When is a good time to book a disney vacation?

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How many months in advance should I book? And who should I book through or do I search the web? My thoughts are planning to go next February 2008

[Ashfaque]

october and november

[EbenezerSaluja]

I recommend booking your Disney World trip a minimum of 6 months out. There are two primary reasons for this: 1) You maximize your chances of getting the hotel rooms that you want, and 2) You have the best chances of getting the dinner reservations that you want.

You're going during a typically slow time of the year, however, so it's not going to be extraordinarily important to plan quite so far in advance. If you were going during a busy time (holiday, summer, spring break, etc), it would not be uncommon for dining or hotel reservations to be completely booked three or four months out.

You can make dinner reservations for all WDW restaurants up to 180 days in advance. The hotel room bookings are a little trickier, as 2008 prices haven't been released yet. That means you'll be able to book, but the cost may change between now and then, so I'm not sure I would call it an actual reservation.

As for how to book, I've never had a problem just going through Disney directly: Call 1-407-WDISNEY and tell them when you want to go. If you're not overly familiar with the whole Disney World experience, however, you might want to let a travel agent do the work for you. Places like http://www.smallworldvacations.com and http://www.themagicforless.com will take care of all bookings, for no fee to you whatsoever. You also get the added benefit that they'll constantly check for new discounts and promotional codes, so you'll always get the best deal possible.

Another alternative is your local AAA office. If you're going to be booking a package (ie, hotel + park tickets), you might be able to get a discount by going through AAA. Make sure you go to disneyworld.com first though to check what the "rack rate" for your package would be, to see if you're actually getting a discount.

If you do book yourself, keep an eye on http://www.mousesavers.com for the latest discounts.

Walt Disney World is an immense place, and so a vacation there comes with an immense number of options. Here are just *some* of the things you need to keep in mind:
1) What level of hotel do you want to stay at? Value, Moderate, Deluxe, or Disney Vacation Club?
2) How many days do you want to visit the four main theme parks?
3) Do you want the flexibility to visit more than one park on the same day?
4) Do you want to go to the Water Parks?
5) Do you want to go to Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney?
6) Do you want to go to DisneyQuest at Downtown Disney?
7) How much will you be spending on food each day?
8) Is there a good chance you'll visit again within 366 days?

#1 will greatly affect the cost of your vacation. In early February 2006, a value resort (Pop Century) cost $82/night, whereas a Deluxe resort (Contemporary) cost $259/night (both for "standard view", 1 king or two double beds).
#2 determines how many "days" of base tickets to purchase. You can buy between 1 and 10 days, and do *not* need to make them equal to the number of days of your hotel reservation.
#3 determines whether or not to add the "park hopper" option to your tickets, for $45 (+ tax) each.
#4, #5, #6 determine whether or not to add the "water park fun and more" option to your tickets (if you'll do two or more of those options, or two or more instances of any of them, you want the option) for $50 (+ tax) each.
#7 determines whether or not you should get the Disney Dining Plan as part of your package. It costs $40/day/adult (slightly less per day for children) and entitles you to one table service meal, one counter service meal, and one snack for each day of your hotel reservation. Be sure to include taxes and tips when you estimate your meal cost.
#8 helps determine whether it'd be more economical to get Annual Passes rather than "normal" tickets (what Disney calls "Magic Your Way" tickets).

A great resource to help plan all this out is http://www.allears.net - it has information on all the hotels, menus, ticket options, and more. I strongly recommend it.

I hope this helps get you prepared to plan your trip! Have a magical vacation!

[dickie]

Several years ago, my sisters and I decided to plan a big family trip to Disney. We planned for over a year and a half! But we didn't book our room until a couple of months before we were planning on going. I went to the Disney website, www.disneyworld.com, and signed up for their newsletter when we first started planning. Every now and then they would send out their special deals, and we did actually get a really good rate in one of those e-mails and booked straight thru Disney. We went in November and it wasn't busy at all.

Depending on when in February you are planning to go, that can be a good time to go, too. Early Feb. is a good time. Be sure to do some thorough research specific to your wants and needs before you go. Here are some very helpful sites to visit:

www.mousesavers.com is a GREAT place to get top notch information. If you have some time before you are going, be sure to sign up for their e-mail newsletter because they send out lots of helpful info, including discounts and park maintenance schedules. This site frequently refers to Small World Vacations for your travel agency needs.

Another great site is www.wdwinfo.com. This site has everything broken down a little more than mousesavers, and it has discussion forums and LOTS of photos to get you excited about your trip.

And another great site is www.allears.net. As a matter of fact, go to http://www.allears.net/pl/planning.htm to get straight to some planning tips.

As far as books go, The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World is an excellent resource, plus you can take it with you when you go. It tells EVERYTHING about the park, including restaurant ratings and price guides, best times to go to which park, info about character meals (locations, costs, etc), shortcuts to get around the park, and lots more. If you really take the time to look through the book, you will not be disappointed with the information you find. I got this book before I went the first time and read all the way through it, and tabbed pages that I thought would be most useful.

I hope that helps you find the information you need. Have a great trip!