Is there a "slow" season in Disney?

[lindsroc]

I keep reading about how crowded it has been this month and it is over the summer, and in the spring etc.

Is there any time when it is not crowded????

 

[MonkeyPants]

I really dont think there is anymore. There used to be, but now its just crazy and super crazy

seriously times that used to traditionally slow have just stopped being that way at least that is how I see it. Sure Jan is likely 'slower' then july but when I was there last jan it was still pretty busy. I think the DVC has much to do with it. The traditional 'off season' is usually big for many DVCers.

 

[DanMedix]

Well, since the "off-season" ISN'T anymore, I ask the question I asked in a previous thread...

"WHEN DO WE GO?"

 

[WillCAD]

There are still slow seasons at WDW.

September, after all the kids go back to school, continues to be a ghost town at WDW. Disney still performs lots of attraction and resort rehabs in September/October because of this, and resort rates are the lowest of the year.

Mid to late January (after about Jan 2 or 3 when the NYE crowds empty out), and much of February (excluding the Marathon and Vallentines day weekends), are also dead empty.

Lots of people will post here saying, "I tried to get a room in September and the resorts were all booked up! It must be mobbed!" Not so; WDW releases fewer rooms in September so that they can do room rehabs and maintenance; in fact, for a few years during the travel slump following 9/11, Disney actually closed entire buildings or wings of some resorts during the slow periods to save money. This made fewer rooms available - but the parks were still empty.

Others will post that "I tried to get an ADR in September and every restaurant was completely booked 24/7! I must be mobbed!" Again, that's something of a fallacy - the free dining plan in September over the last 2 years has made the restaurants more crowded, but overall crowd levels did not increase. Basically, the same small amount of people went to WDW in Sept, but more of the people who were there booked the table-service restaurants because they got the dining plan for free.

So yes, there certainly is still a slow season at WDW, and probably always will be, unless a large portion of the US goes to year-round or staggered school years.

 

[bradk]

as alluded to, slowER seasons.. you can generally tell when they are by the seasonal rates of the resorts. value would be least crowded.

that said, on any given day, there are at least 10s of thousands of guests on site. i've done the math. if you accept 17 million visitors to MK last year and assume even 90% was in 3 months, you might be surprised how many per day that works out for the remaining 9 months. and that's just MK.

the best times for lower crowds is when kids are in school. that's just flat out how it is. weekends will always peak a bit more from locals and 3 day weekends will peak higher because more families will come to enjoy them. it doesn't get much more scientific than that. weather wise, i prefer it cooler and less humid and that's usually in the jan - early march range.

on top of that however, you must remember that WDW is an international destination. not every country follows the US for school calendars, which means there will always be people there. Europeans for example are known for vacationing for 3 weeks or more at a time.

on top of all that, most guests concentrate on the same 1 or 2 parks each day. that's the truth. even if you think well, i'm freely decided to go to Epcot, chances are, most others are having that same free thought. there IS a science to it. and you can kind of see it in the occasional posts where someone says 'i know everyone says i should do this... but why shouldn't i do that instead?' - everyone instinctively go with the flow. so you'll often even hear conflicting reports on the very same day about how one person thinks the parks are so crowded (when in fact it's just the park that person had gone to) and another will talk about how empty the parks are (again, just the park the guest had gone to) and of course everyone has different threshhold levels.

 

[MonkeyPants]

^^^ I dont know about Sept, but I have been the last two octobers (leaving again on saturday), last november or perhaps its was the november before hand either way it was early nov. and was there last Jan 7th -19th or so and heading back this jan....and its been pretty crowded all those times. Not as crowded say june/july but I didnt have any days were the rides were just walk on or in any way seemed 'slow' like those times of year used to.

Lets face it, Disney keeps pumping out the resorts and they keep filling, without any real expansion on where people can go. Animal Kingdom is what 10 years old and yet in that time they have had a huge # of new rooms across many many resorts. More people, same place for them to go = crowded. And with Disney still pumping out the resorts I really dont see how they can NOT build a new park soon before the crowds become intolerable and the fun gets sucked out of WDW because of them.

 

[mill4023]

It's all relative. Yes, there are times when it is less crowded, but it's never empty. If you look at the predicted crowd levels from the Unofficial Guide, you'll notice that the lowest number you'll see is a 4. That means that on the least crowded days of the year, you can still expect a 40 minute wait in the middle of the afternoon at the most popular attractions.

We were there last month and I don't know if it was more crowded than it used to be or not. But it certainly wasn't empty. Although wait times for the attractions weren't bad and there were some times when the wait was zero, there were also times when the waits were 30-45 minutes and there were still a lot of people in the parks.

So yeah, there are still "slow" seasons in Disney. You just might have to adjust your definition of "slow".

 

[cabanafrau]

Have they really added very many resort rooms in the past 10 yrs? I'm not very certain about DVC, but if memory serves right, the last resort to open was CSR, correct?

I believe that right now the only new rooms going up -- theoretically, in a don't look behind the curtain manner are the DVC @ CR, correct?

IMO, WDW has just become more popular in the last several years & attendance is going up gangbusters. I kind of wondered when I read the official announcement about DCA expansion right on the heels of the Hawaiian resort announcement whether there isn't an attempt to spread at least some of the attendance to the West Coast?

 

[KimWDW]

There are slow WEEKS but not slow seasons. We pick by the week. You can't say "fall is slow" but you can hand pick certain weeks in the fall that will be slower. Last year we went Halloween week (mostly 4's, a couple 5's) and it was fantastic. We also went last year during the last week of January. Empty. The only ride I fastpassed was Soarin'. But you can't say January is slow because of the holiday weeks (New Years and MLK).

If you pick the right week you can get low crowds.

