Which are the heavy months....

[etwinchester]

for the parks? Also, which are the lowest attendance with nice weather?

If you have children, do you take them out of school for 2 weeks or wait till summer?

 

[LibertyBelle]

Slow season is January (just after New Years) through the begining of March. Then is gets busy for Spring Break and holidays, usually March through Mid to late April. Begining of May slows down a little bit and then picks up again from the end of May through June, July and August for summer. Towards the ends of August it starts to taper off again and then September, October and begining of November are fairly slow. Mid November through December picks up again for the holidays. The BEST time to come for no crowds is January and February (but it can be kind of cold then) and September and October.

I don't have children, but if I did I would take them out of school for the trip just because it is really busy when the school vacations occur. If you are looking for a slower time to come then you would have to as it is slow when the kids are in school and parents don't want to take them out.

 

[SnackyStacky]

I'm sorry. I'm in a goofy mood, so forgive my answer.

Heavy months for me are November and December - open season on food. I usually gain about 15 pounds!

 

[chyam]

January and February are usually slow, but the weather can be iffy and sometimes downright cold! March through April brings the springbreakers and the Easter crowd. Most of May is great, weather and crowds. June, July and August are very crowded and very hot and humid. The end of August it does slow down through Sept. but it is still hot and humid. Once you get into Oct and Nov. the crowds are still very manageable and the weather is usually very pleasant. Thanksgiving week, very crowded, the First 2 and half weeks of December are quite beautiful in the World, with all the decorations, and the crowds once again are very manageable, but the weather can go from beautiful one day to chilly the next. And Christmas week well I would compare it to July 4th week EXTREMELY BUSY!
As far as taking the kids out of school I say go for it.......especially if you only get to visit the world every few years, the money you spend you should get every dimes worth during the slow times and it is so much more enjoyable when it isn't crowded and the weather is pleasant.......besides you are only young once!
I think Disney is meant to be enjoyed by everyone and it is also a vacation not a place to be done commando style........just my thoughts

 

[arizonacolbys]

We have been down in Sept, Jan, March & Dec. We really loved early December because of all the great decorations - weather was pretty good, too. If you go before the week of Christmas - crowds aren't bad.

September is great for lower crowds & it can be Very hot still. We are going again this Sept because we enjoyed it so much last time.

Jan is probably our all time favorite time of the year to go - we had great weather - 75 - 80 degrees every day except the last 2 it got into the 50 - 60's. The lowest in crowds was by far in Jan.

We went late last March for a last minute short trip. The weather was perfect & the crowds weren't too bad, but much worse than the other 3 months we visited.

I would pick Jan, Dec or Sept again any day. I think when kids are young family time is just as important as school time. Most children do OK missing a week or so of school when they are still young. It may become more difficult when in high school. good luck!

 

[swilphil]

The best months to go based on weather and crowds would probably be Oct. or April (avoid Easter), or the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I wouldn't take my kids out of school for two entire weeks. One week would probably be okay if the kids were still pretty young. Or you could take them out for a few extra days right before or after a school break. Our school district has all sorts of days off for teacher meetings and school conferences. We have a lot of these in February, which is a good time to go for low crowds, but it is a littler cooler. Also remember if you're going during a low crowd time, you'll be able to get through the parks MUCH faster.

 

[liznboys]

Historical Attendance Levels at WDW

HTH!