Best School Holiday Time to Go

[ashmufc]

I want to go WDW but don't know when is best. Anytime in the school holidays.
So October Half Term
December Xmas
February Half Term
April Easter
Late May/Ealy June
Summer Holiday

I was thinking about February as its not too hot. Also October, which one would be better in terms of crowd and weather, is that hurracaine season, willWDW be affeected or flights?
And how bad/good is december?

 

[disneycymru]

I would recommend December Holidays as I understand it can be very busy as well as more expensive unless you go before the December School Holidays when it will be cheaper and quieter. We have been in February and the parks are relatively quiet and the weather is like Spring in the UK. We did have one cold day where the temperature droped below 10 C. We have also been in October and it is not too busy but the crowds you will neet will be from the UK. During October we encountered Thunderstorms and one day of drizzle which is unsual for Florida, as this only happend once in the last ten years we have visited. I understand that you can get Hurricances but the full force of these do not normally hit Disney or Orlando.

During Thunderstorms Disney will often close the high rides in both the main and water parks. It is also not unusal for the parade to be cancelled due to rain. I have never known one of the main parks to be closed due to storms on any of my visits.

Finally on flights unless the Hurricane or Tropical Storm is about to hit the Airport flights usually go around the storms sometimes causing delays.

Hope this helps.

 

[cannp123165]

We went in February and had a great time!!! It was February school half term, and luckily we left just as Presidents Weekend started. It was a bit cold, but we walked on nearly every single ride so it was worth it!!!

 

[Lisash]

We just did Christmas and I have to say I prefer it to Summer although it was much busier. We were lucky with the weather at Christmas (chilly early morning but sunny & warm later & no rain at all) Summer is obviously much hotter but much more unpredictable with daily thunderstorms. There is also the possibility of hurricanes. We were there for Charlie in August 2004 and effectively lost a couple of days holiday as everything closed beforehand and after for the clear up. It was quite scarey driving around for a couple of days after with traffic signals being out and roads blocked by trees etc. I don't think we'll be going in high summer again

 

[ashmufc]

Mmm.. very tough.

So its more busy in December than summer holidays right?
And how does October compare to Decmeber/Summer Holiday time?
And the February time isn't that busy?

 

[Miffy2003]

December over the Christmas / New Year period is the busiest it ever gets at WDW. It is not uncommon for the gates to close to guests at the Magic Kingdom by mid morning. Imagine the most amount of people you can walking up Main Street and then double it


Having said that, in early December it is the complete reverse and the parks are extraordinarily quiet. There are lots of extras too at this time of year - the Osborne Lights at MGM, the Candlelight Processional, the decorations everywhere, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party etc.....

Payoff is that the weather can be changeable. When we went in December 04 it was positively chilly! Though others that have been in December have experienced pleasant temperatures.

I choose to go the last two weeks in August as I am tied to the school holidays too. I like it because the weather is hot (this is a disadvantage to some) and the parks are relatively quiet as a lot of the US schools go back halfway through August

 

[ashmufc]

February looks appealing but then I have to wait a long time! LOL
It's pretty cheap as well, I just done a comparison between Dec and Feb and the difference is more than £1k.

 

[cannp123165]

February looks appealing but then I have to wait a long time! LOL
It's pretty cheap as well, I just done a comparison between Dec and Feb and the difference is more than £1k.

Wow!!! That is a difference!!!

 

[jdybnsn]

As you can see from the bottom of my post we Feb !!

Weather is good, relatively low crowds (avoid President's Week if you can), and relatively cheap ...roll on Feb 2008

 

[ashmufc]

Thanks, can someone give me a date for Presidents week please

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I think it probably depends on how you like the weather to be and the flight prices.

February for example can be very unpredicatable and fairly chilly in the mornings, but price-wise is probably a decent time to go.

Mid August onwards is when we have to go , school holidays etc but although it is very hot the crowds are very manageable - however the flight prices are very high.
However, personally I would much rather have it hot and sunny than on the cool side, it's nice to walk around in shorts for a few weeks of the year!

We went last March and it was struggling to reach 70 most days, and was pretty cold in the morning but then in August it was 90 degrees every day....if you don't mind the heat and the prices late August is a good time to go. Especially with the kids having 6/7 weeks off school.

 

[kristieuk]

I agree that it's a question of whether you want low prices prices, low crowds and better weather - although it can be unpredictable sometimes anyway.

If you wanted the best chance of all three, I would recommend October. If it's crowds and prices you're more concerned about, February, but as others have said, avoid President's week.

 

[Cinders Mum]

Presidents weekend is 17-20 Feb for 2007.

Val
xx

 

[jdybnsn]

President's week is always the third weekend in February and the week that follows (the Friday of this weekend is not too bad though, as most people are travelling).

That said, we went to KSC, AK and Epcot during President's Week this year (oh how I'd wished I'd found this board before we booked !) and it was really not that bad ...certainly busier, but not as bad as we'd been led to believe ...just ensure you plan your rest days/ shopping days or go to KSC for the Sat / Sun / Mon and you should be OK.

 

[vicky1bfc]

I would choose February

It may not be that hot but we have found it warm-hot most days with one occasion we had very light rain for a day.It didn't stop us going to the park's though.I still come home with a tan so it can't be that bad.

The week after president's day/weekend was fantastic we didn't have to queue once for anything,every ride was walk on.

 

[Goofyish]

We have been in October, end of August and December - out of the 3 school holiday times I would choose October, although the downside is the schools only have a week

Last year we went in December. We managed to go a few days before the schools broke up for Christmas, which saved us a fortune on flights! I think thr schools broke up quite early last year too, so we got a good week in WDW with lowish crowds before the Xmas rush

We found the End of August great for crowds, but the weather was awful - not the heat and humidity, but the rain!

 

[sharon78]

So what about Easter,has anyone been around that time.I know they say Easter is busy,but Easter is only Good Friday-Bank Holiday Monday.Is it ok after the Monday?
I hope so,we fly out Easter Monday 2007 for two weeks

The last time we went was Oct half term we had a great time and really enjoyed the MNSSHP.
We wanted to try a different time of year,I hope I've not made a mistake!

 

[Scottish-Helen]

I don't have kids but have been at the end of October and we had really nice warm weather, low crowds and all the Halloween stuff such as MNSSHP is going on which is great fun.

 

[zara]

I have been in January, February, and in March. Also in May and actually May was rainier than the other months. March was a bit cloudy. January and February were good months. Didn't get any rain. Temperature was fluctual in that it would dip for a few days but it always came back up quickly. We were in the pool swimming and wearing t-shirt and shorts. Parks were great. No queues in Jan or Feb. Came back with a great tan..