Your process for planning 11 months out?

[holyrita]

Hello! I was wondering if I could get some advice from the DVC experts on how you go about planning your trips 11 months or more in advance.

My past Disney trips have all been planned 1 to 1.5 months before going. This was easy because I could just:
- See which days had the cheapest flights
- Book the cheapest hotel off property (that was still a decent hotel) for those dates
- Wait for the 30 day mark to get my fastpasses
- Go!

But now, planning so far in advance, I'm struggling with almost.. too much choice? And not being able to browse flight costs. I know which months I want to go and for about how many days, but that's not helping me much. Do I try to plan to check-in and check-out days to land on days that are normally cheaper to fly on (Tues, Weds, Sat)? Do I not worry about that and just plan when I want to go and hope I can get not-outrageous flights?

When planning I've always been told flights first and everything else second, which doesn't work in this case. Not having flight costs to make the decision for me isn't helping my indecisiveness.

I really enjoy planning though, so looking for any tips on how you pick your dates!

 

[Marionnette]

Hello! I was wondering if I could get some advice from the DVC experts on how you go about planning your trips 11 months or more in advance.

My past Disney trips have all been planned 1 to 1.5 months before going. This was easy because I could just:
- See which days had the cheapest flights
- Book the cheapest hotel off property (that was still a decent hotel) for those dates
- Wait for the 30 day mark to get my fastpasses
- Go!

But now, planning so far in advance, I'm struggling with almost.. too much choice? And not being able to browse flight costs. I know which months I want to go and for about how many days, but that's not helping me much. Do I try to plan to check-in and check-out days to land on days that are normally cheaper to fly on (Tues, Weds, Sat)? Do I not worry about that and just plan when I want to go and hope I can get not-outrageous flights?

When planning I've always been told flights first and everything else second, which doesn't work in this case. Not having flight costs to make the decision for me isn't helping my indecisiveness.

I really enjoy planning though, so looking for any tips on how you pick your dates!

We tend to settle on a time of year/point requirements and then book the resort at 11 months. Sometimes, it’s in conjunction with another event (cousin getting married in the area, a business conference in Orlando, or F&W), so we’re pretty locked in on the dates, give or take a day or so.

Then, we may adjust our stay based on flight times and costs. We’ve done single nights at a Value Resort just because it was cheaper to pay for a hotel and fly in the day before than it was to fly in the day that our DVC started. Or, we’ve done a split stay where we start at a different DVC resort because airfare was so expensive on the day that we originally planned to arrive. If our home resort isn’t available, we book a different one at 7 months in order to fill the gap. It’s easy to remove the last nights of a reservation if we have to shift to an earlier arrival date.

But mostly, we fly Southwest on Rapid Rewards points. We book as soon as the schedule opens and then stalk the app for better prices because the points just go back in our accounts if we re-book at a lower fare. I’ve always been able to score decent fares using this strategy and rarely have to resort to split stays or shifting dates.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We're lucky that we only live about three hours from WDW, no worry about flying. The one time we did fly back when we were about 14 hours away, the plane was about six hours late leaving the airport because they needed a part flown in from another city. Then there was a terrible storm at the connecting flight airport, so we couldn't land on time and missed our connection. That was about a 14 hour day in airports. We could have driven in the same amount of time.

But with DVC, if you are going at any of the busy DVC times (which is most of the year now), you need to book your home resort at 11 months out. So you set your mind on a date, make your DVC reservation, then start looking for flights.

 

[iheartglaciers]

I usually book dates and then add on (or cancel) a day if you want to adjust closer to the date based on flights (or schedule changes). Sometimes this means staying one night at a different resort, but we don't mind it. I live near a a few airports that have a lot of flights to Orlando, so I typically don't see too much variation in flight prices (besides it being cheaper on Tues/Wed/Sat kind of thing).

 

[Sandisw]

I usually go on trips 4 nights unless going with a big group which ends up being around 6 nights,

I always book 6 or 7 nights to start at the 11 month window and then when flights come out, I can adjust trip to the exact dates to match my flights.

I’m fortunate to have the points to do this, given I am booking several trips a year. It doesn’t require any borrowing.

 

[abdgeek]

I’m probably in the minority, but I plan my trips 2 years out. I can only travel during peak times (holiday, school vacation, summer) so my dates are not flexible. Here’s the process I use:

1) Decide where I want to go and the dates I want to go there.
2) Decide how many points I need to use and what use year they will come from.
3) Decide how much incidentals will cost.
4) Look at current year flight costs using dummy dates to determine what budget needs to be. Do the same with rental car rates if I’m booking one.
5) Book trip and flights as soon as able to to get lowest rate. Check back periodically to make sure I have the cheapest rate. Other than airline tickets, try not to make a reservation that requires pre-payment in full at booking.

I am very Type A, so I know most people won’t do what I do. However, there’s a lot of pre-planning you can do for your trip. The key to getting the lowest rates is being ready to book immediately when you see them. That means doing all your research ahead of time. Good luck.

 

[holyrita]

Thanks for all of the great replies! I like the idea of booking more days (as points allow) to give you the ability to modify for flights.

Still indecisive a bit for a week long trip. I like the idea of a Sunday to Sunday trip because tues/wed/thurs are normally lighter park crowds than thurs/fri/sat/sun/mon. But Wednesday to Wednesday or Tuesday to Tuesday might be better for flights, but would put a bulk of our park days on weekends. Hmm..

