is two months too late...

[abmitch01]

,,,to plan a WDW trip for Nov? DBF wants to save up money and book just two months before we go. We stay off site in a condo usually. I'm thinking in Nov we should still be able to find one. FP tix are one month out so that's ok. We plan to dine mostly off site so dining reservations aren't a huge deal to us. I'm worried about airfare though, waiting so long to book. IDK about rental cars. Any thoughts? I'm used to planning everything as far in advance as I can, especially the airfare and condo.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

If you know you are going then plan it all out as much as you can now. Including the airfare. When we know we hit it hard early.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

Hotels should be no issue. A lot of them don't even charge you until you check in. ( If going thanksgiving week, might be harder though )

The only thing you would really need to pay for upfront is the flight, and once that is done, you'll lose money if you cancel it.

In reality, everything else really should be no issue. Just gotta get the tickets before fast pass day

 

[abmitch01]

If you know you are going then plan it all out as much as you can now. Including the airfare. When we know we hit it hard early.

that's how I would do it but DBF wants to use the next 4 months to save up money for the trip so he doesn't want to pay for anything until 2 months before we go

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would take a look at airfare now and figure out which flights you might be interested in and keep checking pricing. That's really the only variable here, IMHO. Also, in terms of ADR's, if you know your dates, you can start booking 180 days prior regardless of whether you have a hotel reservation or not, so you might as well start planning and booking those when your window opens. Just remember to cancel anything you decide not to use so you aren't charged a no-show fee.

 

[RajunCajun]

I see you're from albany. Flights are showing ~$200 round trip / person, non-stop on JetBlue. That's a decent deal.

I understand the attraction of staying off site for budgeting purposes but you could easily find a room at pop century, a value resort with recently remodeled rooms for a comparable rate with the benefit of putting down only $200 today reserve everything. You then have 30 days prior to arrival to have it paid in full. You'll get a 60 day FP window opposed to 30, be within the 'bubble' and have their transit system as an additional option

If you don't want to take that route, I'd buy airfare no more than 21-30 days out. I'm seeing ~$200 right now. could go up, could go down. For a rental car, check out Turo. It's like airbnb for cars. You can also buy status upgrades from most car rental companies on eBay.

have fun

 

[AngiTN]

I plan most all our trips within about 2 months time frame. I can't think of a trip I planned much more further out than that. I think it's fine

 

[Tomh]

I personally, would be a bit antsy about waiting that long to reserve my accommodations.

 

[Klayfish]

I plan most all our trips within about 2 months time frame. I can't think of a trip I planned much more further out than that. I think it's fine

Yep, this. Two months is more than adequate time. We're offsite people too, and there is a much larger supply of nice places than there is demand. So you can get great deals up until the last minute. For airfare and car rental, at two months out you'll be fine. It's only when you get to a week or two out that prices will really skyrocket.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

We've planned our two trips 2-3 months ahead, and everything has been fine. We don't always get the most popular dining reservations , but that's not a big deal to us.

We did have difficulty using airline points at 3 months out. There were very few flights left that could be booked with points. My dad spent 1.5 hours on the phone arranging it and had to pay for the 4th flight since there were no flights with points for the last leg of our trip. So that might be something to consider.

 

[abmitch01]

I have no airline points

I have my Unofficial Guide to WDW and want to use Touringplans.com to start planning our days. It's a sickness, really, lol. I didn't think I was a controlling a person until I put myself in charge of family Disney trips. Luckily, they all just followed me because no one wanted to wait in line. They didn't care if I planned it 6 mos out. DBF is a wee more laid back, he does not get that you would plan an amusement park day 6 mos in advance.

 

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

When in November? Thanksgiving week typically sees much higher airfare rates.

 

[Alison_in_Wonderland]

I just planned our trip 7 weeks out. Got a decent airfare, found an offsite condo easily (had many to choose from), was able to get ADRs (Touring Plans reservation finder is awesome!), and got the FPs I wanted (though not the times - but I was able to modify them to get exactly what we wanted!) I got back yesterday and had an amazing time. I think I would have driven myself nuts trying to plan 6+ months out.

 

[Haley R]

We planned our trip last year about 2 months out. It actually may have been a little under 2 months. We were actually able to get even better deals on hotels/plane tickets because they were trying to get rid of their inventory. For example, we flew with Frontier and our flights were about $150 each. We then booked our hotels through Undercover Tourist and got great deals for AKL and POR. By being 2 months out, you can still get your 60+ for FP and a lot of dining reservations become available the closer you get to your trip.

 

[dachsie]

Many of my trips to Disney have been planned in under two months as I tacked them on to a continuing ed trip. If you are persistent in checking, you can usually get the ADRs you want. I have always gotten the FP I want as well. Just be flexible and don't get your heart set on doing something you may not be able to do and you will be fine

 

[brianerickson]

I don't think I've ever planned a trip more than that long in advance; it's all revolved around when I happen to have the money to pay for the most significant parks of it

Sometimes I've had trouble getting my preferred resort (Pop Century), but when that happens, I just book at a Disney Springs hotel

As far as Fastpasses are concerned, I haven't noticed much of a difference

 

[abmitch01]

When in November? Thanksgiving week typically sees much higher airfare rates.

first or second week