Best Time of Year to Go?

K

K Fischer

Earning My Ears

Joined

Apr 21, 2015

• Apr 21, 2015

• #1

I usually go to Disney World in late Sept. It's always great, but we want to try going the beginning of 2016. Does anyone know when is the best time to visit between January and May? My main concern missing the big groups (especially the cheerleaders and 15s).

 

DisneyJillian18

Mouseketeer

Joined

Sep 17, 2012

• Apr 22, 2015

• #2

I'm not sure about your question, but how is late Sept? We will be booking soon, I thought this was a great time. But crowd calendars show 4-5. Not bad, but was hoping for like 3s?

 

kayemgi

DIS Veteran

Joined

Mar 8, 2011

• Apr 22, 2015

• #3

January has low crowds but you need to watch for the Disney Marathon dates, which bring larger crowds, and MLK weekend. February is also good but stay away from President's Day weekend.

 

DisneyCAL

DIS Veteran

Joined

Feb 16, 2015

• Apr 22, 2015

• #4

Late September has 3 and 4's due to food and wine festival. Try the week before that begins, you'll see 1/2/3. Use the wdweasy site for crowd control.

 

Bricket

Mouseketeer

Joined

Mar 24, 2008

• Apr 22, 2015

• #5

We went the first week of March a few years ago. Crowds were not bad. However, weather was 50\50. Nice and sunny half the days, cold and icky the other half. SUPER COLD. I was kinda miserable on our AK day.

 

H

Hootch

DIS Veteran

Joined

Mar 4, 2006

• Apr 22, 2015

• #6

That's such a subjective question. People prioritize based on different factors. Low crowds are often coupled with shorterpark hours and increased refurbs. Some like to tour when Christmas decorations are up.

Here is a site that projects crowd levels and notes other factors such refurbs and hurricane season:

http://**************.net/wp-conten...in-Order-from-**************.net-9-14-vsn.jpg

 

njpyro

Disney Addict

Joined

Jul 23, 2013

• Apr 22, 2015

• #7

We have gone the end of january/beginning of february several times. This has always been great crowd wise, but as someone else already mentioned, avoid the marathon weekend and MLK weekend. We have also gone the last week of august. There were very low crowds becuase many schools started already. NJ and NY generall start the day after labor day, so we are some of the only ones off.

 

DisneyJillian18

Mouseketeer

Joined

Sep 17, 2012

• Apr 23, 2015

• #8

DisneyCAL said:

Late September has 3 and 4's due to food and wine festival. Try the week before that begins, you'll see 1/2/3. Use the wdweasy site for crowd control.

Click to expand...

I saw this! But POC won't be open, yes I actually moved our trip so we could ride POT

 

DisneyCAL

DIS Veteran

Joined

Feb 16, 2015

• Apr 23, 2015

• #9

DisneyJillian18 said:

I saw this! But POC won't be open, yes I actually moved our trip so we could ride POT

Click to expand...

Yah I will be sad to not be able to do POC but we'll get some pirate stuff in other areas hopefully.

 

L

Live4theMagic

Mouseketeer

Joined

Mar 31, 2015

• Apr 24, 2015

• #10

We love going the 1st or 2nd week in May. Great weather, cheerleaders gone by then, Flower show still at epcot (we go for the food!), not star wars weekends at HS yet, crowds still low, & most major refurbs. done. I've spent my last two mother's day there- love it!

 

I

Ima Disnewby

Mouseketeer

Joined

Jan 23, 2013

• Apr 24, 2015

• #11

Live4theMagic said:

We love going the 1st or 2nd week in May. Great weather, cheerleaders gone by then, Flower show still at epcot (we go for the food!), not star wars weekends at HS yet, crowds still low, & most major refurbs. done. I've spent my last two mother's day there- love it!

Click to expand...

Same here!!! My last trip began May 2nd, this one is May 8th. Great weather, good crowds!

 

ZoZo

DIS Veteran

Joined

Jun 16, 2005

• Apr 26, 2015

• #12

After several late September/October trips, we tried the last week of February last year. I really liked it! The weather was great (we even had three days that were warm enough for the pool, and we did a waterpark day!). Especially after the heat and humidity of October, the weather in late February was so great! We only had about three hours of rain all week!

I also enjoyed the fairly lo crowds. The crowd level was either a 3 or a 4 most days.

 

M

m86

Mouseketeer

Joined

May 18, 2012

• Apr 26, 2015

• #13

If you don't mind hot weather and a bit of rain September is a great month with low crowds. We have been 4 times, and enjoyed it every time.

I think that Disney have so much air condition everywhere that the heat is a minor issue, always plenty of cool places to cool off.

 

BlueStarryHat

South Philly Girl

Joined

Apr 23, 2013

• Apr 27, 2015

• #14

October is a great time to visit as well. Not so hot that you feel like you're on the Bataan Death March as the days wears on. The second week in December is good, too-but if you want to avoid cheerleaders it may not be a good time. I have been to WDW several times during Pop Warner week in December and it didn't bother me, but everyone is different.

 

DrivenByDisney

4.3 Miles from Property

Joined

Apr 27, 2015

• Apr 28, 2015

• #15

You can take this how you will. Orange county releases numbers for previous years and May has statistically been the lowest occupancy rate for hotels in Orlando. That includes Disney World as well.

The crowds this weekend were rather heavy, though there was a World Championship cheer/dance competition going on at EPCOT so there was a lot of huge groups of people for that. Though I am pretty sure we are done with those or nearly done with those for a while.

May to me just in general would seem to be the best time to visit as Spring Break is done, cheer/dance pretty much through, kids are still in school and people are saving for summer trips or licking their wounds from Spring trips. Weather can get hot as evidence late last week we were in the 90's a few days in April! Still, not as hot as June through October will be.

Yeah, it can be rainy at times (like today) but look, it's Florida ... That's what it does here.

 

HeyKoolaid

Mermaid off the port bow!

Joined

Sep 20, 2007

• May 2, 2015

• #16

Two of our trips have been Mother's Day weekend. Best trips ever because the crowds were low, prices dipped, and the weather was perfect. Unfortunately, now that our kids are older, they can't miss school. So it will be a while before we can do this again.

 

CrazyDisneyChix

Can't wait to get back to Disney!

Joined

May 17, 2015

• May 19, 2015

• #17

Glad to know that late September is a good time to go. Trying our first September Disney trip this year.

 

clr055

Reborn Mouse

Joined

Oct 2, 2008

• May 19, 2015

• #18

I am going in 2016 January 20-28. Crowds should be very low, rooms are super cheap. I am worried about tour groups and weather but won't let either ruin our trip!!