When to Book Your Disney World Vacation

Thinking about booking that Disney World vacation but not sure when to take the plunge? When you book your trip may effect more than you think. Today’s post covers all the details regarding when to book your Disney World vacation, so you can click that confirmation button with confidence.

Just so I’m clear, I’m talking about when to book your trip, not when you’re actually going to visit. I wrote an entirely separate post on when to visit the parks that you’re welcome to explore here. This post assumes you already know the rough time frame of your vacation (Spring Break! Christmas! National Doughnut Day!). You’re just not sure when to put down the deposit and make it official.

Here’s the scoop, organized by time frame. Happy planning!

Booking 200+ Days before Travel

Seriously? Booking more than 200 days before your vacation? Wouldn’t that be a long time to wait?

Yes, yes and yes. A surprising number of people book their Disney vacations a full year or so in advance. I’m not sure what percentage it is exactly, but it’s significant enough that Disney has the tools in place for you to do so.

Why do guests book so far in advance?

There are several advantages. For one, booking early provides you with the widest variety of resort options. Many resorts book quickly, or at least fill up the most desirable room rates within them, so it’s an advantage to book as far in advance as you can.

Second, if you book your trip early you can take advantage of making restaurant reservations at the 180 day mark before your trip. Disney allows EVERYONE to book restaurants up to 180 days from today. If you already have a resort reservation in place by the 180 day mark, you’ll have the ability to make restaurant reservations for your entire trip, rather than just the first day. This may sound a little ridiculous. That’s because it is. Although the majority of restaurants are still available way past the 180 day mark, a few (most notably Be Our Guest and Ohana) typically are not. If this matters to you, it’s wise to book early. You can read more about the 180 day mark details in my previous post.

Third, you don’t really have anything to lose if you change your mind. Disney requires a $200 deposit to confirm your reservation. If you change your mind, any time up until 30 days before your trip, you can change your reservation or get a full refund of your deposit.

One final advantage of planning your trip far in advance is the pace of planning it provides. You’ll have lots of time to figure out what you want to do in the parks and where you want to eat. It will also give you time to budget for your trip if needed.

Despite all the advantages of booking before the 200 day mark, there are a few disadvantages too. Obviously, it means you’ll have to wait a long time for your vacation!  Another slight disadvantage is the high likelihood of schedule changes. Disney tends to modify park hours, extra magic hours and special events up until about 60 days before a travel period. They aren’t usually a big deal, but it may mean you’ll need to adjust your itinerary closer to your departure date.

The biggest disadvantage of booking early is you are less likely to snag a Disney promotion for your trip. The company tends to wait to offer discounts until around four months before a travel period. (One notable exception is the “bounce back” promotion Disney sometimes offers you while you’re still on vacation.) If that matters to you, you’re always welcome to call the Disney reservationist and see if your planned trip qualifies for the promotion once it’s offered. This is getting harder to do though, since they don’t really have a huge incentive to offer you some savings if you’ve already booked a trip at the regular rate.

Fortunately, booking before 200 days doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll pay more for your vacation. If you book before Disney’s annual price hike, which usually occurs in February, you’re automatically “save” 4-6% on your trip just by avoiding the new rates. This year the rate hike occurred on February 18. Last year it was February 12. The media has a field day with this news each year, so you’ll usually hear about it somewhere about a week before the rates go into effect. Also, many of the discounts are for more expensive rooms to start with, so you may still be better booking the “rack” rate and looking for savings elsewhere.

Overall, the primary advantage of booking more than 200 days before your trip is flexibility in resort and restaurant options. The biggest disadvantage, other than having to wait a long time for your vacation, is you’re likely to pay a non-discounted rate.

Booking 100 Days before Travel

Booking 100 days before your intended travel date seems to be the typical time range for planning a Disney vacation. Travel agents usually start promoting summer Disney vacations in January. Disney corporate starts running promotions in this time frame too. Although it doesn’t offer quite the same level of flexibility as the 200+ day booking window, securing your trip before the 100 day mark still offers major advantages.

