How far in advance do you book your vacation?

[Disneyluv111]

For us, we can book anytime but I was curious in how far in advance do you book?

 

[Ngwira]

11 months.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

Depends on the vacation. And I don't typically book all aspects of the vacation at once. Hotel rooms and or cruise, flights, rental cars and activities are booked at seperate times.

 

[disfanforlife]

I book 11 months in advance since we are DVC members. But we also frequently end up changing our dates too.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Depending on when & where we are going, 6 days to 6 months in advance.

 

[starry_solo]

11 months as I rent DVC points and then the owner gives me time (until 45 days before) to pay it off, so I like to pay monthly

 

[Beezle2]

We have DVC so 11 months for busy times like Christmas/New Years, 7 months if it is a slower time or I want a non home resort.

 

[Marionnette]

For Disney trips, 11-7 months before arrival because we like our home resort (BWV). It's not very large and it tends to fill up quickly, especially during F&W. For an upcoming non-Disney cruise, we booked over a year ahead. And our annual trip for the next year to the Jersey Shore is arranged while we're still on vacation during the current year.

For long weekends away and roadtrips, we tend to book 2-3 weeks ahead. If we're flying anywhere, it's almost always taken care of 3 months in advance, if not earlier.

 

[worm761]

It really depends on the trip. For Disney I don't book until a discount comes out. For others, I book when I find a deal I like.

 

[havaneselover]

About 16 months. That's about how far in advance you can book a Disney Cruise and that's generally when the prices are the lowest.

 

[Carrie Gruber]

Whenever the window opens to book for the dates we want. I booked our upcoming October trip last September...people thought I was crazy, but I wanted to make sure I had everything reserved well in advance.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

Depends on where we are going. If we are going to Disney I usually like to book the trip about 1 week before the 180 day ADR date. Other places we decide to go I usually have an idea of where we are going and then I stalk the travel websites like expedia and wait for a good hotel to go on sale and then I will book the hotel.

 

[Garden Queen]

As soon as we decide we are going, I start the planning and booking - usually in stages, always watching prices. Usually start about 9-10 months in advance. The planning stage of the trip can be fun in all the researching and reading everyone's tips. I always learn something no matter how many times we've gone!

 

[lurkernj]

As long as things are refundable, I book as soon as there is a deal of some sort, even if I'm not sure we are going. I always book a bounceback when in Disney, with the thought that I could always cancel. I have booked many trips on Orbitz/Expedia when they have sales, only to cancel when we change the trip or find a better deal. We book southwest with points, which is also refundable.

 

[Accident]

If there is a limited discount that runs out fast, I book when that is out and we sort out the dates we're going while doing that. Free Meal Plan is the only current example I have of this. Otherwise, we tend to be spontaneous and usually it's weeks or days in advance a lot of time triggered by a discount we don't want to pass up. Now that we're moving down to the area, we probably won't be booking too often anymore but fp+ and ADR will get interesting.

 

[hsmamato2]

I try to plan Disney trips at least 6 months in advance....other,more complicated trips are usually 1-1.5 years in the planning....(for discounts,etc)

 

[angierae]

I booked as soon as 2016 became available for our October 2016 trip. We're going regardless of discounts, so it didn't matter. We may adjust plans when the discounts come out, but either way we were going.

 

[tvguy]

Depends. The family trip we just came back from we booked 2 months in advance. Our trip to Europe we booked 9 months in advance. Cruises usually are about 18 months in advance.

 

[AnnaS]

If we plan on going for F&W - 11 months for sure. Otherwise 11 months or less

 

[calypso726]

Years for most of our vacation planning and plotting

For DVC trips with family (aka herding cats) or Food & Wine weekends 11 months out . For our normal weekend DVC getaways to WDW it can be months out or last minute since we are only 3 hours away by car. If DCL releases a special itinerary we want to do then we book on opening day. Although after the prices they had for itineraries next year like the British Isles cruise, I don't foresee DCL trips anytime soon. For Adventures by Disney we book on opening day. We usually plan years ahead where we want to go and for the most part and then book asap. We may switch plans if something new piques are interest more than something we have on the list. We like to use miles when we fly internationally and like to secure first class seats with those miles which means being on top of award space on an airline the moment the airline releases the seats to be booked with miles. So there's a lot of advance planning and stalking airline websites to get the seats we want.

When ABD announced river cruises last April for 2016 starting in July we booked on opening day. That is 15 months out. I booked the first leg of our flight to Europe next year trip while waiting for my flight back home after just coming off of the 11 day Norway/Iceland/Scotland Magic cruise this past July. I think we are tentatively planned into 2020 on where we may go. Of course, things like a DCL maiden voyage, ABD offering something even more exciting than what's on the list would definitely cause us to change the plans. If I'm not on vacation, I'm planning a vacation