Best time to go? Update - Oct 30 - Nov4th?

[pryncess527]

Florida weather and school calendars have a big impact on WHEN the best time to visit WDW is - but I’m a lot less worried about So Cal

But I’m sure there are still ideal times. We have no kids, so I’m thinking of planning something this Oct or November. Or maybe even the first week of December?

Thoughts? If you could go any time, when would you go? I’ve never done DL before

EDIT: I’m thinking of coming Oct 30 - Nov 4th. We’d get to do the Halloween party the 31st and then see the Christmas decorations go up the 3rd (if my rough Google facts are accurate). The crowd calendars seem to rate that a low crowd week

Thoughts?

 

[sophy1996]

People don’t realize that October is among the busiest times at DLR. Halloweentime is immensely popular!

 

[joseph821]

Florida weather and school calendars have a big impact on WHEN the best time to visit WDW is - but I’m a lot less worried about So Cal

But I’m sure there are still ideal times. We have no kids, so I’m thinking of planning something this Oct or November. Or maybe even the first week of December?

Thoughts? If you could go any time, when would you go? I’ve never done DL before

If you want Halloween decorations, best to go in mid September. October is CRAZY busy. November is good - except the week if Thanksgiving. The week after Thanksgiving is slow....first week of December is good -- the days of the Candleight Processional get crowded.

 

[ktlm]

I would not pick October. Outside of Oogie Boogie Bash, it was our worst trip ever due to the crowds. There are schools all over the country on fall break (including us), and it is packed. It was WAY more crowded than June and July in Disneyland. We have gone to WDW several times in October, and DL was WAY more crowded than anything we had experienced at WDW in October. If you want the Halloween stuff, I would pick September. Otherwise I would do November or December,

 

[pryncess527]

Good to know!! Neither Halloween nor Christmas decorations are a must-have though either would be nice. I’m up for a ticketed after party if the do those too.

We could do September or after Thanksgiving. I’ll focus on those times

 

[DLgal]

After Thanksgiving, definitely.

September is our hottest month of the year. It's usually quite uncomfortable.

 

[gottalovepluto]

... I’m up for a ticketed after party if the do those too.

Be ready to buy immediately upon release for sale. Oogie Boogie Bash tickets sold out in 3 days last year.

 

[CarolynFH]

Tagging onto this thread (thanks for the nonspecific title!) to ask about January & February. The DVC points chart for VGC and VDH is relatively low between January 7 and mid-February, so I’m thinking it’s not a bad time to go crowds-wise (except Half Marathon weekend). Is that right? How’s the weather?

 

[pryncess527]

Be ready to buy immediately upon release for sale. Oogie Boogie Bash tickets sold out in 3 days last year.

Do they do a Christmas or just Halloween?

After Thanksgiving, definitely.

September is our hottest month of the year. It's usually quite uncomfortable.

Thank you for that - I have multiple sclerosis and do not care for heat, it makes all my symptoms worse

 

[gottalovepluto]

Do they do a Christmas or just Halloween?


Thank you for that - I have multiple sclerosis and do not care for heat, it makes all my symptoms worse

Just Halloween.

Health wise avoid Sept then, it can still get quite hot.

 

[sophy1996]

Do they do a Christmas or just Halloween?

DLR had some Christmas parties in 2021 but did not bring them back for 2022. They were disappointing anyway.

Tagging onto this thread (thanks for the nonspecific title!) to ask about January & February. The DVC points chart for VGC and VDH is relatively low between January 7 and mid-February, so I’m thinking it’s not a bad time to go crowds-wise (except Half Marathon weekend). Is that right? How’s the weather?

It’s a nice time to go. DCA has the Lunar New Year Festival for 3-4 weeks at the end of January and beginning of February. We found the weather sunny and warm during the day, chiller early morning and at night.

 

[BrianJ844]

Interested in the discussion between mid to late September and the week after Thanksgiving (the last week of November). We have a daughter that turns 3 on Dec 3 so we are trying to do one more trip before that happens.

Crowds wise, would yall say the two time periods are pretty similar? We started looking at hotels already and the September period is cheaper than the week after Thanksgiving, making us think that the crowds might be better then than in late November.

