How far out to plan WDW trip?

bethwc101

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 7, 2012
We are DLR vets who are debating doing WDW Christmas 2019. If this trip were DLR we wouldn't even book our hotel until Aug. 2019 or have to do much planning.
But during my reading, I realize with WDW you have to plan much further out. So how far out do you start to plan a WDW trip?
How far out do you book your hotels?
 
We are DLR vets who are debating doing WDW Christmas 2019. If this trip were DLR we wouldn't even book our hotel until Aug. 2019 or have to do much planning.
But during my reading, I realize with WDW you have to plan much further out. So how far out do you start to plan a WDW trip?
How far out do you book your hotels?


I would book as soon as you can, because Galaxy's Edge should be opening around that time and it's literally the busiest week of the year at WDW.
 
Personally, I'd sort of start now with research. Research any packages that have been offered for similar time frame in previous years, plus look at crowd calendars to determine dates. If you have your heart set on a specific hotel, book that as early as you can to make sure it doesn't sell out (if a really busy time of the year), or what to see if a package comes out. For Christmas time, I'd book at least 6 months out.
 
We book at 11 months. Any booking with Disney can be changed to take advantage of any promotions that come along later, you just have to keep checking or use an official Disney TA that will do that for you. We book room only and get our tickets from a third party, usually Undercover Tourist to take advantage of the small discount. Usually order tickets at about 4 months to be able to link to MDE and make fast passes at 60 days. We make tentative ADRs at 180 days and then modify/cancel after we have our fast passes worked out.
 


DL vet here, too. I'd book the hotel no later than Jan 2019. Christmas in The world is crazy busy!
 
At minimum 60 days (fastpasses), but for that time of year at least 180 days (dining reservations)
 
We go for Food&Wine every Fall and prefer to stay at Board Walk on rented DVC points. In order to get a room that time of year we have to book 11 months out so we do. After that's done I'll start looking for rental cars often booking, canceling and re-booking as prices drop. I grab a South West flight as soon as the window opens, we do a sleep n fly near PHL which I also book well in advance.

Bill From PA
 


I booked our December 2018 trip 11 months in advance. We had very specific criteria in terms of resort location and room category, so I wanted to lock it in ASAP. With the opening of Galaxy's Edge, 2019 will be a whole other ball of wax. If you know your dates and where you would like to stay, it wouldn't hurt to book ASAP!
 
We are going in May 2020 and plan to book room only in January (499) days out! We want a certain room category and Galaxy's Edge may change the whole game!

As for planning, that started 11/4 of 2017 - the day after we returned from our last trip. :)
 
If it's your first WDW trip, I would recommend not going at Christmas. If you really must go then, you may have difficulty booking a room 3 months out, especially with Galaxy's Edge opening around that time.
 
If it's your first WDW trip, I would recommend not going at Christmas. If you really must go then, you may have difficulty booking a room 3 months out, especially with Galaxy's Edge opening around that time.
Why would you suggest not going at Christmas?
Would end of January early Feb be better?
We don't want to do summer to avoid the humidity. And then I hear around March time a lot of large Brazilian school groups show up and can make the lower end resorts difficult to deal with.
 
Why would you suggest not going at Christmas?
Would end of January early Feb be better?
We don't want to do summer to avoid the humidity. And then I hear around March time a lot of large Brazilian school groups show up and can make the lower end resorts difficult to deal with.
If you're going to do Christmas, do the second week in December, not actual Christmas week. I have gone twice during the second week in December and it was perfect both times.
 
We got back from 10 days at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in June. The following week I started planning our 12 day trip in 2021 and we are staying at the Polynesian. I will pay reserve the rooms at the earliest possible date and pay for everything as soon as possible. The girls are already giving me input on where to stay (the Poly) and they have decided on the month (Feb 2021) and they want the deluxe meal plan. You can never begin planning to soon.
 
Why would you suggest not going at Christmas?
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas it's quite nice. Busy but manageable and The World is beautiful with all the parks and resorts decorated. But Christmas is crazy busy.
Would end of January early Feb be better?
Yes. Weather is nice. Not as crowded. We're all set for our third end of January 2019 trip.
 
I think that you can book at 499 days in advance? I would start planning now and book at 499 days for a Christmas trip, especially if you want a particular resort and room category.

Christmas is great but it is insanely busy.

Good luck!
 
Christmas is just too crazy busy for us. Many enjoy it but you couldn’t pay me to go then.
Crazy long lines even for Quick Serve meals and restrooms. It is literally wall to wall people
 
If you're going anywhere between say December 20th and January 1st I'd be booking now.
That is literally the most crowded time of the year and resort availablility goes very quickly.
And you'll want to know what ADR's you want before your 180 day mark.

Most times I don't book very far out if I', just going at a random time of year.
Example I booked my trip coming up in a couple weeks at the end of July.
But I booked my December 2018 trip September 2017 because it was a bounceback offer.
I'd say on average I book between 3 and a little over 6 months out.
 
Dear Wife and I are DVC owners at BRV, AP holders at WDW.... vacations 12 years, twice per year.
As others have said - BOOK that room as SOON as you possibly can. Forget "deals" - there won't be any.

All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong.
 
If there’s a very specific place or room category you need, book as close to a year out as possible, that goes double for holidays.

We needed a 2 bedroom villa for a trip once and certain members in the group kept dragging their feet because they didn’t believe me about booking it a year out. This was for a September trip a few years back when that was still the off season. At 9 months out, we had only two hotels left with availability to choose from. The same members of the group who held us up were now complaining why couldn’t they stay at one of the other hotels. I was like because you wouldn’t listen to me when I told you we needed to book this 2 months ago.

On the other hand, if you don’t really care where you stay, you can usually find last minute deals a few months out. However, with Disney’s cancellation policy, there’s no harm in booking early and canceling or modifying later on if you know your dates.

I’d definitely go ahead and make dinner reservations at 6 months. It’s so much easier than scrambling to get them later and like with the room, you can always cancel or modify if needed as it gets closer.

Make sure whatever you do, you have tickets and your room before 60 days, so you can set up your FP. Again, not impossible to get later on, but much easier to do in advance.

I also agree with avoiding Christmas / New Years and going during the beginning of December or the very end of January beginning of February. Don’t try for beginning or middle of January. That time is almost as bad with holiday crowds lingering and the races. Also, those tour groups you mentioned come in January/ February and July not March. March is beginning of spring break crowds. If you do go for Christmas make sure you know what you are getting into. Read some blogs, look up pics and YouTube posts to see the crowd levels and other general advice.
 
I agree with the others regarding Christmas week. If there is any other week you can go, go that other week. We went Christmas week 2015 and it was a madhouse. We made it work, but we've been to WDW over 40 times so when people zigged, we zagged and we didn't spend a lot of time in the parks - 1/2 days at most. We went the week before Christmas for the past 2 years and it was much more manageable (and the resorts and parks are gorgeous!). We are going Christmas week this year, but are staying in an EP resort with plans to do some other things other than park touring. If you are a WDW newbie, Christmas week, IMHO, is not the best time to go.
 

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