How far ahead do you have your trips planned?

[DVC Mike]

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?

 

[jade1]

We do VWL for XMAS and BCV for Spring break at 11 months. The rest are usually about 8 months or less.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Sad to say I do.......after Aug. '08, I have 3 trips planned into Sept. '10. Vero Beach June, '09, OKW & 4 day Disney Cruise Jan. '10, Grand Californian Villas, Sept. '10. Can't dream anymore without the new planner!!

 

[Kurby]

we're in the process of planning an April 09 trip.

planning is part of the fun - we plan what hotel to stop at on the drive down, what parks on what day, what ts meals we want (though this sometimes changes when we get closer but not always)

this trip we were going to drive right down but have now thought of stopping in Virginia Beach for 2 days then dh's aunt/uncles for 3 days then disney for 12 then home

we have a 2 year old (will be 3.5 next April) so planning is a good thing for us so we know we're stopping at a kid friendly place or researching out things she'd like to see while we stop for a rest.

my family had a motor home when i was growing up so we always did advance planning so we knew what was coming up tomorrow and not just 12 hours of driving.

 

[KJSJpipe]

Unless something changes I know we will be at WDW the week after Thanksgiving in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014....and so on every other year. In the opposite years 2009, 2011, 2015.... we will be there in October. Each year we stay for one week, usually Friday to Saturday or Saturday to Saturday. We decided that we like the MNSSHP & MVMCP so we alternate between them. For weekend trips with out kids we go when ever it works out for us, I have been on two girls only weekends that were planned a few months out.

 

[DVCDawn]

Our points allow my family of 4 plus one set of grandparents to go to WDW every year and a half. So we go on spring break, which in our town is NEVER Easter week (thank goodness!), one year and then a year from the following November for Jersey week. Gotta love that teacher's convention! So this year we'll be going in April, but won't be going back again until November 2009. This works well. We know we'll be going soon enough and it allows us to go on other kinds of vacations in the interim.

DVCDawn

 

[BigMama]

WE ARE OFFICIALLY BOOKED FOR 2 TRIPS 2008. SPRING BREAK WEEK IN APRIL 20-26, THEN 11 DAYS THIS SUMMER. 2009 WE HAVE FIGURED OUT AND 2010 MY SON GRADUATES SO WE PLAN ON STAYING FOR 3 WEEKS BEFORE HE GOES TO COLLEGE.ALL I NEED IS APPROX. A 36 MONTH WINDOW TO BOOK.

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

I am "officially" planning 3 trips already booked with the last in Oct 2008.

Normally, I would have already started thinking about a possible short Nov/Dec trip and then our Spring 2009 annual trip.

But I had to change some things for May and we are doing a cruise/stay in October with all the kids, my mom, and my sister (aka the one who never knows what the hell she is doing from one day to the next), and to be honest, I am exhausted and just don't want to talk to MS or do point math at ALL right now.

I am actually considering slipping out one night and flying down for a couple of days without any of them.

 

[samples78]

Much to my husband's dismay, I am planning our trip for the end of May 2009. We can't fit a trip before then into our budget so I have to content myself with planning for the next year and a half.
We are not DVC members, but I hope to rent points and stay in AKV for 5 nights. Hopefully my planning this far ahead will allow us to find the accommodations we want, plus its just fun to think about. I am already playing with what days we will go to what parks and where we might eat.
I am also tentatively planning a trip for April of 2011 (when my daughter's spring break does not overlap Easter), but I won't start planning the details until we are back from our 2009 trip.
My 3.5 year old is even in on the fun of planning. Every night I put her to bed she wants to talk about our trip to Disney World.

 

[Disney_Daddy]

We usually plan about 90 days out. Occassionally we plan 7 months out for something we really want to do.

Planning for 2009 sounds fun, but difficult to do based on my work schedule.

TK

 

[erin.w]

We just joined and have planned a trip for March 9-16 and September 12-20 of this year. I think were waiting for the first trip to pass (or almost pass) before we start thinking into 2009. With that said, after reading everyone else's responses, I feel like we should be planning already!

 

[Chloe'sMom]

I agree - DVC is a planners dream. Right now I'm debating between doing Hilton Head in the summer or Disney for Christmas.......or both.

~Amanda

 

[Paticake]

We just returned from OKW on Friday night. I have SSR booked for 9/27-10/3 already. We are planning to take our grandson on his first trip in June 2009 hopefully to AKV, are planning OKW and Vero for late Oct. 2009 and then hopefully Thanksgiving 2010, God willing!!

 

[dbprimeaux]

We will be home SSR in about 10 days - Feb. 2nd-9th , and we have a trip planned for November 22nd-29th, 2008 at SSR . I am also starting to think about our 2009 trip - as all the kids will be in school then.

 

[wdwfan0123]

We have a 7 night trip planned at OKW starting 10-28-08 and then are planning another 7 night trip starting mid June 2009 in a Grand Villa with the whole family!!! Beyond that I'm still in the "what if" phase.

In fact, I'm already starting to plan out what parks on what day for this fall. I just sent 3 menus by e-mail to my 2 adult daughters today to see which restaurant they want to eat at in Epcot

(Hi! My name is Kristi and I am an obsessive planner )

 

[JsMom2]

As you can see from my ticker, I have....

April 08 - 4 nts in Tokyo Disney (Ambassador Hotel on Pts)
July 08 - 8 nts Adventures by Disney Germany (Pts for me, cash for DD)
Sep 08 - 7 nts AKV
Sep 08 - DVC Member Cruise (Pts for me, cash for DD)
Sep 09 - Back to Back Disney Magic cruises (booked thru DCL)

Non-Disney trips:
Mar 08 - 2 nts London
Apr 08 - 8 nts Seoul, Korea
Jun 08 - 10 nts on Crown Princess to Baltics
Mar 09 - 11 nts on Brilliance of the Seas to E. Med and Egypt

I've already faxed in my waitlist request to DCL for 2010!

 

[Stinkerbell317]

Don't you kind of have to plan early to make the most of your membership? That's the way I see it. So.....

2/08 BWV/BCV
10/08 AKV
1/09 AKV
11/09 AKV
2/10 AKV

 

[disneymom8589]

DH and I have two trips planned this year - March 30-April 3 at AKV and July 19-24 at VWL. We also booked our 25th anniversary Disney cruise for July 2009.

We are both big planners, so DH made a tracker calendar and recorded our points usage and upcoming special events, like our anniversary, my parents' 50th anniversary in 2010 and a probable wedding for DD in the next couple of years. We plan to give my parents and DD points, so we like to keep track of everything!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Whenever DH and I are home with time on our hands, what we like to do is extend our Projected vacations.

What we have done this weekend, has been to extend an invitation to Family to join us in May '09 first for some time at WDW, and then on a 3 night DCL cruise! The DGC's family has accepted our offer!!! DSis and her honey will be coming and we're seeing who else can make it!

We do plan ahead, and have done this prior to owning DVC.

Bobbi

 

[DisDaydreamer]

We only have 200 pts so we're not planning too many trips ahead. I think every one of our bookings has been made a the 11 or 7 month mark. How do you make a reservation prior to the 11 month mark?

Otherwise, we like to mix in State and Federal parks visits, and other offsite visits (usually weekend or 3 day visits).