Do you book far in advance? If so what's the benefit?

[VickyJ]

If you want a specific room type in a specific resort then it makes perfect sense. It is a no loose situation really if the hotel cost changes so dramatically (which I have never known it to in years) then you can just walk away leaving just the £50pp deposit.

[keeley78]

There's loads of reasons, I don't think it's always cheaper to book nearer the time, there can be great prices to be had at anytime, we've booked 12 months in advance and paid less than your price of £650 each for direct flights, hotel & airport transfers, our holiday to Florida in 2012 was £560 each for example for 2 weeks.
It's also easier said than done for some to put the money away, it just doesn't work for some people, bit short one month & just "borrow" a bit from the fund, I might be guilty of doing it whereas if I'd booked & paid a deposit you know you have to pay
Those who book free dining with Disney book early as they get the $200 gift card, it goes down after a few months then doesn't get offered at all later plus there's adrs & fastpasses more choice of rooms, standard rooms might be booked out closer to departure & some people can't afford the more expensive rooms
More time to plan & get excited as you know your going if you've booked

[razorsharp192]

Originally Posted by scoobydooby

I assume you’re staying off property? Lots of people book well in advance to get free dining. I’ve booked 18m in advance and 9 weeks before we travel and many periods in between. I agree off site deals are best done closer to the time and sometimes onsite ones if you’re a smaller party looking for a room discount. When. Our family of four go which includes my DH and DS who both eat like rationing is threatened booming way in advance with free dining wins. For just me and DD we wait and hustle the best deals. But we eat much, much, much less than my boys do. There isn’t one better way. You just need to know what works best for your party and type of trip.

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We're staying offsite this year, but every other year we've stayed onsite and the holidays have always been cheaper booking closer to the time. Appreciate the free dining logic, but is there really a saving given that you're paying more for the holiday than you would by leaving it until closer to the time? We stayed at ASMu last year for £800 each, booked 3 months in advance, booking the same holiday 12 months in advance would've cost well over £1000 each, the difference in cost was more than we paid in food costs so even with free dining it wouldn't have been cheaper overall.

[Floridasun]

Because we are tied to school holidays and want free dining in a standard room. The standard rooms for our dates went super fast last year and when I wanted to change (because of all the work at cbr) the only room I could move to was a royal room at POR for £1k more. Before kids and school hols I would have booked later. However, now to get the dining we want (only Be our guest and o'hana's) we had to reserve these at 180 days. O'hana's is hard to get especially over memorial weekend. Also we needed to do fastpasses at 60 days to get things like FOP. If I was just doing universal I would be able to book later. However, I would still book flights early due to school hols and car hire as that gets very expensive close to the school hols dates.

[Miss_Tangled]

Originally Posted by gjdjud

Totally disagree. Most of the places we would choose to stay wouldn't be available at 3 months. Many of the Disney restaurants we like to go to wouldn't be available either. I don't like to put negative comments on here but don't like your comments about it being crazy to book early.

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Have to agree with this. If we stay offsite the villa we stay at is booked up until the end of 2019 bar the odd week here and there. Car hire is cheapest when it’s first released, last year our car hire doubled in price closer to our departure date.
If you want the free dining then you have no choice but to book within a time window especially if you want a specific resort and a lot of popular ADRs will go at 180 days.
I can see more reasons to book in advance than not but each to their own.

[scoobydooby]

Originally Posted by razorsharp192

We're staying offsite this year, but every other year we've stayed onsite and the holidays have always been cheaper booking closer to the time. Appreciate the free dining logic, but is there really a saving given that you're paying more for the holiday than you would by leaving it until closer to the time? We stayed at ASMu last year for £800 each, booked 3 months in advance, booking the same holiday 12 months in advance would've cost well over £1000 each, the difference in cost was more than we paid in food costs so even with free dining it wouldn't have been cheaper overall.

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If you’re a couple it often is cheaper closer to the time as me and DD find if I just take her. That’s even more likely if you stay at a value resort as they discount their rooms more to fill them. I can’t really comment on value room deals as I’d never stay in one so you may be right. It’s not crazy to book ahead though. I’ve been researching and taking onsite Disney holidays for 13 years and you just need to understand the deal that suits you. Restaurants can be gotcose to the date you travel although some will just not be available. When I booked 9 weeks out a few years ago we still got BoG, Cinderella’s Royal Table and Crystal Palace which we’re full when we booked but it was a pain and involved checking several times a day every day for the next 7 weeks.

[steruth]

Originally Posted by razorsharp192

We're staying offsite this year, but every other year we've stayed onsite and the holidays have always been cheaper booking closer to the time. Appreciate the free dining logic, but is there really a saving given that you're paying more for the holiday than you would by leaving it until closer to the time? We stayed at ASMu last year for £800 each, booked 3 months in advance, booking the same holiday 12 months in advance would've cost well over £1000 each, the difference in cost was more than we paid in food costs so even with free dining it wouldn't have been cheaper overall.

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I Would love to do this to get a bargain.
We are looking at Oct this year and never left so late so panicking a bit although not staying on site. Panicking more so for the flight/car prices.
Do you go in term time or out of term time. I am presuming this makes a difference.
x

[MrsBrown]

Originally Posted by razorsharp192

We're staying offsite this year, but every other year we've stayed onsite and the holidays have always been cheaper booking closer to the time. Appreciate the free dining logic, but is there really a saving given that you're paying more for the holiday than you would by leaving it until closer to the time? We stayed at ASMu last year for £800 each, booked 3 months in advance, booking the same holiday 12 months in advance would've cost well over £1000 each, the difference in cost was more than we paid in food costs so even with free dining it wouldn't have been cheaper overall.

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The value resorts don't have the same free dining options. Well done on managing £200 each on food for 2 weeks. I suppose that's where the real saving comes in.

[razorsharp192]

Originally Posted by scoobydooby

If you’re a couple it often is cheaper closer to the time as me and DD find if I just take her. That’s even more likely if you stay at a value resort as they discount their rooms more to fill them. I can’t really comment on value room deals as I’d never stay in one so you may be right. It’s not crazy to book ahead though. I’ve been researching and taking onsite Disney holidays for 13 years and you just need to understand the deal that suits you. Restaurants can be gotcose to the date you travel although some will just not be available. When I booked 9 weeks out a few years ago we still got BoG, Cinderella’s Royal Table and Crystal Palace which we’re full when we booked but it was a pain and involved checking several times a day every day for the next 7 weeks.

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Yeah guess that's what it comes down to, it's just what you prefer to do. For us we'd always book close to the time as it's always been cheaper for us when booking (not just value hotels btw), we just book the time off work in advance and then book the holiday when it gets closer to the time. We've never had any problem getting in at any restaurants either to be honest.

No offence meant folks, thanks for the replies!

[sha9]

One word: choice. There’s many more options booking in advance. Even booking our trip for this year 6 months before meant our resort options were limited.
Add that to the uncertainty of leaving it late and I’ll stick to booking in advance.