New and need help, please :)

[Denise K.]

My husband and I want to surprise my kids with a trip to DW. We are both school teachers, and we wanted to just go this summer, but I keep hearing that it is very hot and crouded. Then we thought about going during Spring Break but again we heard it is a bad time. Anyone have thoughts or has gone during those times and liked it? Our other option is to go during the school year. We are both also coaches so we have to work around the sport seasons. Here are a few times we could work in a trip next year...Mid-late April, May, Thanksgiving or Christmas Holidays. Any advise would be wonderful.

Our kids will be 10 and 8 when we go, I hope my 8 yr old daughter will be tall enough to ride most the rides. I do not need luxury, so I was thinking of just staying at a value resort. Any suggestions on those, how do I choose which one? I was thinking of staying at the sport one.

I also need to know the best things to do and see....the top of the list?

And also how many days should we stay there? We were thinking 3 full days....

 

[Princess Janay]

Hmmmm I think a three day weekend would be a great like a memorial day weeked or somethin along those lines.Now as far resort I HIGHLY recommend any of the All-star resorts. Not only are they friendly on your pockets but they are also uber fun !!!! Depending on which resot you choose you will get great photo opps and amazing service. I love the Sports Resort but the Pop resot seems to be a favorite of everyone I know !!! The best thing is that All the All-Star resorts share the same buses to the parks an not with other resorts.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Moving to the TPAS board

 

[nmmom95]

We've gone twice in May and the weather was great, not too hot, a quick FL shower once each trip. The crowds weren't bad at all. We have stayed in the All Star Movies and loved it! DS11 was a huge Toy Story fan at the time! Three full days might be hard, because you may miss one of the parks, although I could skip AK. Whatever you decide, have a great time!

 

[Wonders10]

I also work in the school system so I feel your pain about having to be choosy when planning vacations. I couldn't tell - have any of you been to WDW before? 3 days may be a little tight if you have never been - or even if you are a veteran. If you have never been, heed this advice - don't try to do it all in those 3 days. Pick and choose the things you really want to do and let other things just fall into place around it. Were you thinking 3 nights/4 days?

As far as the value resorts go, I have stayed at all of them. Like many on these boards, I much prefer Pop to the All Stars, however if I was going value and only one of the all stars was available I'd have no problem staying at them. Music is my personal fave but families always seem to really like sports or movies.

As far as your time frame - the holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmastime are still going to be pretty crowded. Probably not as crowded as summer or even spring break, but still crowded. But the weather is much nicer (typically) and I love all the christmas decorations. April-May would probably be a good time to go. It's warm but not sweltering and many of the spring break crowds have fizzled out.

 

[kirbsam]

all the times you are talking about will be super crowded. i think your best bet is to go as late in august as possible. it will be hot, but hopefully not as crowded as other school breaks. and if you are having a hard time figuring it out, and it may not be easy to go back, stay for a week.

 

[Goofygirl17]

I am also a teacher so we have to go to WDW during school breaks. We have been in July, Aug, and April. We enjoyed April the most. We went during my April break on the year that it was not attached to Easter weekend. That year and this coming April my break is the week following Easter week. We found the parks to be much less crowded than during the summer. The weather was also great! The week we went it was actually unseasonably cold for Florida. Most of the shops were selling out of sweatshirts.

If I couldn't go during April I would go during the summer and just plan for the heat and crowds. We had a great time on both of our summer trips but just planned differently. We went to the parks early and spent the afternoons swimming or resting. We also planned on not going on so many rides since the lines were longer. We didn't know a lot about fast pass then but if we went in the summer now I would definitely include fast passes in my plans.

Good luck!

 

[Mckymousefn]

Denise i sent you a private messege.

 

[starbox]

We're DVC owners and annual pass holders, and I'm a Florida native that's been visiting Disney since 1974. I'm also a school teacher , so I understand the reality of needing to schedule vacations around school breaks.

Times I would AVOID at all costs are the time between Christmas and New Years and Spring Break. We've done both.

I really like late May/early June - like, as soon as the kids get out of school. That's probably my favorite time to go because the weather is hot enough to really make swimming & water rides nice. Park hours are extended. It's crowded, but not unbearable. For the past 6 years, we've been in Orland the day after post-planning ends. The difference in crowds and heat from June to July is really remarkable.

Another option is the week prior to Christmas if you get out early enough. We've left the last day of school (the 18th and 19th of December) and stayed through the 23rd. Crowds were late May-level. MUCH different from the year we went between Christmas and New Years and faced wall-to-wall people. An upside to this travel time is all the holiday shows and decoration - a downside is that it could be cold - you never really know.

October is my all-time favorite month because of beautiful weather, lower crowds, and special events (Food and Wine, MNSSHP). It's also an less expensive time to visit. If you can swing personal days or have a fall break, may be worth looking into.

For a value, I'd recommend Pop Century - but I'd suggest trying to see if you could swing a moderate resort. We've stayed in all the DVC properties and all the moderates - and honestly, I do love the moderates. You get a whole lot of whimsical theme and detail with the moderates - and GREAT pools.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Welcome to the DIS, Denise.

You have lots of time to plan, maybe check out TGM (discount banner above and link here http://www.tourguidemike.com/index.asp?promoCode=AG9MF-AQ#TGM-home ). That site will help you a lot. And visit the various boards here, read a lot, ask lots of questions.

Have a great time.

 

[xmasmom]

As far as when to go we have gone in late May and over spring break. The weather was nice both trips although May was a bit wetter. The year we went over spring break it was late March and the weather was perfect for touring the parks but just a little chilly for swimming for my taste, although the kids didn't seem to mind.
I think if your spring break is not around easter that would be a great time to go or if you get out of school in late May, just after the Memorial Day rush you would be fine as well.

