Should we grab free dining in the Fall or just how busy is mid-May?

[Joy70]

We are considering either taking advantage of free dining in the fall (if it's offered) or waiting to go in mid-May of next year. We have 2 DD's in grade school and in the past we have taken them out of school at the end of February to go, about every other year. The school does not have a problem with this, but as they get older they are spending more time making up assignments. We're very lucky as our school gets out by mid-May each year so we're considering waiting until then.

So I'm trying to decide between taking advantage of free dining in the Fall, which may give us an opportunity to stay deluxe or just save more money at a value/moderate, or wait until next May so the kids don't miss school and we can stay longer. My concern is that May will probably be more expensive and quite a bit busier. Has anyone been in mid-May before and how busy did you find it to be compared to other times of year?

 

[Tonberry]

How long were you looking to stay in the fall vs. May?
If it were my choice and pulling kids out of school was not a problem, I'd choose the fall, stay at a deluxe, and take the free dining. It's not as hot as May if you are doing later fall such as late October or November. It's also not as busy (unless you are going near a holiday).
You're not guaranteed to get any special deals or rates next may, so you'd be rolling the dice with that.
Have you ever done MNSSHP or MVMCP before? If you haven't, you should before the kids get too old, especially MNSSHP.

 

[Joy70]

We usually go about five to six days but I've always wanted to go for a longer trip which would not be possible unless we went when school was out. It's hard enough making up one week of homework! We've never been in the fall as a family but it really depends on if free dining is offered as I don't think I'll be able to convince my husband otherwise. I have a work trip in mid Nov so it would most likely be Oct. I would love to take the kids to MNSSHP or MVMCP and if we got free dining I could justify the extra cost. Guess we will have to see if free dining is even offered. A long trip in May is tempting though! And not having to make up homework! Lol

 

[Lady1969]

To me the only downside of the fall compared to May is the heat & humidity. I'm used to it, but it's still pretty bad in October.

 

[DG25]

We have done May 3 different times, and again this year. We have done, August, sept, feb and march also. In all we love May the best. Not as much rain, but you can't get lots of heat, but two years it was not bad, one year it was very hot. It was never humid, so to us we loved the weather in May.

As for price, we find May, August, sept and early March/late feb to all be the same price basically. Free dining has never been a huge draw to us, full rack rack with free dining, seems to always come out very close to the same price as 30% off and pay out of pocket. What we do now is always get one gold pass if not all gold passes, that gives us an AP rate, and it gives this year lots of 20% off ressies, which actually will save us a lot more. We got WL with club level for $400 this May, without it it would have been $240 a night. Our DGD is out of school mid May and we go for that reason. We find the crowds are actually lower than in late aug and early March. The year we went early sept the crowds were large not what we expected we were there until 9/11 and the crowds all of sept were large. Feb was a little better but it was also 12 years ago, so today that probably picked up, so I would again say May is a great time to go.

 

[jolene63]

I might be wrong, but I didn't think they offered free dining during the middle of October. I believe that's when you said you might go.

 

[Lisann]

May. Better weather. A little less crowded.

 

[siestakeys04]

I would do May I took my kids out of school for certain trips although they had fun they still hated make up work. If you plan now for next year I don't see why you couldn't go deluxe.

 

[scard192]

I might be wrong, but I didn't think they offered free dining during the middle of October. I believe that's when you said you might go.

last year only check in on October 1 qualified for FD. 2015 was blacked out 10/3 to 10/24.

 

[Joy70]

last year only check in on October 1 qualified for FD. 2015 was blacked out 10/3 to 10/24.

Thanks - good to know! We could be flexible on exact dates so long as we avoid the 3 or 4 days I have to travel for work.

 

[Joy70]

We have done May 3 different times, and again this year. We have done, August, sept, feb and march also. In all we love May the best. Not as much rain, but you can't get lots of heat, but two years it was not bad, one year it was very hot. It was never humid, so to us we loved the weather in May.

As for price, we find May, August, sept and early March/late feb to all be the same price basically. Free dining has never been a huge draw to us, full rack rack with free dining, seems to always come out very close to the same price as 30% off and pay out of pocket. What we do now is always get one gold pass if not all gold passes, that gives us an AP rate, and it gives this year lots of 20% off ressies, which actually will save us a lot more. We got WL with club level for $400 this May, without it it would have been $240 a night. Our DGD is out of school mid May and we go for that reason. We find the crowds are actually lower than in late aug and early March. The year we went early sept the crowds were large not what we expected we were there until 9/11 and the crowds all of sept were large. Feb was a little better but it was also 12 years ago, so today that probably picked up, so I would again say May is a great time to go.

Yes - you have a great point on the 30% off - I think I've heard that it really doesn't come out much different for cost. Personally I could go without the dining plan and I think we'd be money ahead (if we went in May) but my husband really likes it.

 

[LaBelleVie]

Our first trip was a mid-May trip, and we didn't think the crowds were that bad.