How far ahead do you plan?

[EllaDisney]

We want to go November of 2010 and we'd love to start planning as soon as we can.

 

[mickeychasers]

we plan as far ahead as we can. for nov 2010 i would start to plan around november 2009 that way all the new prices and information should be out. the best site and book i use for planing is passporter.com and the passporter book. the book is wonderful to use for planing and to take with you on your trip. it is full of color maps, what to pack lists, discriptions of every ride, and details on every restaurant. and it has so much more. when your vacation is over the book becomes a keepsake. you can find the book at barnes & noble or boarders. also on their site. hope i helped

 

[dizneechic]

I think you could plan a trip a few short days before going or years before you go. Everyone has their own style and circumstances which makes them do what is best for them. I beleive Disney schedules are released 90 days in advance so if your talking specific times you need to do something closer to your trip regardless, and ADR's are 90 (+10 if on site) so those are best done as soon as your able, but nothings to stop you from starting to plan most of your trip now.

As a former cast member (retail in the days of the beloved silver pass) I used to decide a few days ahead of time if my schedule allowed to head on down for a weekend. Now with a family (and no more silver pass benefits) we're planning our 1st trip and booked our off site rental house a year before our planned trip. We bought airline tickets as soon as they became available as well. I listed a bunch of stuff on craigs list as I did Spring cleaning and put aside all of the money for character meals and fun money ($700 so far) and are just over planning until I can firmly book ADR's and park days (based on hours/traffic).

Have fun planning!

 

[peemagg]

We are in the process of planning for around January 2011. We have been working on this for several months already (close to a year). We plan for this long to allow everyone to save towards the trip. There will be 3 families involved in this trip, so that is why we start planning this far ahead. The other 7 people involved tend to be procrastinators.

 

[skhermsmeyer]

I just booked our August/Sept 2010 trip today. I'm a super planner and I just wanted to have everything done.

 

[FoundMyPrince]

We start planning our next trip as we're leaving our current trip. "oh we have to do that again" "next time I'd do that differently", etc. Every trip, no matter how much planning and dreaming we do, we learn about new things to do.

Our next trip is in May 2010. We've been checking the school calendar, airfare, hotel prices for places on the beach, Disney outlets for t-shirts on sale, Croc outlet for Mickey Crocs on sale, etc. We booked in June and are all incredibly excited!

 

[Goofy'slady]

We start thinking about our next trip while we're still on the current trip. We've already been this year (back in May) and next month or so we'll put our deposit down for our April '10 trip. Although I've already picked the dates and started doing some planning; even scoring on some end of the season clothing and croc deals for next years trip.

Planning helps the time go by faster or that's what I tell myself. lol

T.

 

[Sorsha]

We plan on going back at the end of September 2010, hopefully scoring free dining, and attending MNSSHP.

I already know what dates I want to go, have resort choices narrowed down to 2, and even already know where I want to eat and even, in some cases, what I want to order. I know what parks we will go to on what days, although that may change depending on hours, parades, EMH, etc. when calendars are released. As soon as Free Dining is announced next spring, I will be on my phone!

Ummm, yeah, I am an obsessive planner. But it gives me something to look forward to, and helps me be sure that my vacation experience is the one I want it to be. Research, research, research!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

We start planning our next trip as we're leaving our current trip. "oh we have to do that again" "next time I'd do that differently", etc. Every trip, no matter how much planning and dreaming we do, we learn about new things to do.

Me too. I started planning our 9/2008 trip while we were still on our 2/2007 trip. And some basic ideas for our 8/2010 trip were planned on that 9/2008 trip, but more serious planning for 8/2010 began a couple months ago. I booked the trip yesterday.

 

[JerseyMamaBear]

I just emailed the Disney convention center at Yacht Club about a Nov 2010 convention next year. With 5 of us it's never too early for us to plan

 

[EllaDisney]

We'll be going with our whole family (27 people) so it does take a long time to plan.

 

[justcantwait]

We've just started planning for our Dec 2010 trip. The way I figure it, if I kind of have my ducks in a row in the next couple of months, I'll know what questions I have and can ask the folks that are going Dec 2009 about their actual experiences. If I'm not planning until spring (or, God forbid, summer!) it'll be too late to change things, or people won't remember what it was like back in December when they were there, or they didn't notice. DH keeps asking me "why are you planning so far ahead?" Then I explain (again!) how we can pay off the trip in plenty of time, have everything planned out and paid for that we want to do (Cirque, Neverland Club, special meals, MVMCP, etc). I remind him (again!) how the last trip (and the ones before) all went great because all these details were worked out ahead of time and we didn't have to stress out at the last minute. In my opinion, it's never to early to start!

Kathy

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

The current plan is that I'll be taking a solo trip in Dec. 2010 for a few days. I've started watching the emails about what goes on in December and what the rack rate would be for a moderate room so I'll know how much money I'll be saving when I get a PIN.

I'm also starting to look at QSDP to decide if I want to get that or just pay out of pocket like I usually do.

So yeah - I start planning right away even if the trip isn't for a year away.

 

[powellrj]

We usually only plan a few months ahead. We never know what we will be doing more than a few months in advance, so it makes planning anything really hard. Heck, I just sent a wedding RSVP card back today for a wedding in September with a no because I have no idea if DH will have to work or not!