October or Jan?

[lal32]

We have to book our international flights next weekend if we are going to get good enough deals to be able to afford to go. We were in DW middle of October '05 and loved it, but this year we can only go the first two weeks of October. We want to stay for 10 days. I'm hearing bad things about Columbus Weekend and am starting to think we hsould go at the next available time, which is the middle of Jan.

However, if it is cold, what is it like doing the parks? I can't imagine wanting to do things like Splash Mountain and getting soaked if I'm wearing a pull over and jeans. In Oct '05, we were glad to get wet on every second ride.

What to do....

 

[JohnnySharp2]

October is an ideal time to go, perfect weather...too cold for us in January, we are from the UK and part of the attraction is the lovely weather, could never imagine having to wear a sweater and jeans.

 

[doberlady]

We always go in late Oct and the weather is beautiful, we went once in Jan spur of the moment and it was 40 degrees and freezing. Was not too bad for us as we are from NY and it was 5 degrees when we left but people were walking around in winter coats!

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

We went the first week of October 2004 & LOVED it. I just went to a conference at WDW the last week of January. I didn't spend tons of time in the parks, but when I was there, I thought it was more crowded than when we went in October. The stand by time for Peter Pan was 50 minutes one day! We never saw that in October!

 

[dreamscometrue47]

I've gone both in October and this past Jan 16-21. Most of our October 8 day trip was great weather (80's and sunny), except we hit some unrelenting rain/wind for 2 days. I was VERY pleasantly surprised this January with the weather; except for one day when it was in the low 60's, the rest of the time was in the mid-upper 70's; no rain except for an overnight shower. Getting wet at Splash was just fine, and it was actually comfortable getting out of the heated pool at night.

But January has traditionally been the time it seems that major rides go under refurbishment. While we were there, 2 of our favorites were closed, Test Track and Buzz Lightyear. Our favorite MGM restaurant 50's Prime Time was also closed. But a great thing was the lack of crowds this time in January. We either walked on everything or had just 10 minute waits except Soarin in Epcot, where we used FP.

So the weather is definitely warmer and more predictable in October and more rides are probably going to be open, but January now has my attention as a great time to visit.

 

[chrome64]

We were there this last Columbus day and I thought the crowd level was great! It might have been more busy on Columbus day but it was still no where near the crowds you see in the summer! We have been 4 times so far this year (July, October, twice in January) of those times, October was my hands down favorite! The food & wine festival and the Halloween party were the best!!

January has been great for low crowds but the weather has been very unpredictable going from shorts weather to gloves and scarves overnight!

 

[airtime]

January is my preferred time to go, but it's true that the weather is unpredictable. Most of the time it will be sunny and 70s during the day and 50s overnight. However, it can turn cold, and I went through a week with highs in the 40s and 50s (I think it was January 2000).

Good park wear on warm January days is a light long-sleeve shirt and zip-off pants. That way you can switch between shorts and long pants easily, and you can roll up your sleeves during the day.

January crowd levels are usually very light. However, I think they probably are in October, too. http://www.touringplans.com/BestDays.htm is showing even lower levels for October than for January, so October might be perfect. Some people may be scared off by the hurricane season, which runs June through November.

Tim, who loves January, but is leaning toward this October idea...

 

[loriandmatt]

if i had to pick between the two i would do oct. hands down.

jan is nice, but too iffy with the possibilty of chilly weather. the lack of crowds would not make up for having to wear pants and not wanting to enjoy the water rides and the pools.

 

[susykt4]

We were at Disney World January 5-13th and I would have a hard time scheduling a trip for any other time of the year again. The crowds were low, the temps were great. I'm sure this was just total luck, but it literally never rained the entire trip (until we were at the airport on the way home.) We have two kids ages 5 and 3 (neither nap) and were thrilled that the crowds were so low we could actually stay in the parks from opening until 4 or 5 without having to take a break. The temps ranged majorly. The first couple of days we were there the highs were in the lower 50s, most days in the 60s and a couple days in the upper 70s. The kids got to swim several times, but definitely not on the cold days. For me, fewer swimming days were a good thing because DD5 would ALWAYS rather swim than do parks.

If you have younger kids who don't know or care about the water parks or if swimming isn't a huge priority, I'd totally recommend January. It was just amazing to always get on the first available resort bus, to have small food court crowds and even to be able to walk into a counter service restaurant at the Magic Kingdom at noon and have only a short line. I LOVE JANUARY!!!