How far in advance do you plan holidays/vacations? How do you get through the wait?

[becpee]

x

 

[karibritt01]

We plan our WDW vacations about 11 months ahead (about 1 month after we get home, and have had time to recover!) and our Disney cruise about 18 months ahead. I usually do research during that time of things I want to do and haven't done before, places I want to eat, that type of thing. When you first book, it seems that there is so much to plan that you think about it everyday. That does go away after a bit, and then you only obsess about it twice a week or so! My kids use that time to try to earn extra money, since they are only allowed to spend their own money on vacations. I make lots of lists of things I need to buy before we go, what I want to pack, what my mom needs to do when she checks on my dog and house, itineraries, etc. By the time we get down to the final months, I usually have quite a few documents saved on my computer!

 

[wilma-bride]

We are from the UK and we usually plan our WDW trips at least a year in advance. I hate to not have another trip planned before I take/finish the current one. Getting through the wait is hard but I read lots of trip reports (including my own old ones) and, since we usually stay somewhere different each trip, I read up about the resort. I also write lots of lists:- places we want to eat, things not to miss, etc.

 

[StacyMarie]

I plan about 8 to 10 months out! As far as getting through the wait, I drive my whole family CRAZY with almost daily "Disney" stuff we need to talk about, lol. I don't think they have any idea how much planning I really do. I work from home so when work is slow, I spend a lot of time working on budget, schedule, dinning, etc. They have no clue how much work goes into it

 

[Saphire]

We usually plan trips at least 10 months away, and I enjoy working on the itinerary and even buying small things I will need and putting them aside.
Otherwise I remember the saying..."life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans"...and try not to live in the future too much.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I am always planning something. lol I just booked our Gatlinburg trip for the week of Christmas yesterday and now I am waiting to see when I can book Disney for next year after the first of the year or possibly spring break or maybe May. I haven't decided yet. I really wanted to go for Christmas, but it's not going to work out. But really, I am always thinking of a way to go somewhere & do something fun with the kids.

This summer we are going to DC & Baltimore for a few weeks so I have been trying to plan some of that. This is something we have never done before so I have a lot of research to do. I hope it will be fun.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I've been planning a big family 14 day trip to WDW (staying at WDW the whole time but also doing Universal, IOA, Sea World, a beach day, a couple 'relax' days) for December 2011 since November 2008. Meanwhile I've been taking smaller solo or with one other person trips to WDW for 4-5 days. Helps take the edge off

 

[GeorgeG]

We used to schedule our vacations (usually to WDW) starting 10-11 months ahead and planning over those months helped pass the time. Now we often just get up and go if it's a nice day and we don't have anything else scheduled. If we're going to stay over we might plan a week or two ahead, maybe a month.

 

[SC Minnie]

Since we are DVC member we usually plan our WDW vacation 11 months out especially if we are going during peak times. Cruises we usually book about 18-12 months out. We take other little long weekend trips and those are typically planned a year out or some times a couple of weeks before. Just depends.

Since we do a number of trips (I count the long weekends as 'trips') I try not to obsess about more than 1 trip at the time. So, I'll completely focus on the closest trip and when that one is over I move to the next one. With WDW we do plan a little before its 'due' for me since we like to schedule ADR's if we are going during peak times.

 

[BillSears]

I usually have at least one vacation always planned. So at the very least I plan a trip as soon as I get back from vacation.

Right now I've got the May 2010 all worked out. An October 2010 in the finishing up stages. A December 2010 in the planning stages. A February 2011 and May 2011 in the beginning stages.

Then there are those big trips like the cross-country 6-10 weeks trip I'm planning for 2014. It's in the beginning stages right now.

I NEED to have a vacation planned to give me something to look forward to or else I'll go crazy at work.