 

[tinkbyday]

For Spring Break, it really depends on when your break is...our break is never tied to Easter - it is usually the 3rd week of April and we experienced very manageable crowds when we went last year at that time.

I was terrified because I had read on here how busy it would be and it was fine. We used the advice of which parks to do on which days and used FP - we didn't wait more than 20-30 minutes for the major attractions and less than that on others. The weather was fantastic as well.

Three days doesn't quite seem long enough - if you go during a school/sport break, it would be great if you could do at least 5 or 6 days - that would give you at least a day at each park and maybe time to go back and see/do some of your favorites.

 

[2TxAgs]

Hey Denise....

Another Texan here. If you can do May, I'd go then, but since our schools get out earlier in June than many in the North and East, we go in early June. Yep, it's hot, but we got to the parks as soon as they opened (if you stay onsite, you can get in an hour earlier than the offsite folks at one park each day) and came back later in the evening when things cooled down a bit. It was crowded, but we got to ride all our favorites.
If I only had 3 days, I'd do MK, Epcot and AK. We're animal folks and *LOVE* the theme and atmosphere of AK. Hollywood Studios doesn't do much for us, but if you love thrill rides, then I guess you'd want to go there (Tower of Terror, RockNRoller Coaster)

There's nothing wrong with the value resorts - especially for your first visit - they're fun to be at; my kids have been 4 times and still love them. Your kids are at a perfect age to enjoy them. We've done both ASSports and ASMusic.

Top 3 for us: MK - Splash Mtn, Big Thunder, Buzz Lightyear
AK - Safari Ride, Expedition Everest (coaster) and watching the African
dancers
Epcot - Test Track, Soarin' and sampling foods in the various countries

TxAg

 

[Denise K.]

Thank you, for all of your great advice...keep it coming

 

[Wonders10]

I wanted to add to my original reply, that I would also recommend, like others have, to go as soon as school lets out for summer. I've done this in the past and it was not nearly as bad as I expected...plus I knew going in it might be a little more crowded and hotter than usual. Plus, without having the pressure of returning back to work, you could possibly stay longer (as your budget allows) and therefore wouldn't feel as rushed as you would if you went in a less crowded time but for only 3 days.

 

[DisneyWisher]

I'm in the minority here, given the times you could go, I'd go Thanksgiving weekend before Christmas or Spring Break (unless your spring break isn't near Easter, ours always is). I think the blackout dates for one of the Florida tickets is a great indictor of what the busy times are. They blackout Summer, Week before and after Christmas and Easter. These are the times when its most crowded but Thanksgiving is not blacked out. Plus it will be cool out without getting cold weather (well cold by Fl standards is anything under 65). Average temps are 76-78 during the day and 56-58 at night.
We love the Value Resorts, for us it means we can go more frequently, I would definitely stay at All Star Sports, in fact we will be there in December. Its newly refurb, same with Music. Music does have cool activities and games by the main pool. But even staying with ASsports you can still go over to ASMusic to enjoy those activities. A great website to help you plan is allearsnet.com. It has pics of the resorts and menu of the restaurants. Another great site to see about crowds is Touringplans.com, if you join, you can see the crowd level predictions for up to a year in advance, otherwise the next 30 days is always free. They range in 3-10, 10 being the highest level of crowds, Xmas Week and week before and after Easter will be 10's. Summer is usually 8's but with the heat, humidity, and rain everyday I'd skip it. I went mid August and will never go again during that time of the year. I'm a Floridian and should be used to our weather but it was HOT! If you go during cooler weather even with crowds it won't bother you as much as if it were hot.

Hope you have a great vacation.

 

[jamstew]

I took my grandchildren (and their parents) the first week in June. They're preschoolers, but the parents are teacher/coach-AD/administrator/athletic trainer, so it was the adults that had to wait It wasn't hot like July-September. We did have a shower or two, but nothing major. It was crowded but manageable with a good touring plan. When do you get out of school?

There's absolutely no way I'd spend less than a week for a first trip. I personally wouldn't plan on going to park on your travel days, so that would give you five days in the parks. You could do four park days if you wanted to take a day off in the middle for Downtown Disney & hanging around the resort, but there's no price difference between four and five-day tickets (at least there isn't if you get them through Undercover Tourist).

 

[twokids0204]

We went During the Spring Break this year.

The crowds were high, but if you plan well (and being on the DISboards is the perfect place to do it). You will be able to beat the crowds.

Simple rules:
- Avoid EMH
- Be there earlier
- Plan your FastPasses
- Know which parks to do which days
- Make your ADR's early
- Be flexible
- Don't plan to see EVERYTHING - That's what another trip is for.

Oh, and the weather was perfect in April - 70's and 80's, no rain.

Good luck.

 

[griswalds]

One year we went the day my kids got out for Christmas break Dec 17th and stayed until the 23rd. Crowds were manageable. We've been in May and Oct when the crowds were a little better but I was not put off by the crowds in Dec. I could tell each day was getting a little more crowded but we had done everything we wanted to at the first of the week.
Also All Star Sports is a great place to stay, your kids will love it.

 

[Denise K.]

Now that I have gotten some great advice and I have had a chance to do some other research, I have realized another part of this. We really love waterparks, so I need to add that into my planning strategies. I think if I go when it is cooler then 80 outside, it might be too chilly for me, my kids probably do not care..LOL. So, I am thinking I will need to plan to go in May or one of the first weeks of June. Since I live in Texas the heat is not a huge factor for me, I am so use to it..LOL, but early June will certainly be better then July/Aug and hopefully just a little bit less busy....