How early is too early to plan? (Planning timeline)

[MagicaDeSpell]

After asking a few questions and examining our schedule, I think our best and earliest time to go to WDW (given a new baby on the way) will be a year and a half from now. So how early is too early to plan versus just read and get ideas? Things seem to be changing all the time at Disney these days. Can someone recommend a good timeline for actually booking things? About all that I've picked up on is that we need to make our reservations 180 days in advance.

Thanks so much!

(PS If there's a "Planning for Dummies FAQ" somewhere that covers the times we should look for airfare, look for free Disney Dining, book rooms, etc, please point me in that direction. I'm a newbie to this!)

 

[Hootch]

Start here to get ideas.

http://**************.net/

This book contains that information and more and is designed to walk you through the planning process. If you have Amazon Prime, you can see the information for free right now.

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World is pretty comprehensive. It covers attractions, accommodations, on and offsite, rental car companies, etc.

Disney has done pretty well with being open about room discounts. You can see the current discounts by clicking on Walt Disney World in the darker blue line near the top. This is the timing when Disney of when Disney recently released offers:

http://www.mousesavers.com/historical-information-on-walt-disney-world-resort-discounts/#2015

Mousesavers also shows the current discounts. Disney uses these to fill rooms. Availability may be limited.

ADRs can be made 180 days in advance. Room rates for next year will be out in the July time frame. Fast passes for onsite can be scheduled 60 days in advance. Offsite is 30 days. The first link and the book really does walk you through the process.

 

[serenitynow]

It's NEVER too early to start planning!

 

[MagicaDeSpell]

Thank you so much, Hootch, these resources look like just what I needed!

Anyone have opinions on touring plans? My family usually prefers to keep things unstructured except for meal reservations, but can touring plans give us just a general idea of what directions to go when instead of a tight schedule?

 

[Hootch]

The easywdw site has some touring plans for each park such as a two day and one day plan for the MK and a morning and afternoon plan for DAK. I follow Josh' plans because he periodically follows them and reports on his timing. Look on the right hand side for Cheat Sheets. There are plans for each There is a Touring Plans website that is subscription based that will allow you to choose your particular attractions. They publish the Unofficial Guide which also has static touring plans in the back.

There are rides that fill up first. Many people do not want to get up early on vacation, but being at rope drop will benefit most people more than anything. Currently there has been a mad rush for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We schedule that for later in the morning and head to Peter Pan and Pooh. Both of those are slow loaders (and Pooh goes down often) so the lines build almost from the beginning. Often Mine Train, Splash and Haunted Mansion will not build lines until around 10:00 AM if you are going to the MK a second day.

This thread is probably the best explanation of FP+ and priorities.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/the-fastpass-frequently-asked-questions-superthread.3491680/

Read the FP thread above and post questions if you are uncertain of anything. You can't really do much but read and think for a couple of months. Most people are helpful. We just don't always agree.

Think about how you want to eat. Sit down dinners can be relaxing or eat up too much time from park touring.

How many days for each park. Each park has some items for the little ones but the MK has the most by far. If someone is a Star Wars fab DHS has some exhibits and rides that might interest them.

Where are you going to stay. The monorail resorts are convenient for the MK and pretty good for Epcot. When our son was young we stayed at the Contemporary. It was convenient for naps but also very expensive. The Beach and Yacht Club have the best water facilities of any resort and are convenient to Epcot. Another free source for resorts is allears.net. Some resorts have their own website such as Port Orleans French Quarter which is where we usually stay.

You have plenty of time. Go the Theme Park board and browse around. Go to the Restaurant Board and browse. Both this site and allears have guest reviews of hotels and restaurants. Just remember, we don't all agree.

 

[thelittlemermaid2]

Early planning is much less stressful than waiting to the last minute, I say start now!

 

[MagicaDeSpell]

thelittlemermaid, I certainly appreciate the permission to jump into indulging my inner planner!

Hootch, I'm not sure yet where we'll be staying. I want to stay on site and I'll throw in some tax return money on top of the budget to make that happen, after which my priority is to have enough room and privacy for what will then be a family of 6. That looks like it will mean either the family suites at the values, a more expensive suite at the deluxes, or possibly something special from DVC. I'm a sucker for the deluxes, but it remains to be seen whether I can justify the expense of staying on the monorail line... I guess it will depend on whether there are any shocking, unplanned for expenses with either the current pregnancy or the house that we're buying (I tried to plan and budget for all contingencies, but we'll see).

As for eating, how many days per park, and everything else, I hadn't thought that far ahead. A little from column a, a little from column b, and probably a few breakfasts in our room.

 

[Hootch]

If you're looking for a potential DVC site, you will want to look at renting DVC points. This is going to to be cheaper than booking directly from Disney. There are generally two paths, rent from and individual or rent from a wholesaler. (Probably not the proper term.) The latter has people "selling" points to a company. That company guarantees the points are available and takes a a cut. There are a couple of companies that have been around for awhile.

 

[ToddyLu]

If you decide to do DVC, Kidani at AK might be a good choice. The 2 bedrooms there have three bathrooms, but the only transportation to the parks is by bus. OKW resort has the largest rooms of the DVC resorts, David's Vacation Rentals who is a sponser of the DISboards is the owner. It is probably the only online site I would trust for renting other than knowing an owner directly. He has lots of videos of each DVC resort and rooms on YouTube. He is an DVC owner himself and you can sign up for his last minute deals which usually come out a month before they are needed. So he will post reservations that need to be rented by members last minute and that could be good to watch.

