Slowest time of the year?

[Impulsive Puppy]

Hello everybody, it has been forever since I have posted but I am glad to be back.

I am very interested in finding out what the slowest time of the year is at the world. I seem to remember it being sometime between thanksgiving and christmast or was it after new years? I forget. I imagine this question has been asked before so I apologise for being redundant. Thanks for your help!

 

[catherine]

According to Birnbaum's the least crowded times at WDW are:

2nd week of Jan. through 1st week of Feb.

Week after Labor Day until Thanksgiving

Week after Thanksgiving through week before Christmas

 

[kdibattista]

I read somewhere that the least crowded week of the entire year is the week after Labor Day.... I can vouch for that. It was a fantastic time to go!!! We went three times that week and never had any bad weather, although it is hurricane season.

 

[linda d-isney]

We've been to WDW 3 times in the month of May and it's a good time to go if you don't like crowds. If your a Northeasterner like us the weather is hot enough to go swimming and not feel like you need to stay under the water to keep warm. There is enough people to keep you from feeling like your in a ghost town but still able to walk onto every ride and maybe use FP a few times.
Last year however we were down in the beginning of May...great for no lines. But the parks closed early and there were alot of attractions closed. I think this is the trade-off when you want no lines and no crowds.
This year we want to see it allllllllllllllll.....so were going to brave the crowds. Heading down from PA this week. We'll let you know how it goes.

Bye

 

[jacncaitsmom]

The Friday BEFORE Labor Day is typically the slowest day of the year.....according to some CM's I've talked to. The reason they figure is 1. It is always slower the Friday before a holiday Monday and 2. The kids have just gotten back in school so vacations are light. 3. September is normally a light month.

That being said I do think that the week following Labor Day tends to be a slower week as well as the first 2 weeks in December. We have been both times and it was wonderful. If you want to swim, I would go in September. Weather is "iffy" in December. But it can be lovely and cool.

We always take the day off school on Thursday and Friday before Labor Day and play hookey. It's getting harder as the kids get older. I'm still hoping for this year though.

Good luck.

 

[swilphil]

Puppy--We went in December, and it was too cold to swim. I'd go in September if I had the choice.

Linda D.--We just got back. Even right before the Fourth, the crowds weren't too bad. Go early. It will help with the heat. It is REALLY hot if you're not used to the humidity. Drink lots of water, and plan lots of shows and indoor rides. It helped to use fastpass and early entry, but leave the early entry after a few hours. The other parks aren't crowded at all. Also if you want to go to a park that's not on early entry. Make a PS for a restaurant that opens before the park does.

 

[DebbieB]

Week after Labor Day until Thanksgiving

October has become a busy month. They moved the room rates to regular season instead of value season a couple years ago in response to the larger crowds that month.

 

[Spartan]

I've never been in January, but we've been a few times in Sept, once in mid Nov., once the first week of Dec. (and again this upcoming Dec.), and once the first week of May. It was hard to distinguish which we thought was the most crowded because all of them had light crowds. A lot of it still depends on which park you go to on which day. MK always seemed more crowded than the other others, but still minimal waits for most everything. If I had to pick one that seemed the least crowded, it would probably be Sept, although I didn't like the fact that the parks closed and it was still light out. The same thing in the first week of May, although it seemed like they did 2 spectro nights, but I'm not completely sure on that. Sept. was great for the water parks in that it was very hot out, and no lines for the slides and plenty of room in the wave pools. If we felt like we wanted to do a lot of pool and water park time and still wanted no crowds, we'd probably pick Sept. again, although it is prime hurricane season (we were there when the parks were closed down for Floyd, but had great weather for the most part). If we want mostly park time, Nov. and Dec. seemed great because it's not so hot and it gets darker earlier, plus, if you're into Xmas decorations, it's hard to beat the holiday's in WDW.

 

[linda d-isney]

Thanks for the tip SwilPhil.

I was thinking (I think I saw this written somewhere) that the best thing to do is go to an oposite park from early entry.

Everyone goes early entry and the others are left alone. Could this work? also we were going to do alot during parade times.
Do they still have the tip boards up? They should be a help.

Were from the northeast.....used to the humidity....we do not have (or should I say did not have) air in our home....installed it this year and it still has not been hooked up yet were spending lots of time in the basement.

 

[tinaluis]

We've been to WDW in mid-January, February (President's Week), early May, late September, mid-October and early November. January was the least crowded, by far, but we were only able to visit the water parks 1x (just barely) because it was a little too cold to swim. Our next trip is in October and we're hoping that the weather will cooperate and the crowds will be manageable.

 

[Mady/Sophiemom]

We. also like May. We had no crowds, no lines, Things were awsome. Perfect weather too. mid 80's the entire week.

This year, we chose October, because of ftp. hoping for the same, but expecting more crowds.

Have fun

 

[gshoemate]

We thought that January was a good time to go, wait times for the rides were very short. However, last January was rated like the 3rd coldest ever in Florida. There were some nights that it was in the low 30's and some days we needed light jackets and gloves at Disney. So it depends on if you want heat and crowds or have it be cool with hardly any crowd at all.

 

[scoobysmom]

WE went in January . Living in the NorthEast we are used to the cold but it was 30 degrees ! at night.) there were no lines at all at any of the rides but it was too cold to swim aand the water rides were questionable.
We have also been at Halloween time and had moderate crowds but also had a tornado.
The first week of December was Ok moderate crowds and swimable weather. The Christmas stuff was all up.that was nice

This year we are trying eary October.

 

[Kallison]

We have been twice the week after Thanksgiving and it is moderately busy. January and September were very slow.