Do you plan your vacations way in advance? Please share your technique!

[HermanTriplets+1]

Hi DISers,
We had to cancel a cruise this summer due to family obligations, so I am getting my frustration out by trying to make a long term travel plan.
I've read in the past on some DISers threads/trip reports/responses that you have a "PLAN" for what trips you want to do (DCL, Disney, also other vacations, places you want to travel to, even family visits). How do you do this? Spread sheet? Colorful markers on a big piece of paper? Do you block out work vacations in advance, too? Or work around school vacations?
How many years ahead do you plan it all out?!
Just wondering -
Please share!

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I have a plan, often on a spread sheet, for example my 2016 cruise I have all bar one port booked with private shore trips.

I save all emails.

I keep an eye on what DCL and the cruises are doing and work form that.

 

[kimberwee]

Spreadsheets!!! I plan every trip using them...including packing lists, itineraries, etc. These are put together after hours and hours of research.

DH and I like to have a plan for each day we are on. Neither one of us can stand waking up and wasting time, trying to figure out what to do that day. When I plan, I will make back-up plans in case something falls through. That way, there is never a "what do we do now" situation. We feel that trying to figure that stuff out while ON vacation is a waste of time and money. Tried "winging it" one day in Napa, CA and it was a DISASTER.

Of course, this doesn't mean that we don't relax by the pool. It just means that our "pool" time is scheduled..

 

[com_op_2000]

Excel spreadsheet is what I use and I am planning as far out as 3 years.
With DVC, you have to be looking at least as far out as you can borrow points for the current's years trips and planning for the year you borrowed those points from.

 

[Mrs Green]

Ooh I love this topic, as day dreaming/planning vacations is one of my favorite things to do! We are finally going on our first cruise next summer, had cancelled our first one due to husband's promotion which required a move and unexpected expenses thereafter. I, like you, decided I needed long term planning so as to not wind up having to cancel the vacations I adore! While we haven't cruised yet we do travel and especially take road trips regularly. I keep a list of places I want to go and have it broke down by weekend, long weekend, week or longer than a week. I also put notes in about season to go such as spring break, summer, thanksgiving break, etc. I have a little document with months listed thru about 2020 where I write in potential trip ideas based on the list already described and accounting for husbands pto, kids age, known family obligations, etc. we don't live by our families so once I plan something we let them know that we have plans during this week or that so that they are fully aware and don't have expectations for holidays or whatever.

* edited to add that right now I am finding it fairly easy to decide what vacations we should do because my dh and I have a goal to visit all 50 states. He only has 3 left (one being Alaska!). having this "priority" list has really been fun and helpful!

 

[bfamily5]

I tend to plan waaaay in advance as well. I keep spreadsheets as most others on here have indicated. My "method" though is to make dummy budgets and look at airline fees a year and sometimes 2 in advance, this way I know a good deal when i see it. It has worked like a charm! My flight to San Juan for January 2016, I started checking in October 2014. I pulled the trigger in April 2015 because based on the research I knew we were getting a good deal. I like to plan at my leisure so that I maximize vacation time by not stressing! And I am always after a good deal!!

 

[Mousesmom]

We do a mix of "plan plan plan" and "hey there's a deal let's go"

For example..... Our WBTA in September came up as a *GT - so - "it's a deal, let's take it" (in January I think). Then it became - what else shall we do while we are in Barcelona. Which morphed into "where ELSE shall we go since we're over there anyway". Followed by "what bucket list items can we cross off" (Disney Paris, Blarney Castle, Eiffel Tower).

Once we had settled on two other places to go - Dublin and Paris, we started to plan our days out. Each day has one planned activity and some downtime to see whatever takes our fancy.

Since booking the WBTA, we had a last minute repo cruise from San Diego to Vancouver. We spent a day in Disneyland first just cuz we could . Took a train to San Diego and spent two days there and then boarded "another cruise line ship" (sorry Mickey! We won't stray again)

Edit to add

We are planning to book a Panama Canal cruise in 2016 while we are onboard the WBTA and are talking about a land vacation to New Zealand for 2017.

