Full Planning Mode .... when?!?!?!

D

DisneyDebNJ

Well-Known Member
OK, you and your family decided on the dates for your next Disney vacation... Sometimes as far out as 2 years for some, others a year or less.. We normally book a year to 9 months out. Resort decided on, and have a general idea of what restaurants we want to try... My FULL planning mode goes into effect exactly 181 days out, not 185 days or 183 days out... but exactly 181 days. By that time, my TA has my wish list ADRs and I am ready to pounce on somewhat of a schedule.. So tell me, when do you and your families go all out with schedules and must dos?
 
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Poofiesdream

Poofiesdream

Well-Known Member
As soon as we book the resort I start planning. Checking out places to dine, what day what park. When the 180 day starts I am on the phone making my dinning reservations. Then I start planning what clothes ect I will be bringing to keep me busy on bad weather days. Make a list of what I need to buy for the trip and start watching for sales.
 
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harveyt0206

harveyt0206

Well-Known Member
I always plan a little, but don't really hit the ground running until the 180 day mark. A Question about applying discounts to an existing reservation: when you do that, does Disney force you to "cancel" your current reservation (the one without the discount) and then "rebook" under the offer you are trying to use? And if so, how does that affect any dinning/Fastpass reservations you already set up under the non-discounted package??? My 180 mark is in 31 days, but the discounts for my travel dates won't be out until probably late March, which is well after my 180 date, so I most likely will already have all of my dining set and don't want to lose them if a discount comes out later.
 
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DisneyDelirious

DisneyDelirious

Super structures are my specialty!
Premium Member
I start planning before we check out from the trip we are on by checking for bounceback offers. From there at about the 185 day mark I check park schedules, get a rough plan of what parks what days and run the ADR's I'm looking at by the wife. Morning of the 180 day mark it's making reservations, texting the wife like crazy about available times. Then I check the trip countdown calendar app daily for a month or so until it gets too frustrating. Then I enter this strange calm where I try to forget about it. Next thing I know I"m at 50 days out or so. I make sure everything is paid up, reservation looks accurate, flight info is correct for DME, and wait for the Mickey Mail. Then the excitement builds and we figure out how to surprise the kids this time in some creative way. Then it's enjoy a great trip and repeat the whole process over again....
 
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Allygator

Allygator

Well-Known Member
I am pathetic! We are going in September and from the day we decided and booked (December). I have been checking prior years calendars and speculating when Emhs could be at each park. I have ADRs all figured out. Unfortunately every time I read someone's review on a restaurant I have to figure out which one to drop so I can add it. Constantly changing it. Maybe I should just wait for 181 days huh?
 
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Pooh Lover

Pooh Lover

Well-Known Member
Since we normally book in September on a bounce back, I usually have a few months "off" before the really planning begins again. My 180 day mark will be about March 15, so by March 1 I'm in full planning mode, looking for park hours, EMH days and finalizing my restaurant choices. I usually try to plan our dinners around what park is open late or, if our restaurant choice is near a particular park, I'll try to plan it so I can go from the resort to the park to catch a bus. Once the ADRs are made, I can relax again until I book the flights. Love the planning....it lasts far longer than the actual vacation!
 
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bethram

bethram

Well-Known Member
harveyt0206 said:
I always plan a little, but don't really hit the ground running until the 180 day mark. A Question about applying discounts to an existing reservation: when you do that, does Disney force you to "cancel" your current reservation (the one without the discount) and then "rebook" under the offer you are trying to use? And if so, how does that affect any dinning/Fastpass reservations you already set up under the non-discounted package??? My 180 mark is in 31 days, but the discounts for my travel dates won't be out until probably late March, which is well after my 180 date, so I most likely will already have all of my dining set and don't want to lose them if a discount comes out later.
Click to expand...

I'm speculating here, but I would think it wouldn't affect your dining reservations. You don't have to be staying on property to make ADRs, so I would think they would be safe.
 
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bsiev1977

bsiev1977

Well-Known Member
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brifraz

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
We start planning the next trip about 15 minutes after we leave the World.

We have a 9+ hour drive home. As soon as we hit I4 toward I95, DD9 gets out a notebook and starts writing down ideas for days on our next trip. Activities we want to make sure we do, restaurants we want to make sure we hit, etc. Makes the drive go by much faster.

This past trip, as we left, we had not planned another trip for over a year (we were going to do Aulani this summer). The drive home discussion quickly hit on the fact that at 9yrs, DD is still in the children price range for DDP and that she thinks this will be last trip she will want to dress up in costumes, therefore, Hawaii will wait for another year or so.... and we'll be back in July. All general plans are pretty much set, ADRs were made last week at the 180 day mark, and we will just keep tweaking until we show up!
 
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PUSH

PUSH

Well-Known Member
I went into full planning mode today actually. Although we are 126 days out so the ADRs are pretty limited, but we plan to make the ADRs tomorrow once the other people going with us look at our plans.

By the way, we just booked a couple of days ago so 180 days was not an option.
 
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