winter months/ best time to go

[Misty89]

OK- i have been playing with december trip, then a january trip, and now not sure-
we want to go in winter ( we are from wi) to get a break from our winters, but we would also like to be at WDW when it is a comfortable temp( no higher than 80) but our WDW savings just cant handle it. - we are going to be saving up all the cash- no credit cards, and we are probly going to stay offsite. i also see that the school year chrsitmas break for our kids is much shorter next year, so i am looking into end of january or feb or march? when do the parks start to get busy and crowed? we really really dont want to go when it is jam packed with people- thats why right after the new year appealled to me because of the things i read that the parks are slow...
but with saving the cash is going to be hard to ( like now with christmas) pull that off.
i have sold on ebay and made some good $$, but that ended up having to be used and i dont really have that much more i could sell so we will be left to saving from work money.
so- i guess i need to know what winter months are slow and comfortable at WDW? how is march? feb might be great to-
i know i have alot of time yet, and i for sure cannnot do any bookings for a good 6 mths yet, but it would be nice to have a date that is set in stone and then the cash just has to get saved saved saved


thanks so much!

 

[crisi]

You are better off going in January or the first week of Feb. From President's week on it starts getting busy and the rates go up.

But January and Feburary can be very cool. We've been there in Feb twice and its always a long pants are most comfortable trip. Very little pool time (a little, the pools are heated and we are from Minnesota, but not much).

 

[Rpsemont]

I would aim for sometime Feb 1 - 12. There's a code out for All Stars now, that would get you a great rate for a room on site. We have gone three years during this time there was only one year we didn't swim. But even that year, out of 5 days, 3 of them were high 60's low 70's. The pools are heated but on a day it just touches 70, the evenings are usually 60 and that's usually when we would swim - a little chilly to be getting out the water when its 60 degrees. If you do have some cooler days, it probably won't be all cooler days. The plus side of a cold day is the parks seem to be almost deserted and you can do and see so much in a day. The other two years the "cool" days were 70's and we had a few days it was 80's. Just perfect!

 

[girlsx2]

I second that end of January to the first couple weeks in February. We go the second week of Feb and love it!! Hardly no crowds the first part of the week and by the end of the week we did see more people but not like you would during the summer. We never had to wait more than 10 minutes for anything all week long!! I only think we used a fast pass once. My daughter LOVES the Tower of Terror and rode it four times in a row with no wait!!! Also, if you book by Dec 29th, you can book the Value Resort for $55/night plus tax. I know you may be able to find a cheaper place off site, but be sure to count your drive time, gasoline and parking money in your daily totals. Where as if you take advantage of the CTH discount, you can ride to the parks or even drive your own car to the parks and park for free. I would personally try the Pop Century as it is a brand new resort opening tomorrow!! Chip and Dale Express (AKA Tyler - a Pop Century CM) has two really great threads posted on the resort board forum that you should look into. The parks in Feb close at around 6pm so you can always save money and eat dinner off site in the evenings. Epcot does stay open later most days. The weather this past Feb was great. A little chilly in the am and after the sun went down, but high 60's and low 70's every day. My kids swam everday but one. We live in WV and like to get away from the snow and winter too. Hope this helps!!!

Cya There

 

[Misty89]

Girlsx2- can i aks you somehting- i am not sure if i was understanding that right or not-
if we rent a car/van and stay on disney property, we park for free?? the only reason we ant to rent a car is so that we dont have to eat all of out meals at WDW. we figured out it might save is close to 300$ by eating "out in" orlando area. ....
but i never thought that we could take our car in with us if we stayed on property- i thought for
some (naieve) reason, you we stuck with the disney transpration, and there fore stuck at the parks all day and night.


thanks let me know what else i am not knowing- and, that 55# rate sounds great, but we are not going until next year- jan of 2005 ( i know, i am a complusive planner, i planned the last trip for a year also)



tina

 

[girlsx2]

Misty89 - ask all the question you want, that's the only way to find things out. Don't rent a car!!! Take your own car!!! You are not stuck doing anything by staying on property. You can drive your car, park in the resort lot and never look at it again for the rest of your trip, if that is what you want. You can take Disney transportation everywhere. Or, you can drive yourself to the parks or to the transportation center and take the monorail (if you don't stay at a monorail resort). As long as your are staying on property, you can park at all the parks for free. That's a savings of $7 or more per day. Well, from the looks of your post, you may be flying down then renting a car/van. That's ok too. Not sure where you are from, but we always drive. We have three girls 11, 7 and 2. Flying just isn't an option for us as my husband doesn't fly and the expense itself from WV just isn't at all cheap. We can drive it in about 14 hours. I too, plan a year out. My Feb trip was booked one week after we returned this past Feb. Keep in mind that there could be just as good discounts for Jan/Feb 2005 as there are for this coming Jan/Feb. The rates for this past Jan/Feb were $55/night too. I hope this helps. If you have anymore questions, please feel free to post or to email me directly. rabelgirls@charter.net

Cya There!!

 

[sdamico71]

My recommendations are:

Stay after MLK weekend in January or before Presidents weekend in February.

Definately have a car. Whether you drive the route OR rent one. I think it is so important to get a car.

Invest in the Entertainment book for Orlando area. Or check out www.restaurant.com and then click the eBay link and bid on some gift certificates for local restaurants. The g/c are $25, but you can get them for less than $5. They are valid for usually 1 year from purchase.

Consider staying on site. Although offsite is usually more economical, you can rent points from on the DVC rent/trade board for typically $10 per point. A studio at OKW at that time of the year is 8 points (not Fri or Sat). If you rent points from the boards, you will be paying the asking price and no taxes. That adds up quickly. You can save some money this way, too, because you can make your own breakfast at the studios as well as snacks for nighttime. Saves lots of money with kids!

 

[JenDaveBrendan]

We went last year Jan. 30th to Feb. 5th and it was great as far as crowds go. We never waited in line for any ride for more than 10 minutes. However, the weather was on the cooler side (high 60's) and in the morning and evening we needed to wear sweatshirts. But in my opinion, I would rather walk around the parks in that weather than when it is really hot out. And also being from a cold climate, the high 60's was heaven!!! We are going again this year the same time. I would definatly recommend this time of year.