 

[TandLMommy28]

I am currently planning our 2016 and 2017 vacations.
I just use Excel and start marking down costs, dates, etc. As soon as I am able to book, I do it. (Sometimes I'm held back due to budget, other times due to when bookings open up). I will be booking our 2016 cruise this week and in about a month we will book our non-Disney vacation.
I am already deep into planning our 2017 Disney vacation because we are planning on two weeks and that is going to take some coordinating around schedules and budgeting for an extra long vacation will require some extra time to plan and know what I'm looking at.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I plan significantly in advance. I technically have tentative vacation plans through 2024...and even more tentative plans through 2030. However, in most cases, I do not take any actions (spend money, make reservations) on anything more than 18 months out. I'm already behind on national park lodge reservations for my September 2016 out West trip, but that's DH's fault (he wouldn't commit as to whether he wanted to go the RV route or not).

Sometimes I use spreadsheets, I am for my upcoming Disney vacation. Two weeks, DCL and WDW, 4 families all arriving and departing at different times. It's a lot of info to be dealing with. I got pages for Due Dates (like PIF dates), Reservations with confirmation numbers, proposed touring schedule (only to the park level), Pages for each of the 4 parks listing every ride (with height restrictions, FP+, and familial preferences), a list of proposed FP+ to obtain (my date's not up yet), a page on park hours and crowd calendar info,one page listing everyone's flight and airport transfer info, and finally the gifts I'm going to buy everyone (park bags with emergency items).

 

[TifffanyD]

I have cruises planned and booked through 2016. A few more cruise thoughts and Hawaii planned out but not booked for 2017. I book cruises as soon as they are released or I decide I want them then create a cruisefish alert and watch. And I sometimes dump a cruise and switch to another (which I am in the process of doing right now). I score some great deals this way!

 

[tinkerone]

spreadsheets. i have one that is strictly for financing. one column has a list of things like cruise, flights, hotels, gas, food, etc and i put in an estimated cost of each item. then when i know the exact price i replace the estimate. next column will be the same items and what i have already paid off. there are somethings that will not be paid off till d-day such as food and gas but the rest gets totalled. the third column is my savings column so what i have at the bank in canadian funds for this particular trip, what i have in u.s. funds for this trip, what i have in obc's for this trip (if its a cruise), any gift cards i may have.
doing this i have all the information i need to see where i am at for any trip wether its booked or not and its all on one page.

i also have a spreadsheet for packing as well as the spreadsheet for itineraries however the itineraries are just things we could do. more often than not we just relax and ignore what we 'could have' done. but it's there if we change our minds.

 

[TifffanyD]

I have cruises planned and booked through 2016. A few more cruise thoughts and Hawaii planned out but not booked for 2017. I book cruises as soon as they are released or I decide I want them then create a cruisefish alert and watch. And I sometimes dump a cruise and switch to another (which I am in the process of doing right now). I score some great deals this way!

ETA - my husband blocks out work vacations 1 year in advance or when we book - whichever comes later. I just let me boss know about a year out what I have booked. I have a spreadsheet to calculate our vacation time so I can make sure we will have enough. So that's basically where I have them written down.

 

[gumbypee]

Yes! I love planning and researching. I havent plunked the money down yet but i have various vacation plans through 2021

I like to make up word document itineraries. I can't always plan on what will be on which day since Navigators, and other such cruise documents, come out night before but some things I do mark down, docking times, excursions, dinner etc

and a list of things to pack so I dont forget something

 

[wcw57]

when we started planning our next dcl cruise, it was over 3 years out...!!!

I use my mind and scraps of paper....costs will be what they will be. If I'm going to wdw or dcl, the issue is most often WHEN, not how much, due to personal time frame limits.
I over plan (ask anyone) but if I ever start using a spreadsheet, they'll lock me up....and I wouldn't even blame them...

