Is it too early to plan? Fall 2022

[DisneyMama811]

We are Canadians planning our first family trip (DH & I have been but not our DD's) I would have loved to go this fall but with COVID things are just too unpredictable so we are aiming for Oct 2022 instead and praying that life is a bit more "normal" by then.

I have severe anxiety and I work in a healthcare setting so covid does not help!! to keep my mind off things and focus on something positive and because I LOVE to plan I've started to make tentative plans/lists for our trip. DH thinks I'm being silly and getting too far ahead of myself. am I nuts? how far in advance do you all start planning?

 

[gloriaf]

I find the planning part of Disney to be my favorite part. I always book a year out which gives me plenty of time to make the "perfect" Disney trip. I say if it makes you happy plan on!

 

[Ricguz]

I started planing our December 2022 Disney vacation today. I contacted dreams unlimited today. Normally I plan all our Disney vacations but where it’s getting a little complicated right now, I’m going to have them be my eyes. We normally stay at the YC CL and since they have not opened CL but I’m sure they will by the end of 2022 they can be my eyes. Go for it now.

 

[maleficent55]

I am starting to plan/think about November 2022. It'll be our first time to WDW and there is sooooooo much to plan!

 

[shawthorne44]

Vacation Planning is my happy place. Currently planning Jan 2022 and one of the houses I might have wanted is already booked.

 

[DisneyGrammyT]

No it's never too early to plan your vacation at Disney! I feel really strange without anything planned as of yet. We are also from Canada and go every year to Disney World. We are hoping to go in November 2022 but have not planned out anything as of yet. Just watching YouTube videos of other people's trips instead lol

 

[LuvMyEAR]

To my friends who cannot wait to have travel plans come to fruition and aren’t comfortable planning much more than 30 days in advance, I say that’s fine for you. HOWEVER, IMHO, the earlier we start planning a Disney vacation, the better. Anticipation is sweet, right?

We start our process with compiling lists (big lists!) of all the things we’d like to do, places we’d like to stay, and restaurants we want to try. This makes for happy conversation whenever our family travel group gets together. Then we slowly start prioritizing, and finally shortlisting so we are ready to begin booking things the moment we have settled on travel dates. The date is our biggest challenge, as we have retirees, full time working parents and high school students travelling together. For years, we have avoided traditional school breaks, but it gets harder. Thankfully, our students remain in the top of their classes in all subjects.

We book flights and lodging, then set calendar dates for everything else we need to do, such as ADRs, FP+, special activities, etc. I guess we will be adding PArk reservations to our list of things to do for our next trip. We love the building excitement as we countdown to everything! Likely to have a Disney-themed dinner to finalize our ADR wish list or completion of any step in booking.

Yes, it may border on obsession but it is also a labour of love that 3 generations can share as we look forward to each trip. We get a lot of joy out of each trip long before we ever set out for the airport!

 

[Barbruka]

Starting now to plan for December 2022. 10 of us going. Can't wait!

 

[Blondie58]

We are Canadians planning our first family trip (DH & I have been but not our DD's) I would have loved to go this fall but with COVID things are just too unpredictable so we are aiming for Oct 2022 instead and praying that life is a bit more "normal" by then.

I have severe anxiety and I work in a healthcare setting so covid does not help!! to keep my mind off things and focus on something positive and because I LOVE to plan I've started to make tentative plans/lists for our trip. DH thinks I'm being silly and getting too far ahead of myself. am I nuts? how far in advance do you all start planning?

We start planning as soon as we can get reservations so we get exactly what we wish for. I think that is 399 days out. (DH alwasy makes the calls.) We love the planning and the journey as much as the trip. Enjoy!! PS. I have severe anxiety about getting a vaccine. Waiting on Johnson and Johnson so just one injection. Ugh!

 

[malialaine]

We start planning as soon as we can get reservations so we get exactly what we wish for. I think that is 399 days out. (DH alwasy makes the calls.) We love the planning and the journey as much as the trip. Enjoy!! PS. I have severe anxiety about getting a vaccine. Waiting on Johnson and Johnson so just one injection. Ugh!

I started reserving my Feb 2021 trip in Feb. 2020. We were just finishing a cheer competition, I also had reserved a room for Nov 2020, then COVID hit. We waited it out, WDW closed and reopened without my reserved resort opening (POFQ). The Nov 2020 kept getting moved around, to Oct, then Sept, but we finally cancelled all together and prayed for good luck for cheer event in Feb 2021. About 6 weeks before Feb. 2021, WDW called and said POFQ would not be reopening, but they were moving us to another resort for my 3 rooms, I said great where are we going, figuring CBR, but they said GF, you could have knocked me over with a feather, so we were ecstatic. Then the cheer event was postponed to April, but I said I was going, so my husband and I went for the week of the cheer event, even though the 15,000+ teenagers and coaches were not there. It was fantastic, I took my 2nd shot of the vaccine ( I had the Pfizer) 2 days before we left, had no worries, felt very safe, sanitizer dispenser everywhere. It’s been 3 weeks since my shot. I am 71 and my husband is 78. So far, so good. So just chill out about getting the vaccine, I have not heard anything bad about it, everyone I know who has received it, is fine. Going to WDW 2/weeks ago was about the best medicine I could have gotten. Good luck!

