When Should I book?!

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Joined: 06/02/2015
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When Should I book?!

So this is my first trip that I have ever done the whole thing by myself, booking and paying for it. eek So I don't really have much of an idea on what's going on. My grandparents were DVC member for a long time so we always stayed at The Boardwalk or Wilderness Lodge.
My hope is to be able to stay at the Wilderness Lodge in a Studio, but in reality I am not sure if we will be able to afford it. We are staying September 9th-18th 2016. I know that during that time of the year is the "off season" so the Deluxe Resorts are cheaper that time of year. But back up plan if we can not afford there is Port Orleans Riverside.

So my question is should I wait until I see the prices low on Wilderness or book Port Orleans Riverside and keep watching and switch? and when should I do the booking? Its just under a year out now, that seems way too soon. In my head I was thinking like March or April, but its that not long enough?

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NikkiMouse's picture
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Joined: 02/19/2015
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I personally always book as soon I know when we are going. I love to make the one payment and then have the convenience of monthly payments spread over a few months. I would say we typically average booking 10 months prior to the trip.

Any deals that come out after you book can usually can added pending availability.

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JoAnn C's picture
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My suggestion would be to book now and make payments. Other than the deposit, there are no set amounts on the payments. You can pay as much or as little as you can. When promotions become available, call and see if you can get it applied. I booked a room today for October of next year.

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jhugo's picture
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We usually book about 10 months in advance. As soon as we have our dates we book and make payments. If deals come up and you have booked thru Disney you can always call and see if you can get the deal. We always end up calling to get free dining. Next year we are going in November again so we will probably book by February.

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Ok, So I was going to do it online which seems like you have to pay upfront. How do you go about doing the payments and how much % is the deposit?
So I should make it for Port Orleans Riverside now if deals come later I can call and try to change it to The Wilderness?

Thanks all for you help!

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NikkiMouse's picture
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Booking online you only have to pay $200 or $250 ( I am blanking on the amount for sure) as a down payment, and then you make payments up until the 45 day mark when you have to pay in full. Also, if you book a flight online through the Disney site that has to be paid in full immediately.

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Allie's picture
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A package requires a $200 deposit with the balance due at 45 days out. If you are doing a room only reservation the deposit is the price of a one night stay with the balance due at check-in. And ditto the others, I always book as soon as I know I'm going Smile Just under a year is definitely not too early!

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Thank you NikkiMouse and Allie!!!

We are putting electricity in the barn on Sunday that last big expense and it is done! So I will probably book after that! I am going to book at Port Orleans Riverside for right now. We have a Disney Honeymoon account set up so maybe we will get some good "gifts" towards that and we can upgrade to Wilderness Lodge. But I would be happy either way.

My parents were supposed to pay for our trip, but my mom unexpectedly got laid off and had to take a job that was about half of what she was making before so their finances have changed a lot and now they are unable to both help with the wedding and pay for out trip.

I am getting very excited about booking though, I am on the website everyday checking things out! And hopefully MNSSHP falls on one of those days or we will have to change the dates because I am determined to go back especially now they have Jack and Sally meet and greats and the Hocus Pocus show! If anyone hasn't seen it yet there is a full video on youtube and it was AMAZING!

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Ok so great news! My fiance and I were talking and we decided instead of doing a big Christmas we are going to set aside the money so that we can stay at the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge! I am super excited. Now I just have to wait for them to become available so I can book! Then hopefully the rates will drop later and I can get the deal!

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Allie's picture
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Sounds like a great plan! awesome

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Based on my info, Feb is when Sept deals start. May is when Dec deals start. Packages start first, then the room only deals roll in. Orbitz is good for room only. I don't normally shop packages, since I live in FL. If you are doing Christmas, I'd do the first or second week in Dec - not Christmas week are you?? Crowd levels are low first part of Dec and everything is all decorated. Make sure to do some resort hopping to see all the resort decorations and ginger bread houses, Beach Club & Boardwalk, and the monorail resorts, Poly, GF, Contemporary. WL and AKL should be around $230 / night (room only) sometimes cheaper. AKL is my favorite over WL but both are good. Riverside is a perfect fallback plan. This year we got a sat night around $170.

alicemouse's picture
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A few things to consider for timing purposes:

1. Changing your existing reservation to a special offer can sometimes be difficult. I had to change someone from a room-only reservation to a free dining reservation last spring. I was on hold for more than 12 hours and talked to 4 different cast members before someone finally figured out that the only way to do it was to cancel the existing reservation and create a new reservation. Make sure that you offer canceling and re-booking from scratch as a possibility for changing your reservation if necessary.

2. On a related note, My Disney Experience is finicky. The site already randomly has randomly disappearing information (most of which reappears again). Every time you make a change, you open yourself up to something else on your account going haywire. I've had some really interesting things happen. I've had tickets disappear. I've had DH's annual pass be reassigned to me. I've had resort reservations "unlink" themselves. Every time I've had an issue and called Disney, the "missing" items were still "there", but something happened to the user interface and I couldn't see them.

3. Despite the potential pitfalls of making changes later, I would book at least 181 days out because it gives you access to dining for up to the first 10 days of your trip at day 180 from the FIRST day of your trip. So if you are trying to get a hard-to-get ADR, it can be easier to find it at day 8-10 of your trip than on day 1-7 of your trip.

4. Certainly if not before, you absolutely want to be booked by 61 days out so that you can take advantage of your onsite FP+ booking window.

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

Allie's picture
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alicemouse wrote:
A few things to consider for timing purposes:

1. Changing your existing reservation to a special offer can sometimes be difficult. I had to change someone from a room-only reservation to a free dining reservation last spring. I was on hold for more than 12 hours and talked to 4 different cast members before someone finally figured out that the only way to do it was to cancel the existing reservation and create a new reservation. Make sure that you offer canceling and re-booking from scratch as a possibility for changing your reservation if necessary.

2. On a related note, My Disney Experience is finicky. The site already randomly has randomly disappearing information (most of which reappears again). Every time you make a change, you open yourself up to something else on your account going haywire. I've had some really interesting things happen. I've had tickets disappear. I've had DH's annual pass be reassigned to me. I've had resort reservations "unlink" themselves. Every time I've had an issue and called Disney, the "missing" items were still "there", but something happened to the user interface and I couldn't see them.

3. Despite the potential pitfalls of making changes later, I would book at least 181 days out because it gives you access to dining for up to the first 10 days of your trip at day 180 from the FIRST day of your trip. So if you are trying to get a hard-to-get ADR, it can be easier to find it at day 8-10 of your trip than on day 1-7 of your trip.

4. Certainly if not before, you absolutely want to be booked by 61 days out so that you can take advantage of your onsite FP+ booking window.

So true. Great points, Holly.