Best time of year to go

[kedec]

We're in the planning stages of our first trip as a family to Disney. We plan to go in 2006 and we don't want to take our son out of school. We've heard that the last 2 weeks of August have lower crowds than the peak of summer, but would like some input from those of you've who been more recently than us. (10 years ago for me, 19 years ago for my husband.)

Thanks!

 

[Bob P]

Hi Kedec,

Yes, from mid-August on is the best time to go in the summer as far as crowd levels. Just don't get too close to Labor Day weekend!

Bob

 

[rt2dz]

If you go that time of year though, be prepared to deal with extereme heat.

Depending on school schedule, you may want to consider May. Crowds tend to be fairly low, heat isn't quite as bad (although getting there at the end of May). Another option, again depending on school breaks, might be December. If you go before Christmas week, you have the bonus of value season, get to see all the wonderful Christmas decorations, and have lower crowds.

Check out the seasons (Disney has their own weird system) & crowd calculator at touringplans.com, & I think allearsnet.com or mousesavers.com has a temperature history for various times of the year. You can compare all that to your school schedule and really find what works best for you depending on what your desires are.

 

[mommykds]

Hi Kedec,

Yes, from mid-August on is the best time to go in the summer as far as crowd levels. Just don't get too close to Labor Day weekend!

Bob

How close is "close" to Labor Day? If you get there the week before & leave by the Friday before labor day would that be a good choice?

 

[WDWorBUST]

We have been two different years over Labor Day weekend - 2000 & 2003 - and even during the weekend never had a longer wait than 10-15 minutes. And the waits were usually as long as it took you to walk the queu are to the ride loading area. Labor Day is our second favorite time of year to go. We save a vacation day due to the holiday and have zero waits in the big scheme of things. However it is hot - we are going again this year in September (late September - 24th - 10/2) - I'm hoping it will be a little cooler since my dd will be 23 months old then and I worry about the heat effecting her. I would have picked labor day week had it been solely up to me though (we're going with friends).

 

[twojo21]

like rt2dz, be prepared for the heat in august. we went the last week of august in 2002 & never again, it was very crowded because of labor day & it was very, very hot & rainy.

we prefer november & december, although we also go in march due to college breaks. another good time to go would be early january depending on when christmas break ends for you kids. january is probably the least crowded (except for new years) and low value rates at all the resorts starting from $55/special at a value resort.

hope you have a great trip at wdw no matter when you go!

 

[Parkhopper]

We go several times each year, but our absolute FAVORITE time of year to go is lat September/ early October. It is still hot enough to swim, the lines are almost non-existent and we don't even have to make PS's for dinner until we get there.

Suzi

 

[pbharris4]

Our favorite time to go is early Feb. The weather is usually beautiful, not many crowds, and we like getting out of the drab of winter. One time we went the last week in Jan. the older kids had exams and my DD had 1 full school day, 3 1/2 days, and 1 day off..so she really only missed 2.5 days and they counted it as 2.5 days. If you can plan to go around something like that or when you know they have 1/2 days or some days off would be good. The summer (anytime) is VERY, VERY hot! Did I say hot? I meant scorching!

 

[dzneelvr]

If kids in school are not an issue, the second and third weeks of January are best. We used to pull our DS and DD out of school when they were little and make the journey then. The parks were not crowded at all and we got around very leisurely. The downside was that the parks close early and there are some major attractions that will be closed for rehab.

Now that the kids are teenagers, we go the last weeks of June-July 4 and LOVE it! We know it's hot and rains daily, but we feel the pros such as parks open til midnight, special attractions such as WISHES on every night, and with pre-planning, everything just falls in place. Off season is better from a crowd standpoint, but be sure and check which attractions will be in rehab; if one that you really want to see is, you may want to try another time of year.
IMO there's no "bad" time to go.

 

[beattyfamily]

It is tough to find a good time to go when you don't want to take your kids out of school. I know how that feels! We've taken them out before and will again this Nov/Dec but this will probably be the last year we'll do that. They'll be in 1st and 5th grade next year and it will just be too difficult.

Anyway, I've researched a lot because my biggest concern is crowds. I don't the like the heat and humidity either but the crowds are more of an issue for us. So this past August we took a girls only trip (daddy stayed home) to see how the end of August was for crowds and heat. It was an extra trip so I wasn't stressing if it might be crowded. I was pleasantly surprised. I got to do everything I wanted to do. Hopping from park to park certainly helped. It was VERY hot and humid but we got used to it and still had a great time. We started out early and left and took a break eating or swimming and then we'd go to another park.

I will not even consider going for any school breaks or days off as I just think Disney will be too mobbed for my taste since I'm used to going off season (Sept, Oct and Nov/Dec). So that means February vacation and winter vacation and Spring break are out of the question. All that leaves me is August because June and July are more crowded.

I've also considered doing long weekends my girls just missing a couple of days but I just don't know if a long weekend is enough for me!!

So I've decided it's the last full week in August that isn't near Labor day weekend for us!

Sorry I'm so long winded!! Good luck deciding!

 

[Sharon]

we love the end of sept

 

[briarberry]

We went the last week of August last year and the crowds were low. We never waited in any major lines expect after Wishes to catch the bus. The only problem was the hurricanes! We had to leave early but last year was an unusual hurricane season for Florida. It was stinking hot but it is stinking hot where we live in August too. We just arrived at park openings with lots of water and left when it got too crowded or hot and returned after a long afternoon break.
We are going again this August. I teach and obviously can't miss school either! I'm just glad the Florida schools go back so early, then we can enjoy the low crowds. Good luck with your choice.