So, what are the best times to visit WDW? According to Mousesavers.com:
- Mid-November through mid-December (except the week of Thanksgiving). The weather is usually cool but pleasant, the Christmas decorations are up, special events are running, and the attendance is usually moderate. Expect crowds on Saturdays, especially at the Magic Kingdom. Disney’s resorts typically fill up early for all of December, but this doesn’t necessary translate into huge crowds during early December.
- Second week of January through mid-February. It’s cool (sometimes even a bit cold) at this time of year. This is one of the least busy times of year and hotel prices are lower. However, some rides will be closed for refurbishment at this time of year. The first week of January can be busy due to extended holiday vacations and the Walt Disney World Marathon. Avoid any holiday weekends.
- First three weeks of May. The weather is warm in May, but usually not unbearably so. Crowds and hotel prices are moderate. Memorial Day weekend will be more crowded, but often not as bad as you might expect.
- Late August and entire month of September (even Labor Day weekend). It will be extremely hot, and this is peak hurricane season. Plan on taking afternoons off and visiting water parks. Crowds are low. Off-site hotels usually have their rock-bottom deals during this period, and Disney has offered “free dining” packages in this time frame each year since 2005.
My opinions:
- September is EVIL and just as bad as June-August. Unless you are accustomed to god-awful heat and humidity, avoid Orlando at this time of year. We took Katie for her first Disney trip in September of 2007. We made the mistake of thinking that by mid-September the weather would've moderated (we left on September 11th). We spent the entire week dripping in sweat. We also had horrendous dowmpours which forced us to leave the park nearly every day. The storms were bad enough that Magic Kingdom (MK) only had fireworks once during our stay. There is a reason Disney habitually offers free dining for August and September - no one in his/her right mind would go other wise.
- The October is nice, though possibly a bit more crowded than in November. EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival usually begins the end-of-September/beginning-of-October and and runs to the first/second week of November. International Food and Wine Festival is an AMAZING time to go if you are a foodie. All of the World Showcase Pavilions have extra food booths and many additional countries have food/wine/beer/spirits booths as well. You can also take cooking lessons from famous chefs or attent awesome wineseminars/samplings. Melanie and I went in 2011 for our 10th anniversary and had a blast. Additionally, MK is totally decked out for Halloween which is just awesome! I would suggest attending Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP). MNSSHP has a limited number of tickets so you are automatically dealing with a less crowded park. Benefits: you can trick-or-treat in the park and see a special parade which is just a ton of fun:
- November is usually still warm enough for us Northerners to swim and pleasant enough for all the walking you do at WDW - an average of 10 miles a day! The Christmas decorations are up -a gain, Disney does a fantastic job - and by the second week, you begin to have dates for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP). Like MNSSHP, MVMCP has a limited number of tickets and affords you special events like carolling in MK, "free" cookies and hot chocolate and a special parade:
Additionally, you have the The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney's Hollywood Studio (DHS)
Melanie, the girls and I will be attending both these events for the first time this year, so I'll let
you know my thoughts when we return.
Overall, everyone I spoken to says the second or third weeks of November are pretty much
perfect. The weather is nice, you are at the tail end of hurricane season and the rates are very
low.
- One caveat, the second week tends to be a bit busier for "Jersey Week" when NJ schools have off for the NJ Teachers Convention.
Thanksgiving week is usually quite busy and the room rates jump significantly for the
holiday.
- The first two weeks or so of December show also be a good bet with, good weather, low crowds and reasonably room rates. Once you hit the week before Christmas, watch out! Prices and crowds jump drantically. Melanie's aunt took her kids/grandkids this week the other year and encountered horrendous wait times. Think of it this way, everyone wants to do the magical Christmas at WDW. I would strongly advise against going from the week prior to Christmas until after New Year.
- I don't really have much info on the other seasons listed above. January-February are low attendance and low room rate times, but you run the risk of having fairly cold weather - remember Florida can drop fairly low in these months, which makes walking the parks a less than enjoyable expeience. I've heard stories of vacationers getting off the plane ready for warm weather, only having to sprint for the gift shops to buy cold weather gear.
Another tool for determining when you visit is a WDW crowd calendar. Touringplans.com has a great crowd calendar was well as all sorts of tips and tricks to get the most out of your trip, but you will need to pay $11.95 for a 1-year subscription. A free option is EasyWDW. Just look on the right sidebar for the month you are interested in. You can even look at the previous year's calendar for a close approximation if your month isn't available. The great thing about these calendars is they tell you which parks will be more crowded on which day, allowing you to further manage the amount of crowds you encounter. Weather... Well, that's always up in the air.
Basically think of it this way, any time your kid has off from school, so does everyone else's kid. These are NOT the times to go to Disney, unless you like standing in lines.
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