When is the best "busy" time to go; Spring Break or Christmas?

[BensWife]

DH and I are taking an adults only trip to DLR for our 10th anniversary this year. I am super excited but feeling guilty at the same time for going without our kids. So, I want to plan a family trip for next year so I can ease my guilt for not taking them this time and in turn they have something to look forward too as well. That being said, I am a teacher, so going during the off season is really tough. We can go during the typical vacations: Summer, Thanksgiving, Christmas Break, Spring Break, and one extra day for a shorter long weekend trip during President's Day, MLK day, Memorial Day, and Oct 13 (a random Professional Development day for teachers that I probably could miss since it is usually academic and I am a music teacher). The whole family went last year - the second weekend of June for SWW and it was very hot and pretty busy. I know it will be busy during any of the times we can go, but I am leaning toward Spring Break or Christmas to avoid that crazy heat/humidity that I'm not good at handling. Of the typical busy vacation times, when is the best time to go?

ETA: Spring Break is last week of March. Also, the trip to WDW would be for the whole family. DH and I are going just adults to DL this September. I am going during the school year only after OKing it with my principal first. That is why I can't miss any more days in 2015 and would have to schedule during vacations.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

THe week btw Christmas and New Years is generally accepted as the busiest week all year. Different regions of the country have different Spring Breaks and tend to be not quite as busy. However, the 2 weeks on either side of Easter will be quite busy, just not Christmas busy.

Hope this helps.

 

[rrali33tt]

I have gone the week before Christmas. I think Disney is extra magical at Christmastime. All the gingerbread houses and decorations are so cool. Each resort has different decor. MVMCP is also a good time..it snows on Main Street and you get free cookies and hot cocoa. Plus I am a huge fan of the parade at MVMCP. Plus, the Osbourne lights and Candlelight processional are nice things to do at Xmas time. Oh , and there is a sleigh ride at Fort Wilderness where you can look at all the lights set up by the campers.

If you are worried about crowds alone I am sure the other posters can help. But if you want a different type of Disney trip, with new experiences and things to do besides just visiting the parks and going on rides, I would suggest Christmas.

 

[Flamingeaux]

I've never been during either choice but I would pick Christmas because of the decorations.

 

[jj1403]

My husband and I did a solo trip without the kids. We had fun but we did feel guilty being there especially when you see all the other kids having fun.

That being said. I would totally do it again, but I would probably pick spring break as opposed to Christmas. There would be so many families at Christmas time I think you would end up feeling bad/guilty about the no kiddos. Christmas=family time...

 

[karenklo]

My DH and I just did a NYE adults only trip! Only with no guilt! THe kids have been there 3 years in a row and were just there in July '13 so we felt fine running away! I would pick Christmas/NYE! The parks are so pretty! It was fun! Plus with no kids we could slow down and just wander around if we wanted. We planned well and really did not wait long for rides. Go and have fun!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

It looks like you usually visit DLR and your anniversary trip is to DLR, are you hoping to take your kids to WDW or DLR next year?
If DLR I say summer, mid July to mid August, weekdays. S CA weather is lovely, our 4th of July visit in 2010 was pleasant, most mornings were cool, light jacket weather.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

This isn't going to help at all, because I vote for neither. I have been once during spring break and a free trip would not entice me to do it again. I don't even want to think about how much worse Christmas would be.

My advice - try Disneyland in the summer. The weather is much better than WDW.

 

[PSUGuy]

Define 'Spring Break'. My school breaks the first week in March, we've done WDW that time at least 8 times and we don't find it bad at all. There used to be ESPN Weekend and the start of Flower & Garden and still crowds are what I'd call Moderate, get to your park at RD, use FP and you'll do fine. The weather, great, the 3rd lowest rainfall month in Orlando, highs usually in the mid 70s, low 80s not unusual, out of probably 80 park days over the years we had 5 or fewer in the 60s, never lower. We only switched to Oct for Food & Wine. I will say that later in our week, actually most trips were of 8 days, the crowds did grow towards the end, we never stayed past 3/10.

Bill From PA

 

[BuckeyeBama]

From some of the replies, you can tell that "Spring Break" can mean many things. When does you spring break land?