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Unfortunately we follow a school calendar. Only go when daughter is out of school.

 

[chiisai]

We also follow the school calendar. Generally, will travel the week before Christmas if the dates work well for school holiday then. Otherwise spring break. Now and then we will pick a summer block, to be able to go for more than a week, but it’s so hot I have to forget what it’s like before booking again.

I think in 2021 there will be a weird week in November with two school days; I am pondering taking the kids out to experience that time of year. Not sure since one kid is a high schooler; they may not want to miss two days.

 

[Carolynleanne]

Not going to lie, it is a challenge. Not only are you putting out the money a year in advance, but you cant even book flights at that point. Usually we secure our DVC, then drop or add on a night or two to line up with best flight costs.

 

[Dina]

We tend to go the same time every year.....we usually go mid July.....so I know that's when we're going to go. I book it at 11months then keep checking airlines and book the flights when I can. If theyre really expensive when they first come out....then I'll wait. We are coming from pennsylvania, so I've always had in the back of my head that we can drive if the flight costs are outrageous

 

[drusba]

Our trips are usually one week. I tend to book a week at a time 11 months out, picking start date with best guess as to when, during the week, airfares will be a little better than other days. If my guess is wrong, and, for example, later learn I missed better airfares by a day, I will attempt to modify the reservation accordingly, which may or may not be possible. Current problem is that I do not know whether covid may, even after it is gone, forever change what were often typical lower cost airfare days of the week.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

To be honest, my work has no idea what to tell me about 11 months out as they can not predict how busy they will be. So, I just pick a day to start and a day to end. I tend to go Thursday and stay about a week; but that depends on how much vacation time I have and how many points I have. I like my weekends in the middle of the stay so they make good "rest" days (I need to recover after so much walking). I USUALLY do not adjust for airline prices - on southwest, it's generally only a difference of a few dollars and it's not worth it to me to move things around. If there is a huge price difference, I may try to adjust the dates - but that's rare.

 

[kboo]

Our trips are usually one week. I tend to book a week at a time 11 months out, picking start date with best guess as to when, during the week, airfares will be a little better than other days. If my guess is wrong, and, for example, later learn I missed better airfares by a day, I will attempt to modify the reservation accordingly, which may or may not be possible. Current problem is that I do not know whether covid may, even after it is gone, forever change what were often typical lower cost airfare days of the week.

Now that we have school-age kids, we are stuck with times they are out of school. We may adjust a day or two here or there based on airfares and other schedules, but we do know generally when we'd like to go - 2 of the 4 of us have birthdays at the end of summer which is also good for crowds and point costs (although sort of bad for weather); DH is around July 4 (too crowded and costly and hot), DD2 is around Thanksgiving, and then we have school breaks. So we generally talk about when the following year we'd like to go to Disney, and that's part of a larger conversation about other trips/vacations*. Then at 11 mo I book my best guess for that time, like most of the previous posters, and then either modify the stay or add a night at Swolphin or at the airport, whichever makes sense. One time we flew in the night before, saved $200 pp x 4 people on airfare, booked a $160 room at the Hyatt MCO, and were on DME the next morning by 8:30 am, well rested.

*of course all this is likely to change until we have a reliable vaccine for Covid...

Also - despite owning DVC points and sometimes even having them available, we've stayed at the Swolphin for last minute trips. Just because you own DVC points doesn't mean you can only stay DVC.
Also also - since we have more than 1 home resort, we often book split stays. There's some added flexibility in that we could, hypothetically, cut part of the trip or more easily switch part of our stay at 7 months.

 

[com_op_2000]

OP, IMHO, you need to be looking even further in the future, like 3 years out.
Your last minute trips should of been in the I should not buy DVC, when making your decision to purchase. Now that you have purchased, get together an Excel Spreadsheet that you understand suggestions for including as top of the line things to have:
Website login information
UY
Banking Deadline
Current points in each UY
Planned/Possible trips - need to be looking at least 3 years out
Completed trips - with an area for listing where you stayed (some include the room number) and anything special you did during the trip
Current reservations include points required, location, and reservation number
Anything else you care to have documented over time

 

[Travel60]

Our home resort is HHI and we try to do one week there in a 3 BR every other year for kids, grands, etc. I try to book that one 11 months out.

For the rest of our points (we have 800), not so much. Except for the family trips, it's usually DH and I. We may book a cruise (In know, bad use) or use points to stay at RCI somewhere when going to some event or following our favorite college football team - we are east coast so when they go south or west coast we turn it into a full week trip. DH likes to go to Florida for baseball spring training so we sometimes add on a few no-park days at WDW to that trip. I may book these 3-4 months out.

This year we had 3 BR booked at Boardwalk so grands could make first trip to WDW. I booked that one at 7 months with no problem. Of course, it had to be cancelled. Will not try again until at least 2022.

I try not to make vacations into work.

 

[kboo]

Even though we've canceled 3 Disney trips so far in 2020, I plan Disney vacations whenever I'm feeling stressed, without putting down committed $ on anything. Right now we have 2 more hopeful trips for 2020 and 3-4 trips booked/planned for 2021. Will they all happen? Probably not, but right now they're something to look forward to on the calendar.

Do I have tickets or AP yet? Nope. We'll figure that out later.