How soon do you make your reservation and why?

[cindy2939]

We are going beginning of May 2010 and have started the planning. We are trying to really watch our pennies this year so we are trying to be smart about when we book and what we book. So when do you usually make your reservations for Disney World Resorts? Hoping for some discounts in May but have never went that time of year so no idea. Thanks for any suggestions on timing to book room (we are thinking Value Resort or maybe moderate at most)

 

[hstrickland]

You can book room reservations any time you like, but 2010 packages will not come out until Aug or Sept. Once they do, then you can add on to your room ressie. We have already booked our room for May 2010. I'm a bit of a planner though. I'm sure Disney will offer special deals for 2010, but I don't look for them to let the public know any time soon. The great thing about Disney is you can book a reservation and if they offer a better deal, they will honor it. Hope this helps a little. Happy Planning!!

 

[parkers*momma]

We go in September and each year, we book the following year while we are there because of Bounceback. Once we are home, we just have our employers take $25 a week out of our checks and it goes straight into the Disney savings account. We don't miss the money out of our checks since we haven't had it for about 3 years....lol. It works well for us.

We also NEVER EVER spend any change...it goes into the Disney Jar. If something is $1.01...we pay with $2.00 and put the .99 in the jar. It really adds up. I cashed it in recently so I could purchase Disney giftcards and Disney Dollars plus pay for our airline. We had over $1000.00!!!!

The last big thing we do, we have children in school at $3.00 per day per child for lunch. During the summer, that $3.00 per day per child goes into the Disney fund. We don't miss it since it is a regular expense 3/4 of the year. This covered MNSSHP and Water Park tickets plus hot air ballooning at DTD.

Just doing those things in a year's time, pays for our package, airline tickets, MNSSHP, and souvies.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

My family and I like to make our reservations well in advance, because this way we can get exactly what we want.

 

[Justsyd2]

We book when we have the cash to pay for the whole trip. It's the only way we take vacations...and we take 3-4 per year...not all of them to WDW, though.

 

[lustergirl]

I book as soon as the new rates come out. It gives us lots of time to pay off the trip.

 

[NMAmy]

I'm a slacker. I usually book 2 to 3 months out but last year, I booked at 45 days out. We typically go in late Feb/early March and I've gotten some good deals even with my procrastination.

 

[Kim1964]

I consider the trip we are starting on Friday to be as spur of the moment as I get with a Disney trip, and I booked that in March. We are already booked for August 2010 so we could get what we wanted (ASMu family suite).

 

[momofrrr]

We go every other year and usually at Thanksgiving. The kids are usually planning on the way to the airport to come home. As far as booking goes, I wait just as long as I can stand it. I usually book in either February or March and we are never all together that someone does not bring up the subject of Disney and what we should do. Planning a Disney Vacation is a way of life!

 

[CoachBagFanatic]

We book well in advance. I am not one of these last minute planners. The whole fun of planning for me is to starting planning very early. I know this is insane but I already have our 2011 and 2012 trips in the works. My DH tells me I am in a class of my own (the loopy nut job class). I just love planning and if I don't have a trip to plan I feel like something is missing.

 

[soulmates]

I'm odd I know, but I never make a ressie till I have the FULL resort amount. I always wait till tax time and pay the resort off. To me, that means it's a done deal!

 

[RMulieri]

I make my ressies 10 months out.We know generally pretty far in advance when we want to go and we like to stay at the DVC resorts on a cash ressie, so we book asap

 

[caryrae]

We make our ressies as soon as we decide we are gonna go to WDW. Like for this years trip we made our room ressie in Oct 2008 for our Sept 2009 trip, that way I just made small weekly or bi-weekly payments through out the months til it was paid off which made it much easier then trying to come up with a larger amount later. So we now have our 2 Resorts paid off.

Plus we use a Disney Travel Agent (Magical Journey's which is like Dreams Unlimited) so if or when a better deal comes out I can still get the deal and save some money.