I read where people are planning their Disney trips for 2019. When I look on MDE you are not able to even book rooms that far in advance. How are they doing this and what kind of plans are you able to make? What happens if your dates change? I love planning my trips and am so sad when I do not an upcoming trip I am working on so I would like to learn how to do this. I am not a DVC member so maybe that is the difference.
I’m ‘planning’ for 2019 but really all that means is I spend time looking at resorts (even though I know I want POFQ) and menus.
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Here in Europe we can book far more in advance. I think the 2018 dates went online in February 2017. But nothing for 2019 so far 
Yes I’m in the UK. Hoping to book free dining when it’s released in April.
But US can book room only 499 days before by phone.
I am here is the U.S. and I am planning my first trip in December, but I am also planning a second trip in two years (2019). After reading all the forums and blogs about the food and wine festival. I have decided that I Need to go. Also the MNSSHP has been a dream of mine for several years. Who doesn’t want to go trick or treating as an adult! What this means for me is that I star looking at hotels, airfare trends, etc. and deciding what dates, how long, who to go with, start saving, not actually making reservations. Mostly it means working on DH to go along with my plan 
. Took me over a year to get him to agree to the December trip. I am hoping he will catch the bug. If not, I will see if my sisters will go with me.
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I’m definitely saving and working on DH too!
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We’re DVC owners so go at least once a year. We usually have a god idea of when we want to go each year, and tend to plan ahead for the next couple of years or so. That way we can book flights as soon as they’re released, and DVC accommodation at the 11 month mark. To be fair, the 2019 trip dates are just place markers in the diary, but we still like to have an idea of when we’re going.
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I began planning for our December 2018 trip in January of 2016. I subscribe to this site, look at the other Disney sites on the web, watch YouTube videos and read books from the library. I know how to set up my fast passes, which rides to fast pass. I know which Dining reservations I need to make first at 6:00 am 180 days out.
People that don’t put in the planning are the people who end up writing reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor saying they waited in line all day and couldn’t eat at any sit down restaurants. My wife makes fun of me for over planning our vacations but I do my research at work and we don’t miss anything.
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I agree completely @Jason1981! Plus for me the planning is part of the fun and excitement. I am like a kid going through a toysrus catalog in July making the holiday wish list!
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I’m planning for 2019 as my eldest daughter graduates from high school then. Right now I’m looking at dates (do we do Sept and do the party and FW or May prior to summer vacay and enjoy FG). We have a resort in mind and just enjoy looking ahead to that celebration and making it fun for my daughter. Obviously we can’t book anything yet but I will be ready when MVT specials come out for our time frame!
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I planned for 2+ years straight.
Reading up on things, watching what rides etc would be in closure at what times, weather, general flight pricing at similar times of years, looking at where there would be upgrades in resorts etc.
It helps to know in advance for all of that to get a general idea of what you want and what you will need to plan around for when you get down to the nitty gritty 12-14+ months in advance.
I started general and broad to begin with and slowly, slowly over time started whittling down things that I would be able to plan around and what was a must do and what I would consider a filler.
I scoured the boards and reviews all over the net to read the positive and negative of all the things that I liked the sound of before including or excluding them from my list.
I still felt after 2+ years that I’d missed things and could have done with another few months of time to get stuff organized.
For us planning in advance just means that the time (approximately) has been claimed and we are setting aside money. We are planning a bigger trip in 2020 before my youngest requires a ticket. There will be smaller Disney trips between now and then.