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

[steruth]

I have found this thread helpful and suppose it depends on the way you book and where you are staying.

xx

[loobz]

we like to stay in a villa and as we travel during the August school holidays we find that those dates get booked up. We're currently looking at August 2020 and already a couple of villas we've been interested in have confirmed bookings for August 2020.

[steruth]

I found that with August last year too, struggled getting villa we liked.
There seems to be plenty at the moment for October and found one we like , just need to secure flights first or ask if they can pencil in few days either side

x

[DisneyF1rstT1me]

We've only done this 1 WDW holiday which we booked on 10 May last year, to depart for 2 weeks on 21 May this year. We paid £7964 via TA for 1 week AKL (DDP), 1 week 4 bed executive/deluxe villa 3 miles from MK, 14 day ultimate and 14 day 3 park explorer for Universal, car hire for second week (intermediate SUV) and direct flights with Virgin Manchester to MCO. 2a, 2c (we upgraded the kids tickets to adult so they have better choice on the DDP and this is included in the cost stated above).

I've just spent 10-20 mins doing a very quick comparison of sites to get an idea of how much I could have saved if we'd booked now for the same dates & duration and it's coming out as £39 more expensive (if I add DDP - it's £910ish cheaper without DDP but we'd spend more money on food, although I doubt a grands-worth, but I'd be more worried about our spending money). No doubt I could get it cheaper if I spent more time comparing cost of hotel and tickets on more websites (I only looked at google flights, skyscanner, Disney direct, attraction tickets and Universal's websites) but I doubt it would be significantly cheaper so as to be worth what it would cause me in sheer stress of not having the holiday booked and sorted and the worry of what if we couldn't get our dates for an affordable price. Mine and DH's work are not flexible so we would have to work to holiday dates booked in advance with little chance of getting them changed, even by a day or two. And we have the added security of knowing we've booked a package so are covered by the package tour regs.

If we ever return to WDW I may do it DIY but I don't think I'd ever be able to leave it as last minute as a month or two (or even 3 or 4) before - I'd develop a stomach ulcer from the nerves!

I'm actually quite pleased that OP's post has prompted me to do a bit of comparison research - I'd been happy with the price we paid when we booked it and after this research, I remain happy. I was kind of expecting to see that I could have saved £1,000 to £1,500 so am pleased this doesn't seem to be the case.

[Bozza]

To all intents and purposes those who have to travel within the confines of school holidays and those that don't are living in completely different holiday worlds.

Those who can just go as and when, within reason, have considerably more flexibility. We can literally decide to go today (as I did last year) and get cheap flights etc.

All that said, I really don't understand the manic "free dining was announced 13 seconds ago, i need to book NOW" stampede. The offer is on for yonks.

[razorsharp192]

Originally Posted by Andybear

You clearly only care about going as cheaply as possible and don't care where you stay or what you eat as long as it's cheap. However cost isn't everything to a lot of us. A lot of us go for the resort and food experience, not just going to the parks.

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Where did I say I only care about doing everything cheap or caring what I eat aslong as it's cheap? I've never said that at all.

[razorsharp192]

Originally Posted by Peko

I think it’s a very interesting topic. My view is that there is nothing wrong in being interested in what others do and why they do it, as long as you’re not judging.

In fairness to the OP, it felt to me like a genuine question based on his own experience. I’ve found many of the answers very interesting and informative, regardless of which point of view is held by the posters.

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Thankyou, this is exactly as I meant the post to be received. Maybe the word "crazy" wasn't the best use of words given that I seem to have offended some folks (please don't take it offence folks! none was intended) - I've edited my original post to be better worded To be clear i'm not judging at all, it was a genuine question as from my experience booking holidays closer to the time is better to get cheaper deals and it's the same way i've booked holidays for years (regardless of whether you're booking a value or deluxe hotel) so was interested to see others thoughts. I appreciate the school holiday issue in regards to being stuck to specific dates, so you'd have to book in advance to make sure you get your holiday, also if you're dead set on a particular hotel so want to make sure you get it.

When we book, we never have a particular hotel in mind and just pick the one we like at the time based on the reviews/photos/facilities/distance to whatever we want to do etc, so we're quite flexible in terms of what we end up booking and it makes it interesting for us as we don't know where we're going to stay until we go to book it.

I saw someone posted saying something along the lines of we "clearly" only care about doing everything cheap and eating cheap food, I'm not sure where that came from as I've never said that? I book late as I find that the best way to get holidays cheaper (not cheap holidays, the same holiday just cheaper) and if anything, the better deal we get on a hotel means we have more money to spare to spend on food so it's a win win!

[Andybear]

Originally Posted by razorsharp192

Where did I say I only care about doing everything cheap or caring what I eat aslong as it's cheap? I've never said that at all.

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That's what came across to me because all you were talking about was the cost, how cheap it is getting last minute deals, etc and people are "crazy" (your word) for booking earlier on and paying more. That's a bad thing about on line forums - misunderstandings sometimes arise.

[razorsharp192]

Originally Posted by Andybear

That's what came across to me because all you were talking about was the cost, how cheap it is getting last minute deals, etc and people are "crazy" (your word) for booking earlier on and paying more. That's a bad thing about on line forums - misunderstandings sometimes arise.

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As I said above, maybe my wording could have been better, please don't take offence, none was meant Edited my original post to avoid potentially annoying anyone else!

Obviously cost is a factor, but I said I book late to get cheaper deals, as I find I can get the same holiday cheaper by booking later i.e. not a cheap hotel/holiday, it's the same holiday just less expensive. For example this year when I booked, AKL was around £1600 each but booking it now for the same time next year is £2800 each.

[sha9]

Originally Posted by razorsharp192

As I said above, maybe my wording could have been better, please don't take offence, none was meant Edited my original post to avoid potentially annoying anyone else!

Obviously cost is a factor, but I said I book late to get cheaper deals, as I find I can get the same holiday cheaper by booking later i.e. not a cheap hotel/holiday, it's the same holiday just less expensive. For example this year when I booked, AKL was around £1600 each but booking it now for the same time next year is £2800 each.

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You’re looking at 2 different deals though. Normally we book free dining where the room rate is rack rate. This year we decided late we were going so missed free dining and got the free nights offer. Yes it’s cheaper but now we have to pay for food.