If you had to choose between a summer trip or......

[jade1]

At this moment here.....9 degrees.
At this moment WDW...72 degrees.

Nuff said.

 

[Anal Annie]

Looks Mitt Romney under the people mover in Tomorrowland

I thought the same thing when I saw that picture!

Denise....you've been there / done that in the summer months and you did spring break last year....so if you're looking for something NEW and DIFFERENT then try a few days over Christmas/NYE and a short summer trip...do BOTH!! Go for 4 or 5 nights each trip... I really can't imagine Christmas week being THAT much worse than Easter. Really. Personally we can't seem to plan a trip over the holidays because DH can't get off work other than Christmas DAY plus we always have a 3 or 4-day ski weekend in January so we've never made it down there at that time...but it's definitely on our "to do" list. We would love to see the lights one day.

 

[edk35]

At this moment here.....9 degrees.
At this moment WDW...72 degrees.

Nuff said.

Friends of ours are there now....from MN. They went Parasailing at the CR. They love Disney in late Dec. early Jan. They feel the same as you about the temps in FL in the winter.

 

[GrumpyBelle]

So far my favorite time to go is the end of August. Both crowds and temps are bearable.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Early June is great. Christmas time is horrid.

 

[edk35]

Can't go early June...our schools don't get out until mid June. This year we get out like June 19th. UGH Our college kids get out the third week in May. The schedules just never mesh.

 

[edk35]

I thought the same thing when I saw that picture!

Denise....you've been there / done that in the summer months and you did spring break last year....so if you're looking for something NEW and DIFFERENT then try a few days over Christmas/NYE and a short summer trip...do BOTH!! Go for 4 or 5 nights each trip... I really can't imagine Christmas week being THAT much worse than Easter. Really. Personally we can't seem to plan a trip over the holidays because DH can't get off work other than Christmas DAY plus we always have a 3 or 4-day ski weekend in January so we've never made it down there at that time...but it's definitely on our "to do" list. We would love to see the lights one day.

Well go look at the pictures that someone posted above. We were there over Easter week this year and I never saw crowds like that nor did they close the park or come close to closing. We love going at Thanksgiving but even that week has gotten increasingly more crowded from the first 2 Nov. trips we took. Years and years and years ago..we went the 2nd week of Dec. and it was wonderful. One day.....one day.....

 

[z28wiz]

Looks Mitt Romney under the people mover in Tomorrowland

I thought it was him too

 

[Kidanifan08]

a trip Dec. 26th thru Jan. 2nd which would you choose? We have been on a few summer trips. It is really hard to plan a trip with two kids in college and one who will be in high school next fall. We were thinking of going over Christmas break since we would be celebrating our 25th anniversary and our dd graduation from college. HOWEVER....the crowds are scaring me for a Dec. trip during that time frame. I am thinking early Aug. vs. Dec.

I cannot speak from personal experience, but I don't think we will ever consider going 12/26-1/2. I have been watching the wait times, looking at the crowd photos, and watching Disney do their phased closings this week, and I just don't think I could handle it.

We went the first week of August last summer and the weather was not horrific. Was it hot . . . yes. Was there sweat running down my back at 9AM . . . yes. But at least it was hot and we could go back to the resort and swim. I think it would be so disappointing to go the week between Christmas and New Years and want to escape the parks, but not be able to go back to the resort and swim due to cold weather.

I officially submit my vote for early August!

 

[spiceycat]

So far my favorite time to go is the end of August. Both crowds and temps are bearable.

are sure you are from PA....

from AL and sometimes the heat and humidity get to me. we get the same weather here - or almost.

that say going in late june/early july.

 

[edk35]

It's a tough time trying to fit everyone's schedules. We are thinking of doing December 2013 before Christmas. We have a similar situation. Our 25th anniversary is in December as well. All of our kids are in college, the oldest is in grad school and the only break she has is winter break. So as soon as they are done with finals we are going for a short 4 night break to see the Christmas decorations. Might be the last trip together for a while! Since you have been so many times, Christmas week could be doable as long as you go early and just relax the rest of the time. With your daughter graduating in December, it could be the last time she can get away with you. Once the kids are working will they want to spend their precious vacation time with family?

That is why I am thinking we might go just go in Aug. so that it accommodates everyone and the crowds are lighter.....hot temps but we have done 4 summer trips and we did fine. I love the decorations at WDW but I am thinking I would only do Christmas break if we had another trip in the year.....where we could do a lot more.

 

[Starr W.]

So you are going in August? Now your favorite part, where are you going to stay?

How have you been? Haven't seen you around these parts for awhile.

I know where you are coming from, my kids now refuse to miss more than 1 day of school(sophmore and 5th grader), so trying to think when we are going to go.

 

[AnnaS]

Hi Denise -

I think I would probably do August. The only way I would go for Christmas week was if we planned just a resort/hopping/browsing sort of stay. I am not sure the "kids" would survive this more than a couple of days.

The pictures on the link are crazy.......I would count on walking around, browsing but definitely no rides during that time - I doubt finding a place to eat would be enjoyable either. If everyone agrees and they know what to expect - then that would be fine too.

We loved our first time early Christmas stay (no kids).

 

[lovin'fl]

We have done Thanksgiving week 4 times but now the college kids only get Wed.. through the weekend. Before when they were in school we get out the full week so we would head there the Thursday or Friday before Thanksgiving (kids missing a 1/2 day or 1 full day of school to go with the week off). My youngest is still on that schedule and it does not mesh with their schedule. The spring breaks aren't the same either. I was thinking of the early part of Christmas vacation too. That is a possibility but I know airfare will be a lottttttt more in Dec. than in the summer. So I need to ponder this a bit longer.

