Christmas 2013 vs Easter 2014

[markkelly]

Hi All

After almost booking for summer 2013 a couple of months ago and gaining a lot of info from this site I am not keen to visit either Christmas or Easter.

Xmas flight -I favour direct unless the saving is very considerable - there are four of us and I think an extra 200 per person is a worthwhile expense for me give the age of my kids 7 & 5.

What are opinions of Christmas vs Easter....in terms of weather, expense and businessness of the resort.

My wife is a teacher and so we are very constrained about when we go...ideally 2 weeks.

Floights for xmas are iro GBP1100 each which is a little pricy but having never looked before I guess this is just the going rate. Easter flights I imagine will get released in the next few weeks....any strategy about booking iommediatrley vs waiting a while?

Appreciate any comments or advice.

Cheers
Mark

 

[VailaTigger]

Have done Easter before (with a lot of trepidation) as I now have two step-sons.

It was fine!! Not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, crowds wise. We got up early, got most of the big things done first, got most of what we wanted done by mid-afternoon. No worries about long ride queues in the mornings, just the afternoons.

Booked our ADRs for Disney dining well in advance, and no worries there.

The weather was GORGEOUS, hot and sunny. We were delayed coming home, and two of those days were the only days we saw rain, and it lashed it down the whole two days, but that was it. Went back to being hot and sunny again after that!

I would go at Easter time again, with the same plans in place.

Hope my thoughts help!

 

[london75]

The strategy with flights is generally, if you are comfortable paying the price and the times and airline suit you, pay it and never check the price again!

Availability and consequently price can change drastically in minutes. Many times I've missed perfect flights by waiting to get home from work to discuss with the Mrs.

I now book when I'm happy and hopefully there won't be a sale the next day!

Personally having been quite a few times I fancy Christmas but if it were my first I think I'd choose Easter for longer park hours, flower and garden festival and more likely to be hot.

 

[torsie24]

For a saving of £800 I'd definitely do indirect.

It's easier in some ways than direct, and really not the hassle you imagine.

Biggest benefit is no huge customs line once you get to MCO, so that takes off an hour or two from the extra journey time, and you get a nice break in the middle to grab some food and feel a bit more human before the short hop down to FL from wherever your first stop is.

We preferred our indirect to direct Virgin. Much nicer planes and was great to stretch our legs, grab some food and skip all the queues!

 

[theminx08]

Have been at Easter and Christmas, I would choose Christmas every time as its really lovely. Easter can be busy due to "Spring Break" in the USA. There are lots of college and school groups about. After going at Easter due to crowds etc we said never again.
The best time we found was the last week of August and first week of September as the US kids have gone back to school and UK kids are going back. Maybe you could squeeze this in before your wife starts the new term?. Lines for major rides were 5 min waits!
We are going over Halloween this year so will be interesting to compare.
Hope this helps x

 

[Tony Toon]

Our DD worked for Disney from July 2009 - August 2010 and being the good Mum that I am (and a teacher) we went to visit her and make sure she wasn't homesick or pining every holiday that came round. As a result we were there for 4 weeks in July 2009, a week in October, 10 days at Christmas, 10 days at Easter and then again for 5 weeks in July 2010. It was brilliant! We liked the theming and decoration at Christmas/New Year but found the weather to be chilly (it was unseasonably so that year) and the crowds really difficult. We queued to go everywhere - there were jams on the roads and the place was mobbed. At the time we said never again, but would give it another go now I think. Up here the schools get a 2 week Spring break every year at the beginning of April and Easter fell at the beginning of the holiday in 2010. It was busy at the start of the holiday, but once the main Easter weekend was out of the way, things settled down and the parks were actually quite quiet. The other bonus was the weather which was wonderful - sunny and warm without the humidity or torrential rain of summer. That particular year we ended with an extended holiday courtesy of the volcanic ash We've also found October to be a lovely time to visit. We only get a week but again weather is generally very warm and the crowds are quieter.

Mrs TT

 

[scoobydooby]

I have visited the weeks either side if Easter and the weeks either side of Christmas (so school holidays) and they both have their pros and cons. December weather is wildly unpredictable. We wore coats, hats and gloves for 4 days, swam in 70 degrees for four days and had just about every temperature in between. Easter weather was better but still decidedly chilly some days the year we went, baking hot on others.

Crowd wise both are busy, busy, busy. Christmas week makes Easter weekend look empty. However. They also open the parks at 7am (or did when we went) Christmas week. This means if you can get up and at the gates for 6.45 you will clear half the park before most people arrive. On Boxing Day me and DD did 21 attractions by 2pm with no more than a 10 minute line. But we were the very first at MK that day.

The parks are beautiful at Christmas and the collet weather means you can keep going longer.

I could not agree with you more personally re flights. I'd pay £800 more for a family of four to fly direct. Just me, but actually I'd pay double that.

 

[MrRomance]

Hi All

After almost booking for summer 2013 a couple of months ago and gaining a lot of info from this site I am not keen to visit either Christmas or Easter.

Xmas flight -I favour direct unless the saving is very considerable - there are four of us and I think an extra 200 per person is a worthwhile expense for me give the age of my kids 7 & 5.

What are opinions of Christmas vs Easter....in terms of weather, expense and businessness of the resort.

My wife is a teacher and so we are very constrained about when we go...ideally 2 weeks.

Floights for xmas are iro GBP1100 each which is a little pricy but having never looked before I guess this is just the going rate. Easter flights I imagine will get released in the next few weeks....any strategy about booking iommediatrley vs waiting a while?

Appreciate any comments or advice.

Cheers
Mark

My DW was a teacher as well and it was a pain. We did Easter once before we adopted the kids and it was bearable, but we wouldn't do it with kids because it was REALLY busy. Can't comment on Christmas as I've never done it but from what I've read, it's ridiculous too. My suggestion (if you can stand the heat) would be to go for the last 2 weeks before the new school year.

 

[dixonsontour]

Don't be put off indirect.

The key is good flight times - i've flown indirect with DD aged 4, 5 and 6 with no regrets.

You clear immigration where you land. Immigration at MCO can be a nightmare with long queues.

eg with US airways via Philly we landed at MCO at 6.30pm. Were in the car a few mins later. The direct Virgin flight lands 3.30ish but in the past have been held on the plane for an hour as immigration hall full plus over an hour immigration line. Plus considerable savings.

 

[Chilly]

We've been at Christmas once and it was pretty cold that year. We arrived on Dec 25th and between then and Dec 31st the parks were very busy but once Jan 1st hit the parks emptied out completely. It is a lovely time to visit though and I would go again at that time but i've been 4 times so would be happy to miss things and go at a slower pace.

 

[markkelly]

All - many thanks for the useful info (straight after I posted I had internet issues and been offline a few days until I got home)......lots to think about.

Seems like I wil lbe stuck with a very busy time either way but both sound great.

I hadnt considered end of Aug as I thought that was a really bad time weather wise....either super hot or hurricance season. Term starts 2Sep 2014 where we are so looks like it isnt an option for us anyway.

I'll hold fire until Easter flights are released and see what the comparision is.
Christmas current look about GBP1125 for direct vs from GBP720 for indirect - so given that is GBP1600 difference and the comments above I will give it some thought.

Thanks