Help! WDW Rookie question.

[richcook99]

My family and I (me, wife, two boys: 8 and 6) are trying to come up with a time to visit WDW. We were going to take the boys out of school in October and go, but my wife went back to teaching this year. We were going to go at Christmas, but couldn't get reservations (too late). We're now trying to come up with a time. We could go the first week of June, but fear the crowds. We could go later in the summer, but don't know about the crowds. We could plan for next Christmas and New Year, but (again) don't know about the crowds. I don't want to sink $3,000 into a vacation and spend it miserable crammed into the park with 60,000 other people. Any advise? Thanks!

 

[debbiedoo]

The first 2 weeks of June is not that bad. If you are able to I would go. July and August are more crowded.

I would also suggest renting points from a DVC member to help out with the cost of the resort. Not to mention have larger accomodations.

 

[MareQ]

If you're trying to avoid crowds - you need to avoid all typical mid year school breaks. Do NOT go during X-mas break as it is the busiest time there. Ditto for Easter break.

Because many areas start school and end school at different times your best bet is to work around that. For example - being in NJ we start school after Labor Day but do not get out till mid to end June. For us if trying to avoid missing school, we'd go the last week or so in August. For you - you mentioned first week of June - so I'd go with that as your best bet.

 

[goofiecrazy]

We have gone the week before and after Easter before and there were crowds. We have been in the summer in August and the first week of June as well. The schools down south get out in may so there were crowds in early june.. Last year we went over Thanksgiving and the weekend before the crowds started to get heavy but after Thanksgivivng it dies down.Try early Sept.Oct or Nov..

 

[MareQ]

Try early Sept.Oct or Nov..

Op stated that his wife went back to teaching. Looks like they're trying to find the best time to go while school is out.

 

[fanofdisney]

I heard that fall breaks from school in October are a good time. I would not recommend going in the summer, crowded and WAY too hot for me! I would suggest reading The Unofficial Guide to WDW. There are a lot of tips in there.

 

[MEG&MINNIE]

I also work in the school system and it's really hard planning a vacation around the crowds. We went two times at the end of our school year in late June and both times it was very crowded ,hot and "poured" rain just about every day ...for both trips. Last summer DD9 and myself went down for a week starting August 18. The weather was still very hot and humid but the crowds were much less and it did not rain (except for the occas. 20 min. shower daily) until our last day about 2pm ...when we were getting ready to fly home . We also went one year during Feb. vacation and the crowds were heavy ,but not too bad considering that now you can use a "Fastpass",which we didn't have back then. Happy Planning ! Just have a plan for seeing the parks and give yourself enough time to actually sit by the pool and relax !!!

 

[SeattleMark]

The absolute best, most critical piece of advice I could give to any new person is to subscribe to TourGuideMike (http://www.tourguidemike.com). We've used his strategies 3 times now and will be using him again in December. No matter HOW crowded it is, if you use his strategies you won't wait for more than 10-15 minutes for any ride. I can't emphasize enough what a huge positive impact this had on our Disney World vacation. It went from being the "Disney death march" to seeing Disney as it was meant to be - a magical, relazing, and fun experience.

Do a search for him on the boards and you'll see many similar recommendations.

 

[bopper]

When does your wife go back to school? The end of August is usually not that busy (they often have specials at that time (like last year's Free Dining Plan) to encourage people to go then). Downside? It is hot.