 

[Shughart]

I'm starting to get serious about planning our December 2022 trip now that it's looking likely that life will be back to normal. Fingers crossed. We stay off site, so I'm looking for condos right now, and hoping to buy tickets in the next month or so.

 

[Maleficent_Hades]

i have a trip coming up in december that i started planning right after my trip in 2019 lol. my husband also thinks i'm crazy, but it makes me happy so he doesn't harp on it too much. i say if it makes you happy then plan when you want.

 

[Davey Jones II]

I started reserving my Feb 2021 trip in Feb. 2020. We were just finishing a cheer competition, I also had reserved a room for Nov 2020, then COVID hit. We waited it out, WDW closed and reopened without my reserved resort opening (POFQ). The Nov 2020 kept getting moved around, to Oct, then Sept, but we finally cancelled all together and prayed for good luck for cheer event in Feb 2021. About 6 weeks before Feb. 2021, WDW called and said POFQ would not be reopening, but they were moving us to another resort for my 3 rooms, I said great where are we going, figuring CBR, but they said GF, you could have knocked me over with a feather, so we were ecstatic. Then the cheer event was postponed to April, but I said I was going, so my husband and I went for the week of the cheer event, even though the 15,000+ teenagers and coaches were not there. It was fantastic, I took my 2nd shot of the vaccine ( I had the Pfizer) 2 days before we left, had no worries, felt very safe, sanitizer dispenser everywhere. It’s been 3 weeks since my shot. I am 71 and my husband is 78. So far, so good. So just chill out about getting the vaccine, I have not heard anything bad about it, everyone I know who has received it, is fine. Going to WDW 2/weeks ago was about the best medicine I could have gotten. Good luck!

In reference to the bolded...that is the voice of common sense as well as experience. I ask that everyone please get vaccinated as soon as it is available to you. Vaccines are the way out of this mess. Unfortunately, a lot of anti-science and conspiracy minded people are spreading a lot of misinformation, and outright paranoid fantasies, about vaccines. To those people, I would ask: "Oh really? So what is YOUR brilliant plan to get us out of this pandemic??"

They don't have any. They have nothing to offer, except conspiracy nonsense. Vaccines are the way out, people, and they have been proven safe. Throughout history, they have eradicated many terrible diseases.

Like the O.P., I am also Canadian, and we used to take a wonderful Disney trip every year. I despair when I hear that people are scared to take vaccines because of crap they read on conspiracy websites like Q Anon. That is garbage, I wouldn't even put that crap in a Grade B sci fi movie or second-rate paranoia thriller.

Let's trust in science to get us out of this mess. None of the technology we take for granted would exist without science, and that goes for medical technology, too.

I hope that we can go to WDW next year! The border is, sadly, still closed. I am considering booking a trip for Fall 2022, placing an optimistic bet that rationality and common sense will win out over paranoia and pseudo science.

 

[Maleficent_Hades]

[B]Davey Jones II[/B] got my appointment for my shot end of April and my husband gets his beginning of May

 

[Davey Jones II]

[B]Davey Jones II[/B] got my appointment for my shot end of April and my husband gets his beginning of May

Good move, and have a great trip!
Here's a question: in the past, most of my planning had to do with "how do we avoid long lines?" Without the FP system, how do you avoid long waits now?

 

[beachdreamr1229]

It's never too early to start planning. I started saving for the trip my family is taking this December 10 years ago. Of course, the planning got pushed back because I had a couple more kids and wanted to wait until they were old enough to remember it (we live in California so we go to Disneyland a lot, but WDW is a very expensive trip with the flight). So I'd say I started looking at dates, budgeting, restaurants, and rides really intensively maybe 2 years ago... And then everything changed with covid, so now I've got plans A, B, and C depending on what the parks might look like at that time. Only 10 months to go!

Enjoy your planning. It's half the fun.

 

[Jatoas]

I agree with the people here, it is never to early to plan. It also gives you time to tinker and research. So that when the six month and other deadlines come you are ready to hit the ground running. I use a spreadsheet to assist with the planning and budgeting that way you can record all your decisions!

 

[shawthorne44]

Good move, and have a great trip!
Here's a question: in the past, most of my planning had to do with "how do we avoid long lines?" Without the FP system, how do you avoid long waits now?

People generally imagine that the standby lines will be the same now as when there was fast passes. But remember getting to the front of the standby line (if you ever took it) and then having it still take forever because it seemed they let 50 fast pass people through before letting a standby group through. Pre-fast passes, the headliner (Tier 1) lines were very long, and everything else was minimal. So, plan on riding the headliner rides when the lines are shortest, probably either at rope drop or just before close.

 

[Average Joes]

Canadian also. We plan on going around labour day 2022 and we just started planning. Consider the cost involved it is not too early to plan. Especially for a first time.

Some things, like renting DVC, are best done about a year out. For a few years pre-Covid Canadian discounted tickets would come out in the fall that could be used the next year. I am not optimistic that they will come out again. However, if they do it is something that you may have to purchase in 2021 to use in 2022 depending on when you go.

 

[shawthorne44]

I just rented a house for Jan/Feb 2022 Disney trip. Looking at the schedule the house is at least 50% booked every month until Nov 2022. In fact, I might have wanted to checkout on a Sunday, but we have to check-out on Saturday because of the next reservation.