When do you go to Disney and why?

[Loritlc3]

We went our first time in July because the people we were going with could only get that week off.

I am now planning a trip sometime after April of 2011 For me and my kids and another single mom and her kids(it will be their first trip). The kids are all pretty young so we are willing to take them out of school.

We want to be able to swim(nice weather) and have the best experience regarding crowds, etc.. and also best price times, deals etc...

You guys are the experts so i thought I would get as much info as I can before we try to make a decision.

Thanks

 

[shinysparklybubbles]

Growing up as a kid we always went in November (NJ had a teachers convention so we had 2 days off of school for it). It was fun because everyone is from NJ during that week/weekend. Then we tried random times, like the summer, Easter and realized we like to go during the value season because it is cheapest and less crowded.

 

[Loritlc3]

What exactly is considered the value season?

 

[julirina]

SEPTEMBER! Historically there's free dining offered, the crowds are lighter, the weather is still hot so it feels like an extension of summer. We <3 September!

 

[dl0015]

We go in December...love Christmas time at the world.

 

[AirGoofy]

We used to go in September before our children were school age. September seemed to offer free Disney dining plan and there were no crowds at the theme parks. I think the longest wait we ever had was 15 minutes, and that was rare. We were able to stay on the Figment ride a couple times as no one was waiting. The only downfall was the hot weather during that time. However, we used the heat of the day to return to the resort and let the children nap.

 

[starsweeper]

We're going May 2-7 this year, well after Easter and 99% of spring breaks. I saw a chart online that rated the first full week of May as great value for resorts, low crowds, and great weather. Hopefully it will be true. We attended a wedding in early Nov 06 at WDW and it was great as well. The weather was only cool first thing in the morning or after dark, crowds were low, and Christmas decorations were already out for the season.

 

[canadianjovigirl]

We took our first trip in November and oh my it was the perfect time to be there...weather was great, no crowds, no waits...could not have asked for anything better.......

 

[Paintedlady]

We're going in March b/c we wanted to go during my dd's birthday. Would also love to go back in Oct. for Halloween or early Dec. Wouldn't go again in summer though, too hot.

 

[dmbfan]

I grew up going to Disney every two years with my aunt, my sisters and cousins, and of course we did the big family trips here there. Once I had kids, I took my daughter, my sister and my aunt...it was awesome, she was only 4 at the time and she was the BEST. Than once my son got older he became a HUGE Disney fan...obessed you would say.

We finally went back again in 06, and he loved it. Shortly after that trip he become very sick and spent alot of time in the hospital. It was Disney that kept Jake's spirts up. Talking about this trip to the nurses and such. Last March he was granted a wish thru the Make-a-Wish foundation and his first choice of course was Disney. We had such a magical time. So many people at Give Kids The World ( where all wish kids and their family's stay when they go to DW) took time out of there days to make each and every family feel so special. So we decided that we wanted to go back as a family and volunteer our time at GKTW, it was the least we could do since they made Jake's wish trip so amazing.

So we leave 2 weeks from today and we will be volunteering two evenings/nights at the village, and than do the Disney parks in between...we can't wait.

 

[kellyg403]

We go every year in December. Love the magic at Christmas time. We have been at other times but, the heat and the crowds keep us coming back in the 2nd/3rd week of Dec. We love the weather, the Christmas spirit etc. We are already talking about the Osbourne lights!

So December has been magic for us!

Kelly

 

[scrapquitler]

My husband owns his own consulting business and it is extremely difficult for him to take time off more than a day or two in a row, so we go to Disney whenever he knows that he can schedule at least a full week off....usualy this means when one client contract ends, and he can manipulate the start date of the next to allow for a week in between. As a result, we always go on short notice (we never know more than 2-3 weeks ahead of time) and it could be any time of the year. We homeschool, so kids time off from school is not an issue.

We have been in late May, Late June, mid-September, Thanksgiving Week, and Christmas week. Honestly the 'crowd' issue of Christmas week was not a big deal like some people make it seem, we used fast passes, we stayed late at night, etc and we got to ride as many rides as we wanted and see alll the shows we were interested in. We always stay off-site (we like to spread out and always stay in a suite) and we mostly only eat counter service in the parks.

 

[Rental01]

Hmmm.... do I want to share this? It's privileged information....



November - usually the week before Thanksgiving week

Why?
1) In the day you're likely to hit somewhere between 75-85F, at night 65 at the lowest
2) It rarely rains
3) No crowds. Serious. Wanna walk on to Soarin' at 10:30? Go for it! Wanna ride Kali River Rapids six times in a row? Hit it up!

We're planning on 11/11 - 11/21 this year.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We go in the summer. My wife is a teacher and only has 4 personal days she can take besides her school's vacation time. My kids and my wife's schools don't have the same vacation schedules so we can't really schedule for any specific vacation (except Christmas or right around Easter). And we don't like taking our kids out of school.

I think one of these years we will go between Christmas and New Year's, but so far we've been going in June or July. We can't go in August because marching band camp starts the second week of August. So we are stuck with June and July.

That being said, we don't really mind the heat and never really feel like it's all that crowded. But then we've never been in, say, October, to know the difference.

 

[i'mfluffy]

We go the first week in December. We love that it is decorated for Christmas. DH gets cranky if we miss the xmas party. A few years ago we went in Oct and went to the halloween party instead. He still complains about it. It is also low (points wise) season for DVC. Every other year we go in May for our anniversary also.

 

[littlbugmom]

Hmmm.... do I want to share this? It's privileged information....



November - usually the week before Thanksgiving week

Why?
1) In the day you're likely to hit somewhere between 75-85F, at night 65 at the lowest
2) It rarely rains
3) No crowds. Serious. Wanna walk on to Soarin' at 10:30? Go for it! Wanna ride Kali River Rapids six times in a row? Hit it up!

We're planning on 11/11 - 11/21 this year.

Those are our dates, too!!


We went the last week of Sept our first trip. I didn't think the crowds were light at all. Seemed pretty packed and it was H O T!!

We went over Thanksgiving week last year. We were taking advantage of the holiday break at school. The crowds were light the first few days and the weather was almost perfect. It was a bit too cold to swim much but my sister (lives in FL) told me it was a freak cold spell....not at all the norm.

We're trying the week before Thanksgiving this year. Hoping for light crowds, warm days but not HOT. Our kids will miss a few more days of school and I'm a little nervous about that. They are in elem and both get very good grades but when I started looking at it, the number of days they will miss kind of jumped out at me! My dh had to put in for time by January, though. He can't change it now.

 

[Arielssister]

I liked Sept because of the free dining but it was a little hot and humid for my liking. The 1st week of Dec is awesome because it's decorated for Christmas and it's value prices. It's not crowded and it's still warm in my opinion. 70's in the day and 60's at night (well it was in 1995, this winter sure was different).