March/April or May/June??

[Netty]

well we are not going away this year to Fla we really need to spend money on the house this year,before it falls down around us!!
anyway, we were thinking of going possibly last wk of March for around 3 wks, i know this is around the easter break and so will be busy, but what are the average temps at that time of year? also what about end of May beginning of June? I know this yr it has just poured down for the past wk or 2 and this is unusual... what are the parks like in May, busy??
we have been inSeptember/ October - is March as warm as then?

we will be taking our grandson with us as well, so wondering how hot it is because he is so young (he's 10 months now), do kiddies adapt well out there in the heat? our youngest was 6 yrs old when we first started going, so i have no idea how babies would cope.

 

[Snowy-girls]

Jeanette we went last month at Easter,flew out on Apr1st and yes some days were busy-as in MK closing for a few hours,but i honestly did'nt think it was as bad as i thought it would be.We got alot done by careful planning+fastpass.Temps were perfect to us,mornings were a little chilly for the girls so they had there hoodies on until the sun came out fully about 10ish,and when it did it was around 80 .We had some rain but nothing that stopped us doing things,this was mostly the first few mornings we were there and only lasted about 30mins ish.

We have also been in May,much quieter,but hotter around 85-90,with some days hitting a little over 90,more rain as well-torrential.I believe it rained pretty much every afternoon of our 2 week stay.

It will always be Easter for us now .x.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Hiya chuck!

We went on Tuesday 7th April for 2 weeks just before the Easter crowd rush.
For a couple of days it was bad, Magic Kingdom on the 8th was the busiest I have ever seen it and EPCOT the same on the 9th.
MK reached capacity on the 9th also.

To be honest after that it was bearable, though I have to be perfectly honest and say if it wasn't for the Guest Assistance Card *based on Joshua's special needs* we would never have got on a couple of the rides, especially Soarin'. 90 minute wait time at 09:15 in the morning one day!

Traffic down the 192 was fine, I4 was a different story, seemed especially busy most days, partly though through accidents than volume of traffic.

We didn't overall find it a bad time to go though, mainly because the weather was near perfect. High 70s and low 80s , nice and sunny apart from one bad day of cloud/rain.

I would say late March early April would be a good time to go in your circumstances, the weather will be better for your grandson, you wouldn't need to rush around too much as you are going for 3 weeks also (a big plus added to the fact you have been before).
May/June as you say would be much hotter, I think the torrential downpours that are ongoing at the moment are not necessarily normal.
You wouldn't get these late March, though you could find it slightly cooler in the morning and evening.

"Kiddies in the heat"? would avoid taking a really young child when the temperatures could be very high personally, I know Joshua was 10 months when we first went and we went around October I think. We took our own stroller with sun protection covers. I am sure many go in the summer with young one's and cope perfectly fine, I am sure in the past we have with Josh too, but if you have a choice I wouldn't personally.

I doubt we could go Easter again due to issues around Julie's teaching hours, it's difficult to get 2 weeks in let alone 3 so unfortunatley assuming we do book for next year it will be back to the humid summer.

I would definitely choose the cooler time if travelling with a very young child, esepcially if you are going for 3 weeks. You can take things at a more leisurely pace.

 

[castanea1985]

well we are not going away this year to Fla we really need to spend money on the house this year,before it falls down around us!!
anyway, we were thinking of going possibly last wk of March for around 3 wks, i know this is around the easter break and so will be busy, but what are the average temps at that time of year? also what about end of May beginning of June? I know this yr it has just poured down for the past wk or 2 and this is unusual... what are the parks like in May, busy??
we have been inSeptember/ October - is March as warm as then?

we will be taking our grandson with us as well, so wondering how hot it is because he is so young (he's 10 months now), do kiddies adapt well out there in the heat? our youngest was 6 yrs old when we first started going, so i have no idea how babies would cope.

Hi Jeanette

As far as weather goes, any one of those months would be fine... but as far as crowds go... try and avoid the easter hols.

Our jack was just 11 weeks and was fine!! LOL

Tracy xx

 

[angel659]

Hiya

We have been in May, June and October.

Personally for me October was the better time to go. Crowds were less, good weather and halloween party is excellent. Big highlight is food and wine festival. The crowds were a little more busy with the half term.

May was great weather it was around 34c when we went in 2004. It was packed. I think the americans were on break as well as the english not sure, but either way it was busy. They had the flower festival at Epcot, which was lovely.

June we went last week. It was mad! Full of Americans children, Brazillian tour groups by the millions lol and the weather was fab. Although you had your thunder storms it didnt stop us from doing anything.

 

[zara]

We have been in March April and May and found May just far too hot...
The kids were cooling down in the water jets most of the time. If you could find a slot before Easter or after Easter that would be perfect.

 

[john storey]

Well we normally swear by May but after this year we may have a rethink, crowds were noticably larger than previous years & the weather for our last week was by far the WORST we have EVER had in all our visits to Florida. I think it has now come to the point where apart from a few isolated weeks in Sept/Dec it is fairly busy all the time. Disney aren't stupid with a 365 days per year holiday destination they obviousley know the slow times & throw loads of extras out to lure in punters during these times. I think our next visit we will go into unknown territory for us & try October or late November or early December to get a different feel having never witnessed Halloween & Christmas decorations. Main thing is whenever you go it's still the most magical place on earth.

 

[Netty]

Thankyou all so much for your valuable input, I will now focus on March/April. Easter is on the 4th April so i'll have to work around that, I can't stand crowds myself so going into a park around Easter would be a nightmare, but having been in wdw July/Aug before i'm sure if we did go at that time I'd cope!!
Do you know whether the Easter parade carries on a few days after Easter or is it only on up until easter day? I would love to see this!
we have been to florida 3 times in October/November - so any of you thinking of going then, its just the best time to go, still hot, not as humid and not as crowded.
Johnny, I will need to pick your brains on villas as you know we have always stayed at the Poncianna Boulevard area, Indian wells usually, and have a 3 bed, but we will need a 4/5 bed this time. also i think for the first time ever I would like to stay on an estate that had a clubhouse or something like that, so the kids(well now there adults!) could go off and do something, save being stuck in the villa early evening with us if we are back early, because i'm sure me and Ian will need a break from them!! so I'd appreciate your views on where to stay

John storey, I think your right about disney and how they are making sure every week of the year rakes them money in, the food + wine festival used to be a couple of wks or so now it goes right through til November.. the halloween parade used to start in October, now its from the beginning of september to the start of november...so it looks like there soon wont be a quiet time to go to wdw

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Hi again,

Easter as I said earlier will be busy , we found it packed the first few days but the crowds did ease after that. The weather though was perfect, however as we are lucky to have been several times we didn't have that pressure of having to rush around everywhere, I think this will be a help to you too.
I think from now on we would go in the summer but that's based purely for school holiday reasons.

As far as gated/communities go there are a few - Terre Verde down Poinciana, where we stayed this year, and Windsor Palms, Windsor Hills and Emerald Island close to Formosa Gardens. There may be more but these 4 are all in Kissimmee.
All are gated and will offer a large community pool, clubhouse, and other things such as internet cafe, health club etc though I would imagine what they offer will vary slightly depending on the resort.
One of the other advantages is you don't feel quite as isolated, we have stayed in villas where we haven't seen or spoken to anyone the whole time on the actual development, apart from the 'pool guy'!

Windsor Hills is probably the nicest but will also cost more to stay there, perhaps £100 per week depending on size of the villa.

Terre Verde we liked, the villa was very secluded and great for our needs, however we hardly used the facilities. The pool tiki-bar wasn't open a lot of the time and when open was extremely quiet. The pool area wasn't as big as we thought it would be. Overall though it's a nice, secure place to stay and the location is good as it's one of the closest to the 192 junction from Poinciana.
As I have said in the past we struggle to get out sometimes in the evening as Josh often prefers to play in the pool or just relax watch TV at the villa, part of the reason we looked at these kind of resorts.
A massive contradiction in a way as we didn't use the facilities much, Julie only went in the Clubhouse once and that was at check-in.....I guess ideally we need a split on-site/villa from now on.

Probably next time we would try Windsor Palms or Hills, but the latter would in many cases work out more expensive.

If there is anything I can help with just let me know.

 

[Netty]

Hi again,

Easter as I said earlier will be busy , we found it packed the first few days but the crowds did ease after that. The weather though was perfect, however as we are lucky to have been several times we didn't have that pressure of having to rush around everywhere, I think this will be a help to you too.
I think from now on we would go in the summer but that's based purely for school holiday reasons.

As far as gated/communities go there are a few - Terre Verde down Poinciana, where we stayed this year, and Windsor Palms, Windsor Hills and Emerald Island close to Formosa Gardens. There may be more but these 4 are all in Kissimmee.
All are gated and will offer a large community pool, clubhouse, and other things such as internet cafe, health club etc though I would imagine what they offer will vary slightly depending on the resort.
One of the other advantages is you don't feel quite as isolated, we have stayed in villas where we haven't seen or spoken to anyone the whole time on the actual development, apart from the 'pool guy'!

Windsor Hills is probably the nicest but will also cost more to stay there, perhaps £100 per week depending on size of the villa.

Terre Verde we liked, the villa was very secluded and great for our needs, however we hardly used the facilities. The pool tiki-bar wasn't open a lot of the time and when open was extremely quiet. The pool area wasn't as big as we thought it would be. Overall though it's a nice, secure place to stay and the location is good as it's one of the closest to the 192 junction from Poinciana.
As I have said in the past we struggle to get out sometimes in the evening as Josh often prefers to play in the pool or just relax watch TV at the villa, part of the reason we looked at these kind of resorts.
A massive contradiction in a way as we didn't use the facilities much, Julie only went in the Clubhouse once and that was at check-in.....I guess ideally we need a split on-site/villa from now on.

Probably next time we would try Windsor Palms or Hills, but the latter would in many cases work out more expensive.

If there is anything I can help with just let me know.

Thanks very much Johnny
I'm going to look at Terre verde for now, we have driven past it a few times but never gone and had a look though. my sil stays at Cumbrian Lakes which as you know is further down. Are the any villas on TV detached? Just asking because some of them are like a row of terraced houses?

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Hi,

Yes there are a lot of townhouse type apartments on there, but there are also a lot of standard detached villas too.

We stayed in the bottom one of the 2 below:

http://www.sheardale-villas.com/

Not sure if this image is big enough but shows villas, clubhouse etc

 

[Netty]

Thanks for the link and the picture