 

[AquaDame]

Google docs - I have one spreadsheet that tracks vacation hour accrual and use and a second one that is a bucket list of things where I can put in notes and such for places we still have yet to go. Then, as we know prices and such those go into a third spreadsheet that tracks our financing - I go so far as to add in what I am putting on which credit card which month so I know to add it to the budget spreadsheet on that date too. No surprises and if I see we are going into the red at any point before or after due to the extra money coming out I can adjust for it and make sure it never happens.

When I realized I started to have plans four years in advance though I went back and deleted everything that didn't already have money down... the lack of ability to spontaneously join in on trips with others was a drag so I'll be more careful to have some leeway going forward. Currently we have trips in the books for up to September of next year, then we'll relax on trips through the holidays to get a bit of a cushion hours-wise. Pretty sure the next trip will be Japan, but I want to leave it up in the air as to exactly when we go.

 

[jdb in AZ]

We got a great deal on a European river cruise in May of 2017 so we booked it. Other than that we're usually more spontaneous, tho we usually visit the grand kids on the east coast twice a year, depending on their plans.

We did have an Italian cruise planned for earlier this year but we had to cancel it due to health issues. Getting old isn't for sissies.

 

[ThistleMae]

This is a great thread! I planned this upcoming Disney Vacation for November, last November, with family at Thanksgiving. I scored a really cheap cruise to the Caribbean two months ago for end of September....that was one of those can't resist the price was too good! I have another cruise planned for Janurary 2017....another good price. I've just started looking at Universal to stay onsite and attend HHN next year. I don't use excel, just not that familiar with it....I put all my stuff in Microsoft word. So what I've done is budgeted a yearly vacation amount. I broke that down into an average $ amount per vacation for a typical vacation. That comes out roughly to two big vacations a year with some smaller ones thrown in throughout the year. Then I decide what type big vacations I want to do each year, whether it be a cruise, a theme park or other adventure. I like to mix them up. I also decide if I want a water vacation or land vacation. Then I make a list with some suggestions under the categories ie: land, water, theme park, dude ranch etc. It just helps with the planning. I haven't done Europe yet....that will be when my sweetheart retires and will take a lot more planning than US vacations. Like someone else said in here, I don't want to waste time figuring out my plans once I get there....I just want to be there and enjoy....so planning takes all the work out of working while you are on vacation!

 

[ThistleMae]

We got a great deal on a European river cruise in May of 2017 so we booked it. Other than that we're usually more spontaneous, tho we usually visit the grand kids on the east coast twice a year, depending on their plans.

We did have an Italian cruise planned for earlier this year but we had to cancel it due to health issues. Getting old isn't for sissies.

Sorry to hear about your health issues....I can relate...but I always try to figure out a way to persevere!

 

[eskimoinparadise]

I create 12-month calendars in Word for the next two years, and start by highlighting our vacation schedules. When the cruise lines release their itineraries, I pull up the calendar, and see what ships are sailing on those weeks (and where they're going), and then book the one we want. We usually have 7-8 cruises booked at any time, and we always book them as soon as the itineraries come out.

 

[squirk]

I am watching for 2017 itineraries to come out so I can book my placeholder right away. So, yes, I do plan ahead.

However, I don't do the spreadsheet thing. I tried it once for our family's WDW trip; it was a nice academic exercise in time management, but in practice, nobody in my family would want to use or abide by my scheduling. And honestly, once it was all done, I wasn't all that crazy about it either.

So I plan ahead primarily by reading message boards (like this one), reading books (Passporter and Unofficial Guide; Fodor's & Lonely Tourist for our ports of call), watching the DCL DVD and videos on YouTube. In short, I internalize everything because nobody else in my family wants to delve into this stuff, much less read a spreadsheet on it.

They just want me to be able to answer all their questions and give them information as needed. To them, I'm like a DCL version of Siri.