Planning Months in Advance???

[LuvThatMouse]

I see some people here who have been planning their cruise months or years in advance. How do you do it? I mean, I guess it's just my impatient nature, but how can you stand to wait so long?
I can save money for long periods of time but when it comes to planning a vacation, I cannot actually book anything until it is only 6-8 weeks away. For one, our plans are affected by my husband's job and the other is once I start thinking about it, I'm ready to go.
How can you stand it?

 

[jlowejd5]

Lots of time on this board. Some Disney music cds. The free vacation planning guide.

Umm....

Umm....

Beer? No, no, that won't work...

Ooh, I've got it: Trying to bribe, convince, cajole, snooker and otherwise force my friends to come with us!

 

[ivanova]

How can you stand it?

I just learn to live with it ... in order to convince DH and DD to save for a vacation, it has to be planned/reserved and then they treat it as a goal ... they won't save for "some" vacation "sometime" in the near future

Plus I'm an anal-retentive-vacation-planner so having all the extra time reduces my stress level as I rewrite packing lists, to-do lists, budgets, etc.

 

[dmensing]

I guess for me, part of the fun is the planning of the trip. Where to go, what to do, where to eat....all the little details. When you plan way ahead, you kind of "experience" the vacation while you plan. The more time planning, the more virtual fun you have!

Since we have a timeshare, planning far ahead is the only way to get the great trades too!

Thanks,
Dan.

 

[Stinasmom]

I guess for me, part of the fun is the planning of the trip. Where to go, what to do, where to eat....all the little details. When you plan way ahead, you kind of "experience" the vacation while you plan. The more time planning, the more virtual fun you have!

Since we have a timeshare, planning far ahead is the only way to get the great trades too!

Thanks,
Dan.

This explains my reasons to a tee. We to have to plan ahead for timeshare time...and we still haven't gotten confirmation for our June trip!! I am on edge that I haven't been able to booked flights yet!!
This being our first cruise and more than we usually spend on a trip, I want to make sure I know all there is to know before so I can feel prepared and more relaxed on the ship. Besides, it is fun to daydream!
The best part is that I have met online friends who will be on my cruise to exchange info with and bounce ideas off of.

 

[LuvThatMouse]

I guess for me, part of the fun is the planning of the trip. Where to go, what to do, where to eat....all the little details. When you plan way ahead, you kind of "experience" the vacation while you plan. The more time planning, the more virtual fun you have!

Since we have a timeshare, planning far ahead is the only way to get the great trades too!

Thanks,
Dan.

Don't get me wrong, I have researched this trip to death! I've planned to a certain degree and have lists of things that you wouldn't believe. I do have to leave some things for my DH to decide once we get there as he is the type who likes to just play things by ear. I have a folder with the two inside pockets labelled "Land" and "Sea" with all the helpful info I've found printed out and neatly filed in the folder along with all my "official" Disney info.
That being said, if I had to wait a year after my initial research and planning, it would drive me crazy. That's why I can't start planning until it is a little closer to the time to go.
Also, I've seen some people on here who are soooo detail oriented they could have seriously successful careers as travel agents/tour operators.

 

[DrCavin]

After placing the deposit for the cruise, we don't *plan* anything until about 4-6 weeks out, then it is flights & hotel night before stuff. We did book our next cruise about 1 1/2 years in advance, but for other vacations we plan about 4 months out or so.

The countdown timer can be a killer if actually start watching it *hehe

 

[musicgirl]

We book out so far so I can budget the payments. Then you get to celebrate as time passes.

For instance, on our cruise meet date thread, we just celebrated a very important date. We hit the 500 day out mark. Yahoo!!!!! I know it's kind of lame, but you have to find joy in the little things while you are waiting.

I can hardly wait until June to book my hotel a year out. My suitcase is already packed, so I'm ready in case anyone ever has an extra ticket that they could throw my way. Hey, I'll go along as your nanny if you want. Well that is a nanny for the little ones.

 

[Jaquie]

We usually travel with several famlies, so to make sure we are all together, we book usually 6 months to 12months ahead of time. Plus we got great deals booking our trip in June 2004!!!!!!!!!! My kids also have been doing extra chores for extra money so they can get ANYTHING they want. It's a great way of teaching them if they work hard they get what they really want!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

As soon as the 2007 rates and dates are out I will book. Let me tell you, it's a killer waiting so long to even be able to book! I started thinking about a cruise when the 2006 rates first came out and I realized that it was a big chunk of change for a cruise and we decided to wait until our 25 anniversary. So it's ayear that I will have waited to even be able to book and then almost 2 years before the cruise. Yikes! I've already started thinking about how many days we'll want to add on for WDW, where we'd want to stay, what type of tickets to get, etc, etc. I mention very little to my DH because he already thinks that I've gone off the deep end.

I'm a planner by nature, though. I'm not happy unless I have something to plan for. Right now I'm planning a few days in New York City for next month (never been there), planning our beach vacation for this summer, starting to think about a So California trip that is planned for summer 2006, and then in early planning mode for the WDW/DCL trip for 2007. How's that for planning?

T&B

 

[Belle1997]

I too am worried about burning out my excitement getting so much info but can't use it for about 10 months. However I set little goals. Like getting excited about paying our deposit. Next will be to meet or monthly saving budget and celebrate that month. Then to celebrate paying off the cruise. Next to the land portion and paying off each day. Finally booking air becuase by then it will be just arounf the corner. So I will keep the excitment going. As well as planning small camping trips to have something else to look forward too. So hopefully the excitement will keep on going like the energizer bunny.