Hi Ashley,
Welcome back to the Disney Parks Moms Panel! Planning a trip to the Walt Disney World Resort is exciting. I can imagine that your family welcomes the challenge!
When I decide how soon to book our resort hotel room, I always do so before 180 days prior to our trip - 180 days is the time at which we can start making advanced dining reservations. As long as I have the resort hotel booked 180 days prior, I can make our dining reservations for the entire trip (up to 10 days).
I also consider the resort hotel and room type. If you plan to book a popular room type at a resort hotel, you may want to go ahead and make the room only reservation. In the past, we preferred staying at Disney's Contemporary Resort Hotel in the Garden Wing since those rooms were typically more affordable. But I noticed that they sold out faster than other rooms at the resort. To ensure that we got our room type, I always booked early.
Then check the
Special Offers periodically to see if an offer may be applicable to your resort hotel, room type and dates. If you believe a special offer is applicable, just call 407-939-5277 to ask a cast member if she or he can convert your reservation to a vacation package and apply the discount. Be aware that there is no guarantee that the cast member will be able to apply the discount. However, I have been fortunate in the past to get a discount applied to our existing reservation.
Ashley, my final thought is that it just makes me happy to have a Walt Disney World Resort Hotel reservation. If you feel the same, go ahead and make it!
Happy Planning!
Magic, memories and Minnie Mouse hugs,
Donyell