 

[AussieDisneyMum]

After asking a few questions and examining our schedule, I think our best and earliest time to go to WDW (given a new baby on the way) will be a year and a half from now. So how early is too early to plan versus just read and get ideas? Things seem to be changing all the time at Disney these days. Can someone recommend a good timeline for actually booking things? About all that I've picked up on is that we need to make our reservations 180 days in advance.

Thanks so much!

(PS If there's a "Planning for Dummies FAQ" somewhere that covers the times we should look for airfare, look for free Disney Dining, book rooms, etc, please point me in that direction. I'm a newbie to this!)

Never too early to plan. If you have the crazy planning hamster running in your head, too, then even changing your plans to incorporate new ideas is fun!

 

[MinMou]

Since you can book your room 499 days in advance, and you would want to plan where you want to stay in advance of that, I don't think you are too early at all!
Here's info on how that works, since you can't book on line at that time: https://disneyparksmomspanel.disney...vations-days-advance-try-website-says-300642/
And to figure out what is 499 days in advance, here is a date calculator:
http://pscalculator.net/pscalc.php
Keep in mind, while Disney works on how many days in advance of your arrival date for ADRs and FP+, for early reservations, they want to know the day you are leaving. Fortunately, the PS calculator takes that into consideration.

 

[MagicaDeSpell]

So much to take into account!

If we rent DVC points, how does that effect things like ADRs and FPs? Can we still get the on-site timeframe? Can we make those ADRs and things ourselves or do we have to work through a third party?

MinMou, your advice is perfect, now I think I'm beginning to understand the whole timeline in front of me.

 

[MagicaDeSpell]

Oh my gosh, MinMou, I had to come back and thank you again for the date calculator! I'm sitting here pouring over the academic calendar where my husband works to pick the perfect dates (grr, not officially released, yet, but given my estimated dates, I have plenty of time for the academic calendar to update ). I could hug you. I think the hamster wheel is definitely spinning now, AussieDisneyMum.

 

[ElizabethG]

So much to take into account!

If we rent DVC points, how does that effect things like ADRs and FPs? Can we still get the on-site timeframe? Can we make those ADRs and things ourselves or do we have to work through a third party?

MinMou, your advice is perfect, now I think I'm beginning to understand the whole timeline in front of me.

You still make your ADRs and FPs yourself as an on-site guest.

 

[Hootch]

I'll suggest another resort - Wilderness Lodge. It's a deluxe. It's not on the monorail so a little (or in some cases a lot) cheaper. Beautiful resort. A boat ride from the MK. Buses to the other parks.

 

[MagicaDeSpell]

Thanks, ElizabethG and Hootch, you've really opened my eyes to the DVC options. So long as I can still make ADRs and FP reservations on the on-site timeline, that sounds like the best option with my family size.

Transportation is my next highest priority, seeing that I'll have some pretty young ones with me, but you can't have it all and Wilderness Lodge looks like a terrific option that we will all enjoy (my two eldest really love Brother Bear, so I think they'll get a special kick out of the theming).

 

[DISbot]

Transportation is my next highest priority, seeing that I'll have some pretty young ones with me, but you can't have it all and Wilderness Lodge looks like a terrific option that we will all enjoy (my two eldest really love Brother Bear, so I think they'll get a special kick out of the theming).

Some things to consider with transportation -

What park(s) will you spend the most time at? The boardwalk hotels are right by Epcot/HS, and the monorail hotels aren't bad for MK/Epcot.
Will you be taking naps/leaving the parks mid-day? If so, sometimes the buses can be up to 45 min - 1 hour to get back to a hotel. If mid-day breaks are a must, but park time is a premium, be sure to look at the transport options/routes and distances for your main parks and hotel.

 

[AshleeH]

I'm planning three trips right now, with a fourth on the back burner for Disneyland. The one that is farthest away is for November 2017 - it's never too early to start planning. I like to wait for the packages to come out and book at that time, but some like to book room only at 499 days out and then upgrade it to a package when they are released. If we traveled at a busy time (Christmas/Easter/4th of July) I would do the same. We travel when it's crowded, but not packed, so I don't rush it.

 

[Ndusmama]

After asking a few questions and examining our schedule, I think our best and earliest time to go to WDW (given a new baby on the way) will be a year and a half from now. So how early is too early to plan versus just read and get ideas? Things seem to be changing all the time at Disney these days. Can someone recommend a good timeline for actually booking things? About all that I've picked up on is that we need to make our reservations 180 days in advance.

Thanks so much!

(PS If there's a "Planning for Dummies FAQ" somewhere that covers the times we should look for airfare, look for free Disney Dining, book rooms, etc, please point me in that direction. I'm a newbie to this!)

Okay so I have only been to WDW once in my life and it took 37 years to do that. The trip was planned 2 months before. So crazy me I went looking at all the various websites of activities and things to do. I made a binder. I split it into sections for getting to the parks ( airline flight info, magic express, packing list, airport maps for layover), then I did sections for each park (map, attraction list, entertainment available, restaurants), oh and I had a section for hotel I was staying at (movie schedule because I went with 2 kids, layout map). Most of it got crammed into the binder. I had an idea based off of various crowd calendar websites which parks would work better on which days. I didn't make definite days until the week before.

Now all that being said. I felt prepared for my first visit but still flexible to just go with the flow like lost luggage, hospital trips for cutting eyelid open in a round tub.

My suggestion decide on restaurants earlier to get reservations. They go fast and can get booked early. I personally did not like Be Our Guest restaurant and if you have a newborn you may not either. It is VERY loud and really chaotic with no explanations.

I am saving my dvc points to plan my next trip (2nd trip) fall of 2018. I personally don't think that's too far out at all. 8)

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Personally, I think if you decide to rent DVC points you should purchase your park tickets at that time as we all know the prices just keep going up-up-up!