How exactly does Days film this far in advance again?

Like 8 episodes a week. That's how.

They usually take off one week a month and a two-three week vacation in summer and for Christmas.

Anyone know this? When the studio is "dark" do the writers also stop working? Or do they continue mapping out story/plot,etc ?

I'm not sure about the writers, but people do still work. Such as PR and whatnot.

Wow. Alison Sweeney will literally be back before the year is over to film scenes for the 50th anniversary.

It's scary in case of a writing quality decline, but filming far in advance seems to be working for them, quality-wise and it HAS to be good for the budget. Being able to take a month off alone will save them tons of money. DAYS and B&B both take these extended vacations and it must be so amazing working for those shows.

Quality wise? I remember a scene onscreen where you could clearly see one of the camera men in the shot. And at times seen the mikes hanging over people. Also their schedule doesn't really give the actors time to do things outside of the show like movies. And what extended vacations does DAYS take? The OP said this was the first time they went dark for an entire month in years.

^ According to what's posted above, they work 3 weeks with 1 off per month. They also have the summer break of 2 or 3 weeks (now expanded to a full month for this year) and their extended Christmas break. The other soaps don't get t hat. On the other soaps in order for someone to do a movie or tv appearance they'd have to either pull double duty (like Kelly Monaco both times on Dancing With the Stars) or be written off the show. And B&B has an even better schedule than DAYS in terms of the vacations they get to take. But with that being a half-hour soap they don't have to film as long to get t heir episodes back-logged.

Dr dan is great he should leave to do movies