, smoke detector hanging by a thread. I think I cried myself to sleep. My only consolation was that I presumed we were in good company. The parking lot was filled with Porsches, BMWs, etc.

The second time was in Omaha. Took almost two hours to find a hotel and finally a place to eat.

The same kind of thing happened to friends. Can't remember where they were. The place was so bad - the desk clerk asked them how many hours they wanted the room :shock: :D Maybe the van isn't so bad!!

Have a great trip!!!

Collette

[Bookwood]

Cheri,
This weekend alot of "snow birds" will be vacating their winter homes and going north. We had a TERRIBLE time last year (last weekend in March) getting a room in VAldosta (we hadn't planned on stopping but a car problem changed our minds). I'd say book ahead (I never usually say this) but with the snowbirds in flight have an option. You can always cancel if you find you will be farther south or whatever. Have a magical trip!!

Pam :mickeyWalk: "Bookwood"

[SusanL]

Hi Cheri,
I say book a room, I got stuck a few years ago and had to drive from Tennessee to Connecticut because we could not find a room anywhere in Pennsylvania. You could figure about where you want to stop and get a reservation and get another reservation for a little farther away and then call and cancel the one you don't use.
SusanL :minnie: :sun: :minnie:
Have a great trip! Are you gonna ride Mission Space?

[Cinderella]

Cheri:

I usually just drive and find a hotel/motel as we go but after the last trip down to DW in Dec., I think we will be making ressies ahead of time.
I was doing all the driving and didn't want to really stress myself out so I only drove a short while the first day as FIL did not get settled into assisted living until almost noon. WE ended up with two Hampton Inns going and coming and both were not the cleanest around.

I think I would also follow everyone's advice and make a few ressies ahead of time and then you can always cancel!!

One trip to DW when my daughter was 4 years old, the traffic driving from DW to NY was bumper to bumper (and it was Easter weekend). We had to get off 95 and go onto the old road (is it 300 or 301?). Well, we followed other cars with plates from NY and they would drive in and out every hotel along the road. Most were sleeping in their cars and the hotels let them come into the lobby and use the restrooms. We ended up with a motel like Collette had. We paid through a tiny hole in the glass and the woman behind it didn't speak much English. WE got the last room - tiny - but had no choice. I made my daughter sleep in her clothes on top of the bedspread, the leg on the bed was broken and we used the phone book to hold it up. There was a family of spiders living on each section of the blinds in the bathroom. Right next door to the hotel was an all-night Bikers bar - well, no one got any sleep and we finally packed up and left aboaut 3:00 a.m.

So, after that I usually try to make ressies ahead and cancel as we pass that hotel if we're driving farther.

Good luck.

Cinderella

[Kylara]

I too suggest making a reservation. As other said, you can cancel if you want to drive further. Often you can stop at the one you made the reservation at and ask them if they know of another hotel of the same chain in the city you want to stop and they can remake your reservation at that one. Just make sure you know the cancellation policy for the hotel/motel.

Also remember, the only other decent place to stop after Gainsville is Ocala, after that, you might as well drive the rest of the way to Orlando.

[LimeGreenCheri]

After talking about it, we decided to try to Priceline it tonight. We tried 3* Ocala $30 = no. added Silver springs =no

We then tried the Gainesville area 3* $30 = no. I'll try again tomorrow! Or we may fly by the seat of our pants and call hotels on the way when we see how well the kids are riding and how we feel.

[Rosebud]

Cheri,

If you PL last night you won't be able to try again for 72 hours unless you do a lower star or a different area.

[LimeGreenCheri]

Cheri,

If you PL last night you won't be able to try again for 72 hours unless you do a lower star or a different area.

I still have 2 freebids left. Then I was thinking it was 24 hours. Oh well, maybe that is what I need to convince DH to drive on to Orlando! :wink:

[LimeGreenCheri]

I talked my hubby into going all the way to Orlando! I just added a night on Disney property!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MissBianca]

Woohooohooooo! WTG Cheri!

Two daysto go! How can you stand it?? Are you sitting in the car yet ;)

LimeGreenBouncies: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[DisneyBUff]

WOOHOOOO congrats... have a ball and a safe trip. give mickey a kiss on the nose from me..

[mickeefan]

We have quit driving and have gone to flying now. We really do miss all the extra things we could take when we drove but 15 hrs is a long drive for us.

We would always pick a place and make a reservation but would not guarantee it. Then when we saw where we wanted to get to we would judge the time to our reservtion and how much further we might want to go. If we wanted to go further we would then call ahead and make another reservation and this time guarantee it.
This was always keeping in mind the 6pm limit for the first reservation.
This has always worked very nicely for us.

[Lou-Ann]

Actually, we do as Mickeefan has done. We kind of fly by the seat of our pants but have a back up plan. I am soooooo excited for you.....Hope you have a wonderful time. :circle: