Two Questions.

[amburger]

First. We're trying to decide when to go for 2007. Unfortuantely, it probably won't be during the offseason, which I would prefer, but hey, as long as I'm in Disney. That's all that matters. Anyways, the three times of the year that will work best for us are, March during Spring Break, the summer (not sure when) or December during winter break. Now the reason it's not offseason is basically because I'll be going with my friend who during the beginning of next year will be finishing off her last year of high school so she really doesn't want to take time off from school, which I guess is smart. haha. During the second half of the year she will be starting school (I think) so I doubt she'll want to take some time off in the fall from school. -sigh- I could care less taking some time off from school. Hey, that'd be awesome to me. I'm in college.
So are any of those three times gonna be okay or should I work on trying to convince her to take some time off of school?

Second question. How far in advance do we want to make hotel reservations? And also, a question in a question. haha. For dinner reservations, how far in advance do we want to make those? Is 90 days in advance for that pretty standard?

Thanks so much to anyone who can help!

 

[chell]

December gets my vote as long as it isn't the week of Christmas since that week is super busy. December is an awesome time to go!

Make your reservations whenever you are ready. It always makes it more exciting knowing the reservations have been made for me anyway.

 

[dbarker]

We've been to WDW twice. Both times, we left the day after the last day of school (end of May). We loved it then. The crowds were not too bad yet, and the weather was tollerable--hot, but not too hot yet. I would suggest that you go as soon as she gets out of school for the summer.

 

[MOMTOCUTESTDOGEVER]

DH and I have been in May, September, and December. December was by far the most magical. It was so beautiful with all of the Christmas decorations. If this doesn't appeal to you, I would recommend March--I think the summer heat would be unbearable.

As for hotel reservations, I would make them as soon as you know when you want to go. However, you should continue to look for deals up to the time you leave. When we went in September, we were going to stay in All Star Movies, but we called later to add a few days and found that we could save substantially by switching to All Star Sports. I don't know if the higher priced placed work like this, but it's definitely worth checking out.

 

[bicker]

December gets my vote as long as it isn't the week of Christmas since that week is super busy.

I suspect the OP's friend will be in school, during the rest of December.

I'm actually going to be facing a similar situation in a few years, as we can no longer take the children out of school. I'm going to need to decide between the week between Christmas and New Years, Presidents Day week, and Easter week.

The first problem with either of the latter two is that the children in my family go to different school districts, and so they may not even be off at the same time! Given that I have to make vacation arrangements 11 months prior, we may not even be able to get the school districts to tell us when the vacations will be that early. Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

[Christine]

I would rule out Christmas week and Spring Break week because those two times are THE WORST for crowds at Disney. Short periods of time--most people. Usually the Magic Kingdom will even have to "close the gates" during the day at those times because of crowds.

Now, it does get crowded in the summer, but since it is over a long period of time, the crowding is more consistant. The earlier in summer you go, the better.

So, if your friend's winter break is only over Christmas, rule that out. If it spans over a few weeks, then go early. (Like if she starts on December 15th or something--that would be fine).

Otherwise, plan to leave the day your kids get out of school. The early you go in June the better. Last year, we went on June 9th. It was still crowded but our hotel (Shades of Green) was still not full and was fairly quiet. Towards the end of the week, by the time we were leaving, there was an absolute noticeable difference in the crowds and how busy the hotel was. Glad I was leaving!!

For any of these times, book as early as Disney will let you for both hotel and restaurants.