When do you usually book your vacation stays?

[GCM13]

With all the questions on which Home Resort to choose, much of the advice is to buy where you want to stay. This only applies if you make your reservations more than 7 months in advance. We usually don't make our plans that far in advance, so I was wondering how many people actually do.

 

[house_of_princesses]

I like to plan ahead. Gives us all something to look forward to!!

 

[dougmatt]

We never planned that far out... Until we bought DVC.. Entirely changed the way we plan, at least for our primary vacations. We still take several Spur of the moment trips during the year as well.

 

[wdw4life]

I almost always plan way ahead. Sometimes as much as two years. With DVC it will most likely decrease but I still anticipate at least a years worth of planning.

 

[WDWLVR]

Definately a planner and usually make our reservations at least 10 months in advance. Most of the time right at the 11 month window.

 

[kathleena]

Most definately. To get those standard view BW rooms and because I am just a planner!

Case in point - I booked BWV SV studio five nights Sun-Thu last Sept for next August. Last week, I went to rebook two nights at the 7 month window to use up a few BCV points (they were Aug 2005 Use Year, and I wanted the 20 pts as BWV points for a trip in May 2005) I called Monday which would have been the first three nights. I couldn't call until after 1pm and by that time all the SV rooms were gone for all three nights! The first day of the 7 month window. So I called the next two days (one at 10am and the next at 11am) and got the last room left on both days. The CM on Monday had told me that there were 9 and 10 available for those two days, respectively.

Who knows what a wait list would bring, but I consider those rooms to be tough to get after 7 months!

Buy where you want to stay!

 

[bobbiwoz]

We're the "11 month ahead planning" sort of people. This was not "caused" by DVC, we just feel better knowing that there's a reason for getting up and going to work every day. We booked our upcoming Carnival Cruise exactly one year to the date ahead of time.

We did switch our May BWV ressies to BVC at 7 months out. We absolutely love the convenience of going to Epcot from there, and SAB is special, I don't deny that at all. Debs' Unofficial site has BJ Thomas listed as doing the Flower Power concert when we're there this year, now I am really excited, I like so many of his songs!

Bobbi

 

[NMW]

We always have made our vacation plans a year or a little more ahead. Now that we are DVC members we had to wait until 11mos, but we knew what we were going to do months before that! We also know when we are going on our next trip. It's a month before this one to use our PAP's twice!!

 

[Luckymommyx2]

We've only booked two DVC vacations so far one at the 11 month window and a more spur of the moment trip (for us) at the 4-5 month window. I like to plan as far out as possible but a spontaneous trip thrown in once and awhile is great!

 

[OneMoreTry]

I usually book >7mos if staying at my home resort. However, our last three trips were not to our home resort (BWV and HHx2) so I booked <7mos.

 

[WDWJWEB1]

GCM13

I could not answer the poll
We always book at the 11 month window, and then somehow, someway we always end up adding 2-3 short trips, usually between the 7 month window and the arrival date of the original ressie.
So I would have to say both, and for the past 4 years we have never not recieved the resort that we wanted.

But do not worry it's a "problem" that we are willing to live with(hee hee)

 

[jarestel]

We do multiple trips each year, so my answer is actually both. Our "big" trip, which usually consists of extended family and friends is always booked at 11 months because we want a specific set of accomodations at a specific resort. Then we do a couple of "spur of the moment" trips when the mood strikes us, and we just call and see what's available at the last minute.

 

[athenna]

I voted for the more than 7 months ahead option. This is now true. I didn't plan that far ahead before owning DVC, but now I do! I have my Nov trip all set!

 

[loribell]

Well I voted for less than 7 months ahead of time. Of course I always know when it is that we want to go and where we want to stay and I usually book something at about the 10 month window but then I have the trip completely planned and I get bored so I change something and have to change the reservation around. So that means that I change what day we are leaving, what resort we want to stay at, etc., etc., etc., well you get the point. That is why I went with less than 7 months because by the time th trip gets hear I have changed everything.

Of course I am one of those that really doesn't care what resort I am at. I just want to be at Disney.

Lori

 

[Verandah Man]

For our cruises, we try to book out as far in advance as possible, but on our other trips it is usually less than 7 months in advance. Case being, we just booked(1-31-05) a 5 night stay at Fort Wilderness Cabins for March 22-27, 2005 using points for this stay. Our first few trips (1983 & 1984) to WDW we stayed in Fort Wilderness and really enjoyed it, so we decided we wanted to go back there again.

 

[IsAreWasWereAm]

I usually can't schedule next week, but for our last trip, it was just at seven months in order to visit another resort. The difficulty with planning so far ahead is that, even though you have your room and airfare, you're still concerned that you might not have enough money in order to do all the other stuff you want to do.

 

[Bella2000]

I book at 11 month window for our December trips, however I have booked on a whim lots of times. I booked May in December and I'm looking to add another room (crossing my fingers) for that same May trip.

 

[NYsHiddenMickey]

I got to disney pretty often, but never booked over 7 montsh in advance-- i can tell you, however, that if I do get my DVC through ROFR- I will book right at the 11 month window- I am paying more per point and more in maintenance for that right- so i will definitely be using it

 

[kathyseb]

We pretty much book our three annaul visits at the 11 month window. But we are still fairly new to all of this.