Weather wise, it sounds like late November wins!

Thanks,
Brian

 

[sophy1996]

I’m going to guess September will likely be busier. Halloweentime is exceptionally popular and Gay Days at DLR is scheduled for September 22-24 this year.

 

[DLgal]

Hotel prices can fluctuate for many reasons that have nothing to do with park crowd levels. Conventions in Anaheim make a big impact on hotel rates.

Go in November with a little one. MUCH nicer time to be there vs September.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Our hottest trips have been August/September. And even early October has been really hot. As others said, Halloween crowds are nuts in October now so if you aren't set on seeing Fall/Halloween decorations, I'd avoid it. November before Thanksgiving would probably be decent. And early December can be good.

We went in early February this year and the weather was great with pretty low crowds, overall.

 

[FeliciaB23]

I'm also debating which dates to choose this Fall! I'm from NJ and a WDW veteran. I have only been to DCA/DL once in 2014 (Before I was heavy on planning; just winged each day and didn't get on many rides from what I remember lol) and I've been reading so many threads about weekdays vs. weekends, fireworks vs no fireworks, the weather, passholder block out dates, info on AZ/UT school breaks in October, Oogie Boogie Bash (do it or don't do it)...etc. etc. etc. Very overwhelming!

I thought I narrowed it down to a few good days in October (avoiding school breaks, but going to OBB) and now I'm re-thinking everything as everyone here says don't go in October due to crowds, hah.

 

[ClaraOswald]

You can definitely go during October and crowded times and still have fun. Just go in knowing that it will be crowded and plan accordingly. Probably a good idea to do Genie+ during those times too. And rope drop, of course.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I'm also debating which dates to choose this Fall! I'm from NJ and a WDW veteran. I have only been to DCA/DL once in 2014 (Before I was heavy on planning; just winged each day and didn't get on many rides from what I remember lol) and I've been reading so many threads about weekdays vs. weekends, fireworks vs no fireworks, the weather, passholder block out dates, info on AZ/UT school breaks in October, Oogie Boogie Bash (do it or don't do it)...etc. etc. etc. Very overwhelming!

I thought I narrowed it down to a few good days in October (avoiding school breaks, but going to OBB) and now I'm re-thinking everything as everyone here says don't go in October due to crowds, hah.

You can’t avoid fall breaks in October due to the varying dates in different school districts and states. October will be very crowded the entire month.

 

[pryncess527]

I thought I narrowed it down to a few good days in October (avoiding school breaks, but going to OBB) and now I'm re-thinking everything as everyone here says don't go in October due to crowds, hah.

It looks like there are almost no school breaks by the last full week of October - the hotel prices seem to back that up. After Oct 24th or so seems safe-ish, as an online researcher who hadn’t been yet. I defer to local opinion though

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

It looks like there are almost no school breaks by the last full week of October - the hotel prices seem to back that up. After Oct 24th or so seems safe-ish, as an online researcher who hadn’t been yet. I defer to local opinion though

As a local, frequent visitor, a few thoughts on this:

1. Curious what level of school calendar research you’re doing. Are you looking locally (Orange County and LA County), Southern California, all of California, neighboring states, the entire country? Just curious because locally we don’t even have a fall break in my school district, but I know it’s common elsewhere.

2. School breaks seem to matter less than they used to. When my son was 2, 3, 4 years old in 2017-2019, we would visit on weekday mornings when school was in session and the parks were frequently pretty dead, especially midweek. Fast forward to post covid and the parks are basically always crowded, no matter if it’s a weekday or weekend (weekends are often less crowded than weekdays!). I see loads of school-aged kids in the parks ALL THE TIME when school is in session. I think post-covid, more people are home-schooling and making their own scheduled, and others have no qualms about pulling their kids out of school to go to Disney. Hence, it’s been crazy crowded most of this year … but summer was looking so slow that Disney decided to pull out the old California resident ticket offer again.

3. The week leading up to Halloween will be insane. There is no chance it will be slower than the rest of the month. People want to celebrate and get their Halloween fix before it all goes away 11/1.