Picking dates by airline prices or “better days”

[maleficent55]

We have a little leeway for our dates, but not too much, since we do have to consider my daughters school break and my approved time off of work.

But when looking at airfare it can vary by hundreds with certain dates changing.

Looking at April 6th-16th
Or
April 9th-19th

Or other things in between
Am I spitting hairs?

Is it better to go earlier in April? Does it matter? Is there an event I’m missing or dodging?

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I think the biggest event impacting travel that time of year would be Easter, which is 3/31/24. The closer to Easter you'd be traveling, probably the higher the number of people traveling, since that's a popular spring break event. Disney also has been doing a run weekend mid-April, but that's probably less likely to impact the crowds enough to affect airfare. Airfares, hotels, rental cars - all are extremely unpredictable and more expensive right now. You'll probably need to find the most reasonable niche of pricing for your room and travel and days off - and then make the move! Good luck and enjoy your trip!

 

[hsmamato2]

I try to pick based on cheaper airfare etc. then I plan other things.

 

[maleficent55]

Ya we are torn on exact dates

April 6-16

Or maybe 7-17 or 8-18

Probably can’t go much later than that

 

[gmi3804]

There's really no rhyme or reason when it comes to the best time to buy. All those guides ("buy an a Tuesday!" "Wait until three months before!") are only as good as the fares it produces.

Google Flights has a tool called "date grid," where you can see what the fares are around your desired dates. Make sure you put in all you search parameters (airline, free bag, number of stops, departure time/flight duration, etc.,) correctly, so you only see prices for flights you'd actually want to take.

This helps us a lot when we're not tied to particular dates, and are somewhat flexible in order to snag the lowest fares.

 

[TexasJedi]

I've moved my WDW dates on my last two trips when I was ready to book flights because I found I could save a few hundred bucks by moving the trip up a day or back a day.

For our upcoming trip, I actually added a one-night stay at POR on the front end with the Disney Visa discount because the net difference was so minimal with a cheaper flight. We decided we could take advantage of having a full extra day at the park instead of a partial travel day.

 

[danceintherain]

If you have the flexibility, then I'd absolutely go with the lower airfare.

 

[Mermaidtails1323]

We just moved our trip up by a day (adding an extra day), as it was cheaper to fly a day earlier, even accounting for an extra night of hotel! I’m all about more time at Disney!

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I'd book based on the cheaper airline fares since that likely is a big chunk of the travel budget. I'd ensure that lodging is around the same which it likely since April is all basically peak season and go with what works for air travel.

I will say, given easter is earlier in 2024 than it was this year, that will push the spring breaks out some and will go until a few weeks post Easter. I think the third week of April is a lot of northeastern schools spring breaks. Historically, the week before Easter is usually the busiest with crowds leading up the holiday being some of the heaviest but the weeks following will slowly taper, it's not a sharp decrease in crowds so really, while I'd say yes, going later into April should be less crowded, it's not likely going to be a significant, noticeable difference.

 

[maleficent55]

As it turns out April 6th-16th and April 7th-17th are the same amount and April 8th-18th is $300 cheaper. Total, not per person.

So minimal.
Before I pull the trigger I’m just hoping someone can assure me that these dates are all negligible in difference from each other. Or am I missing something?


What might be going on between April 6th-April 18th that I’d want to know?
Besides flower & garden.

 

[JodyK]

There's a Run Disney event that starts on the 18th but I don't really think that would impact too much on your checkout day.