Shortest planning time?

[Christy]

There's a chance that I may have money for another Disney vacation this fall, but I won't know for sure until the fall (and unless I get this bonus, we can't afford another Disney vacation yet-we just went this past Dec.), so I can't make a ressie now. Anyway, I'd want us to stay at a Disney resort-but I'm wondering how quickly others have thrown plans together for last-minute trips. Last time, I planned for 11 months...

 

[Christy]

Last time we stayed at the WL, but they told us it was full (and we were there in early Dec. at a slow time). Which resorts would be most likely to have availability for a last minute trip?

 

[Stitch Inside]

In the fall I'd think you'd have availability at all the resorts.

 

[aidansmom]

Dh and I stayed at POR in March of 2001 after two days of planning! We both had the week off of work and weren't really going to do anything (we didn't have a lot of $$ to spend). At the last minute, one of his friends told him that firefighters were being given free admission at Disney - we called, made ressies and drove down the next day - it was one of the best trips we've had! I think during the "off" season, like the fall, you should do fine.

 

[WillCAD]

Length of planning depends on your depth of planning.

Are you a Winger? Do you make reservations for air, car, and hotel, buy tickets, and call the trip planned? This kind of trip takes a day to plan.

Or are you a Monk? Do you plan out daily itineraries, use a touring plan, make 3 or 4 restaurant PSs daily, and ask things on the boards like "how many minutes does it take to get from Star Tours to the Indiana Jones Stunt show?" That kind of trip takes months to plan.

I'm a Winger; I am obsessive about my travel arrangements (wouldn't do to be stranded without accomodation or transportation), but I rarely know which park I'm going to be in on what day, so I can almost never make advance PSs and I have never followed a touring plan of any kind. If I had to, I could plan a Disney trip in a day, one day in advance. But the less advance notice you have, the less likely you are to get the bargains on air, car, and hotel.

 

[juliesue]

I agree with the last poster. If you can be comfortable with just getting the hotel and transportation planned, you can do that in a matter of hours.

If you like to have everything planned to last detail, I think that would take quite a bit longer (depending on how much free time you have to think about it). Of course the more people you have, the more time it takes to plan.

Personally, I am a Winger. I like to have a way to get there and a place to sleep, but other than that we are pretty flexible. I do try to make PS in advance for our favorite places, but there have been many times we call that afternoon for an evening PS. We are usually lucky enough to get in, but not always. I would never recommend that during a busy season or if that PS means a lot to you.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

The shortest ever was probably one week. But that was weird in that I was going to meet people who were already there so I already had a room (by the way, I was going to meet an adult and a child, I was not sneaking into a room that was already at it's occupancy max )

For this May trip, we started planning less than a month ago.

I'll probably start seriously looking into our October trip in mid summer.

 

[Densgirl]

We planned our last trip in November in two weeks. We made a reservation on the internet and that took about 5 minutes and then I got every PS I wanted except for an Illuminations cruise and really that was just wishful thinking on my part. If you can be flexible with eating times and you have a few resorts you'd be happy in, you can do it in a day or two.

 

[newholidayx2]

Nov 02 (due to circumstances beyond our control) we put together a WDW vacation in 22 HOURS!
got tickets to MNSSHP, PSs at Chef Mickey's & O'Hana's

 

[Christy]

I am a planner by nature, but I'm also pretty flexible. I'm thinking that if I have a month's time (vs. our last trip that was 11 months worth of planning), I'll be okay. I may need extra Dis support during that time, of course!

 

[Bob P]

We are usually compulsive planners (make PS on the day they are available, book vacation about a year in advance, have a rough itinerary of each day planned out). But last August we were supposed to go to Sanibel and Captiva Islands on Saturday August 21. When Hurricane Charley hit there full force on Friday the 13th, we waited a day or two to get details on how badly the area was hit and then we swung into full Disney mode. We booked everything (hotel, air, PS) on Monday August 16 and we were checking in at the Yacht Club about 120 hours later!

 

[Christy]

Bob P-that's reassuring because I too am a compulsive planner...

My poor family, esp. my husband had to endure hours (okay, more like months) of my endless rambling about how we needed to call right at 6:58 am to make priority seatings and which park would be right for which day and why...but I really think-if the opportunity presents itself this fall-I'll be able to take on the last minute planning gig! (Okay, so in reality, I'm starting to plan now on the meer chance that we get the extra money this fall...)

 

[Bob P]

Christy,

Don't sweat it, unless you're planning on going at a very busy time you should be OK! I should point out there were nine of us (4 adults, 4 teens, one 9YO) and we still got it done!

Throwing the trip together at the last minute was more fun than it was nerve-wracking, and everything worked out great!

 

[Christy]

I think it would be fun...

...but I wonder if we'd ever be able to get the Wilderness Lodge again??