Absolute Least Crowded Time?

[Luv4Disney]

We thought the week after Jersey Week and before Thanksgiving was wonderful! EE 7 times in a row, walk on for Space...GREAT!

 

[alicenwonder99]

Stay away from the busy times, like the holidays. I think there is no real slow time any longer. What you have to do is plan your trips to the parks on the weekdays. Spend the weekends at your resort. Also, make sure you get to the parks at opening. That makes such a huge difference in the crowds.

So, if you like it warm (wearing shorts and tshirts, and not even packing jeans), then go for early Sept. You WILL have to leave in the early afternoon because of the heat, but that would be a good time to take a nap & swim. Head back to Epcot (or a late EMH park) around 5pm. The evenings are BEAUTIFUL in September. Still warm enough for shorts and no sweathshirt.

If you don't like the heat at all, then go for January. But be prepared to wear your winter coats and gloves in the evenings. Because it won't be blistering hot out, you will most likely be able to stay in the parks all day.

The one thing I noticed is when people talk about how uncrowded the parks are, it's usually because they are NOT there on a weekend, and they got to the park at opening.

HTH

 

[Poohbug]

We usually go in September because I HATE lines. It's always been great. I recently went to Orlando 1/30-2/5. We went to Universal and walked on most every ride. We went to Magic Kingdom one day(Not EMH) and it was packed. At least 30 minute wait for everything. I have never had to wait more than 5 minutes for POTC before. I didn't even know the line could get that long. I will be extra careful when I plan my trips in the future because it's just not worth fighting the crowds for me.

 

[Melora]

This year we went at one of the historically lowest crowd times (last week of January).

It was packed. The lines were manageable but the crowds and were unbelievable. Every South American tourist on the planet was there. My husband said it is because our American dollar is weak so the foreigners are taking advantage of the exchange rate.

We did end up having some of the typical problems with the large foreign groups where they would send on person ahead then have their entire group (8 or so people) crawl over everyone in line to catch up. It was so bad that a lot of people were talking about it openly.

We still had a great time but were really surprised by the amount of people there.... and it was HOTTER (and more humid) than you can imagine..... we did not pack for summer weather!

 

[magicmom2007]

We have always gone the last week of January, running into the first week of February. We have never found the crowds to be a problem. We even walked onto Buzz Lightyear 5 times in a row one morning! When we return in 2010, we are going at that same time of year mostly because of the (relatively) low crowds. Our daughter's birthday is that week, as well, so that never hurts either!
A note about the weather, then, as well. There were days we needed sweatshirts and days we needed shorts. It only rained, and that was just a brief downpour, one day out of the 6 we were there, too. It only rained 1 day out of the 7 we were there on our first trip as well, but that was a more consistent rain.

 

[littleelvis]

We have went 3 Febs in a row. 2006 2007 and 2008, always the first week. And the first two years 2006 and 2007, the crowds were GREAT, I mean the longest wait for MK was about 15 mins ALL DAY LONG! And even Soarin was about 20 mins But this Feb 2008, IT was CRAZY BUSY!!! Peter Pan was 40 mins most MK were 30 to 1 hour! Like the cars ( I forgot what they are called ) were 1 hour. We still had a great time we knew it was going to be more crowded this year because of Mardi gras and we planned around that. So remember how important research is, especially before the trip. Find out which things normally go on during your time there, that will help. Being here on the disboards is a HUGE help to my family too.

I guess what I am saying is that I agree with most of the other poster you can NEVER tell the crowd levels that you will find, you can try and go during non-busy times of the year but there are no such times any more.

Good Luck!

 

[disneydreamgirl]

We went January 14-20 in 2007 and it was so quiet at MGM that no fastpasses were even available the day we were there! We barely waited in a line (10-15 mins max) the entire week we were there.

 

[ang]

by reading this you can tell things are changing. We used to go in November but by the 3rd it was getting really crowded...We went in jan. no crowds, now it is, dec, early is nice, gee now it seems not.
We went in August this past trip. The first half of our vacation was very crowded the second half was ok...so next year we planning to go down the 3rd week hopefully miss some of the crowd.

 

[ZoZo]

Late September, Early October. That's when we went and all wait times were less than 20 minutes. Most of the time we just walked right on through and got in the ride vehicle.

I went September 29 - October 7 last year. While we didn't "walk on" to any rides, the lines were fairly short. I think the Food and Wine Festival and the Halloween Party have increased attendance at that time of year - in 2002 and 2005, in October, the crowds were significantly lower. It's still a fairly slow time of year, but not as uncrowded as it used to be!

 

[Stacy's a freak]

I vote for the week after thanksgiving -as long as you start your trip on Monday (not Sunday). The parks get slower as Sunday wears on, but finding low airfare has been a challenge for me this time. With that said, you will never feel like you have the whole park to yourself, but I have found that this week after thanksgivig is my favorite time to go.