I'd prefer to do Thanksgiving week this coming year (instead of Xmas) as my kids will all still be in HS and have that week off...DS will be a junior so won't have that week off much longer. But, SIL1 will have 2 kids in college and 1 in private HS where they all only get 2 days off for Thanksgiving, so she can't go then. We're doing a big family trip.

When we went last Xmas (12/20-26 2011) we flew from Reagan International in DC to Orlando on JetBlue and paid about $200 pp roundtrip. We booked the flight around July 2011. We also found cheap Southwest flights for our upcoming January trip (from BWI to MCO)...also around $200pp roundtrip (though MIL/FIL are doing a cruise in Feb and fly on President's Day and paid an arm and a leg for their flight).

So, like PP...I am curious where you're going to stay. Also, do your kids bring friends? I wonder how things will be when we do Disney with older kids...my DS is starting to turn his nose up at going to Disney and has mentioned it wouldn't be so boring if he had a friend with him. That's why the family trip at Xmas will be good...he'll have his cousin to hang with.

 

[Mariep26]

I would choose August. We just did a December trip and the day we checked it, I could see the crowds starting to ramp up. We discussed that we could never do a late December trip -- I just can't deal with the crowds plus the variability of the weather would screw up my back-up plan of sitting by the pool. We are going this upcoming August to celebrate DS's 5th birthday and out touring plan is very different than usual to be sure to allow for rest and hydration.

 

[staceymay00]

We've always avoided WDW in the summer. Late May/early June is ok, but personally I would not go in July or August unless I could not go any other time of year. Summer trips actually don't work for us anymore, anyway, due to kids playing on summer travel teams. This leaves Thanksgiving week, Christmas and spring break, and we love traveling to WDW at those times. The parks open early and stay open late, and if you are willing to set your alarm clock to arrive for an 8am opening (maybe even 7am with EMH), you can get a ton done before the parks get crowded. We do not do that every day of our vacations, but no one in my family complains about getting up early a few times because they see the payoff of lower crowds. Then, when some people are just arriving to a crazy busy park, we are returning to our resort to relax.

We love the weather in November, December and April, but it can be chilly on some days. Summer is better if your family wants to swim every day and go to water parks. We've always been able to do some swimming in December, just not every single day. Highs in Orlando are predicted to be 77, 77, 75 for the next three days!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[ldo]

we go almost every Easter and 5X @ Christmas. Christmas is MUCH worse. But, the decorations are great. We now prefer Summer, esp. if going on the rides is important.

 

[keaster]

We've gone a few times at the end of August the last week before Labour Day.

Yes, it is extremely hot but the crowds are minimal and the longest wait we've had was for TSM and that was a 45 minute standby wait.

 

[lovin'fl]

We've always avoided WDW in the summer. Late May/early June is ok, but personally I would not go in July or August unless I could not go any other time of year. Summer trips actually don't work for us anymore, anyway, due to kids playing on summer travel teams. This leaves Thanksgiving week, Christmas and spring break, and we love traveling to WDW at those times. The parks open early and stay open late, and if you are willing to set your alarm clock to arrive for an 8am opening (maybe even 7am with EMH), you can get a ton done before the parks get crowded. We do not do that every day of our vacations, but no one in my family complains about getting up early a few times because they see the payoff of lower crowds. Then, when some people are just arriving to a crazy busy park, we are returning to our resort to relax.

We love the weather in November, December and April, but it can be chilly on some days. Summer is better if your family wants to swim every day and go to water parks. We've always been able to do some swimming in December, just not every single day. Highs in Orlando are predicted to be 77, 77, 75 for the next three days!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

That is us too. My girls play club softball and it's pretty much year round, but they get some of Aug and all of Nov off and then Xmas break. Though they sometimes have a tourney around Easter and always have practice (which is also the week our schools do spring break, but we have to stick around for softball).
So, we can vacation:
A-1st 3 weeks of Aug (though try-outs for the new season are in August, so we have to fit in travel around those since DH is usually coaching in some capacity...we can fit in a trip sometime in Aug and usually do every Aug).
B- Thanksgiving week (kids have off school that entire week...for now)
C- Xmas break
We usually do 2 trips...4-6 days each...one being Aug. We have a 4 day cruise booked for Aug. This year we are fitting in our other trip, to WDW, this Jan (the kids have off a couple days from school so we could do a 5 day trip...they will miss softball practice and basketball...but they are not serious about basketball and softball isn't really heating up until spring). DH's family want to do Xmas at WDW too, but that will be 3 trips in 2013 (plus my DDs's softball team will have a Nationals somewhere and there has been talk about trying for the one at Disney's WWoS again...we'd have the PAPs but would have to forgo the Xmas trip...plus we fly to Miami for our cruise just 1 week after the Nationals in Orlando).

 

[edk35]

So you are going in August? Now your favorite part, where are you going to stay?

How have you been? Haven't seen you around these parts for awhile.

I know where you are coming from, my kids now refuse to miss more than 1 day of school(sophmore and 5th grader), so trying to think when we are going to go.

It's been a busy busy year and my father died in Oct. I was in AL in Sept. and again in Oct. Plus add in getting our second one off to college and working....having time to get on Dis took a back burner. I hope to be on here MORE NOW.

YES I THINK WE ARE GOING IN AUGUST. I want to try for Beach Club.