What's your booking "strategy"?

[momtoprincesses]

Just for fun and out of curiosity, what is your booking strategy? Do you use a travel agent? Do you book at the 499 day mark or are you a last minute person? Do you book what you want with the hope of finding a deal (or possibly not caring if you get a deal) or do you wait until you see what is offered by Disney (RO discount, free dining, pin code)? Do you book your room, tickets, dining all at once or piecemeal them together later? Do you make sure flights are reasonable for your dates or worry about that later?

We took our first family vacation two and a half years ago and I ended up paying rack rate for WL. Our next family trip will be Oct. 2017. This time I have three different weeks I am open to and five different resorts. My plan is to wait to see special offers and then book. I am determined not to pay full price this trip! I may also contact a travel agent or two just to see if they have access to a deal I don't. From there I will add tickets and decide about dining (of course a Disney offer may dictate this). And then of course we have to figure out if we will fly or drive.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We book what we want when we know what our dates will be and where we want to stay. We book room and tickets together but we don't use the dining plans anymore. We book what we can afford at rack rate, and if we get a discount that we can use, great. If not, oh well. We drive, so flights aren't an issue.

 

[RedOne3781]

Back in the day (90's - early 00's) we would just call, book CBR, paid rack rate and went every summer late June / early July.

Then dining plan/free dining started. So we switched to mid/late August and would book via Disney as soon as dining was released.

Last summer I changed it up a bit and used a travel agent to get a great deal for late August, without dining, to stay deluxe.

This year, my cousin (a cast member) is staying with us so she booked the room via whatever site CMs use so we were able to get our room half off.

tl;dr: Our methods change with discounts/circumstances.

 

[raddisneyfan]

I usually do the flight first--I decide what weeks I think I want to go and look for the best price option--I live near a SW hub, so price usually is good and I don't usually worry that much. I always book the room through Disney--either by calling or online (usually online); I have never used a travel agent; then I constantly monitor for discounts through the many sites out there. I almost always go when discounts have been historically available. However, I am also always willing to be flexible with resort, so I originally book where I think I really want to stay and if a good discount comes out for another resort, then I rebook at the new resort. I might do this multiple times before I go. I will book tickets with room if there is a package deal, otherwise I don't necessarily book them together. I never do the free dining offers, just the room discounts. The dining plan to me is too much food. Even if it is a deal, I hate to waste. Everyone on this site agrees, planning if half the fun--so have a blast!

 

[Disfan5]

I book resort/ticket package and autotrain tickets that I want the minute DH agrees to go to Disney! If a deal comes out later great, if not that's ok too!

 

[shyjade]

We are usually pretty limited as to when we can go because of school and work obligations (plus I refuse to go in summer or around a holiday) so I usually start with the flights first because we usually only go for a few days at a time. We normally get a discount when we go (most often in fall) and wait until the fall discounts come out before booking. I normally book around 6 months in advance, but last January we booked less than 2 weeks out. Found roundtrip airfare for $63 which was too good to pass up! I was a bit stressed booking so last minute but it was a great trip, the weather was perfect, and we even got FP+ for all the rides we wanted.

 

[kiford]

We usually book what we want for the time want once we decide to go. We then go to a TA and have them book hotel, tickets, and DME and/or cruise (this year includes a cruise). Last year we hadn't planned to go but got a PIN code in May so decided to book it. This year we waited to the end of May to see if we'd get a PIN code like we did last year and were planning to book by June 1 if we didn't get one. We did get one for the times we wanted at the resorts we wanted about the 3rd week of May and then DH and I just did our final decision on which resort to stay at and went with our original decision. We let friends of ours in Florida know and she was able to book a couple of days at the same resort.

We like to go after US Thanksgiving but before the last two weeks of December. This year the specific dates were chosen because of the two cruises that we narrowed down to and how that worked with room availability for the resorts we had shortlisted and available dining. We had a slight preference for one of the cruises which then dictated the week to stay at WDW and that actually had better availability for rooms and dining so it all worked out. The cruise was also marginally less expensive and had better availability of staterooms too.

We basically have two choices for flights: Air Canada or Westjet and their flight times are pretty much the same from year to year. This time we decided to stay at MCO Hyatt before the cruise so that allowed us to pick a later flight than we would normally do (also had the TA book that and the DCL transfers to Port Canaveral). I prefer to fly Wesjet but depending on the day of the week they don't always have the best times. We had a discount voucher for Air Canada this year so we went with them this time. Sometimes we use points so that also dictates Air Canada. We usually book pretty much as soon as we have booked our room. We usually book this ourselves on-line especially if using points.

We don't do the dining plan so it's then just a matter of waiting until we're able to book (sometimes we book about 90 days out so I can book right away). Then book MVMCP tickets and any other events we might want to do. Booked all of my dining the day I was able to and got everything I wanted (including QVR at V&A) except Rick Bayless' new restaurant as I had to wait for that to open; managed to get the time and day I wanted for that.

 

[T_O]

I book on my own, only when promos are available. For the best deal, you have to be aware of when promos are released, since certain hotels & rooms fill up quickly. It helps if you're a Disney Visa cardholder because you usually get early access to hotel promos.
If you prefer to book only a couple of months out, it's not impossible to still apply a promo code to your reservation - but options will be limited.