Booking trip?

[Christyo72]

How far in advance do you usually book your trip? If discounts come out later, can they still be applied if you have booked already?

 

[Mousemommy1]

How far in advance do you usually book your trip? If discounts come out later, can they still be applied if you have booked already?

We book as soon as we know the dates we want to go back. At initial booking, we book within our budget (with discounts or not). This has varied from 4 months out to a year out. If a discount comes out later that allows us to upgrade, we will use that instead.

If you have a room booked and then a discount comes out that you'd like to apply to your existing reservation, your room needs to be available under that discount in order to apply it. Otherwise, you may need to change. HTH.

 

[mickeynut1]

We usually book 6-12 months out, depending on how far out we start planning. If you book now and a discount comes out later, your reservation can easily be modified to reflect the discount, provided the resort/room type you have booked is available under the promo and you are not changing reservation types. Having a reservation in place does not guarantee a discount can be applied as there has to be availability, so it's always good to have a 2nd choice just in case what you currently have isn't available with the discount. Also, keep in mind that if you book one type of reservation now and want to change to the other (i.e., have room only and want a package), the room only would have to be cancelled/refunded and a package booked, requiring a new deposit as money paid toward one cannot be transferred to the other.

 

[meredith1]

I booked 11 months out for our last trip in 2011 and I booked two weeks ago for our December, 2013 trip. They absolutely honor discounts when they become available whether your ressie is paid in full or not.

 

[MMS1125]

They absolutely honor discounts when they become available whether your ressie is paid in full or not.

as long as their is availability at the resort with said discount.

Just b/c you have a room booked doesn't mean you will automatically be eligible for the discount.

 

[Christyo72]

Thanks!!! I am thinking about booking 12 months early so that I have plenty of time to pay!

 

[loveshak22]

We are planning a Jan trip and booked a few weeks ago...before the discounts are out. you can apply the discount if you meet whatever the criteria are for the discounts. It's nice because you can book without worrying about a better price coming out but it's sometimes frustrating waiting for the discounts to be announced so you know what you can save!

If you plan on doing a lot of the table service restaurants on your trip you can start booking your reservations 180 days out...if you are going during a busy season and really have some popular restaurants you want to get then I'd start making those reservations when that 180 day mark hits, or soon after.

 

[brekin67]

We book at 499 days, which I believe is as far out as you can book.

 

[MMS1125]

499 days from departure day. I try and book that far out too if I'm set on my dates. Doesn't hurt as much to pay off for me lol

 

[wdw lifer]

We always know we are going but don't officially book until after the discounts come out. Booked this years the day after the room discount was announced.

 

[lucifie]

Thanks!!! I am thinking about booking 12 months early so that I have plenty of time to pay!

We wanted to book in February/March for our trip in January and we couldn't do it because they didn't release next year's prices until late July, I think. I was told we could book a room only reservation and I think it would have been the current rack rate. We decided to wait and after some major expenses this summer I wasn't sure we'd be able to swing it, but we're in the process of booking it now.

I was frustrated that we couldn't book it when we wanted, but since we're not going at a peak time we figured it wasn't a big deal.