How far in advance have you planned out your points?

[ajf1007]

Well we are going to AKV in 79 days so that is our vacation for this year. We just bought into DVC in May and was able to plan this trip rather quickly. We tend to do our vacations in September, after the kids get back to school. We don't have kids (though do love everyone elses) but find parents don't like to yank their kids right back out of school after just returning from the summer. Works great for us anyway.

We are planning a trip to Disneyland at the Californian in September 2010 as we're taking our nephew who is turning 21. Plan to spend a bit of time at Disneyland but also venture out to LA, Santa Monica and see what else is out there. Very excited about that.

Hoping in 2011 to do an exchange (RCI) trip!

 

[DVCGeek]

Nov/Dec 2009 - 6 nights BLT LV studio booked
Jan/Feb 2010 - 6 nights BLT MK studio booked + 3 in a 2nd BLT SV studio for my parents
Oct. 2010 - plan for 5 nights in a studio @ VGC
Sept. 2011 - hoping for a THV for 6 nights with some friends (we'll see @ 7 mo!)
2012 - May/June WDW (Star Wars Weekends & HOPEFULLY Flower & Garden)
2013 - Feb. WDW + Nov or Dec. DL?
2014 - Oct. WDW
2015 - Sept. WDW
2016 - May/June WDW (Star Wars Weekends & HOPEFULLY Flower & Garden)
2017 - Feb. DL + Nov/Dec WDW?
and so on (WDW every calendar year; always have at least 1 Disney trip booked so there isn't as much withdrawal when I have to go home from one)

Plus, I am thinking about eventually buying more points and toss in a 3 night weekend trip or two each year to do some Disney races, if/when vacation time & $$$ permit!!!

BTW, Nov/Dec is for Christmas Decorations, Feb. is DW's BD, Sept. is around our anniversary, and Oct. is my BD...

 

[disneyeveryyear]

DD10 and I just returned from 9 days at BCV in June.

We are bringing friends with us in January, 2010 in a THV.

July, 2010 is an Alaskas Cruisetour, and since we will only have about 80 pts left in the 2010 UY, we will probably just wait and do January, 2011.

I can't think any further than that. I have a tendency to borrow points and go down every summer. Hoping I can hold off next year so we can get out of perpetual "borrow" mode.

 

[SamSam]

I'm planning for retirement!!! DH and I aren't that far from retirement and we originally were going to look into a condo or house in the Orlando area. Then we thought "why not just go to WDW for 6-8 weeks in the winter" and the rest is history. We sat and roughly figured out how many more points we would need and added on to our SSR account. Then....while in WDW last week we were talking about how we're goint to utilize those points and maybe stretch things out by staying somewhere else for awhile on cash. I don't know, but I do know we have time; like 2-3 years maybe????

DH and I are doing the same thing. We crunched some numbers and decided that having enough points to stay around 6-8 weeks in winter would work better for us than buying a home in Florida. Buying a home would entail maintenance, property manager, etc..........besides, we want to stay in the World.

 

[kim_d]

We have 4 trips scheduled for 2009-early 2010.

Dec 2008/Jan 2009- 14 nights
June 2009- 7 nights
September- 9 nights
Jan 2010- 5 nights

Usually I would be planning our 2010 trips, but DH and I decided to take a WDW break. We need to let our points settle since we have borrowed and try some other places with the kids.

We definitely will be back in 2011 though!

 

[rowbear]

I get on edge when I don't have at least one planned because I need something to look forward to when working long hours. By the same token I am not going to plan my vacation for years in advance. For one thing that takes some of the fun out of it and for another I would be constantly disappointed when work schedules cancelled those plans. I do know I will be taking 3 trips before this time next year but I only know the dates of 2 of the 3 trips right this moment.


It become very routine after you have done it many years but one thing that is a consistent question (especially if you go multiple times a year) is what kind of vacation do I want? Am I going park heavy or am I going to enjoy the many other disney activities that are available and spend little to no time at the parks? If I am going park heavy I want to go without a car and try to get into my home property (WL) or similiar. If I am going for a more restful vacation I might want a car and get into OKW.

 

[ILuvTigger]

Dh and I plan on going every year in Oct (our anniversary), and Dec. My two favorite times of the year. For our 10th year anniversary (2013), we are going to Disneys Hawaii Resort (looking to add on there). Besides the two, we will add 1 - 2 more during the year. We love thinking about/planning future trips!

 

[bigsmooth]

my current spreadsheet goes through 2014. The problem there is that current plans don't use all of our points, so (sigh) I will have to convince DW to take a spontaneous trip to the World at some point to make sure we don't lose any points. DW is less of an enthusiast than I am, so I'll have to find ways to convince here (spa always works).

 

[Ms. WDW]

SamSam - my thoughts exactly! I want DH and I to really enjoy our retirement not worry about the upkeep of a house or condo that we aren't even in year round.

 

[kathyell]

I have the next five years planned in my head, 2010 for sure and the rest I'm 90% sure will come off like I have planned. I have tentative ideas for the next two after that.

this year, 4 days, 1 bed at BLT lake view (for the opening!)
2010, 1 week at BLT MK view in early May
2011, planning for between 5-7 days in mid-Sept or early Oct for MNSSHP, most likely at BLT
2012, 3-4 days in a larger suite at DLR, hopefully bringing some friends with us
2013, 5-7 days, hopefully at AKV...planning to be flexible with the dates to get a Savannah view room

Starting to wonder now about planning a trip to Hong Kong or Paris in 2014 or 2015, though we might just decide on WDW instead. The lure of the familiar.

 

[theww228]

My spreadsheet is populated out to 2016, but I am trying to plan around my DD and 2 more DBabies in the next couple of years. But like everything in life, there will be many changes!

Off to the side I have all of our ages listed for each year and my DW got too freaked out seeing everyone's age in 2042 and had to stop looking at the spreadsheet. It is a little creepy and depressing to see the next 30 years of your life represented by 30 rows in Excel.

 

[WolfpackFan]

Right now I have planned out through 2011. In the past I've actually planned out several years past that, but it always changed so much I just plan out 1 UY ahead of time. I am always in borrowing mode, so I have already used next years points and have planned for the following year.

 

[Starr W.]

I've got my usage planned out until 2011.