How Early is Too Early?

When it comes to planning your next Disney vacation that is.   How early do you start planning?

Of course, you can't make reservation 2 years or more in advance for any Disney location because the rates are not available that early.  However, you can really start thinking about it!  What we are planning on is for 2015.  We want to wait for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster attraction to be totally completed before we plan another trip to Walt Disney World.  Seeing it being built on my last trip in May, makes me even more anxious to experience it.  We really feel that with what we have seen, read and heard about this attraction, it will more than likely be our favorite roller coaster on property, or anyplace else for that matter!  (Like we really go on any roller coasters anyplace else!  HA!)

Photo Credit: John Foster-The Disney Blog

Mine car prototype
Photo Credit: Pop Culture Geek

 Concept art photo credit: Themeparkgc






So, 2015.  Not really THAT far off, right?  Feeling that early September that year will be our best bet.  Good weather, lower crowd levels, (school is back in session for most parts of the country, and the time before the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival brings in the big crowds.) Don't get me wrong, we totally loved F&W last year when we were there, and would love to go again at some point, but we really want to go during a time when crowd levels are low, and there are not so many kids.  Tips from local friends indicate this would be the best time for the two of us.  As two (not too mature) adults who will be in in our late 50's and early 60's at the time of the trip, (GOOD LORD!) in 2015 (and not saying that I don't like kids....so, please don't get me wrong) we just want more "calm" on this next visit.

Saving $$ to go.

This next trip we would love to stay at my two favorite resorts, Wilderness Lodge and Port Orleans French Quarter.  I want to do a split stay, because we just can't afford to stay at Wilderness Lodge for 6 nights, (unless I win the lottery or something!), so I figured staying 4 nights at Port Orleans FQ and then 2 nights at WL.  This way we can get the best of both beautiful locations, and have it still fit in what we can afford.

 Photo Credit: WDW website









 Photo Credit: portorleans.com




Again, traveling as two mature adults, we have to think of these budget constraints as spending retirement money is not an option.  I know there are many out there who don't have that concern, but we do, and so do many of our friends.
So, the plan is starting about a year and a half before final payment would be due, I am going to put aside $40.00 a week into a savings account.  This way we will have more than enough for the trip, and even have enough to cover the air travel.  This would not be enough to cover the cost of an entire stay at Wilderness Lodge, but it will be if we split the stay.

Photo Credit: WDW website







Looking at current prices, and adding 10% to 15% increase I should be right in the ball park, or pretty close to it.  Now, as I never count on getting in on the free dining I am not even thinking about that, but it sure would be nice if at least once it would work out for us to take advantage of that.  That would save quite a bit.

So, see?  It's never too early to start planning your next Disney vacation, when you are totally motivated, and you have a goal in mind.  Heck, half the fun for us is planning the trip.   We love choosing places to stay, what to do, where to dine, plan meet-ups with other Disney pals who will be there at the same time, or the "locals" that I have gotten to know and just love to see.  We also love the "countdown" part!  Our trip last October, we started our official countdown at day 100.  We wrote down 100 different things we wanted to do on that trip, and we totally ran out of days!  We still had about 15 things on our list, and we never even go to the cruise portion of the trip.  That is proof positive that there is so much to do at Walt Disney World--even for two fun-loving, middle-aged travelers with no kids. We will have to start thinking of what kind of countdown to do for 2015!

Hope this gave you some ideas of starting to plan your next Disney adventure!