When is booking for 2012 available?

[Vertical]

I'm in the (very) early stages of planning a trip to the World, and it looks like February 2012 is when I'll be able to go. It's obviously pretty early for that, but I'm just curious when the Disney website allows for bookings in 2012? Does anyone have any idea?

 

[angierae]

August/September, usually. (We're looking to go the week before Easter next year. Crowds but it's the only time we can go between DD's school schedule and my husband's inability to handle humidity.

 

[aprhj]

You can call and book now, but the amount of the room reservation will not be accurate because the rates are not out yet. Well at least that is the info I received for booking the first week in Jan. All the nights were based on the Jan 1 rate which is a holiday rate. Good news is if I decide to book now I will automatically save money once the rates are out, of course that's really not a savings, but I'm hoping for a code for our dates later this year.

 

[Vertical]

How did you book? Through Disney's phone line?

 

[aprhj]

I did not book yet, but I did call the Disney Reservation line. They quoted me the price as the whole stay being the Jan 1 rate, days were Jan 1 -8. She acted as if I could book then or any time. I will probably call next week or the week after and book and then keep my fingers crossed for a % off room code to be released that includes our dates.

 

[lissiesmum]

August/September, usually. (We're looking to go the week before Easter next year. Crowds but it's the only time we can go between DD's school schedule and my husband's inability to handle humidity.

I was there Easter week this year (just got back) and I was prepared for the worst and didn't think we'd ride a whole lot...well, the parks open up so early that no one gets up for 7 or 8 am rope drop and we had the parks to ourselves until at least 10:30! If you can get your family up early like we did, you'll see everything you want to see and you can head back to the resort to have lunch and relax by the pool while everyone else fights the crowds! If you can't get up early...prepare yourself for the crowds! We'd go to Epcot nightly for dinner and arrive around four o'clockish and the standby times for Soarin and Test Track were always over 120 minutes long! And be aware that the Fast Passes for these and TSM at HS disappear by eleven am daily...any other questions, please feel free to PM me.

And to stay on topic here, I have booked way in advance of when the rates are posted. They'll ask for one room night's deposit, and then when the rates come out and if you want a package, they'll refund what you paid and charge you the package deposit instead. Unless you book at the Swan/Dolphin, where once you pay your deposit you are locked into that rate even if it goes up! After staying there, I will not go back to paying WDW deluxe hotel rates. We're going again in February and we'll be returning to the Dolphin Good luck planning everyone...February is a nice mild time of year to be touring the world.

 

[DanielleandBrady]

I agree with PP..I was there during Easter Week/Spring Break. DS and I got to the parks at 7am during the EMH for HS and AK and we had the park to ourselves!! We rode everything we wanted to, got fastpasses for later in the day and was able to get breakfast with the characters too!! We would leave the parks around 12 to go back and nap and swim and come back later, it was awesome! Good luck!!

 

[aprhj]

I did go ahead and booked our stay. I can't wait till the real rates come out and hopefully a room code also because there is no way we can go at what I was quoted, $5,000+

That was for 8 nights in a CL room at AKL with tickets and dining, paid a $200 deposit to hold it and see what develops. My main concern was making sure the room type I wanted was available. We've never stayed CL before and will probably drop the dining if we do, but I felt the deposit was fine to pay right now and see what happen with rates and codes later this year.

 

[havoc315]

I did go ahead and booked our stay. I can't wait till the real rates come out and hopefully a room code also because there is no way we can go at what I was quoted, $5,000+

That was for 8 nights in a CL room at AKL with tickets and dining, paid a $200 deposit to hold it and see what develops. My main concern was making sure the room type I wanted was available. We've never stayed CL before and will probably drop the dining if we do, but I felt the deposit was fine to pay right now and see what happen with rates and codes later this year.

For 8 nights in a club level room, with tickets and dining, 5k actually doesn't sound high. You may get lucky and get free dining or a room discount. But otherwise, the rate is likely to actually go up with annual rate increases.

 

[aheaviside]

Lissiesmum- would love to hear more about how you liked your stay at the dolphin as you mentioned you preferred it over WDW hotels. How were the rooms? Are they smaller than the deluxe WDW rooms? how was transportation to MK and AK...Buses? I had always planned to stay at a WDW deluxe resort but now looking at the prices and what I can save at the swan or dolphin I'm having second thoughts so would appreciate any insight you can give.