 

[kaybird]

Have they really added very many resort rooms in the past 10 yrs? I'm not very certain about DVC, but if memory serves right, the last resort to open was CSR, correct?

I believe that right now the only new rooms going up -- theoretically, in a don't look behind the curtain manner are the DVC @ CR, correct?

IMO, WDW has just become more popular in the last several years & attendance is going up gangbusters. I kind of wondered when I read the official announcement about DCA expansion right on the heels of the Hawaiian resort announcement whether there isn't an attempt to spread at least some of the attendance to the West Coast?

I think technically the newest resort would be Saratoga Springs, certainly a rehab of the Institute, but many more rooms added, though I do agree about the continuing increase of WDW as a popular destination. Also, return guests keep increasing, rather than the once in a lifetime trips that used to be the norm.

 

[DOOM1001]

I go frequently and I've realized the times of the year when it's "slow" is getting smaller and smaller.Ten to fifteen years ago you could go when it was traditionally the slower months and you could see the difference,now as somebody said it's supercrazy busy 5 months of the year,crazy busy 6 months of the year and slow 1 month out of the year!!

 

[GalDisney]

Walt Disney World is THE most visited place on earth. An amazing thought. It averages 40 million people per yr. This year they are seeing about a 10 percent increase over that! That being said, yes there are times that are slower than others. But, Disney wants to make these slower times busier so they invent events to attract people, such as MNSSHP, MVMCP, F$w fest, Flowere and garden show, the marathons, etc etc. Slower times are usually in January, after New Years week(xcept for a couple holidays in there) until Spring Break which is march thru April. Then May is usually good until memeorial day weekend. Then things slow at the end of August, and sept. Then in Octeober you have the Columbus Day week which is busy. In NOvember things should be ok until Thanksgiving weekend. Then it slows again until the week before Xmas again.

 

[Got Quattro?]

There are slow WEEKS but not slow seasons. We pick by the week. You can't say "fall is slow" but you can hand pick certain weeks in the fall that will be slower. Last year we went Halloween week (mostly 4's, a couple 5's) and it was fantastic.

If you pick the right week you can get low crowds.

What she said.

The 6 weeks between januray 3 and feb 14 are very slow....except maren luther and presdents weeks. Kids get a day or 2 off of school so parent dont feal as bad pulling them for a vacation.

So, the key is to look at historical seasons, then look for signifacant dates inside that season to avoid.

We have been the last week of january 4 years in a row now and it's been perfect.

 

[Got Quattro?]

from memory here....

MK online

poly, contemp, were at launch in the early 70's

then they added shades of green in the late 70's

EPCOT online

in the 80's you saw the rise of the downtown disney hotels

late 80's saw yacht, beach, swan, dolphin, GF

MGM on line....TPL on line

early 90s CBR, Port Orleans, Dixie Landings, Old Key West

Mid 90's Wilderness Lodge

Animal Kingdom On Line....Blizzrd beach On line

1997 AKL, All Stars, Boardwalk

late 90's Villas everywhere

2000's POP

Mid 2000's more villas

so, disney has been steadily adding rooms while growin the parks as well. I do think a new park is due.

 

[suzimar57]

wow - slow season, huh?

used to be october, back 15+ years ago....

(even used to take my DS out of school for a disney trip when he was in grade school)

anyone remember paying something like $10 to spend 3 hours in the MK at night with no more than 5000 others? - good times!

not anymore: F&W, MNSSHP, SuperSoap, Golf Tournie....

seems there's always "something" going on/being promoted now

 

[Brian_WDW74]

If it's any consideration, here's what disneyworld.com says on one of its FAQ pages:

Q. What are the busiest and least busy times of the year?

A. Although special events and promotions may influence Theme Park attendance levels, the following list highlights historic attendance trends throughout the year:

Lowest Attendance: January (except New Year's Day) until just prior to Presidents' week in February
The week following Labor Day until just prior to Thanksgiving week
The week following Thanksgiving until the week prior to Christmas

Moderate Attendance: After Presidents' week in February through early March
Late April through early June (except Memorial Day weekend)
The first part of Thanksgiving week

Highest Attendance: Presidents' week in February
Mid-March through Late April ("Spring Break")
Memorial Day weekend
Mid-June through Labor Day
Thanksgiving Day and weekend
Christmas week through New Year's Day

During regular attendance periods the Theme Parks tend to be the busiest on the following days:
Magic Kingdom® Park: Monday, Thursday, and Saturday
Epcot®: Tuesday and Friday
Disney-MGM Studios: Sunday and Wednesday
Disney's Animal Kingdom® Theme Park: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/common/helpFAQ?id=HelpFAQOtherPage

 

[ZoZo]

I went on the Keys to the Kingdom tour in early October, and our CM said the first week of December is considered their slowest week of the year. Good information to know for future planning!

 

[Cinderumbrella]

We were there the week before Labor Day through Labor Day this year and it was the slowest I have ever seen lately (previous 2 years trips were Halloween week 2005 and week after Thanksgiving 2006).

 

[eliza61]

I keep reading about how crowded it has been this month and it is over the summer, and in the spring etc.

Is there any time when it is not crowded????

Depends on what you feel are crowds. I think the days of empty parks are long gone. We usually go the end of August when the southern states are back in school. Attendance was pretty low, now free dining has taken care of that. We're headed back early November (jersey week), I read some where that this is still rated a "7" by the folks at unofficial tour guide. So we're expecting a crowd (didn't know there were that many folks in NJ)

 

[k5thbeatle]

I agree with other posters that the "slow" times are not as slow as they used to be and are getting harder to find. It's all relative when you think about it. There are still times that are less crowded than others but the "desserted" times are less and less.