How many days in advance can I book a Disney trip?

Disney by the Numbers

“How many days in advance can I book a Disney trip?”

That is a very common question that many people have about planning a trip to Walt Disney World. The simple answer is 499 days in advance. Then there is the question you should be asking. ‘How far in advance SHOULD I book a Disney trip?’ The general answer is ‘as soon as you can’. That is where the numbers get tricky. There are all of these other numbers that people don’t realize are important- 1, 10, 30, 60, 90, 180 and 200.

Are you going to during a holiday? Do you want a certain room? Do you want to dine at Cinderella’s Royal Table in the castle at Magic Kingdom? If so, then you need to book as soon as possible. Theme park-view resort rooms, family suites and treehouse villas will book quickly. Dining reservations for table service dining opens 180 days in advance.

If you are staying at a Disney resort, you can book up to 10 days out from your arrival, once you hit the 180 day mark. If you are staying off site, you can book at 180 days out, 1 day at a time. Some restaurants will book completely up the first day, even the first hour or two.

There are over 200 dining options with roughly 90 full service (reservations needed) restaurants. Fastpasses for rides open 60 days in advance when staying at a Disney resort (30 days if you are staying off site). There are numerous rides that will run out of Fastpasses on the first day. Basically, you need to know what you are going to book BEFORE the timeframe opens. That means that you need to review your options (given to you by one of our wonderful travel agents) ahead of time.

You can make a generally make a deposit on a package for $200. Package prices become available the summer before (ex- 2019 pricing came out in the summer of 2018). If you are wanting to book the room 499 days before and package pricing is not out yet, you can still reserve the room for the cost of 1 nights stay at your resort. Once the packages open, your travel agent can update the reservation to a package for you. You are immediately refunded the cost of the room and a $200 deposit is made, without the risk of losing your preferred resort choice. Payments can be made on the vacation package as long as the package is paid in full 30 days before your arrival date.

There is a lot of information to go through to book that dream vacation at the right time. A The Dream Planner Travel Agent can help you sort that information out and help you make a timely decision without the stress of missing out. With providing the information needed at the best time to review and reminders for reservations and payments, your travel agent makes the numbers easy to remember.

Angela Hutton