The biggest one probably relates to pricing. Disney usually starts offering promotions on available rooms around four months before travel. That means you’re more likely to snag a sweet deal like Free Dining or a percentage discount off your room. Sadly, it’s not exactly a sure thing these days, since Disney has diminished its discount offerings due to higher overall attendance in the last few years. Still, if you’re not super picky about where you’re staying or your specific dates, you have a good chance to get some kind of discount.

Another advantage relates to Fast Passes. If you book before 100 days, you’ll be set to take advantage of the 60-day Fast Pass window. Similar to booking restaurants, Disney lets you book FastPass attractions for your entire vacation starting on the 60th day before your first vacation day. FastPass availability won’t make or break your vacation. It could, however, save you some significant time in line for the most popular attractions. These days those attractions include the Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom’s Pandora, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom or any of the new Toy Story Land rides at Hollywood Studios. You can learn more about Fast Pass reservations and recommendations here.

My final comment for booking before the 100 day window is you still only need $200 to secure the reservation. This gives you time to search for air fare if needed and make decisions on the balance of your trip before payment. Once you hit the 30-day mark, the full balance is due.

Booking Less than 100 Days Before Travel

So, you just realized you have an open spot in your calendar to head to Disney for a few days. It’s only a few weeks away though. Is it too late? Should you still go? Short answer: yes!

You clearly won’t have as much flexibility in your planning options below the 100 day mark, particularly if you’re closer to the 30 day range. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though. Few options means easier decisions, right?

What do I mean by fewer options? Well, the biggest one relates to the resorts. Many (even most depending on the season) Disney resorts will be fully booked at less than 100 days before travel. This number increases dramatically as you get closer to the 30-day mark. You will still be able to find a great place to stay, it just may not be your first choice. It may also be a resort that is under construction or a room that is slightly more expensive because of its offerings (view, theming, suite, etc.) then you would have originally chosen.

You’ll also have fewer choices for sit-down restaurant reservations. There are a few extremely popular restaurants that book incredibly early. That still leaves 100+ options from which to choose though, include food carts and quick-service locations.

Shorter timing will effect your FastPass options too. Flight of Passage Fast Passes (say that three times fast!) are usually gone somewhere between the 60 and 30 day mark. Other popular attractions will still be available, but for slightly less desirable times (like late evening). Again, if you’re flexible and not concerned about hitting the newest rides without a wait, you’ll still have an awesome trip.

The primary negative, at least in my opinion, of booking within 30 days of travel is that full payment is due when you book. Depending on where you’re staying and for how long, that can be a bit of shock to absorb so quickly. I like to pay over time to take the sting off the full amount. Of course, it’s just a mental thing because it costs the same regardless of when you pay it. You’re also less likely, however, to snag a promotion again. This time it’s because the promotions are either all claimed or past the Disney deadlines for booking.

Overall, the primary advantage of booking within 100 days of travel is the minimum time to wait for your vacation! Unfortunately, the disadvantages of waiting this long to book could mean fewer choices for resort rooms, restaurants and possibly FastPasses. It won’t mean you have a bad trip. Check out my previous post on having fun at Disney with no plans at all!

Hopefully this post gave you some clarity on when to book your Disney World vacation. I wrote this post for planners that need some confidence in the overwhelming world of Disney planning. Just know that the timing itself won’t make or break the trip. If you decide to head to Disney World next week, go for it! You’ll still have fun. If you’re analyzing every detail and afraid of making a mistake with your booking, well, I hope this post helps with that too. Perhaps it will push you content procrastinators into action too.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I’m grateful for my ever-growing group of smittenwithmickey readers! If you have a comment or question about an upcoming trip, please feel free to leave me a message in the space below. I’m not an agent or a Disney employee, but I’m willing to help however I can.

Until next time, add a little (timely) magic to your world!