When is the best time to go?

[disney144]

what is your favorite time at WDW? Why? What are your priorities? What makes you love that time of year?

We are two adults that can travel anytime. Our priorities are weather (not too hot), low crowds, and low prices.

We don't mind if we can't swim, or if some rides are closed. This is DH's first trip, but we'll be ok missing a few.

 

[pitpat]

this may not be perfect, but addresses many of your questions

http://**************.net/wp-conten...-Ranked-in-Order-from-**************.net_.jpg

 

[Disney Ron]

Don't ever go Nov. 10-18.

 

[Owl X]

The parks had very light crowds when we visited in the middle of September in 2015 & 2016.
Epcot was much busier in September 2016 than it was in September 2015 due to the Food & Wine Festival.

 

[Dizzytime]

this may not be perfect, but addresses many of your questions

http://**************.net/wp-conten...-Ranked-in-Order-from-**************.net_.jpg

Great chart pitpat!

 

[CynBeth]

We love holiday season time. It might not be the least crowded but is manageable. It is even more magical with all of the parks and resorts decorated. We enjoy the Holidays Around the World and CP at Epcot and MVMCP at MK.

 

[Hopefully]

Don't ever go Nov. 10-18.

Why?

The parks had very light crowds when we visited in the middle of September in 2015 & 2016.
Epcot was much busier in September 2016 than it was in September 2015 due to the Food & Wine Festival.

But it is HOT & HUMID in late September.
There are no low crowd times anymore. Early December may be good for you.

 

[Pkltm]

We enjoy the fall. For us F&W is important, and we find that Oct has some nice weather. DH loves TL so for us that is a must do. We went once when it was closed and he fully admits he did not enjoy the trip as much.

 

[Micca]

We are two adults that can travel anytime. Our priorities are weather (not too hot), low crowds, and low prices.

There's a saying in the service industry when someone says "I want it fast, I want it cheap, and I want it done right." The reply is: You can only choose two of the three." I think your three criteria may be similar.

The weather is going to be very pleasant from November to early May. Low crowds are simply few and far between, you aren't likely to string together more than a few days to a week or two at a time. Lowest crowds are going to be in September after Labor Day, some days in January (well after school resumes for the winter, and you'll want to avoid the week with MLK day.) You might also find the traffic pretty manageable late April/early May. Everything else is busy, and anything involving a holiday with federal or traditional is going to be very busy. Thanksgiving/Christmas-early January and Easter/Spring Break are...I'm not sure the word has been invented yet. As far as low prices, they go with the low seasons as defined by Disney.

My priority would be to travel in pleasant weather. Dealing with crowds is less of an ordeal when your clothes aren't spot-welded to your body from perspiration. Besides, with a good plan you can still do a lot even when the parks are busy.

 

[disneyvoice]

When my DH and I go by ourselves we really enjoy going in Fall because of Food and Wine Festival, but you will be dealing with larger crowds at Epcot because of F&W. To me it is totally worth it though. The weather is nice and as long as you don't go during the period that many schools have Fall Break, the crowds are very manageable.

 

[IrishNYC]

If DH and I were to do a trip alone we'd go the week before Mother's Day, mid-january, or the week after Jersey week.

 

[edk35]

I love Flower and Garden BIG TIME. LOL I went to Food and Wine this past Oct. and it was GREAT...but weekends are CRAZY at EPCOT. My hubby and I are going in Oct. this year. He was not able to go last Oct. so it was just myself and our boys.

 

[PaintsWindColors]

what is your favorite time at WDW? Why? What are your priorities? What makes you love that time of year?

We are two adults that can travel anytime. Our priorities are weather (not too hot), low crowds, and low prices.

We don't mind if we can't swim, or if some rides are closed. This is DH's first trip, but we'll be ok missing a few.

DH and I always plan for the "slow" season so we've been in late February, early May, and mid September. We think the first week of May is perfect because the weather is warm, the crowds are lighter than usual, and we LOVE F&G Festival. We went in mid-September last year and, while the crowds were light, the weather was terribly hot and humid and we didn't enjoy F&W as much as we expected (crowds at Epcot were higher for that festival than they seem to be for F&G). We would also like to return the first week of December this year to see how that time period works but we really prefer the first week of May.

 

[Disney Ron]

Why?

It was a joke. That's the dates we are going and we don't want it to be crowded.

 

[Accident]

what is your favorite time at WDW? Why? What are your priorities? What makes you love that time of year?
We are two adults that can travel anytime. Our priorities are weather (not too hot), low crowds, and low prices.
We don't mind if we can't swim, or if some rides are closed. This is DH's first trip, but we'll be ok missing a few.

I liked doing things I've never experienced so much I ended up moving here so I didn't need to pick.... This is actually a bigger deal than it sounds because we were people who didn't mind having 10 years in between trips. We always loved the new things we had when we made it back. some things came and went that we never saw at all. We've never been in florida in less than soul sucking temps and humidity.

For us it started with our first non-summer trip ever. We loved halloween so much that we came back for xmas the same year. that unlocked the desire to do all the things we've never had the opportunity to do and wanted to see all the different seasons and offerings for ourselves. This is also the trip we slowed down and cut costs where we could to stay longer. We thought it was going to be one of the last father/daughter trips as my daughters plans were originally different and it was kind of a graduation, one last blow out...

We started to purposely come all different times of the year. We didn't really plan around crowds or weather, but around things we've never experience. What was food and wine like? What is flower and garden like? what's it like to be here on a 5 year anniversary? what are the new or updated shows like? and that's just scratching the surface and there is so many more things that are seasonal and temporary to explore..

The best time to come is when you have time to be here

 

[Mike D.]

Here is an interactive chart I put together. You set your multipliers (if crowd level is 3 times as important to you as temperature, then set crowds to 3 and temperature to 1), then enter the number of days you are staying. It will show you the best day to arrive (the higher the score the better) based on 2016 temperatures and crowd levels. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1plcWt14WVmgYYlPehGsP-eYqHNLBJFjH4Cbq5zURyb4/edit?usp=sharing

 

[karly05]

what is your favorite time at WDW? Why? What are your priorities? What makes you love that time of year?

We are two adults that can travel anytime. Our priorities are weather (not too hot), low crowds, and low prices.

We don't mind if we can't swim, or if some rides are closed. This is DH's first trip, but we'll be ok missing a few.

I've gone 4 times in early February and my experiences are exactly what you are talking about! It is one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest, seasons for resort prices, and there are historically discounts available. Crowds have been good in my experience, and weather beautiful. Averages are lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s and that's mostly what I've had. In 4 Feb trips, I've had a couple of really cold (but clear) mornings and a couple of days of light (but not cold) rain.

The key is to get out of WDW by the Thursday before Presidents Day (when prices and crowds start going up) and watch out for Mardi Gras crowds if it's early (although the Gulf Coast folks are really nice). You may see some cheerleaders or South American teen girl tour groups, but I've never really had a problem with them (I know others have). Anyway, I'm already looking at the first week of Feb next year!