How far in advanced do you book your hotel??

[littledream76]

Is two or three weeks cutting it short for a disney hotel??thank you



Barbie

 

[CanadianGuy]

Hi to the DIS!

The answer your question greatly depends on what time of year you want to go and how flexible you can be on your choice of resorts.

Most times of year you can *something* three weeks out.. but you may not get to choose ... and the price level might scare you in some cases.

Personally, I tend to book about 6 weeks to 9 weeks away .. and generally can get what I want.. But I also don't generally book for heavy traffic periods..

I'm moving this over to the resorts board, you'll get your best answers there.

Thanks!

Knox

 

[PoohsFan1]

We usually book ours a couple of months ahead of time only because we, or should I say my DH, usually end up changing our minds on which resort we want to stay at. On one of our trips we changed our minds 3 times before arriving. We too book our trips for the off season so it is a lot easier to do this than if we were going during peak times. Good luck in getting what you want.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We always book well in advance, that way I know how much we have to save! DH booked our Thanksgiving trip last Friday.

I'd be afraid to wait too long and not get the resort I wanted. If the resort doesn't matter, I'd say in most cases, you could be something, but it would depend on the time of year, etc.

 

[hvivona]

We always book about 4 months out. This gives us time to plan without rushing.

 

[Dengar]

It also depends on what hotel you're wanting to stay at.

My last two unexpected trips to the Disney's Pop Century were pretty much completely random. It wasn't a trip I planned years in advance, but were thought up about two/three weeks before I went to the parks.

In most times, you really can't do it. We got REALLY lucky when I found the Pop Century. We must of looked at a lot of hotels.. such as the Animal Kingdom Lodge, Wilderness Lodge, Contemporary.. and all of the Value resorts. Only thing left was the Pop Century.

The days we went weren't even that special.. The first trip was 07/07/07 - 07/11/07 and the second trip was 11/23/07 - 11/27/07.

All in all, if you plan to book weeks before the trip.. look forward to spending the nights at Pop Century

 

[themcgoos]

We book 4-6 months out and have always rec'd everything we wanted in our packages. That window is also, not coincidentally, the same window for booking with Southwest Air, our airline of choice for convenience and cost, with several flights every day (5 daily now I believe) from Buffalo to Orlando.

 

[Renee1061]

Well, I booked our trip for this June last August.....10 months in advance. But now I have decided to switch from WL to CBR, so I have to call and cancel, and rebook. I'm trying to wait & see if any AP rates come out for June, so I won't have to call a third time. But if nothing has come out by the end of the month, I'll go ahead & call.

 

[Knavey]

Depends on how busy the season is.

I just booked on a Friday for a check in on Sunday and leaving on Thursday.

I have a friend who wanted to stay at FW in an RV...he tried booking in November but nothing was available until April.

 

[fairestoneofall]

I booked our upcoming Thanksgiving trip LAST August (but, I wanted MK view in the CR and I wasn't about to take any chances). Last year, we booked SOG in January, but again it can sell quickly. I booked our anniversary trip in August 2007 about a month in advance and there wasn't much left.

I would at least book six months in advance, since that's when you can start making ADRs. But I do agree that a lot depends on what time of year you're planning your trip.

 

[dbarker]

As soon as I figure out what my summer schedule will be like (new job), I will contact my TA to book for next summer. I have already started some of the planning -- budget, some dining preferences, resort preference. Now I just have to wait and detemine scheduling.

 

[fla4fun]

I have booked with as long as a year and a half notice, and as short as 4 days notice. Obviously, your resort choices are more abundant the farther out you book, but hey, if someone hands me vacation time and says use it or lose it, I'll find a resort choice that will do just fine.

 

[marivaid]

Usually we book 4-6 months in advance. This time I'm waiting for AP rates to be released, and I'm getting a little nervous !!

 

[Aliceacc]

We booked just over a year in advance!!!

Then we ended up changing our resort about a month ago.