How far ahead do you have your trips planned?

[BrentR]

We usually plan 6-9 months in advance for vacations. We are new DVC members and booked a Grand Villa at our home resort SSR at the 11 month window. Even though we have heard that SSR is the easiest to get into because of the size we did not want to leave anything to chance. We will leave that to future last minute vacations.

 

[DaveH]

Usually 11 months or less. We were thinking Christmas week about 15 months out, then changed our minds for early Dec about 12 months out. We are doing on Friday, was decided 3 weeks out.

 

[simzac]

Ours boys school corp has already released the next 2 years school calendars, so we have tentively planned our next 2 trips during Christmas break. OKW next year and HHI the following year.

 

[athenna]

I've only got 1 trip planned/booked at the moment But that's only because I am going to New Orleans in April.
I am going to WDW for 8 days in Oct for F & W festival, bringing my DBF, who can only come with me every other year and 2008 is his ''on'' year.
I am positive that I will be planning a solo trip sometime for Spring '09.

 

[RLRDA]

We've have May '08 booked since the 7 month mark and we are tossing around when to go in 2009. Like to try AKV concierge! We only visit once a year so it's hard to think too far ahead.

 

[JimMIA]

Mike, this would make an interesting poll.

We currently have only one trip booked (May 08), and I'm not sure if we'll do a Nov 08 trip yet. I'm really hoping to do a ski trip instead, and if we do that, we probably won't go back until 5/09. Unless we go to Vero.

We don't plan our trips in great detail until we actually book. Normally, that's 5-6 months out unless we're going in late November - early December. If we're going then, we book at 11 months because it's such a busy time.

However, we do have our general pattern pretty well established - mid-May and early November.

Our daughter is in Kindergarten, so we still have some leeway on bailing out of school, but I'm sure our vacations will be more influenced by the school year next year.

Also, as she gets older, the focus of our trips will probably shift a lot. We'll still probably go to WDW each year, but I can also see both ski trips and National Parks trips on the horizon as she gets old enough to enjoy them.

 

[AKV707]

We have our trips at least "proposed" for the next couple of years. I have the Excel sheet and all! In terms of actual planning, that starts right after we make the reservation. So, while I am new, and haven't made many reservations yet, I see us booking at around 11 months out for the most part.

 

[MEM]

We have trips booked through November 2008 and trips planned through
2011. DH loves the really long-range planning but he's presuming that Grand Californian Villas and Ko 'olina Villas will be realities within that time frame. He also asks me questions like "should we plan on inviting X, Y, and Z in 2010?" I suggested that we just assume we will invite guests (to be named later) in 2010 and book accordingly. None of our friends and family members can (or like to) plan more than a few months ahead.

 

[pilferk]

It's best to be a planner when you join DVC. That said, how far ahead do you have DVC trips planned? By that, how far into the future do you have actual dates scheduled with resorts and accomodations all picked out?

I have eight (8) trips all planned out through Dec 2009 (it's only 685 days to VWL in 2009!).

Does anyone else schedule all their trips so far in advance?

I'm embarassed to actually admit this out loud:

We have 3 trips planned....through October of 2010.

December 4-th - 12th '08 (booked).

September 17th - 25th '09 (our 10th anniversary; beginning stages of planning including some surprises).

Mid October '10 (a glimmer of a plan but no concrete dates).

It sounds so absurd to admit we're planning trips 2 1/2 years away.

Edit: Man, you guys make me feel SOOO much better about it. I just finished the thread and it's nice to see I have companions in the "long term planning" brigade!

 

[Laurabearz]

I have got a full boat of trips booked for 2008, listed in my siggy...

June 2009 Boston (not DVC)

July 2009 Hilton head Island

Aug 2009 WDW (not sure which resort yet)

Oct 2009 DCL 4 day cruise BWV Food and Wine

June 2010 GCV/Arizona

July 2010 HHI

Aug 2010 WDW

Oct 2010 BWV Food and Wine

And so on and so on...
In 2012 or 13 we will start looking at Adventures by disney and such... when the kids are older. Until then, we are tickled with our rotations.

 

[mello]

We're planners. For most trips we plan two to three years ahead and book as soon as possible, which of course for DVC means 11 months. Once in awhile we do something more "spur of the moment" - which for us is about 3 months in advance.